Wonderfully read. This audio book gives distinct voice to each character which makes it more easy to follow the story. I found it easier to listen to this book than read thanks to this dynamic audio performance.

Julie Soto starts her trilogy off with a strong and interesting magic system. Lets all get on board and see where this goes.

A very easy 5 stars for me! I did struggle with the narrators accent when I first started listening but that is a "me" issue because of how fast I normally have my playback speed set. I know what this was based off of because I had previously read (and loved) The Auction. To me, this made the story even better with the changes Julie Soto made and I loved it! **Thank you NetGalley"*

DNF’d due to the MMC literally owning the FMC. Please stop putting this worrisome “trope” into books.

I really enjoyed this plot overall, Soto delivered an intense slow-burn that's dark and, at times, deeply emotional.

Toven is introduced as the villain, a morally grey captor to be more precise, but as the story unfolds we see his character unfold to reveal a complex mix of control, trauma and yearning. As his layers are slowly peeled back we see how afraid he is of his own desire to connect, which Briony begins to see through the darkness.

Briony is definitely one of the most compelling heroines I've come across through recent romance reads. Her situation is extremely dire, she's imprisoned, isolated and essentially trafficked yet her inner strength never wavers. She endures the pain and refuses to become a victim, showing an incredible resilience.

Briony and Toven's relationship is anything but conventional, built predominantly on shifting power dynamics and mutual obsession. The romance here is definitely not about perfect compatibility, but rather survival, identity and control. The psychological intimacy between the pair is quite intense!

The audiobook narration was great and I highly recommend listening to this one in audio if you enjoy intense, character driven performances. The narrator was able to differentiate her voice extremely well to portray multiple characters' voices, in addition to her ability to deliver tension and small shifts in tone to add a whole new layer of immersion.

For me this was not quite a perfect 5 star, I felt there were a few pacing issues and sometimes the internal monologue felt a bit repetitive but this is still a really good emotional read! Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC

Thank you to Netgalley for the ALC of this novel!

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t really enjoy this book until about 60% of the way through. I don’t think the world building was as bad as some critiques, but I definitely would have enjoyed it more with some more information. I feel like jumping in to a fantasy book with no working knowledge of the world CAN be done, it just has to be done well. This slightly missed that mark for me. Not the worst I’ve read by any means, but I did feel like that Always Sunny gif where he’s got the board pulled up connecting the dots.

From the 60% mark on was easily five stars, no notes. I was so angry at times, I changed who I was rooting for like 3 times, and there were some plot twists I didn’t see coming. There only one predictable, but that’s one of like 3 so those are still good stats. The slow burn was INSANE here, and we have two more books!

Anyway, definitely continuing this series. Embarrassed to say I checked her IG to see when book two would be out around 75% of the way through. I very much can't wait!

Rose in Chains by Julie Soto is a gripping entry into the world of dark fantasy romance. Set in the aftermath of a kingdom’s fall, the story follows Briony Rosewood—the last royal standing—as she’s sold into captivity and forced into the hands of her former academy tormentor, Toven Hearst. What unfolds is a tense, dual-timeline narrative full of political intrigue, brutal magic, and a beautifully developed enemies-to-lovers dynamic.

The world-building is lush and immersive, and the slow-burn romance adds a compelling emotional undercurrent to the action. Briony and Toven’s relationship is complex, layered with past trauma, power struggles, and unexpected vulnerability. While the first few chapters start slowly, the pace builds steadily into a plot full of twists, emotional stakes, and expertly planted secrets that promise even more in future installments.

Definitely check the trigger warnings first, but for readers drawn to morally gray dynamics and darker themes, this is a standout. The audiobook was also beautifully narrated, enhancing the tone and atmosphere of the story.

I’m so excited for the next book in the series and highly recommend this for fans of dark romantic fantasy with strong character arcs and high emotional tension.

I wasn’t a Dramoine shipper before, but I might be now! This story was gripping and passionate, and had my heart beating faster from the opening pages. I absolutely devoured it and can’t wait for the second installment. I listened to the audio and the narration was great.

As a warning, this has some extremely dark themes. Read the author’s content warnings before starting to book. I believe I actually had read some of the original version of The Auction but didn’t think all of the scenes would be translated to a trad book - well guys, they sure did. Maybe a teensy bit toned down but not really. Anyways, buyer beware.

Read if you like: The Handmaid’s Tale, Romantasy stories that are full of magic, becoming obsessed with morally gray characters,

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I could not read this book. I was a fan of Julie’s past books but there were so many issues surrounding this book that I felt put off to read it. Then it was also MUCH darker than it was marketed as. There was so much graphic sexual assault that was completely unnecessary. Why make that a part of the magic system? That’s so messed up. I truly couldn’t read this and I apologize, but there are certain themes and triggers I need to avoid for my own mental health and this book falls into that. I appreciate the ALC from the publisher

Overall, I really loved the narrator, Ella Lynch for this audiobook. Her voice fit the main female character so well! I even really liked when she narrated for the voice of the male main character. I liked when she narrated the female secondary characters, however, I didn’t love the narration for secondary male characters. It almost sounded like”Halloween witchy” compared to a deep mean male voice that I would expect. This was so infrequent though that I still think she still a great job.
I really enjoyed the story in the alternate magical world. I enjoy flashbacks so I liked the chapters that had “before” content. The idea of the auction is horrible and well done in this magical war. I think this may be triggering for some so readers so look at the full trigger warning list first. This is also a lot of non consensual sexual actively. However, there is not much of this from the main characters, but it happens all around them the entire book.
The MMC is “bad guy” but really doing good and that’s one of my favorite story lines.
I look forward to the next book to find out what will happen!
Thank you for allowing me to listen to this!

Briony Rosewood is the last royal standing after her kingdom falls and her brother—the so-called Chosen One—is killed. The enemy hosts a cruel auction to sell off the remaining royals, and Briony ends up in the hands of Toven Hearst, her old school tormentor turned silver-haired, morally gray heartthrob. What follows is a deliciously tense story told across two timelines: their past at a magical academy and their present as political enemies forced into close quarters. Briony has little autonomy in this new world, yet she’s forced to play the political game while navigating a rebellion, a brutal magic system, and the possibility that Toven might not be the villain she thought.

While this first book starts slowly, the continuing story promises to be one intrigue after the next. Readers of dark romance (that are not put off by on-the-page sexual slavery) will enjoy this new series.

I cannot wait to continue this series!!!

I didn’t know this started out as a fan fiction story, but I went in knowing nothing about the original story or Rose in Chains. The world building was a little confusing at first with a lot of names, but eventually began to make sense and helped the story play out.
I was really attached to the characters, especially Briony, pretty quickly. The magic system is really interesting to me and the tension, 🥵🥵

Now for the narration:
AMAZING. Listening to this book completely elevated the reading experience and Ella did an unbelievable job of bringing the characters to life. Her Toven voice? Unreal. I’ll definitely continue listening to this series over just reading the physical book because it was phenomenal.

I have loved all of Soto's contemporary romance's so much so I was trilled to see her branching out to Romantasy. I found the world building to be a little hard to follow given how the timelines jumped around. It could have been because it was via audio and harder to follow. I did enjoy Briony's character and the Eversuns. However, Toven's motivations for rescuing her and his actions were not very convincing to understand the chemistry. I wonder if having his POV would have helped. The narrator was fantastic at differentiating the voices though. I look forward to the next book!

I am sad to report that I have decided to DNF this book (audio) at 50%. The deciding factor is simple - slow burn does not need to mean slow pacing. At 50% I didn't feel enough momentum with the plot or connection with the characters or their development. I didn't have that urge to just keep listening, or to pick up the book, even when I had just a minute or two.

I had also expected this to deviate more from the original work. This felt close enough that there was less world-building than would normally be required, and yet far enough that I felt confusion over who the side characters were, the political states, and the magic system. I shouldn't have to be constantly thinking about how these elements relate in the original work to figure out how they relate in Rose in Chains. Also, one of my least favourite methods of fantasy world-building is when a main character just thinks about it in their internal monologues, and this was highly prevalent here.

That all said, the audio production was fantastic. The narrator was exceptional, and her portrayal of Briony was flawless. Truly, she was what kept me listening to the 50% mark, after I started dropping interest around 30%.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for an advanced listener copy. All opinions are my own, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

(Note that my 3-star rating is applied only on NetGalley, as it is a mandatory field to submit my feedback. A star rating is not applied to my Goodreads or Storygraph reviews.)

Thank you to Forever Publishing and NetGalley for the ALC!

I actually absolutely love this book! I’m aware it’s based off of Dramoine fanfic but I believe this published work stood on its own entirely.

There are very dark, potentially triggering themes so do heed caution to those - but the story itself is so lush and complex. I also appreciated that the story went between past and present, the dichotomy between seeing the political tensions brewing and the aftermath of the “bad guys” winning was quite stark and made everything that much more emotional.

The romance was a perfect slow burn, we had our star crossed lovers Toven & Brioney on their own journeys of redemption. I really ate up their bickering and flirting and scheming together - to see their relationship develop after all they’d been through added this depth that most other books fail to have.

The plot twists and the ending were so good too! You can definitely see that there is more than meets the eye, many more secrets yet to be unveiled! There were times that I was swooning at the crumbs of a budding romance and times I was at the edge of my seat waiting to see if the masterful, delicate plans our main characters were making would lead to their demise.

The audiobook itself was very well done - the narrators accent was PERFECT for the setting of the story and her intonation added a layer of emotion to the story that really drove it home.

I’m so excited for the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley for the audio ARC of this book!

I will admit that the beginning took a while to get into. For some reason I had a hard time following along of what was happening from the switching back and forth of present day and the past. But once I finally got in the groove of the book, I could not put it down. I am very much looking forward to the next book!

When it comes to the audiobook itself, I loved the voice actress for the FMC but wish they had a male for the MMC instead. It took a while to get used to the voice actress doing both voices.

While this wasn’t my favorite read, I still got so invested in the characters and story! I can’t wait for the next book to see how Briony and Tovens story will play out!

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Audio for this audiobook ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley & Forever Publishing for an ALC in exchange for an honest review. Produced by Hachette Audio, Read by Ella Lynch.

I was HOOKED!! The audiobook production was phenomenal, it felt seamless. Ella Lynch knocked it out of the park with her narration. She had consistent voices for different characters - it was uncanny the way she instantly alerted you the second an unsavory character was speaking the split second before the FMC was aware of their presence!

Be prepared, there are a lot of dark themes and really unsavory characters and behavior. The story starts off with a war, capture of the losers, and an auction of them off into magical (and physical) servitude to the victors.

And yet, the way I needed Briony to understand how much Toven was trying to protect her is was agony! I was talking to myself aloud so often while listening!

I loved the magic system that was developed in the story, while the themes were dark, the story still had a thread of hope wound through it. I can’t wait to see Briony come into her power and see where this story takes us in this trilogy.

Thank you @hachetteaudio for the complimentary audiobook!

♡ 𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝚂𝚘𝚝𝚘
𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 • 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚜

Top tier romantasy: loved the writing, felt invested in the leads. This takes obvious inspiration the handmaids tale, so do mind the trigger warnings. although it’s low spice, there’s lots of slow burning tension.

I will comment for those wondering how close this is to the original fanfic, that as someone who hadn’t read the auction, I wouldn’t have known this was based on dramione had I not been told. The world has been changed significantly to the point that this felt more like a new romantasy world, not at all related to muggles or even the magic system.

Cons: Because the world is so changed, side characters would benefit from additional development. It was hard to logic out their motivations. Finally, the ending is very abrupt and to be continued... in book 2.

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||။‌‌‌‌‌|• 🎧 Great narration by Ella Lynch on audio! Easy to follow and love her accent.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/🌶️🌶️ Rose In Chains by Julie Soto (Evermore Trilogy #1)

A war amongst Magicians breaks out, Briony is captured, chained, and sold off to the highest bidder.. by her classmate, Tovin... all in a massive power grab for heart magic.

🔗Captor x captive
💜Court politics
🔗Unique magic (heart, mind, dark)
💜Prophecies
🔗Enemies-to-lovers
💜Dark academia (magic school)
🔗Dual timeline
💜Magicians and Animal familars
🔗MINE

Capturada mientras su castillo es invadido por el enemigo, Briony Rosewood sabe que el mundo tal como lo conoce ha cambiado para siempre. Las fuerzas oscuras de Bomard han vencido y su pueblo, los Eversuns, se enfrenta a la servidumbre, el encarcelamiento o la muerte inminentes. Su hermano, destinado a ser heredero por partida doble y a unir los reinos en guerra, ha muerto. Me gustó el libro, es muy buena introducción al mundo, fue bastante entretenido. La narradora Ella Lynch hizo un excelente trabajo con el audiolibro.