I love Soto’s writing and was really looking forward to this one. But unfortunately, it just didn’t resonate for me. I’m aware of the debate surrounding this book and its ties to the Dramione fanfic, but as I was reading, I struggled to see any real connection to the HP universe.
The story felt overwhelming right from the start, too much happening at once without enough backstory. The lack of character development and world building early on made it difficult for me to connect with the storyline or the characters. And unfortunately, the audiobook narration didn’t help. The narrator’s portrayal of the male characters felt off and, at times, grating, which made it hard to feel anything for certain emotional moments.
I might give this one another shot later, maybe by starting with the past storyline chapters first, in hopes that it’ll help me connect better with the characters. But for now, it just wasn’t for me.

*Thank you to Julie Soto, Ella Lynch, Hachette Audio | Forever and Netgalley for the ALC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

huge thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook, this book was really good and as I had read the fic before this it, I think it helped in understanding the magic systems and world building. however, if I hadn’t read the fic, the world building was a bit too messy and so many different characters, names, spells and places were thrown almost too quickly. still, the book existed well without the relation to the fanfic, and it was enjoyable. I love Briony’s character and Toven as well, they have a very enjoyable dynamic to read and I’m going to have to do another re-read before the next one just so I can’ fill in the space that’s now left in my heart from them. it’s a very dark fantasy though so be mindful of the trigger warnings! with all that said, I can’t await for the next one !!

I loved this book. This is my first book by the author. I'll be looking for more from her. The magic is different, they don't have to take long to travel. It is a slow burn book which is my favorite kind of book. I listened to it and the it was great. There was one narrator and she was great when we came to the guy talking it didn't take me out of the book at all. Her voice was perfect for the main character.

i really tried to love this book but i just couldn’t get into it. the world building was really difficult to immerse myself in and i ended up just not caring about the characters or what was going to happen.

Points to consider before I review this: No, I did not read The Auction yes, I went into this knowing its origins; at no point in my life have I ever been a fan of Dramione (Team Ron forever, sorry not sorry). Did all of these points affect my rating/enjoyment of this one? Most definitely.

Rose in Chains is not the book for me. If you love Romantasy that strongly focuses on the romance, a slow burn enemies-to-lovers, constant flashbacks, and a passive heroine who swoons over her captor, then you'll love this one.

My biggest issue with this entire novel is the main character, Briony Rosewood. Briony is my least favourite type of heroine, she is passive and sits back allowing things to happen to her, instead of doing something about it. She is whiny and emotional, and is constantly catching her breath or pleading. We are told constantly how smart Briony is, (and that she is SO much smarter than all of those around her and that she is constantly hiding it) but besides asking to be taken to the library we rarely see her think or do anything brilliant. I just found her quite frustrating.

The rest of the characters are ok overall, but there are just too many of them to keep track of. There are so many names, titles and places mentioned its impossible to keep up. The magic system is also ok (heart magic & mind magic) but not given enough elaboration on how or why it works. The flashbacks were also a very frustrating literary device, used to build character, but they just kept appearing in the most annoying parts of the story, and way too frequently.

I was provided with an audio ARC to listen to this one, and thank goodness because I don't think I'd have finished this if I was to read it. The narrator was great, she definitely understood the assignment and made this an easy listen.

This was an interesting read for sure. It is categorized as a dark fantasy and while I see why they would add that, I didn’t feel like it was. I was confused on the characters because there were a couple of them that started merging for me at the end. I enjoyed the magic system, it was interesting and new.

I didn’t think this was going to be a trilogy so I’ll see how the story continues to develop and how their romance flourishes because they barely had any impactful moments.

This was one of my most anticipated romances of the year but sadly I feel incredibly let down.

To start, I think the marketing of this book was very overdone. I am not against fanfic getting traditionally published but any similarities to Harry Potter/Dramione were overstated. The characters were not only nothing like who they were modeled after, they just weren't very well fleshed out at all. Briony was supposed to be intelligent and crafty and I saw no evidence of that. Toven was supposed to be a morally grey guy but it never felt convincing.

And in attempts to give this book a new world, again ostensibly to avoid IP issues and copyright infringement, we're left with a world that is confusing and clunky. I think it would be hard to feel more detached from this story than I did.

I genuinely adore this author's other books, especially her Reylo fic that got trad published, but sadly this was a miss for me.

Rose In Chains by Julie Soto was not exactly my cup of tea. I wish I had not known before hand that it was a Dramione fan fiction because it made it really hard for me to get through.

The premise of a warring wizard world, a princess taken prisoner and sold at an auction to the highest bidder to essential become a love slave may appeal to some but I do highly recommend reading trigger warnings for some before starting on this journey, as it turns out this will be a trilogy.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Magpie for the advanced audio reader copy.

Thank you to Hachette Audio for an early listening copy.

I had previously read this book as an e-arc, and was delighted to reread it on audio. While the narrator didn't fully sound like how I envisioned Briony, I enjoyed this reread and hearing the audio production. Julie Soto does such a good job creating the tension between Briony and Toven. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Five amazing stars! I did an immersive read for this book, and I felt like I was watching a movie in my mind! I literally couldn’t breathe from all of the action in the last 20%. The narrator was amazing, perfectly capturing multiple characters by herself. The tension between Toven and Briony was written so well, I could almost feel it. There were still many secrets not yet revealed in this first book and I’m so anxious to find out more. I loved the dual timelines told that showed an origin of “how we got here” and also the beginnings of the aforementioned tension. This might be one of my favorite romantasy books of the year!

Thank you NetGalley and Hatchette for the ALC! I will definitely be purchasing this audiobook also for my own library!

🎧 Rose in Chains
By Julie Soto
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🕰️ Dual timelines
🪄 Magic
⚔️ War
🤫 Secrets
😡Two enemies
👸🏻 royalty
🎓School
💫 Flashbacks
🩶 Morally grey MMC
🔥 slow burn
☠️ Touch her and die
💞 heart vs mind magic
🫠 cliffhanger


The Audiobook was absolutely fabulous and I love my signed copy that I have on my shelf after meeting Julie Soto in person. I loved Briony, the world, magic, tension, and secrets. I didn’t like that cliffhanger and the fact that I have to wait for more. I can’t wait for the next two books in the series.

Thank you Netgalley, Julie Soto, and Hackett Audio for this advanced listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Forever Books for the ALC!

This book was an emotional slow-burn wrapped in barbed wire. It was dark and gritty.

Julie Soto continues to prove she’s a master of writing broken people and complicated, messy relationships, and Roses in Chains is no exception. dark, it’s twisted, it’s filled with longing and rage and the ache of survival—and somehow, still showcases hope and a glimmer of light, and redemption.

Told from multiple POVs, the story dives deep into trauma, obsession, and the grayest of gray relationships. It asks a question that haunted me long after finishing: What do we owe the people who’ve hurt us—and the people who’ve tried to save us?

The narration by Ella Lynch is STUNNING. She doesn’t just read the story—she embodies it. The emotional weight she brings to each character, the tonal shifts, the softness, the steel—she made the audiobook feel like a full-body experience. I could feel the tension coil in my chest with every whisper, and every pause. I would caution readers to really make sure to check the trigger warnings. It's dark and it touches on topics that may be triggering for some.

🎧 If you love:

morally gray bordering black relationships

complicated healing arcs

dual POV tension

characters who feel too real

audiobooks that absolutely wreck you

Then please, run—don’t walk—toward this book.

It’s messy and haunting and hurts so good. Julie Soto doesn’t give us easy love stories—but she always gives us honest ones.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC!

I loved it! I don't really know what I expected entering the book, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's a hit or miss it seems like, but I enjoyed it. A book for all my dark romance girlies out there. I did think Briony and Tevon's relationship might've moved too quickly and that their infatuation perhaps wasn't grounded enough, but I didn't mind. The dystopian like world and dark vibe along with an interesting magic system was top notch for me. All the intrigue and betrayals and politics as well. Really looking forward to the sequel!

♾️⭐️
🌹✨ “I appreciate men who understand power but do not covet it…” ✨🌹

I am in shambles!!! Literally kicking!!! Screaming!!! Throwing up!!! Pacing!!! Doing all the things 😭😭😭 I had to put my pretty Fairyloot edition back on the shelf and switch to my Kindle because the amount of times I threw that thing is insane 💀 I fear I am now obsessed!!!

This is a dark romantasy with all the goodness
🖤 enemies to lovers
🗝️ captive/captor tension
📖 past/present dual POV
🔥 excruciating slow burn (1 chili pepper 🌶️ but the tension?? devastating omg)
🎭 political intrigue
✨ and yes the reason most people picked it up… it’s Dramione fanfic inspired !!!

So I’ll be honest!!! I’ve only seen the Harry Potter movies!!! Never read the books (I will eventually) but I’ve taken a million quizzes and learned I’m a proud Slytherin 🐍 That’s as far as I go into the lore. So learning about Dramione and how it’s a whole movement was eye-opening!!! I’ve been in a deep TikTok rabbit hole adding fanfics to my TBR like crazy 😵‍💫

That said I’m coming into this as a romantasy lover and this book was EVERYTHING !!!

It gave me major Handmaid’s Tale vibes too!!! That comparison clicked immediately for me because I’ve read and watched that series and this felt like that but with magic ✨

I am absolutely obsessed with the magic system!!! The tension!!! The pain !!! And let’s talk about TOVEN 😩
The care he showed Briony even in the beginning unbeknownst to her made me love him even more 😭
He is my new book boyfriend and applications are CLOSED 🫶🔥

The angst was top tier !!! The writing addictive !!! The world heavy and raw but still beautiful !!! I couldn’t stop reading
It gave me everything I wanted and needed !!! It broke me and I liked it 😭🖤

Please check your TWs before diving in ⚠️ It’s dark and layered and raw and I wish someone could do mind magic on me so I could read it again for the first time 🪄

“Fill the pages and close the book.” 🥀

Thank you Forever Publishing for the ARC and Hachette Audio for the audio ARC 🎧📚

This book is dark, emotional, and very addictive. It follows Briony, a fallen princess with powerful mind magic, who’s captured and sold as a magical “heartspring.” The enemies-to-lovers tension, the morally gray characters, and the layered, slow-burn dynamic between them had me glued to my seat. The dual timelines between their past at the academy and the present captivity kept the pacing tight and the emotions high. Can’t wait for the next book.

Huge thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this audio book!! I felt super immersed in the world and loved the voice actor. The only thing I would have really loved was having a male voice as well. I love when I can truly hear both characters to feel more immersed into the story.

For a debut romantasy I am so impressed with the mind/heart magic system and the history involving a dragon ! The past and present chapter timelines weaved in effortlessly too. The main characters yearning, banter, and wanting to protect each other was so intense I was completely obsessed with the slow burn. There were definitely some moments where I held my breath. The pace leading up to a major cliffhanger was so epic. I did read along with an ALC and there were slight moments of emotional reactions disconnected to scenarios. But overall I thought the audiobook narrator did great at capturing everyone’s personality.

I would definitely recommend this to someone who has wanted to try the dark romance genre. This was my first dark romance ever . I have tried this genre before and put down one because it was explicit FOR ME. So seeing that it was my fairyloot box I decided to give it a go. Even though this was very well thought out to have dark elements balanced with fantasy and academia, I want to elaborate and say please check trigger warnings.

Unfortunately for me this was a DNF at 22%. i found the lack of world building too confusing to follow and the magic system, while interesting, was again, not well explained.

onestamente mi aspettavo qualcosa di completamento diverso e forse questa aspettativa ha giocato a sfavore del testo. mi aspettavo un romantasy più "leggero" e invece mi sono trovata davanti una storia molto cruda e la parte "romance" mi ha lasciata abbastanza interdetta. cioè mi ha proprio dato fastidio e l'ho trovata anche abbastanza fuori luogo. se non ci fosse stata quella credo che Rose in chains mi sarebbe piaciuto molto di più. non ero sicura avrei continuato la serie ma l'epilogo mi ha molto incuriosita.
2.75 arrotondato a 3

This had an absolute CHOKEHOLD on me!!! I am newer to the #dramione world, but this was a knock out. It took me a minute to get into the audio, but once l did?! Sold (literally?). The plot kept me turning the pages, the different timelines deepened my understanding of the relationship between B + T, and the narrator was giving straight Hermione energy. So good!