This was such a beautifully done audiobook, it elevated the entire experience. The narration pulled me in and made everything feel incredibly immersive. The dynamic between the main characters was intense, I couldn’t get enough of their connection. The tension, the chemistry, it was all so well done. I’m completely hooked and can’t wait to dive into the next book.

First of all I want to say a huge thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy. When I heard this used to be a Dramione fanfic I automatically knew I needed to read this. Let me just say the twist and turns will have you at the edge of your seat, I mostly did did the audio during my commute to and from work that I almost wanted to crash into traffic LOL.

I also wanted this to be a five star for me but as much as I loved it I just couldn’t. You’re telling me Briony went thru all that always being second best to her brother (when not only was she the smarter twin but also the one with the stronger magic), shouldn’t she be the one who could potentially bond with the dragon!?? Also all the abuse made me very upset. Don’t even get me started on Toven for as much as meditation as he does wouldn’t you think he would be a better man for Briony. In my own world Briony would choose herself and eventually become queen, but we all know how it will end always second best to her brother and eventually married to Toven. Overall I would strongly advise people to read the trigger warnings! This is not for everyone but if it is I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC!

4.5 ⭐️ I was about 30% thru when I realized I’ve already read this before it was traditionally published 😂😂

Julie Soto knows how to write a damn story!! Lemme tell you. The slow burn is burning! This is a dramione fanfic so if you haven’t really read Harry Potter some things may seem odd, but I feel like Julie did a great job separating from the franchise to create her own magic system and character lives. The difference from the fanfic and this story are minute which I love because it was sooo good before ❤️❤️❤️

100% will be recommending to my HP girlies!

I really didn’t know what to expect going into this. I knew it was based on Dramione fanfiction and that was about it. I’ve never read the original fic and it’s not even a ship I like, to be completely honest. But I did really enjoy this book, a lot more than I expected.

I do think it felt quite slow to begin with, and I was a little lost with everything going on - the worldbuilding, the characters, there was a lot of information to digest.

I liked getting scenes from Briony’s past, but I will say that it can sometimes bring you out of the story in a rather jarring way.

I listened to the audio of this, and the narrator did an amazing job. They really brought life to the characters and I enjoyed the experience of listening to them tell the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

As a mega Dramione fan, I was so excited to read Rose and Chains and it totally delivered. This is inspired by Julie Soto’s original fanfic The Auction, which I loved, and while the book follows a similar arc, it really does feel like its own thing. She built a completely new world and magic system, and I was fully sucked in.

The story throws you right into the aftermath of a war, with our two main characters on opposite sides. Obviously, they start off as enemies, so this is a very slow burn, especially since it’s the first in a trilogy. But the tension is there from the beginning, and I stayed engaged the whole time, even though there is a lot of world building and character backstory.

I did feel like some of the world building could have used a little more explanation. I think I had an upper hand from reading the fanfic, and there were moments where things felt a little glossed over or not quite as fleshed out as I remembered. Still, it didn’t take away from the fun.

The ending drops a bomb that has me so invested. I’m so ready for the next one.

The audiobook was also excellent. The narrator captured the tone and intensity of the story so well.

Julie Soto is truly an auto-buy author for me. I’ve read her fanfic, her romance, her thriller, and now her romantasy—and loved all of it. What can’t she write?

4.25⭐

I FLEW THROUGH THIS. Julie delivers another addictive page-turner. I read and loved The Auction and thought this was such a great reworking of the original story. The beginning was a bit of a struggle to get through with so many characters and terms to wrap my mind around. And I guess it was hard for me to separate this world from the hp world. I'm honestly not sure how non-dramione fans will think about this because I may have a bias here 🤭 That being said, Julie KNOWS how to do a slow burn romance and I loved the flashbacks and all the yearning and angst we get here. Her storytelling prowess definitely shines through, making this a riveting read that will leave you eager for the next book in the series.

The audiobook production was well done and I highly recommend for a more engaging read!

An absolute must read for romantasy readers. But much darker than I was expecting it to be, recommend checking trigger warnings before reading this one. One of my top fantasy reads of the year!

ROSE IN CHAINS AHHHH! I wanted so very much to read this and could hardly believe my luck when it was approved. **Queue the literal happy dance!**
Soto beautifully layered this story, weaving in romance and a narrative that grabs hold of you and will not let go. RIC did not disappoint. The narration was BEAUTIFULLY done and very easy to follow. REAAAD IT PEOPLE

This one hurts my soul 🥲 2.5 rounded up

My expectations chained me up and threw away the key 🔑

The first 1/4 was fast paced & pulled me in, but sadly the momentum quickly faded. I’m all for a slow burn but I didn’t feel any burn, or even the slightest sizzle 🔥 It felt like I was being told there was tension between Briony and Toven rather than actually feeling it. No pining, no kicking my feet and giggling. I found the flashbacks disrupted the pacing, and the side characters all blurred together. Things picked up near the end, but overall, it didn’t deliver the emotional depth I was hoping for.

The audiobook narrator was expressive, though some character voice choices didn’t quite land for me.

Thank you NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had the chance to read an e-ARC of Rose in Chains back in February, and it quite literally blew my mind.

So when I was offered the opportunity to experience it again—this time in audiobook format—I grasped it with both arms and legs. And let me tell you: it was everything I could have asked for and more.

This is definitely the darkest fantasy in my repertoire. On this second read, I felt even more sick, basically drowning in the world. The narration was divine.

This story was already intense and captivating on page, but the audiobook elevated it to a whole new level.

If you’re planning to read the book, do yourself a favor and give the audiobook a shot. It's haunting, immersive, and hits even harder the second time around.

I started reading this as an ebook but just couldn’t get into it or care about anything. Then I got the audiobook and switched to that. It helped somewhat, but not enough. The story gave me nothing and I just couldn’t care what was going to happen. It was just boring for me. I know a lot of people really do enjoy the book so it will work for some people, but not for others.

The audiobook itself was really good, and I think the narrator did a good job, but the book itself just wasn’t for me.

Rose in Chains is absolutely phenomenal! As a Dramione rewrite, it was everything I wanted and more – the character development, the tension, the sheer brilliance of it all. I'm already buzzing with excitement for the rest of the series! Five stars, truly.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook early.

I didn’t know much about this book going into it besides that there was a lot of anticipation for it. It’s funny I didn’t even know it was a Dramione fanfic initially either until about halfway through when I started researching this book to see what the hype was for.

Ironically at the beginning of it I was thinking to myself this sounds a lot like a Dramione fanfic turned book LOL I couldn’t believe that I was spot on with that one.

Now back in the day I was obsessed with Dramione fanfics so I have no problem with it being a fanfic turned original story.

However, this wasn’t really it for me.

I knew after reading the warnings that this was a dark romantasy but still I was horrified throughout the book (especially that first half) and even nauseous at some of the scenes.

I kept reading hoping to get to the romance and just kept waiting and waiting and waiting for it and sadly it never really came? This is a slow burn but I’m still a bit disappointed with the very little we got rushed in the end.

Overall, the last chapter (epilogue) intrigued me the most. Not sure if I will continue with the series as the books come out yet.

♡ THIS BOOK WAS MIRTHLESSLY DRAINING ♡

✩°｡⋆ Thank you to Forever ~ Hachette Audio for providing the ALC of this book for an honest review via NetGalley! ⋆｡°✩

♡ MY REVIEW:

The positives:
I did enjoy the first quarter of the beginning of this book. I think the setup was quite intriguing, and it was laying down the foundation for what the reader was about to uncover. I wouldn’t say this is a horrible book by any means, but I think all in all this book wasn’t for me.


The negatives:
I didn’t connect with this book as much as I thought I would. I didn’t feel a pull with the world or connection with the characters. I found it difficult to follow, and it was a tall feat following the events that were happening in the book.

The romance in this book was truly a slow burn; not much happened...like at all. Sometimes that’s okay, so you could build up tension, but I didn’t even feel any tension from the two main characters. I figured if I couldn’t connect to the fantasy element, then maybe I could connect with the romance, and that also fell short for me as well. The writing didn’t have me excited or wanting more. By the 40% mark, the book felt like it was dragging along.

I didn’t particularly love being in Briony’s POV either, and I think she as a character has some growing up to do. In my opinion, I think she’s naive, and the writing doesn’t lend to her being 25 years old. I do think this book would’ve benefited from being a new adult romantasy rather than an adult romantasy book that we ended up getting. I wouldn’t say this is a horrible book by any means, but I think all in all this book truly wasn’t for me.

☆ Overall, I'd give this book a 1/5! ☆

An intriguing, slow-burn, dark romantasy.

‘The war is over, the dark forces have won, and the hero who was supposed to save them is dead. ‘

What to expect –
✨ Interesting magical system – heart magic and mind magic
✨ Political intrigue
✨ Captor/captive romance
✨ Morally grey MMC
✨ Slow-burn romantic tension
✨ Dual timeline with flashbacks
✨ Culture dominated by misogyny
✨ Darker themes – please check the content warnings before reading

This is the first story in the Evermore Trilogy. Before I listened to this, I was not aware that this was based on Julie Soto’s fan fiction, The Auction. I am sure that will draw many people to read this, although I think you can still appreciate the story without this background knowledge.

The audio production and narration by Ella Lynch worked well for this story. I especially appreciate her articulation of the many complex names.

With thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy of this fabulous fantasy story, in exchange for an honest review.

Rose in chains was a fun, exciting new story and im glad I got the chance to read and review it! I loved the two main characters Briony and Taven and being able to see how their relationship started (flashbacks) and how it continued in the present. The tension between these two was so so so good! I enjoyed that fact that it was a very very slow burn.......thats still slow burning all the way to the end! I can't wait to read book 2 just to see what happens between them two!
I do wish there was a little more world building just so I could understand more the setting and how this world has worked in the past. I also feel like we didn't get much intro into the villian or backstreet as I would have liked. I did get so excited to see there was a dragon and im excited to see how that plans out more in book 2!

Overall I did really enjoy my read! I went and pi ked up a physical copy for my shelf and I do intend to read on and continue the series!

Thank you to Netgalley and HachetteAudio for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Narration: Single narrator
I enjoyed Ella Lynch’s voice throughout and thought the audio quality was good. I did struggle to understand the emotion of characters speaking at times though. There were instances where I would only know Briony, for example, was frustrated while speaking after the narrator would indicate this, rather than portraying it clearly in her voice.

After seeing quite a few people hype this up, I needed to find my people that also did not enjoy this book. It seems like (from what I can tell from some other reviews) if you did not know the original story this is based off (I did not realize that this was a Dramione fanfic) that you would have a difficult time understanding what’s going on. If that is the case, I really think it should have been written so that any reader–familiar or not–could enjoy and understand the story on its own.

The beginning was honestly a struggle for me, and that confusion never really lifted. If you asked me for a recap, I could barely tell you anything meaningful except that Briony is a virgin–that’s literally the only detail that truly stuck with me. I also felt bored for most of this book. It felt like nothing happened until maybe the very end, and even then, the payoff was so underwhelming that I didn’t really care by that point. One thing I did think was intriguing was the magic system–heart magic and mind magic is a cool concept! The execution fell really flat for me though. I never really felt like I understood the rules or saw it used in any way that was satisfying or made sense.

There were moments where I enjoyed the tension between Briony and Toven–the spark was there in some scenes–but just as often it made me cringe. I didn’t understand why these two liked each other and their back-and-forth just got repetitive and annoying for me by the end. I also want to call out how women are treated in this world. To be fair, it’s clearly intentional and it’s meant to be oppressive and disturbing, and I’m fine with that as a theme. But even so, I wished there had been something to balance it out–some hope, or moments of triumph or catharsis to look forward to. Instead, the whole tone felt bleak and “blah”, with very little emotional payoff for slogging through the ugliness.

In the end, this was unfortunately a big letdown. It had a premise that could have worked for me with sharper execution and more thoughtful development of the world and romance. Instead, it left me bored, frustrated, and ultimately disappointed.

I LOVED this audiobook. I wish I could rate it a 4.5. While I love some dark romantasy, this story didn't even need to go super smutty to hold its appeal. I will absolutely be tuning in for book two.

Thank you so much for the ALC of this masterpiece!! From to finish, I was hooked and entertained! Julie Soto has become an auto buy author for me and this one really sealed that! The dark aspect of this with selling off the captured Evermore and the sexual assault made my heart ache but the tension between Briony and Toven was spectacular! And I loved how the story jumped back in time to see how things ended up where they are! I KNEW the plot twist was coming and I love when I guess right and it still makes me gasp! I will be impatiently waiting for the next book in the series and will probably reread this a couple of time until then!

You know what, hell yeah.

I have, ultimately, some conflicting feelings about this book but overall I feel like the story really pulled me in. This is a slower-paced story, but I think it’ll probably pick up speed in the next two books. And while I never read the original, this book very much felt like it stood on its own two feet without someone else’s world-building propping it up.

The trigger warnings at the front of this book are terrifying, but it imo, it didn’t read as heavy as I anticipated. Yes, this is a dark world where very bad, evil things happen, but lack of graphic detail gives the reader a little distance.

I received an audio ARC and really enjoyed the narrator. If you like audio, I highly recommend. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.