I have been lucky enough to share a meal with Julie. She is so kind and happy. I just have one question: Julie Soto, who hurt you?

Rose is Chains is a dark fantasy romance that will make your heart flutter and your skin crawl. Julie Soto’s writing is nothing short of masterful, skillfully keeping the reader engaged from beginning to end. I could not force myself to put this down, even into the middle of the night. Every moment spent reading was worth the sacrifice of sleep.


Julie’s writing is lush, and her world building is to die for. I feel like I will be haunted by this world for many months to come. My only complaint is that I have to wait for the next one.

Thank you, Netgalley and Hachette Audio, for giving me the opportunity to listen to this wonderful story ahead of time.

Audiobook review:
Ella Lynch did a phenomenal job narrating this story. Her inflections and tone were incredibly expressive, bringing the characters and their emotions to life. I thought her pacing was wonderful. I usually listen to audiobooks at 1.5 speed, but I ended up listening at 1.25.

Please be sure to check trigger warnings.

I loved this! It starts right in the middle of the action. I thought the world building was done well. The magic system was unique. I enjoy any kind of mind based magic and I thought that aspect was done really well. There are several flashback chapters but I thought they’d were placed appropriately. Everything felt well paced.

There was so much chemistry between these two. This is definitely a very slow burn though. I enjoyed every interaction between these two.

This story does contain some dark elements so make sure to check the trigger warnings. I did read her fan fiction The Auction. While there are big similarities it didn’t feel like I was reading the same thing again. You don’t need to have read or even know anything about that work in order to enjoy this one.

The narration was absolutely amazing. Ella Lynch does such a great job! I can’t wait for the next one to come out! I didn’t want to stop reading!

This is hands down one of my favorite reads of the year. Let’s start off with the audio. I loved listening to Ella Lynch. She has the perfect voice for Briony Rosewood. I was immediately immersed into the world with her voice. Now for the book. This follows Briony Rosewood who was once the daughter of the leader of Eversuns, now she is captured and in the hands of dark forces. She is quickly stripped of her mind magic and all of her freedom and immediately put up to bid for the highest seller. In comes Toven Hearst, who is the high ranking bomardsun.

Thank you Hachette Audio for the Advanced Listening Copy of Rose in Chains!

I loved this book, and I flew through the audiobook. The performance was incredible. I really loved this world of political scheming. I loved the magic. There are two types of magic practiced, heart magic and mind magic. Each side seems to view the other as the lesser magic. Of course the winning side in the war, want to use their captives as a means to strengthen their power.

The notion that the Bomard have outlawed a type of magic, purely because they claim it is beneath them, is unfortunately all too real. So when Briony is captured by her enemy and former school crush, she looks for ways to fight back and for allies to help. The tension in every scene was incredibly well written, and I can’t wait to see what comes next... especially after that ending!

First of all. I highly recommend the audiobook version. The narrator is so beyond captivating and had me even more present in this story. Wow. Blown away.

Next.
I loved this book!!! I was hooked from the very first chapter. We come into this story right as an uprising is taking place and quickly learn how things are collapsing around our characters in this world, and the repercussions of this hostile take over. Briony (our female lead) has just lost her brother in battle, and has been taken and auctioned off to the highest bidder to have her magic used at her buyers needs and wants...And she is bought by (our male lead) Toven. Briony and Toven have a bit of a history, which we get to see in flashbacks throughout the story. And things are not quite as they seem. Leaders are being questions, motives are mysterious, there is so much action...I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

There is so much chemistry between our leads. OMG. The amount of times I had to stop what I was doing and just soak in what was happening...was a lot. I loved the mystery and trying to figure out where everyone was loyal. I loved the fight that Briony carries. She's so tough and just unwilling to not do what she can for her land, people, and the other women who have lost their rights and have been sold. AND TOVEN!!! Omg. I love this man. The magical system was also very interesting to learn about. Mind magic is something I always really enjoy in fantasy books, and this was a really good take on it.

I did not want this book to end. I am very excited to see how this trilogy continues. I need it sooner rather than later.

Not my favorite Julie Soto! This is the slowest burn I’ve ever read. I loved Soto’s other work, but this one didn’t make a lot of sense to me. However, I will be reading the next one.

Briony is a princess stripped of everything. Magic, dignity, freedom, then auctioned to her childhood crush, Toven, now turned captor. It’s enemies‑to‑lovers drenched in betrayal, political poison, and a slow burn that scorches .

Toxic chemistry done right but be warned. It’s heavy. Full of volence, auctions, emotional manipulation.
The only thing that tripped me up occasionally was the nonlinear narrative, until I had all the puzzle pieces.

I read the ebook of Rose in Chains earlier in the year and enjoyed it, so I was excited to give the audiobook a try! Ella Lynch was the perfect narrator for this story. At first, I wasn't so sure, but after a while, I found that the intonation worked well for Briony and her feelings. I even found myself liking some key characters more because I was able to hear the way that they were speaking. This audiobook definitely enriched my experience of the story, so I would strongly recommend it.

I enjoyed both of Julie Soto’s adult novels, Forget Me Not and Not Another Love Song. The only thing that gave me pause to start this book was the genre, Romantasy. I’ve tried both of the big romantasy favorites that became popular during lockdown, but could not get into them. This book was different for me, and I really liked it.

Rose in Chains is a powerful, unforgettable debut into a dark, emotionally intense fantasy realm. If you’re prepared for gritty themes and a romance steeped in trauma and tension, this could be your next obsession.

The story begins after the dark forces have already triumphed—rather than the usual quest for victory. Princess Briony Rosewood of Evermore is captured after her kingdom falls and is sold as a magical “heartspring”—a living power source—into the hands of her enemy, Toven Hearst of Bomard.

The storytelling is non-linear yet well-paced, keeping revelations and backstory layered and effective. Core romance follows an intense slow-burn enemies-to-lovers arc, full of moral ambiguity, emotional tension, and psychological depth.

Rose in Chains is a powerful, unforgettable debut into a dark, emotionally intense fantasy realm. If you’re prepared for gritty themes and a romance steeped in trauma and tension, this could be your next obsession. Be sure to check trigger warnings

I was lucky enough to receive the ALC from Hachette Audio via NetGalley! I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it. The narrator has a beautiful voice and carries the story well.

What can I say about this book?
It's going to be living rent free in my head for quite a while.
It's high fantasy, dystopian, enemies to lovers, female rage, revolution...
Absolutely brilliant!
Let me tell you right now; this is going to be a huge release and you're going to be hearing about this book everywhere!
Whoever said that MMCs can't be blonde hasn't meant Toven Hurst yet.
This book is part one of a trilogy and I am already salivating waiting for the next installment.
Another absolutely incredible story from the amazing Julie Soto.


If I had a single critique it would be that I didn’t love the narrator’s male voice. Her female voice was absolutely lovely, but I would rather a second narrator for the male voice.

Unfortunately, this was a big letdown for me. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Audio performance: The voice actor comes off extremely YA (young-sounding voice). Couple this with the numerous, or should I say, constant flashbacks to the younger teen years of various characters; it made the first 40% of this book feel like a young adult fantasy. Don't get me wrong; I love YA fantasy, but my biggest issue with books labeled ADULT ROMANTASY lately is how young the characters are...... maybe it's a marketing thing, who knows.

Did I read the FanFic "The Auction" - no....

Main issues
1. Flat characters
2. Clunky world-building
3. So many characters with zero connect
4. Too many flashbacks, it pulled me out of the story when we kept going back in time - I dislike that style of character development/world building
5. Not a fulfilling romance at all

I walked away feeling nothing, absolutely nothing, for these characters, this world, or their love story. If I had read this with my eyeballs instead of listening to it, then maybe it would have been a different experience, who knows

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Although this was my first read from Rose in Chains, i'll definitely read more books by this author in the future.

Please be advised that this is a five star review.

Did you think there couldn’t possibly be a romantasy FMC hornier than the FMCs in A Court of Mist of Fury and Fourth Wing?

Well, I’d like to introduce you to Briony Rosewood, the horniest FMC I have ever read. Briony is the twenty-something year old princess of Evermore, a country at war with its neighboring country. When we meet Briony, we quickly learn that the thing she wants most in life is to bang her magic high school bully/frenemy/crush who, unfortunately for Briony, is a member of the nobility of the horrifying country they are at war with. It is immediately obvious through flashbacks that said bully, Toven Hearst, was also crushing hard on Briony, because he did all the things that boys do to girls they like in high school: steal her books, pick on her, and constantly make out with his girlfriend in front of her.

Briony’s not worried about the war, though, because there’s a prophecy that says her somewhat-hapless twin brother, who also happens to be King of Evermore, is about to win it. Briony is VERY confident in this VERY vague prophecy. So confident, in fact, that she dumps her sweet-but-sexually-inept boyfriend right before he goes off to the final battle of the war because she wants to make sure she’s available to be “forced” into a political marriage with her bully. (To keep the peace, of course.)

Tragically, Briony seems to have been dead wrong about the prophecy, and they lose the war spectacularly, with her brother presumed dead. The bad guys immediately begin rounding up Briony and her friends to auction them off as sex/magic slaves.

Naturally, after some shenanigans, Toven ends up “winning” Briony, so she has (/gets) to go live at his very fancy magic house with him and, awkwardly, his parents. Toven achieves the absolute bare minimum level of decency by allowing Briony to leave her bedroom, letting her read books and the newspaper, and refusing to engage in a sexual relationship that couldn’t possibly be consensual given the power dynamics. This, of course, INFURIATES Briony (and honestly, me).

You see, Reader, Toven is NOT a Bad Guy(tm), despite constantly hanging out with the most disgusting group of dude bros you can possibly imagine. No, Toven is a Very Good Guy(tm) who, along with his family, has been playing the long game for reasons that I assume will be revealed in future books. To maintain this facade, Toven and Briony frequently have to pretend in front of his gross friends that he IS using her as a sex slave. This causes a lot of friction because Briony wants to go full method, whereas Toven annoyingly seems to prefer that sex mean something.

In other words, Toven is head over heels in love with Briony, which is very obvious to everyone but Briony. (At one point, when Briony is questioning how Toven feels about her, a character throws up her hands and says “I can’t with this,” and I felt that in my soul.)

There is also a subplot about some efforts to overthrow the regime, which is headed up by a very evil lady who seems way too interested in everyone’s personal business considering she is supposed to be running a country. I think this is supposed to be the A story, but it felt very B story to me.

In sum, I absolutely loved this book and would read a million more like it. Also, the narrator is excellent and I would strongly recommend listening to the audio if you can. She made the arguments between Briony and Toven a thousand times better. A thousand out of five stars.

Thanks to Hachette and NetGalley for the advance audio.

I loved this book (and the fanfiction on which it is based). it had everything that I wanted in a romantasy and I can't wait to find out what happens next. I will definitely be recommending this one.

I had the pleasure of advance reading the ebook and the audio, and I feel my original 4⭐️ rating fits for both.

While the dark fantasy plot pulled me in nearly right away and kept me intrigued throughout, the romance in this story leaves much to be desired for me. However, as a first book in a series, I am giving the benefit of believing the next book will provide more by way of romance. So just know this is SLOW burn.

I do think this entire story would have benefitted tremendously by providing the MMCs pov, even small snippets, though the narration being single made sense for this story considering you only get Briony’s pov. Much of the issues I have I think would have been resolved by knowing even a little of what was going on in his head. As it stands, I feel my own mind is doing more work to provide romantic tones in certain situations than what is actually written on the page, and that bothers me a bit.

But romance aside, this is still a really intriguing dark fantasy, emphasis on dark.

Thank you so much to Hachette and Julie Soto for letting me listen to this ALC.

4.5/5
WOW, this was so good and even better than I expected it to be.
I was lucky enough to get to listen to the audiobook of this ahead of its release and I'm so glad I went the audiobook route because the performance was so good. The narrator was perfectly cast for Briony and did a great job with voicing all the other characters.
I'm always really hesitant about reading books that were formerly fanfiction but I can totally understand why this was picked up to be traditionally published.
I loved the plot and little hints of romance throughout without the romance being the primary focus; I think that would've really downplayed the true horror and darkness of what Briony was going through.

4.5 !

This audio was great but I think it would have benefitted from dual narration with a male narrator.

Although originally a darmionie fan fiction I was engrossed in the plot and the story. The time flashbacks really helped you understand the relationship between the two main characters. It was a slow burn but the angst was so delicious I didn’t mind!

It does end on a cliff hanger. I can’t wait for book 2!

💗 Rose in Chains by Julie Soto

🌹 “𝑻𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.”
“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔?” 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔. “𝑰’𝒎 𝒏𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅.”

⛓️ This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but it just wasn’t for me. 😭 I felt the world building was lacking at times, and there were SO many characters at first that I was lost.

💗 The world building- As a sister to a brother, I really felt no real connection to her brother that she was supposed to be close with. Also, how and when did the king die? That’s never explained. Why is the Mind Magic bad? Maybe these questions will be further explained in the sequel, but I was lost.

🌹 The flashbacks were good for background knowledge, but some chapters would let you know you were reading a flashback and others didn’t. This made it difficult to keep up with the story.

⛓️ The romance- The relationship between the two MCs was decent. It was certainly a slow burn, which I do enjoy. However, I felt like I never really understand his motivations for most things. Again, this might be further explained in the sequel.

💗 Overall, this was a decent listen, but I don’t know if I’ll read the sequel. I know SO many people love this, but it wasn’t for me. 🫣 I know that’s controversial.

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Knowing the origin of this work, I was worried I would be listening to a thinly veiled mimic. However, Soto did an exceptional job converting this work into original fiction. The magic system was interesting, as were the relationships and for a dark romantasy which is for sure not my genre I found myself really enjoying it. I would’ve liked the world building to be explored throughout the story rather than so much of it being regulated to the beginning.

I think a large portion of that comes down to the narrator. They did an incredible job with the voices and the tone and emotions of the characters to delivery really interesting performance. I am unsure if I had read this as an e-book if I would’ve enjoyed it nearly as much.

I do have some complaints largely around the marketing of this book. I think this would have been so much better if I had not known its origins. I found myself wondering who each character’s counterparts were in the OG story it is based on. It was a huge distraction. Soto did such a good job divorcing herself from the original content that I would’ve liked that separation to exist in the marketing, covers, etc.

This was my first book by Julie Soto. I am interested now to read her contemporary books and compare the writing. A magical story of loss and fighting when you find yourself with little control even though you have always been one of the most influential and powerful. I am so excited to see where this story goes especially with the ending. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator and felt they took me on the journey and kept me there.