First off I usually don’t do audiobooks so this was a new experience for me. But it was a good experience! I loved the narrator here. She did a great job.

As for the actual book, I’m a little back and forth. I am very familiar with the source material this novel comes from so in my head I was kinda tying it all back to that. I think Soto did a really good job with creating her entirely own new world even if it feels a little familiar. I think she differentiates her world from Harry Potter very very well. This is a very dark story but there is this underlying hope in it which I liked.

I think the part of all this that didn’t work for me were the flashbacks. I get we needed the added context and the background but for so much of the early part of this book, not much happens. And the flashbacks later on feel a bit disjointed.

However, with that said, when we’re in the thick of the story and we’re really in it, this is very good and works really well. I will be back for book 2.

holyyyy slow burn, this book was so good!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing this ALC in exchange for my honest opinion :)

First things first, I listened to this as an audio book & the narrator was great! I know it has to be hard making unique voices for each person when it’s only one narrator but I was able to tell each character by the voices she gave them. Her accent was also easy to listen to.

As for the actual book, I was a big fan! The beginning pace with all the story building was slightly slow but easy to follow & once the auction happened it felt like the ball really started rolling and was so non-stop after that. It’s definitely a darker fantasy but that’s not something I mind, plus the author added appropriate triggers for everything.
The flashback chapters were added in really well & always helped move the storyline along and didn’t drag or ever feel out of place.
Another element I really loved was Tovens parents & how Briony fit in with their family towards the end. I feel like the dynamic was so perfect.

Also the twist at the end?? Yes please!! I can’t wait for the next book already!

Rose in Chains was a magical, dark, tragic, and thrilling read. I never read the original work that this book is based on, but I can say with absolute certainty that the story, characters and premise were unique and beautifully written.

I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook and the female narrator was absolutely phenomenal. She embodied the female main character and added depth, tension and so much emotion. I was truly immersed in the story from start to finish.

As this book deals with a lot of dark and heavy themes, I would highly recommend checking the trigger warnings before reading. These themes are prevalent and consistent throughout the entire book.

This book was filled with political intrigue, rival kingdoms, dragons and a unique magical system. Plot wise, there were a lot of moving pieces, characters and secrets.

While the magic system and world building were great and well presented, it did take me a bit to understand at first. The second half of this book was a lot stronger and hooked me until the very end.

There were several secondary characters that I ended up loving and rooting for. I cannot wait for more of their story and what roles they play throughout this series. I do have to say that the male main character stole my heart. Such a complex, secretive, dark and morally grey character.

The relationship between the main characters was definitely unconventional. There’s history, secrets, and affection between them. It’s a slow burn romance filled with delicious tension, yearning, and angst. While there was no explicit spice or scenes between them, there was a passionate and heated kiss that had me feral.

This book does leave off on a cliffhanger, which has me impatient for the next book. I cannot wait to see how the story unfolds. Overall, an incredible audiobook that will have you binge listening in one day! Thank you Julie Soto for creating characters I’m now obsessed with.

Thank you to publisher via NetGalley for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

5 stars!! 🌟 A devastating, addictive and unforgettable masterpiece. My heart hurt the entire book!!

Ella Lynch did an outstanding job narrating for the main characters AND the side characters. It was easy to differentiate which characters she was narrating and I could not stop listening!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own 🫶🏼

This fantasy romance absolutely wrecked me—in the best way. The romance is the slowest of slow burns, and I was so here for it. It’s enemies to lovers, full of emotional depth, and the flashbacks to the academia setting added so much richness to the characters and their connection.

Content Warning: It gets dark at times, so definitely check your triggers before diving in.

There’s a steady stream of political tension, just the right amount of action, and an ending that left me theorizing what will happen next. I have SO many theories.

Also… the sprayed edges? Absolutely stunning.

Huge thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the gifted ARC. Rose in Chains releases July 8—go preorder this beauty. You won’t regret it. Thank you to Hatchette Audio for the ALC. I absolutely loved the narrator for this book. She did a wonderful job what a performance. This audiobook is top tier definitely immersion read this one!

As a fan of The Auction, I knew I was going to love this and I did. I wish the world building was a little bit more developed, but I’m guessing there will be more of it in the next two books. Fans of The Auction and Julie Soto will LOVE this book. Briony is a strong fmc and Toven is just perfection. I can’t wait for book two!

I ate this book up.

Rose in Chains attempts to adapt a wildly popular Dramione fanfic into an original IP, and mostly pulls it off. This book tackles some very heavy themes, so I would recommend checking the trigger warnings before diving into the story.

Where this book really excels is with the romance plot. If you’re someone who loves your romance to be slow burn, messy, where they’re both down bad but won’t admit it, you’re going to LOVE this, like I did. One second, they’re trading barbs, and the next, they can’t keep their eyes or hands off of each other. Chef's kiss, no notes.

The world-building in this book wasn’t great. The great part about writing fanfic is that you don’t have to develop the world because it already exists based on the existing IP you’re drawing from. When adapting a fic to an original work, you need to essentially rebuild the world from the ground up, and Julie Soto didn’t really do that. The world exists just barely enough to allow the plot to move forward. I’m hoping that, going into future books, we get to learn and see more of the world.

The main villain does not translate well from the fic (Voldemort). Nothing happens that justifies how this person was able to essentially take over the kingdom or why they evoke such fear and loyalty from people. I think this also stems from the fact that these characters needed a lot more backstory than what we ultimately got. This book doesn’t have the luxury of an eight-book series to pull context from.

If you’ve read The Auction or HP fanfics, you’ll enjoy this a lot. If you haven’t, I think the amount of enjoyment you’ll have will depend on how much stock you put in world-building and character development.

Thank you so much to Hachette Audio for gifting me an ALC of this book before its official release.

Wow! I already want to reread it! Great fantasy debut for Julie Soto!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to the ALC

Rose in Chains is one of my most anticipated releases of 2025 so I was THRILLED to be approved for an ALC. I want to start this review with a huge thank you to Hachette Audio, NetGalley, and Julie Soto for the early copy!

Starting off with the production, Ella Lynch did a fantastic job narrating this book! Not only were the main characters done well, but when she spoke for some of the slimier side characters, I literally felt my skin crawl. I listened to this nearly non-stop with only a break for a few hours of sleep.

Now for the story, I absolutely loved the fanfiction that this story started as - so much so that I learned how to bind books so I could make myself a copy. Going into the read of Rose in Chains, I tried to think of it from the perspective of someone like myself who read and adored the fic and also as someone who has never read the fanfiction or is going into the story blind.

For someone who loved the fic, I thought that Julie Soto did an absolutely incredible job with this story. So much of what I loved was preserved and the adaptations only made the story more intriguing. I feel like I should have a rough idea of what's coming in book two, but when I got to the end I felt the cliffhanger just like everyone else and I can't wait for more!

For someone who hasn't read the fic before, I think there were a few things I'd probably want to know more about. I'd love to know more about the background/motivations of the villain in the story. Also, more characterization of the side characters might have been helpful so it is a little more impactful when Briony hears news about them. But overall, still a fantastic read!

I can't wait to have this book (or let's be honest, books because I've already pre-ordered multiple copies) in my hands.

Oh, this was excellent! I was unsure of the narrator for about the first chapter, but then everything just connected and she was fantastic! No spoilers, but the slow burn, enemies-to-lovers, helping each other tropes work so well. I need the next one after that epilogue! 4.5⭐

Thank you to Net Galley, Julie Soto, and Hackett Audio for this Arc copy of the audiobook. I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love Julie’s writing and the story but the time hops just didn’t work for me. I also feel like I might enjoy this more as a physical read versus audio. Overall I give this 3.5 stars.

Briony Rosewood is captured by the enemy, her kingdom overthrown, and she is stripped of her mind magic as she is auctioned off to the highest bidder. Rose in Chains is a romantasy with a unique magic system and captivating storytelling. It has been beautifully reworked from The Auction (a Dramione fanfiction) as part one of the Evermore trilogy and it was simply exquisite from start to finish! Ella's narration was wonderful and the production kept my attention focused - I didn't want to stop listening. The backstory and schooling system are detailed in a way that allows the story to pack the same punch that the fic did. Julie Soto is a genius and I can't wait to read it again.

A big thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for the Rose in Chains arc! This was my most anticipated book of the year and I still can't believe I'm reviewing it early.

Rose in chains is out everywhere on July 8th!

4.5 rounded up

Have a little patience with this book and you will be rewarded. It takes off big time in the beginning and feels like there's a slight slump, but read it with the concept in mind that this is the first book in the trilogy!

What I loved:
- the in depth world building
- the scary (at times), powerful, unique magic
- the intense, heartbreaking politics

What I struggled with:
- tonsssss of characters at the beginning. I had a hard time feeling connected for this reason, but around 70% I felt more connected

While this is based on a HP fanfic, I'm not sure that you must read the fanfic to be able to thoroughly enjoy this story. I think that would be hard for anyone to say. I knew it was based on a fanfic but have never read it, so being able to keep that in the back of my mind and a sparse idea of what the fanfic was about, helped me to follow the storyline more easily. But you can still enjoy this story with absolutely no prior HP knowledge.

**premise**
The bad guys have won and those who opposed and are of particular, powerful magical blood are sold at auction to the highest bidder. Some sold to those who they used to call classmates. Our FMC, a princess of a powerful ruling family, is sold to her years ago rival classmate for whom she's always felt an attraction. He must do wrong to her so that others cannot do worse.

------------

The ending of this book was quite surprising to me and I mispredicted A LOT of stuff which rarely happens and that moved this book from 4 solid stars all the way through to being 4.5. Still only off by .5 because of the lack of connection I felt.

But this plot is remarkable and the world is deep and if you give the storyline time to cook, you'll be glad for it! This is definitely a trilogy I'll be continuing!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Hatchette Audio for this advanced listener copy!

Stunning and addicting- I’m already salivating for book two. I absolutely loved Rose in Chains! You can just feel the yearning. Julie Soto is an auto buy author for me after this one!

NetGalley Review – ★★★★★
Rose in Chains by Julie Soto

Rose in Chains is hands-down my top read of 2025. From the very first page, I was completely hooked—Julie Soto delivers a dark, emotional, and utterly addictive story that had me glued to my Kindle.

The tension, the gothic atmosphere, the slow-burn intensity—it’s all perfection. The characters are magnetic and deeply layered, and the writing is so immersive it feels like it wraps around you.

I couldn’t put it down, and now I’m desperate for book 2. This story owns me, and I will be thinking about it for a long, long time. Stunning, powerful, and impossible to forget.

I absolutely loved the content—engaging, insightful, and incredibly well-written. The narration was perfectly suited to the tone and style of the book. I honestly couldn’t stop listening! This audiobook kept me hooked from start to finish, and I’d highly recommend it to everyone!

I want to start this off by saying that I have not read Harry Potter (please don’t come for me) and have not dipped my toes into ANY fanfic so I went into this book with a complete clean slate. I was a little confused in the first 15% or so as I’m also not the biggest fantasy girl, so it took me a minute to wrap my head around the ideas of mind magic and heart magic. But let me tell you, once I got past some of the initial questions, I was HOOKED. Like the type of hooked where I’m so focused on reading and by the time I look up it’s the middle of the night but I just can’t stop reading.

Julie Soto is one of my auto-buy contemporary romance authors, and she is now on the list as an auto-buy romantasy author. Her writing in this book was gripping. The hand maids tale meets fantasy world building comes with dark themes and Julie Soto writes them perfectly. With this book being a trilogy, the slow burn was definitely a SLOW BURN - I am still gripping my kindle just yearning for the forbidden romance between Toven and Briony. I absolutely can not wait for the rest of this series to publish.

Audiobook notes: I loved Ella Lynch’s narration of this book. Given the origination of the story, I was really glad that she had an accents as it honestly kept me super engaged and allowed me to feel like I was part of that world. I think that dual narration would’ve made this audio a 5 star listen, especially with the number of characters in the book, but Ella Lynch was still able to given Briony and Toven their distinct voices and portray their emotions through the book.

I really liked this despite having a few complaints. Dark romance isn’t usually my thing—I feel too deeply to enjoy stories with cruelty—but this one hooked me. Ella Lynch is a solid narrator, though her voice leans very child-like. Paired with Briony’s behavior, which felt more like a 13-year-old than someone in her twenties, it made the romance (and especially the sexual assault elements) pretty icky to sit through. I had to keep reminding myself this character was supposed to be an adult.

Now for the positives: I loved Toven. He’s basically a hot, emotionally tortured Professor Snape type—gruff, distant, trying to protect Briony by treating her terribly. I totally get why she liked him, even if the reverse took more suspension of disbelief. Still, I couldn’t stop listening, and that’s always a good sign.

This is an absolute dark romantasy hit. I binged this audiobook in less than 24 hours while still having to participate in normal life activities. Given that this is a dark romantasy, I recommend checking trigger warnings before starting your read. I think Soto handled the darker elements of this story well. As a whole, Rose in Chains is incredibly well written and will have you begging to know what happens next. The plot moved at a good pace, and there’s solid political intrigue mixed with a delicious slow burn romance. The tension and yearning was top notch. The characters were fantastically written — they’re richly developed with complex back stories to the point that certain characters kept you guessing as to their motives throughout the entire story. The magic system is very interesting as well. Fair warning, though, this ends on a cliffhanger. I enjoyed the audiobook in general. The narration was crisp and easy to understand. I felt that there was adequate emotion throughout the story, and it also kept me engaged. I do wish it was a little darker/grittier to match the dark vibes of the story. Overall, I am obsessed and can’t wait for the next installment.

As someone who read the original Dramione fanfic, I went into Roses in Chains fully expecting to know what was coming—but Julie Soto completely threw me. She didn’t just adapt it, she transformed it. The world is darker, more layered, and emotionally loaded in a way that felt totally new. It stands fully on its own, and honestly? It might’ve hit me even harder than the original.

Briony (Rose) is such a vulnerable, quietly powerful protagonist, and the tension with Toven is magnetic. It’s slow-burn, it aches, and when it finally breaks—you feel it. Soto doesn’t rush anything, and that patience pays off.

Now let’s talk audiobook: Ella Lynch was BREATHTAKING. Her voice gave this story soul. She captured Rose’s turmoil perfectly and Toven’s restrained yearning? Devastating. It genuinely felt like Briony was reading me her own story.

Soto’s writing is lyrical and emotionally raw, and the title? So clever. I was fully hooked and left a complete wreck by the end.

I’m going to be thinking about these characters for a long time. And after that ending?? I’ll be over here not-so-patiently waiting for book 2.

Thank you NetGalley, Julie Soto & Hachette Audio for the ALC—what a ride. 4.5 ⭐️