Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Rose in Chains

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Rose in Chains by Julie Soto

41 reviews

booksalacarte's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

4.5⭐️2.5🌶️

Dark Romantasy

Non-linear timeline

Flashbacks

Magical schools

Rival kingdoms

War

Political intrigue

Dragons

Failed prophecy

Enemies to lovers

Secrets

Rebellion

Slow burn

Forced proximity

High stakes

Tw: grief, war, SA, human trafficking, murder, enslavement, forced sterility, forced termination of pregnancy (off page), non-consensual relationships, misogyny, gore

*note- trigger warnings are not reflected in spice rating. Read responsibly.

I love Julie Soto’s highly bingeable writing style, and as a fan of her contemporary romances, I was thrilled to be approved for the audiobook galley on NetGalley!

Many readers will recognize her from AO3, where she’s widely respected for her fanfiction. While those familiar with the source material may notice a few parallels, the story here stands firmly on its own. The changes are creative and distinct. You’d never know it was a reimagining unless you were looking for it.

The audiobook was fantastic! The narrator’s pacing, inflection, and melodic tone were spot-on, and each character had a clearly defined voice. Even at 1.75x speed, the narration felt perfectly paced and immersive.

The magical system and historical elements felt fresh and well-developed. Some aspects of the world were repeated a bit more than necessary, but not enough to pull me out of the story.

The plot was compelling and the tension, especially the romantic tension, was absolutely top-tier. There’s just something about a character quietly pining for someone they shouldn’t that always lands. While I’m not usually a fan of flashbacks, the ones to their school days were effective. Scenes occasionally replayed from different POVs or slightly altered timelines, which added depth, though the repetition was noticeable.

This is a dark fantasy romance, and the themes are heavy, particularly around human trafficking. It’s handled with care, but definitely worth noting.

This is a very slow burn. At times I wondered if any spice between the main characters would happen at all in this book… but the tension was so deliciously drawn out that I didn’t mind one bit.

Briony and Toven are wonderfully developed, and I loved seeing the slow reveal of Toven’s parents. However, most of the other characters felt less fleshed out—likely due to the story’s secluded setting. I especially wished for more development in Briony’s relationship with her twin brother, which felt underexplored.

I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to explore more of the characters, world, and magic in future books. A strong start to what promises to be a gripping series!

Content Warnings

ink_lyn's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I really enjoyed the start of this book. The middle really killed the momentum. There needed to be more action, higher stakes, and better character development. The main character, Briony, acted so much younger than someone in her mid-twenties. She didn't seem to grasp the danger of her situation and acted like a love struck teenager instead.

I had the audiobook and thought the narration was well done.

Thank You @HachetteAudio and @Netgalley for the advance audio copy of this book!
Opinions of the book are my own.

Content Warnings

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

hxlleann's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!!!

3.5 stars.

This was a highly anticipated read for me and I was so happy to get an early copy…

I feel like I went through multiple phases with this book. The beginning hooked me pretty quickly and I felt like I had an easy time getting pulled into the story. I feel like the world building was relatively easy to understand and I was able to imagine the world pretty well based on the writing. I do think the politics and succession was kind of confusing and there were a lot of characters to remember, but it felt pretty well thought out. I appreciated the tension between the two main characters and felt that the flashbacks really helped to give more context to their relationship and set the scene for a sort of enemies to lovers situation.

Some complaints…

After finishing this book, I just kept thinking that it felt incomplete. I know it is meant to be the start of a series, so I expected it to leave us with a conflict that will need to be completed in the other books, but I just felt like we were lacking when it came to a lot of things. The ending felt rushed, and really lacked any sort of wrapping up of ANY parts of the plot. The relationship between the main characters felt like it reset completely back to where it was at the beginning of the book and we lost all progress. I also feel like, honestly, not that much actually happened in this book. I know sometimes first books in a series can be like that as they are providing a lot of setup… but this book felt like so much filler and borderline repetition that didn’t advance the plot as much as I wanted. Also, if you love a slow-burn then THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. There was tension, there was like… suggestive dialogue and longing and dreaming of each other……. but they did not even so much as KISS until 95% into the book. I like a slow burn but it was hard to wait that long for any sort of progress.

Overall there were things I enjoyed and things that I did not. I’m honestly unsure at the moment if this will be a series I continue or not.

Content Warnings

riversidereads's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters: Yes

Please be aware of all TW before reading!

Content Warnings

reading_with_manders's review against another edition

3.0

dark medium-paced

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The first few chapters of Rose in Chains were agonizingly clunky to the point that I almost DNFed multiple times. The only reason I pushed through is because some of my friends who’d also gotten an advance copy assured me that it did get better. But those first chapters? The writing was stiff and stilted and the characters were flat and monotone. I did not believe for even a second that any of these people liked each other, which is rough given that two of them were twins.

There are also just so many names being used in the beginning and it is overwhelming because there isn’t much context for who these people are and why I should keep track of them (spoiler, I’ve given up on trying).

The book finally found its footing after the auction, when there was time to focus on Briony, Toven, and a few supporting characters rather than spend every other paragraph full-naming every single named character.

If you’re wondering does this read like a fanfiction? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because it felt like more of a serial polishing than a serial filing. No, because the first 20% of the book could really have used some fanfic magic of already caring about the characters to make it palatable.

I wish that the marketing was less focused on the IP that the fic was originally based on, especially given how much of a shitshow that author is, and that the book had done a better job of distancing itself from that original IP.

Will I continue on with this series? Probably. Am I going to be getting any of the five bajillion special editions? No.

Even though I did end up enjoying the majority of the book, because of how many times I nearly DNFed and how much the series didn’t even try to pretend that it was an original story instead of a fanfic with renamed characters and magic, I cannot in good conscience give this anything above a 3 star rating.

Thank you to Forever for the arc, I’m sad I didn’t like this more.

Content Warnings

abby2207's review against another edition

5.0

Wow! I went into this expecting a straight up romantasy, which it was a little and I think the series for sure will be, but there was so much more to this than just romance. I loved that it didn’t shy away from the heavy topics of the book. Definitely check the trigger warnings because it was heavier than I realized. I really really loved this, and I’m so excited for the next book (and devastated that this book doesn’t even come out until July and THEN I have to wait for the next book in the series to be released). I highly recommend, but do be aware that this is the first book in a trilogy so don’t go into it expecting a resolution.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

bookbounddreams's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I literally couldn’t stop reading!!

I don’t know what Julie Soto put into this book but it was just insanely addictive to read. It definitely has a lot of dark themes which are quite heavy so I totally recommend to read the trigger warnings before diving in.

That said I really enjoyed the storyline, especially finding out new information and guessing together with the fmc Briony really kept me going. This is definitely a slow burn enemies to lovers with a looot of tension but the throwbacks with insights into their relationship over the years was a great addition!!

I literally have so many more questions, about the world, the characters, the relationship and the secrets??? I can’t wait for more!

Thank you so much for Harper Collins/Magie and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this one early.

Content Warnings

melissasherwood's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.75 rounded up. Thank you to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review. I have never read anything by Julie Soto and I went into this book not realizing at first that it was a rewrite of her Dramione fanfic, The Auction (which I haven’t read), so the beginning felt a bit disjointed and I found it really hard to keep my interest engaged at first.

The world-building felt underdeveloped to me and magic system felt difficult to follow and seemed contradictory at times. I felt that there was an assumption that the reader should know a lot of the background info and world-building already because this started out as a Harry Potter fanfic and once I confirmed with a friend that this was a rewrite of The Auction, a lot of it clicked into place in my brain because I then had previous background info from knowing the HP characters/world.

The pacing of this book also felt off and as I said, the beginning felt disjointed. I attribute a lot of this to the flashbacks, and while I think this was Julie’s attempt to give us background info while also foreshadowing events in the upcoming chapters, it disrupted the narrative and took me out of the flow of what what happening in present time. The flow seemed better once we got less of the flashbacks, and I think it would have been better if this had been rearranged chronologically. The epilogue with the dragon also felt out of place because we have next to zero info on the dragon throughout the whole book, and then we get the epilogue from her POV when there was never a POV change in the rest of the book? I think it would have been more impactful if it had been from Rory’s POV, but I guess it would have ruined “the big reveal”, even though it didn’t feel like one.

This is just a personal issue, but I also had a hard time with some of the names as they did not seem to fit and also took me out of the story. Biltmore Palace was a bit on the nose with The Biltmore Estate and made me think of North Carolina. Didion’s last name of Winchester made me think of Supernatural, even though I haven’t watched anything beyond the first season. Liam Quill kept reminding me of Starlord (Peter Quill). Mallow kept having marshmallow popping into my head. And while Julie had no way of knowing this, my local art studio is named Rosewood, so I kept getting distracted. Again, I understand this is a me issue.

I definitely think this could use some refining, but overall I enjoyed this and I will continue the series. I also plan to listen to the audio when it is available as that may change my opinion.

Content Warnings

nicole_thereader's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

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