Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Rose in Chains

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Rose in Chains by Julie Soto

155 reviews

kamin8882's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

kkread's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

thebluehaired_reader_'s review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense

Oh my goodness wow. This book was incredible! It’s on the darker side so please look up the CW, but holy crap this was such an addictive read! The narrator did an amazing job!

I honestly don’t know what to say. I was in a constant state of anxiety and fear for things to happen. I felt a roller coaster of emotions. Briony and everything that happens to her is gut wrenching. Toven is just GAH! I loved him. THE TENSION between them. OMG it’s everything my little slow burn heart longs for.

From start to finish I was completely captivated. I am drooling for more honestly. I just want the next books now.

Content Warnings

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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: Yes

Rose in Chains was my first read from this author—and wow, it definitely won’t be my last. I’m obsessed! I went in with high hopes, and this book totally delivered.

Heads up: the story dives into some dark and graphic territory, so I’d recommend checking the trigger warnings before diving in.

From the very first page, I was hooked. The world-building is unique, the magic system is fascinating, and the short chapters + dual timelines ? Chef’s kiss.
I was flipping pages past midnight—putting this book down was not an option.

The writing is smooth and easy to follow, which really helped me get into the flow of the story, especially with so many characters and layers to the world. It made everything click in such a satisfying way.

Now let’s talk characters—Briony and Toven completely stole my heart. Briony’s strength, resilience, and sheer willpower during the auction scenes? Absolutely inspiring. She didn’t just survive—she came out stronger, and I was rooting for her every step of the way.

And then there’s Toven. My mysterious, morally grey guy. I have so many questions about him—what’s his and his family real agenda? What’s going on behind that cold, savage exterior? I need his POV in the next book!!!

As for the romance… the slow burn is everything. Every little interaction had me grinning and blushing. I was fully invested in Briony and Toven’s dynamic, and those almost-confession moments ? Torture in the best way.
After that ending, I’m dying to see where their story goes next!

Overall, Rose in Chains is a total page-turner—dark, addictive, and full of everything I love in a romantasy.
With such a strong start, I’ve got a feeling this series is going to become one of my favorites.

If you’re into enemies-to-lovers, morally grey love interests, court intrigue, prophecies, “touch her and die” vibes, and a unique magic system, this one’s a must read!

I received a review copy through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: explicit sexual content, mentions of non-consensual sex, sexual assault, sexual assault of a POV character, buying and selling of humans into captivity, forced sterilization, forced termination of a pregnancy, minor character deaths, suspense and violence, torture and gore

Content Warnings

gtures's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was a rollercoaster. You go back and forth between past and present events. Navigating Briony's journey in this new world. Who can she trust? Who SHOULD she trust? The end?!? 🤯

I've never read anything by Julie Soto before and I enjoyed her storytelling. The world building was amazing. This is book one of three and I cannot believe I have to wait for the conclusion. Truly a remarkable start to what I think will be an incredible trilogy.

Enemies to lovers
Magical prophesies
War between two magical groups
Dark themes throughout

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC.

Content Warnings

thebabybookworm's review against another edition

5.0

I received this book as an ARC and had no idea it was the first of a trilogy. OH MY GOD SHE BETTER WRITE QUICKLY. This book was dark, intense, and completely absorbing. The worldbuilding is rich, though the beginning was a little hard to follow with so many characters introduced at once. Once I got into the flow, I couldn’t put it down. The slow burn romance was really slow—

so slow it didn’t even happen in this book

—but it was still incredibly well written and kept me hooked. The darker themes were handled thoughtfully, and the story stayed with me long after I finished. I’m already dreading the wait for book two!

Content Warnings

princesspinky's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Calling it now, this is going to be one of the biggest romantasy releases of the year!

After the fall of her kingdom, Princess Briony Rosewood is at the mercy of her adversary Toven Hearst and his family while the world as she knows it crumbles around her.

The flashbacks to their shared past helped shape the slowwwwwwest burn of all time while also keeping the reader engaged and excited for the next chapter.

The narrator Ella Lynch did a beautiful job capturing the emotions of the story and I absolutely loved her portrayal of Briony. The male voices she did genuinely creeped me out at times. 10/10 delivery!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for the ALC.

Content Warnings

bb_brekker's review

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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: Yes

This was such an anticipated book for me and it didn't disappoint. I loved how the author adapted the original story into this published version. I adore the world she's created while also maintaining the essence of the characters.

The narrator, Ella Lynch, did a fenomenal job at giving each of the characters a unique voice and made me feel completely inmersed in the story.

While I love this book there are certainly some heavy topics that are hard to read about, so I definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings first, it definitely isn't for the faint of heart.

I truly can't wait for the next book! Thank you Netgalley, Julie Soto and Hachette Audio for this audiobook!!!

Content Warnings

cosmocarlie's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark tense medium-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 absolutely devoured this book. The tension between the fmc and mmc was so amazingly done. Definitely left me wanting more and have so many unanswered questions. Can’t wait for more books in this series!

Content Warnings

chemistryreads's review

3.75

adventurous dark hopeful tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I love Julie Soto as an author and have read all of her books (non fanfiction). I’m not much of a fantasy reader, but I wanted to give it a try since she was writing it. Overall, I did enjoy this book and I certainly will be reading more in the series. The cover is gorgeous and I love how well it represents the content of the novel. When I started reading this novel, I knew it had been adapted from Julie Soto’s fanfiction story based on a relationship between Draco and Hermione from the Harry Potter series. This novel certainly was changed from that world as the explanation of magic is very different along with the overall time and location being otherworldly. Getting into this novel was hard - there was so much going on very early on with so many names and new concepts being thrown at the reader. I was overwhelmed and kinda lost at first. Once I picked up what was happening, it started to make more sense. To help it make sense, I did Google the major plot points from when this was a fanfiction and the timeline of it in the Harry Potter world helped me get on pace for the land of Evermore (and the surrounding areas? Not sure if they were ever given a real name?). Briony is an interesting main character- at times she is terribly naïve but also incredibly headstrong. She is also incredibly intelligent, but has to appear not as smart for the sake of her twin brother, the prince. Toven comes off as a snob, but really develops more complexity as the story goes on. The flashbacks of Briony and Toven were my favorite part of the story because it really led their character development and allowed more explanations to the fantasy world. The content of the book can be dark - while it says the “dark forces” have won, what they do with the losing side is “dark” but I don’t understand what really made them “dark” to begin. It didn’t seem fully explained to me. The losing side is sold to the highest bidder, primarily for magic use, but non-consensual sex is mentioned as occuring to some characters, as well as sexual violence, sexual harassment, forced sterilization, torture, abuse, death, gore, and war violence. While those dark themes do take place and are a huge motivation to Toven and Briony throughout the novel, their story and relationship of being on opposite sides really is front and center. The novel did run long for my taste and I felt really found its pacing much more in the last third of the novel. However, that cliffhanger ending?! I did not see that coming (and from my understanding, is a complete departure from her original fanfiction)! I am being picky in saying I also didn’t love all the naming, from new locations, various magic things, and people’s actual names - they were too complicated, too many named characters, and just difficult to keep track of. I fear I will have to reread this novel before the second comes out or I will forget who all the characters are! I did listen to the audiobook for this novel and I actually wish I hadn’t. I have no idea what accent the narrator was using (I know it’s fantasy and made up!) but I didn’t like it. It also really didn’t make me like Briony (narration in her presumed voice) because it was too formal and also snobbish and whiny at the same time. Overall, this is a dark fantasy read, where most dark moments happen to side characters, but is a war-time fiction. Read with caution, but also enjoyable for a fantasy debut. 3.75⭐️, 1.5🌶, ⚠️

Content Warnings

More...