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Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, War, Classism
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
My freaking goddess, this book! I am new to the Dramione world, and while I don’t condone the insanity that JKR promotes, it’s hard to deny the pull of this couple…
Yall, Julie Soto slid so seamlessly into fantasy world building, I would NEVER had assumed she was a contemporary romance writer. This book starts off with a bang and does not. Let. Up. It hit all the right boxes for me: good pace, easy to understand world, slow burn, complicated morality, and a little magic thrown in.
Given Soto’s previous books, I was surprised by the low spicy level, but I imagine book 2 might have more…
The narrator was excellent, too. She nailed it!
Thank you to Hachette Audio ans NetGalley for this ALC! It was such a treat to experience this book in audio format. Can’t wait to read it with my eyeballs when it releases!!
Yall, Julie Soto slid so seamlessly into fantasy world building, I would NEVER had assumed she was a contemporary romance writer. This book starts off with a bang and does not. Let. Up. It hit all the right boxes for me: good pace, easy to understand world, slow burn, complicated morality, and a little magic thrown in.
Given Soto’s previous books, I was surprised by the low spicy level, but I imagine book 2 might have more…
The narrator was excellent, too. She nailed it!
Thank you to Hachette Audio ans NetGalley for this ALC! It was such a treat to experience this book in audio format. Can’t wait to read it with my eyeballs when it releases!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, War
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Briony Rosewood has always lived with the knowledge that her twin brother Rory is the key to an ancient Evermore prophecy. It's why she's always used her mind magic to enhance his own and it never became more important than when tensions between the Eversuns (mind mages) and Bomardi (heart mages) intensify.
When war breaks out and fighting comes to a head, Rory is slain in battle and Briony is taken captive by the Bomardi. Subjugating the remaining Eversun sympathizers to captivity amongst the elite Bomardi families who will use them to syphon their magic to enhance their own, Briony is bought at auction by Toven Hearst - a former classmate with dubious loyalties.
Once Briony is instilled at Hearst Hall she is faced with more questions than answers and the mysteriously cold Toven is not forthcoming. Briony doesn't know who she can trust or if any help is coming, but she's not done fighting.
This book was one of those pleasant surprises where you don't want to put it down and you can't stop thinking about it. I love reading but it's not often that a story just consumes me and there's really no rhyme or reason as to why or when or what books. So when it comes around I just lean into it.
I've read Julie Soto's previously released contemporary romances. So I was really excited to learn she was branching out into Romantasy.
It's a very slow to unfold story but that is due to the fact that it's the beginning of a trilogy. Julie Soto does great in setting the groundwork.
I like Briony's character because although she finds herself in such a dire sitution, having just lost her twin - her other half essentially - being kept, sometimes literally, in the dark, she continues to move forward. Is it a huge disservice that those around her are keeping things from her? Yes, because in the few flashbacks we get, we see that she is very intelligent and resourceful. She hasn't been a princess just sitting around being served. She's been observing. So I hope that we'll get more of her strategic input in the coming sequels.
Of course we have to talk about Toven and Briony. They are **chef's kiss**. It's very clear that they both, at first, underestimate the other. Part of the tension comes from this underestimation. But it's in the discovery these overlooked parts of themselves where they start to understand one another. I also really appreciate that even at the end, it's still very unclear what side Toven is on and what the ultimate endgame is for the Hearst family. The morally gray casting is done really well where he's concerned.
This story is told entirely from Briony's point of view. I understand this because it puts readers in the mind of not knowing what's fully going on either which helps to drive the momentum of the story forward. I do wish there were other POV's just because I love to see all the sides of a story.
There will of course be two more books so I think it's safe to say that the ending is very unfinished. Although I will say that it does not end on a huge heartbreaking cliffhanger so while I'm eagerly anticipating the next book, I am satisfied. I almost feel like this whole book was the prelude to everything we'll see next. It's certainly a delicious build up.
I cannot recommend this one enough. Just know if you have been eagerly awaiting this book, rest assured it delivers.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Death
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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:
No
Thank you NetGalley & Hachette Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for this honest review.
This book shouldn't have worked for me - I'm no longer the target demographic - but I was approved for the audiobook so in I went with trepidation and low expectations. I had moved on from the romantasy genre because I found most - particularly those that are hyped - to be cut from the same cloth and unique stories were few and far between. It's ironic then, given the books origin as FanFiction, that the book managed to be something different.
Don't get me wrong - there are absolutely still the classic romantasy tropes. Forbidden romance. Enemies to lovers. Touch her and die. But it wasn't insta-love (my beloathed) - Briony and Toven have a history (albeit possibly unrequited from Briony's POV) and we get to explore that past and how it complicates their current situation through carefully placed flashbacks.
I think it takes a lot of care to execute a book that contains the content this one does the way Julie Soto did. I don't want to say tasteful, because I don't think there should be anything tasteful about themes of sexual assault / sexual slavery - but it isn't done for shock value and we don't linger on it. We're aware it's happening - and of course we, the audience are appalled so we want to see how the story is going to unfold to fix everything.
And the story is unfolding, but slowly like a rose trying to bloom in winter. I think the pacing of the book struggles - I understand it's a trilogy and this is certainly a set up for the rest of the series but I would've liked a little less pining and a little more world and story building. We're given glimpses - Orion's parents and their roles in everything, who is loyal and who isn't, I think more interactions with Mallow - or at least a bigger exploration of how *she* specifically took power - would have benefited the story. We're shown too much of these aspects for them to be teasers, it just seems like the author doesn't know how to leave hints leading to a big reveal.
I appreciate that a content warning list was provided at the start of the audiobook as I went into this pretty blind. The audiobook narrator Ella Lynch was enjoyable, but I disliked the voices that were put on for masculine characters. They were a bit distracting at times and kind of pulled me out of the story, Easy to understand, even at 2x speed.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and will likely continue the series via audio and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses and how Julie Soto progresses as an author of her own merit.
This book shouldn't have worked for me - I'm no longer the target demographic - but I was approved for the audiobook so in I went with trepidation and low expectations. I had moved on from the romantasy genre because I found most - particularly those that are hyped - to be cut from the same cloth and unique stories were few and far between. It's ironic then, given the books origin as FanFiction, that the book managed to be something different.
Don't get me wrong - there are absolutely still the classic romantasy tropes. Forbidden romance. Enemies to lovers. Touch her and die. But it wasn't insta-love (my beloathed) - Briony and Toven have a history (albeit possibly unrequited from Briony's POV) and we get to explore that past and how it complicates their current situation through carefully placed flashbacks.
I think it takes a lot of care to execute a book that contains the content this one does the way Julie Soto did. I don't want to say tasteful, because I don't think there should be anything tasteful about themes of sexual assault / sexual slavery - but it isn't done for shock value and we don't linger on it. We're aware it's happening - and of course we, the audience are appalled so we want to see how the story is going to unfold to fix everything.
And the story is unfolding, but slowly like a rose trying to bloom in winter. I think the pacing of the book struggles - I understand it's a trilogy and this is certainly a set up for the rest of the series but I would've liked a little less pining and a little more world and story building. We're given glimpses - Orion's parents and their roles in everything, who is loyal and who isn't, I think more interactions with Mallow - or at least a bigger exploration of how *she* specifically took power - would have benefited the story. We're shown too much of these aspects for them to be teasers, it just seems like the author doesn't know how to leave hints leading to a big reveal.
I appreciate that a content warning list was provided at the start of the audiobook as I went into this pretty blind. The audiobook narrator Ella Lynch was enjoyable, but I disliked the voices that were put on for masculine characters. They were a bit distracting at times and kind of pulled me out of the story, Easy to understand, even at 2x speed.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and will likely continue the series via audio and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses and how Julie Soto progresses as an author of her own merit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping
Moderate: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Torture, Death of parent
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There are a lot of things that should not work for me in a book like Rose in Chains. And yet it absolutely does work with this character dynamic. This is dark [slow burn] romantasy with a captive/owner relationship, in which the [anti]hero Tovan purchases POV heroine Briony in an auction, with the public intent to siphon her for her power. There are dark scenes, so check CWs (but seriously, I'm not kidding), and where those aren't things I enjoy or seek out, I found them very effective. With its roots in fanfiction, but a very strong edit, it stands well alone from its origin world and what remains is the best of ff that explores particular character development.
I've seen a number of people talk about the lack of worldbuilding, but it actually works really well for me. The magic system slowly unfurls over the course of the book, and as Briony learns to regain her magic and plunge into unknown magics, we learn alongside her. But really the reason the worldbuilding works is that I'm in it for the relationship building. I am not often a slow burn reader, but I savored this one because they are on opposite sides of a war.
A few things to note:
1) check CW, especially if you are sensitive to SA
2) if you struggle with timeline shifts on audio, make sure you have a tandem read ready
3) the narration is fine - the narrator feels a little lighter than the darker tone of the book suggests, but I think it works for Briony's character POV. That said, I don't think the narration is extra special, and I enjoyed the parts I read with my eyes a little more than the parts I listened to.
4) this is the first book of a trilogy.
I have not read the original ff, The Auction, but I have heard that there were significant changes to the story, characters, and setting. I guess I'm going to go read the 1300 pages and report back....
Thank you to Forever for an eARC and Hachette for and ALC. Rose In Chains is out 7/8/25.
I've seen a number of people talk about the lack of worldbuilding, but it actually works really well for me. The magic system slowly unfurls over the course of the book, and as Briony learns to regain her magic and plunge into unknown magics, we learn alongside her. But really the reason the worldbuilding works is that I'm in it for the relationship building. I am not often a slow burn reader, but I savored this one because they are on opposite sides of a war.
A few things to note:
1) check CW, especially if you are sensitive to SA
2) if you struggle with timeline shifts on audio, make sure you have a tandem read ready
3) the narration is fine - the narrator feels a little lighter than the darker tone of the book suggests, but I think it works for Briony's character POV. That said, I don't think the narration is extra special, and I enjoyed the parts I read with my eyes a little more than the parts I listened to.
4) this is the first book of a trilogy.
I have not read the original ff, The Auction, but I have heard that there were significant changes to the story, characters, and setting. I guess I'm going to go read the 1300 pages and report back....
Thank you to Forever for an eARC and Hachette for and ALC. Rose In Chains is out 7/8/25.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma
Forced sterilization
All major CWs are listed at the beginning of the book (and on audio)
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
HOLY SPELLS AND SLOW-BURNS!!! This book was pure magic. Julie Soto didn’t just knock it out of the park—she lit the whole damn stadium on fire. Rose in Chains is easily a top read of the year for me. The storytelling? Immaculate. The worldbuilding? Like stepping into a dream stitched together with ink and thunder. And the way she wove together the layered the feuding magical systems? Intricate, dazzling, and utterly addictive.
Briony and Toven’s tension could strangle a god—it’s this taut, sizzling thread stretched to its limit, and I swear I could hear it hum between the lines. I need more of them immediately. That boy is one heartbreak away from combusting, and Briony? My girl needs to pull her nose out of her books and realize she’s walking emotional circles around a man who would burn down kingdoms for her. Like, bestie—connect the dots before Toven bursts into stardust.
And yes, I read the original AO3 version back in the Dramione days, but this? This feels reborn. Like Soto took the bones of that story and wrapped them in fire, grief, and glittering originality. Every twist carved into me, every moment pulled me deeper.
Honestly, my brain is still short-circuiting because I just finished it and I’m reeling. But if you love fantasy with gut-punch stakes, masterfully slow-building romance (seriously—it simmers like a charm waiting to be cast), and characters that ache with complexity—Rose in Chains is your next obsession.
Only bad thing about this read is that I now have to wait for next book to come out😭
Thank you so much to Forever Publishing and Julio Soto for granting me this e-ARC on Netgalley! Review is my honest opinion!
Briony and Toven’s tension could strangle a god—it’s this taut, sizzling thread stretched to its limit, and I swear I could hear it hum between the lines. I need more of them immediately. That boy is one heartbreak away from combusting, and Briony? My girl needs to pull her nose out of her books and realize she’s walking emotional circles around a man who would burn down kingdoms for her. Like, bestie—connect the dots before Toven bursts into stardust.
And yes, I read the original AO3 version back in the Dramione days, but this? This feels reborn. Like Soto took the bones of that story and wrapped them in fire, grief, and glittering originality. Every twist carved into me, every moment pulled me deeper.
Honestly, my brain is still short-circuiting because I just finished it and I’m reeling. But if you love fantasy with gut-punch stakes, masterfully slow-building romance (seriously—it simmers like a charm waiting to be cast), and characters that ache with complexity—Rose in Chains is your next obsession.
Only bad thing about this read is that I now have to wait for next book to come out😭
Thank you so much to Forever Publishing and Julio Soto for granting me this e-ARC on Netgalley! Review is my honest opinion!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Murder, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the ARC!
I'll be honest here I didn't read what this book was about before I requested it. I'm a simple woman, I see new Julie Soto book, I read book.
This was darker than I expected, heavy content warning, if you think you might need the warning read the one provided at the beginning of the book. It also brings up some important themes that we probably should talk about in current society unfortunately.
I think this book did a good job setting up the trilogy and while I do need the next book asap, I found it lagged a little bit in between the auction and the mid point of the book but it was probably necessary because it's the first book and we need Lore.
In general I am very picky about flashback scenes because I think they take away from the present day story, but I didn't hate them here and, again, I think it added to the world building in most cases although a few of them I didn't see much of a point to them.
I'm excited to see shit hit the fan and some bad people die a really terrible death in the next two books.
I'll be honest here I didn't read what this book was about before I requested it. I'm a simple woman, I see new Julie Soto book, I read book.
This was darker than I expected, heavy content warning, if you think you might need the warning read the one provided at the beginning of the book. It also brings up some important themes that we probably should talk about in current society unfortunately.
I think this book did a good job setting up the trilogy and while I do need the next book asap, I found it lagged a little bit in between the auction and the mid point of the book but it was probably necessary because it's the first book and we need Lore.
In general I am very picky about flashback scenes because I think they take away from the present day story, but I didn't hate them here and, again, I think it added to the world building in most cases although a few of them I didn't see much of a point to them.
I'm excited to see shit hit the fan and some bad people die a really terrible death in the next two books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely Yes!
Going to start off by saying that I have not read any of the dramione fanfics, including the The Auction, that this is based off of.
The book bounces back and forth between past and present following Briony Rosewood who story start with lineage of a royal family, the death of her twin brother, the heir to their kingdom, then eventually leads her to being captured by another kingdom and auctioned off to basically be a a magical slave to take power from her.
Despite the premise of the book, the FMC and MC are primarily a slow burn romance throughout that book. However, there still are darker themes in this book that should be taken into account when going on this adventure with #RoseInChains including: SA, graphic violence, explicit sexual content, mentions of non-consensual sex, buying and selling of humans into captivity, and death.
Overall, the story that Julie Soto brought to our pages and our ears through Ella Lynch's narration was captivating. I cannot wait to see where the story will lead and what will happen next.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Going to start off by saying that I have not read any of the dramione fanfics, including the The Auction, that this is based off of.
The book bounces back and forth between past and present following Briony Rosewood who story start with lineage of a royal family, the death of her twin brother, the heir to their kingdom, then eventually leads her to being captured by another kingdom and auctioned off to basically be a a magical slave to take power from her.
Despite the premise of the book, the FMC and MC are primarily a slow burn romance throughout that book. However, there still are darker themes in this book that should be taken into account when going on this adventure with #RoseInChains including: SA, graphic violence, explicit sexual content, mentions of non-consensual sex, buying and selling of humans into captivity, and death.
Overall, the story that Julie Soto brought to our pages and our ears through Ella Lynch's narration was captivating. I cannot wait to see where the story will lead and what will happen next.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence
Moderate: Death, Violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I‘m so grateful that I got to listen to this book before its release date! Thanks to netgalley and the publisher!!
Julie Soto is one of my favorite authors, I‘ve loved all her books and Rose in Chains is no exception. This was way darker than I expected it to be, the stakes are freaking high in this, its so sad to see what all these women have to go through just because of some disgusting people. I felt so much all of them because of the shit they have to endure!
The magic is also so interesting and I already can not wait to get my hands on the next book to see how the magic, the world, this story and the characters continue!! Hopefully we‘ll get to know why some specific people act the way they do! I can‘t wait to read more about Briony & Toven, all the others and their world!
Thank you Julie, for dipping your toes into so many different genres and continuing to be one of my favorites!
Julie Soto is one of my favorite authors, I‘ve loved all her books and Rose in Chains is no exception. This was way darker than I expected it to be, the stakes are freaking high in this, its so sad to see what all these women have to go through just because of some disgusting people. I felt so much all of them because of the shit they have to endure!
The magic is also so interesting and I already can not wait to get my hands on the next book to see how the magic, the world, this story and the characters continue!! Hopefully we‘ll get to know why some specific people act the way they do! I can‘t wait to read more about Briony & Toven, all the others and their world!
Thank you Julie, for dipping your toes into so many different genres and continuing to be one of my favorites!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder
What in the Handmaid’s Tale, Stockholm syndrome, sexist crap is this?! This is so tone deaf with current events. Today women all around the world are at a higher risk for sexual abuse along with having their human rights taken away. The amount of blatant sexual harassment, disgusting and repulsive behavior towards women in this book is astounding. I had to quit at 60% for my own sanity. I’m all for reading whatever you want but I cannot believe this is being published, especially targeting a younger demographic. Glorifying incel ideas about women as property/slaves and dressing it up as enemies to lovers is low.
The world building was underdeveloped and magic system not explained clearly. There were a lot of characters and an attempt at creating political intrigue, but it was too difficult to keep track of - all tell, no show. So much fluff, using a lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing. Name inspirations courtesy of r/tradgedeigh and characters were killed off early on and no one grieved anyone or showed any emotion. The FMC was flat and robotic, there was no chemistry between her and the MMC, it was an abusive master/slave situation. I’m just so confused about the plot and how a woman came to be in power, yet all the men abuse women they see as inferior like it’s the norm.
A lot of questionable writing used to fly back in the day with fanfiction, it’s 2025 and time to retire these ideas for good. Also it’s weird that at some point these characters were modeled after children’s books…
The audiobook production was good, the narrator has a British accent but has a very juvenile sounding voice, it just made the whole book feel YA but the themes were dark and violent.
Disappointing - I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copies.
The world building was underdeveloped and magic system not explained clearly. There were a lot of characters and an attempt at creating political intrigue, but it was too difficult to keep track of - all tell, no show. So much fluff, using a lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing. Name inspirations courtesy of r/tradgedeigh and characters were killed off early on and no one grieved anyone or showed any emotion. The FMC was flat and robotic, there was no chemistry between her and the MMC, it was an abusive master/slave situation. I’m just so confused about the plot and how a woman came to be in power, yet all the men abuse women they see as inferior like it’s the norm.
A lot of questionable writing used to fly back in the day with fanfiction, it’s 2025 and time to retire these ideas for good. Also it’s weird that at some point these characters were modeled after children’s books…
The audiobook production was good, the narrator has a British accent but has a very juvenile sounding voice, it just made the whole book feel YA but the themes were dark and violent.
Disappointing - I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copies.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment