Rose in Chains in my new Romantasy obsession!

When I heard that a hugely popular Dramione fanfic was being reworked and published, I was beyond excited! Whilst I never got a chance to read the original fanfiction, I have always been a huge Dramione shipper so I went into this book looking forward to the similar vibes.

Rose in Chains was everything I could possibly ask for in a Romantasy book. It was dark, gripping and features a slow burn romance with ALL the tension. Julie Soto has done such a fantastic job of weaving a dark romance set in a high-stakes fantasy world that brought out every emotion in me at once. It features all the Dramione vibes that I was craving and yet feels so unique from the original fandom that that fanfiction was based on.

Briony Rosewood is a fierce-willed and incredibly brave FMC, who I admired throughout the book. She is not perfect by any means but that added a sense of relatability to her character. Toven Hearst is exactly what I want from a morally grey MMC and the Draco Malfoy vibes were so strong! Briony and Toven's romance was full of angst and tension, which left me kicking and screaming with glee. This first installment has set such a fantastic foundation for the romance and I beyond excited to read more of it in the sequel.

This series already has so much potential and Rose in Chains is definitely going down as one of my all time favourite books! If you are looking for your next Romantasy fix, look no further!

This book is the very definition of romantasy. A mesmerizing blend of slow-burn desire, dark fantasy, and high-stakes political intrigue...I was SAT from page one

Obsessive, addictive and absolutely everything that I had hoped it would be - dare I say my favourite read of 2025 so far!

I was lucky enough to receive a proof copy of Rose in Chains - which was already one of my most highly anticipated releases of this year - and from the moment that it was announced, I just had a gut feeling that I would love it. I was right. This book completely delivered on everything it promised, and then some.

Within the first 25%, I knew it was going to be a five star read for me. I devoured it over a weekend, completely consumed by the world, the characters, and the incredible, slow-burning tension. The yearning is next-level - the kind that makes your chest ache in the best possible way. I fell head over heels and didn’t want it to end... and when it did, I was devastated.

Julie Soto has created something unforgettable here, and I’m already desperate for the next instalment. If you love immersive fantasy, intense emotional stakes, and romance that simmers with every glance, this is a must read. I won't be shutting up about this one for a while (if ever)!

Firstly thank you to Netgalley for giving me an E-Arc of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re willing to push through the first 50% of this book then it is so worth it. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

For the first half of this book the plot is incredibly slow, I almost considered DNFing. However, I had heard such great things about this book I was committed to pushing through. I was aware this book was a fanfic that was adapted to be traditionally published. And I did struggle to detach from the characters in the original version in order to give this book a chance. But I think if you’re opening this book with blind which n9 idea of the OG book then I reckon you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

When the pacing picked up dramatically in the second half of the book it was so much easier to read. I found myself more invested int he characters. I was also loving the bits between the FMC and MMC, the delicious slow burn romance. I’m hoping the character development and world building will continue to grow as the series progresses.

I am excited to see where the next book is going and I will continue to read the next in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc.

I feel quite conflicted about this book. The first half of this book was really slow in my opinion, and I very nearly DNF'ed it, as I felt like the world-building and characters just fell really flat. However, I decided to pick it back up and the second half of the book had me hooked. I read the second half basically in one-sitting, I was so invested in what was happening to these characters. Also, the romance is the slowest of slow burns, so it really has you hanging on to every single interaction between Briony and Toven. At times, their relationship dynamic reminded me of Rhys and Feyre in ACOTAR and the beginning of ACOMAF, so I really enjoyed those comparisons in my head.

I will say, I found the book quite predictable. For how long it was, I would have expected more to happen, or for me to have been surprised more, but I knew what the big plot twist was going to be from basically the first 50 pages.

However, I am still really invested in where the series goes, and I'm so sad that the next book isn't out yet. I will be keeping an eye out for when the next one comes out, because I need to know what happens next.

Sadly, I could not find myself in a space where I got into this. I truly think I would love this book, but recently I’ve just not been in the right head space for it. I hope to read it down the line when it feels right since I want to give the book an honest chance!

Headlines:
Secrets of the mind
Slowest of burns
Toxic men (and the odd woman)

I'll be honest, it was hard not to see the original characters this was written about, I appreciate why this is re-envisaged for trad publication, the need to separate from that world (she who will not be named) and support that. Still, it felt very close to that world.

The story has a dramatic start, a war-torn place, no common ground between the enemies and a fight to a bitter end. Briony, the FMC was quickly plunged into a 'handmaid' type situation which was far removed from her previous royal life. Her ability to fight was minimal, the chance to help others impossible and she found herself caged.

There was a little past/present narrative but the main storyline was carried in the contemporary period. Toven was completely unreadable, he seemed protective, noble yet mean, he held everything back and that was somewhat frustrating. When the odd crack showed however, it was like gold dust. The whole set up of that house was an interesting puzzle, including Toven's parents.

Mallow was the evil mistress but I was surprised that she wasn't on page more but the sense of power and threat did set a shaky foundation so that the sense of her permeated the story. There were some worse characters in her ranks that really set my revolt senses off when they appeared.

This instalment ended with a lot of questions. A lot of tension is still to be unravelled and it left me with a big desire to have more of this story.

I did have to keep telling my brain that this wasn't Manacled, I could easily have got the early part of this story a little muddled with that but as the story progressed, I found their different paths.

Thank you to Harper Voyager for the eARC.

"Rose in Chains" is the perfect picture of how I like my romantasy stories. With Briony and Toven Julie Soto created two characters that I fell in love with very early in the story. The world building was super interesting with the different kinds of magic and the restrictions coming with it.
The writing let me inhale this whole book and I can't wait to continue. There is so much potential for (more) character and plot development and I'm living for this slowburn romance that has so much tension and banter throughout the whole story without losing the enemies to lovers vibes.
I found my next obsession with this.
But please, be aware that this is dark story with a lot of potential triggers including SA, abuse, torture and death.

So as a basic warning you absolutely need to check trigger warnings for this book if you haven’t read the fiction it was adapted from. There’s a lot of very intense and heavy things almost as soon as the story starts.
That being said, this story is brutal. I preferred this to the original story, and yet a lot of the story is the level of intensity that you don’t often see in traditionally published books. It still has the violence and gut-wrenching moments that feel slightly different to most other stories I’ve read. I devoured this book, despite it feeling a bit like my heart was sliced and stitched up so many times throughout. The magic system and story felt unique, and some of the characters are gorgeous. I absolutely adore Briony, despite sobbing because of the things she has experienced multiple times. The whole story is intense and I keep going back to that because I think it’s important for anyone who hasn’t read The Auction to be aware that it is a different level of intensity compared to most traditionally published books (most published books in general really). But if you are someone that wants that level of emotional destruction when reading, then this is absolutely the book for you. I am absolutely desperate to find out what happens next in the story, and knowing that this book isn’t released yet and that I’ll have a long wait for it is breaking my heart a little!

If you want:
• unique magic systems
• heartbreaking story that includes the selling of people as magic sources
• traumatised characters
• meditation
• characters that you cry for (constantly)
Then you should read it:))

What an emotional and shattering rollercoaster… A really fantastic book with slow burn, women power and cohesion and tragic shattering events, but also with moments where you get hope again or never give up on it. There weren't many moments in the book that you could laugh about, but there were a lot of situations where you wanted to cry. „Rose in Chains“ by Julie Soto is the first volume of a trilogy, the prelude to a magical war full of intrigue, where Briony Rosewood, princess of the Evermore Empire was captured and sold as a prisoner of war. Her fortune, or misfortune? She was bought at auction by her former classmate Toven Hearst. With little hope left, stripped of her kingdom, her magic and her freedom, her twin brother, the King of Evermore dead, she is left with nothing and must watch as her friends and other women of the kingdom are auctioned off to the highest bidder. And yet the bond between the women is stronger than ever and there is also a secret in the Hearst family that needs to be revealed.
Julie Soto has created a great start with „Rose in Chains“. The magic system and the worldbuilding are really well worked out and you really feel for the protagonists. As I said before, it really is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions with sadness, hope and hopelessness and a touch of tender feelings that could blossom in the darkness.

On July 8th the time has finally come.
Thank you so so much to Julie Soto and HarperCollins UK for the E-Arc.

I don't know how I feel about this book but given that it's a start ot a trilogy I wanted and expected more. It was a bit too drawn out. I can't say that I'm eagerly waiting for the next book. I would've rated it a 3.5 stars if not for the current rating system but nonetheless this was an okay read, not good, or great but okay. This could've been so much better

I was absolutely hooked on this book I could not put it down from start to finish. I think once everyone gets this int he ships it will go wild

Noooooooo.... Julie, when do we get the next book????

This book is utterly addictive! I had my nose in it as soon as socially possible (never soon enough...) and ATE IT UP!
It's been a while since I've wanted book 2 in a serie that bad...

There is suspens, so much angst and the link between chapters makes it really hard to let go and not keep on going.
I would wish for more happening between both main characters but I guess we have to keep on waiting...
I liked that the world building and politic are keeping the story interesting but not overbearing the book as is sometimes the case.
Briony is very smart but sometimes very naive... But I guess the story wouldn't be a trilogy otherwise.

Loved it, Julie please give us the other books soooooooon!
*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for access to the ebook against an honest review.*

My progress was slow to start with on this one, I struggled to pick it up as there was a lot going on - with a lot of info dumping and many characters introduced I struggled to keep track of. I would say around the half way point it started getting more enjoyable for me and towards the end I couldn’t put it down and I was left invested enough to pick up the next book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an e-ARC of this book to review.

♾️⭐️ I have no words right now, the back half of this book had me riveted. I read it in two days and I already can’t wait to re-read. Julie can do no wrong for me at this point so I should not be surprised, but truly this is everything I wanted. It’s mysterious, dark, there is delicious tension and so many questions left to answer I need more now.

I will sit here in anguish waiting for the sequel.

Thank you to HarperFiction, NetGalley and the author Julie Soto for the advanced reading copy, all my opinions are my own.

I will never stop saying this: fanfic writers own the art of slow burn. This book had me in an absolute chokehold over the tiniest crumbs of affection the mmc was throwing out. I was over here blushing because he simply looked at her 😩

The world building? A bit chaotic. The themes? Definitely check those trigger warnings - it is fairly dark. But the romance?? 🥵

Julie please give me book two NOW!!

A fantastic dark thrilling romantasy with magical politics afoot. I loved every second of this. The romance was amazing with sizzling chemistry that blended well with the fantastic worldbuilding. Highly recommend for fans of ACOTAR and Broken Bonds.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me an early copy to read on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rose in chains is based on a Dramoine fanfic which I will be honest I have never really had interest in reading before however since they hype of this book has been so big after it was announced if would be traditionally published, I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Now I will say going into this you need to be warned that it is dark. And when I say this, I really mean it. There’s definitely trigger warnings for sexual assault, rape, drugging and domestic violence which can potentially be triggering to some.

I do however think that this was a really great read. The magic system was different and interesting, there’s definitely the signs of enemies to lovers with quite a slow burn relationship and the overarching plot kept me fully entertained throughout and made me want to keep reading.

I think Bryony is a really strong FMC who develops her character throughout and I liked how she didn’t dwell on herself too much. Toven was also a really great MMC - he really did remind me of Draco but also was very different from him in the sense of having intention with everything he did to protect Bryony.

The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is that I think it was a little bit slow and could have progressed quicker after Bryony was auctioned off. There was a bit of dead space for a couple chapters which could have been removed.

I’m really looking forward to see where this story goes in the next book as we’re left off on an obvious cliffhanger.

This qas quite dark, more so than i was expecting ( i havent read the original yet) and there this conflict in the "auction" style dramione books, because there's just a *something* under the surface that doesnt feel right about happy endings or romantasy tags.
That being said, i enjoyed reading it and races through. Its just left me questioning my subconscious expectations of romance!

Rose in Chains is an enemies to lovers romantasy, set in a world where the 'bad guys' win, and auction off women as spoils of war.

This is a really tricky one to assess my feelings about. I just wasn't into it at the beginning and my progress was slow. It starts off with a lot going on, and plenty of info dumping. There are so many characters that are mentioned in passing that I struggled to care and keep track of who was or wasn't important. We are thrown into an established world without enough world building for me. It does get better, and I enjoyed the chapters going back in time to set the scene and understand how our characters got to where they are. Briony is a great protagonist and there's so much potential in this angsty, will they/won't they romance.

The whole first book feels like it's set up for the rest of the planned trilogy. It didn't have much of its own arc beyond that, but by the end I was invested and left wanting to know where the story goes from here.

It is worth reading the content warnings as whilst this book isn't that dark, there are plenty of topics touched on that not all readers will be comfortable with. There aren't many sexually explicit scenes as the romance in it is very slow burn, but the whole premise revolves around captivity and buying and selling women. There are quite a few references to 'off-page' rape and abuse, and a weird amount of focus on virginity and fertility.

I have not read the fan fiction that this story was formed from (and actually didn't realise that is why I'd seen so much hype about it until after I'd requested it!), so I can't comment on its similarity, but I'm sure there will be plenty of fans excited to see this new original version. Recommended for romantasy fans who don't mind a bit of a dark twist.