Rose in Chains

De: Julie Soto

Narrado por: Ella Lynch

#1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Soto crafts a lush, dark romantic fantasy that’s filled with intrigue, magic, and an irresistible enemies-to-lovers romance.

The war is over, the dark forces have won, and the hero who was supposed to save them is dead.

Captured as her castle is overrun by the enemy, the world as Briony Rosewood knows it is changed forever. Evil has won, and her people face imminent servitude, imprisonment, or death.

​Stripped of her Magic and her freedom, Briony and the other survivors are quickly sold off to the highest bidders in an auction—and as Evermore's princess, she fetches the highest price. After a fierce bidding war, she’s sold to none other than Toven Hearst, scion of a family known for their cruelty.

Yet despite the horrors of her new world and the role she must learn to play within it, all is not lost. Help—and hope—may yet arise in the most unlikely of places…

©2025 Julie Soto (P)2025 Forever

Amazing narrator!

Really loved this narrator’s voice and her expressions were really nicely done throughout the story.

Heartspring

It is full of world building. Very slow burn romance. A war and hunger for power. A beautiful story and cant wait for book 2.

great storyline

fantastic storyline - it captured my attention right away, but damn was this book a lot darker than I was expecting. I felt it to my core and I wasn't expecting that. can't wait for book 2

Much anticipated, much received

Anyone who is a fan of the original will love this. It’s less steamy but I believe it’s worth the listen probably gonna be a slow slow burn.

Bonds and Ties

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I want to know more about the secrets that the Hearst Family have and the bond that will strengthen the tie to Briony. I want to learn more about the dragon and how it all ties together. I also really enjoyed the magic system that Julie created and I can’t wait to see more of it in action in the next book!

One of My Favorites of 2025

Spice: 2.5/5
Tropes & Notes: Dark Romantasy • Magic • Slow Burn • Enemies to Lovers (ish) • Forced Proximity • Dual Timelines • First in Series • Check Trigger Warnings • Based on Harry Potter Fan Fic

Recap Quickie
Princess Briony Rosewood’s kingdom, Eversun, has fallen to Bomard after years of war. Briony and the remaining Eversun women are nightmarishly auctioned off to Bomard’s highest bidders. They will be expected to “bond” with the Bomardi men providing magic, that will strengthen Bomardi magic giving them even more power. The winning bid for Briony comes with twists and turns as she navigates a new dark world and tries to find a way back to her loved ones.

​Narrator
Ella Lynch was fantastic! I’ve come to truly appreciate narrators who solo narrate Romantasy! I don’t know how they keep track of all the different voices. Rose in Chains, especially, had many MANY male voices and Ella did a great job making sure each one was distinct. I particularly enjoyed her calm narration of Serena Hearst. She has an excellent fairytale-esque voice that is perfect for Romantasy narration.

Thoughts
This is one of my top reads of 2025 as it was so well written by Julie Soto. It was giving Handmaids Tale and modern day reproductive rights. It also had the whole “What the hell is going on here?” puzzle vibe that made me unable to put it down! MANY unanswered questions to be answered in the next book(s).

40+ Appeal?
No issues unless you struggle with the content which is legit- check those TW’s. Otherwise, again, I couldn't put it down!

A Must Read!

Julie Soto is a fabulous story teller. I am in love with how she transformed this story.

5 star stuff. Just perfection.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Romance: 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷 Plot: 📖📖📖📖📖 Side Characters: 👯‍♂️👯‍♂️👯👯‍♀️👯‍♀️ Pacing: 🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️ Ending: 🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬 MC’s: 👩🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼👩🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼👫👫👩🏻‍🤝‍👨🏼
Briony Rosewood - Toven Hearst. Tropes: Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Love. This story has been reimagined from the fanfic The Auction. The Auction is one of the best books I’ve read this year. One of the best books I’ve read EVER. Having said that….I. AM. SCREAMING. (Internally of course) This book was excellent! Just absolutely superb in every way. I am distraught that it’s over and I have to wait more than a year to read book 2 and then again another wait for book 3. There is no chance that I’ll forget what happened in this book though so I know I will pick up book 2 with no issues connecting the dots. I will be thinking about this book until book 2 is available.
Pro’s:
All of it
Con’s:
No cons. All pro’s.

I wasn’t sure at first…

The narrator is not my favorite. The accent and tone was off putting at times. The way she spoke as the male made me cringe.

However, the story more than makes up for it. I couldn’t stop listening!

Story is good but intense

It was u comfortable to read b/c it had handmade’s tale vibes and I usually wouldn’t read such books b/c of the trigger warnings. Elliot Brooks said this was going to be a book everyone was anticipating to read so I gave it a shot. The story was very good and I can’t wait to see what happens but some of the scenes were too much for me.