Title: Rose in ChainsAuthor: Julie Soto
Series: The Evermore Trilogy #1
Pages: 464
Publication Date: July 3, 2025
Publisher: Forever
Genres: Fiction / Dark Romance / Fantasy / Romantasy
Synopsis:
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…
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So, this book made me realize several things. First, I love Julie Soto’s writing style. From her contemporary romances to this debut dark romantasy, Soto’s storytelling fully immerses me in her books. The descriptions, use of dialogue, imagery, and nuanced characters and relationships make her an auto-buy author (or, in this case, an auto-request on NetGalley).
Second, Dramione-based relationships are not for me. I’ve never read Draco/Hermione fan fiction, and I didn’t read the piece this is based on. And I really dislike bully romances, so the main romantic (kind of?) relationship did not work for me at all. I didn’t understand Briony’s feelings toward Toven when he was so cruel to her at times. How do you get past the verbal and physical abuses? I guess he does right by her in some regards, and he saved her from a terrible fate at the auction, but for me, that doesn’t make up for all the harm he’s caused over the course of YEARS. I feel like Toven is the best of the worst, and Briony could do (and deserves) so much better.
Third, I love fantasy worlds and experiences. In this story, the world was interesting with nods to the original HP series and fresh and compelling additions. However, it was way too dark for me. With threats of sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence, and debasing auctions where they sell people for anything their owner desires including siphoning their magic and other personally violating activities, there were too many disturbing elements for me. I would definitely recommend reading the content warnings before starting.
Finally, I think this was a well-written and immersive dark fantasy. It wasn’t a bad read. It just wasn’t the right fit for me. But if you’ve ever wondered what would have happened if the Dark Lord had won and defeated Harry and the rest, you might want to check this one out.
Thanks to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
JULIE SOTO is a USA Today bestselling author, playwright, and actress originally from Sacramento, CA. Her musical Generation Me won the 2017 New York Musical Festival’s Best Musical award, as well as Best Book for her script. She is a musical theater geek, fandom nerd, and the author of many spicy fan fictions. Julie now lives in Fort Bragg, CA, with her dog, Charlie. She is probably drinking coffee as you read this.
Ahh it’s a shame about the romance, but I absolutely get what you mean. I’ve read a few like this recently and I just don’t get how you can go from physical and emotional bullying to being in love with the person? It’s annoying though because it sounds like you loved the authors writing style. Great review.
Same. It’s funny, because I like enemies to lovers, but if there’s needless cruelty or bullying, it just bothers me. lol