May 24, 2026
„Rose in Chains” by Julie Soto
BLURB
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, Briony Rosewood knows that the world as she knows it is changed forever. The dark forces of Bomard have won and her people, the Eversuns, face imminent servitude, imprisonment or death. Her brother, fated to be heir twice over and unite the warring kingdoms, is dead.
Stripped of her Mind Magic and her freedom, Briony and the other survivors are quickly auctioned off to the highest bidders in an auction – and as the heir apparent’s sister, she fetches the highest price.
After a fierce bidding war, she’s sold to none other than Toven - a high ranking Bomardsun – and her long-time and ill-fated infatuation. Scion of a family known for their cruel control of Heart Magic, the Hearsts are ruthlessly ambitious, and Briony knows they will use her however they can to further their own interests.
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…
MY OPINION
"Rose in Chains" is the first installment of "The Evermore Trilogy". I picked up this book because of the Goodreads Choice Awards, but honestly, I’m not surprised it didn’t make me desperate for the continuation. It was fine — but nothing special.
Briony Rosewood is captured by the enemy and sold at an auction to Toven — a high-ranking Bomard and her… secret fascination. Briony knows one thing for sure: Toven may be the last person on Earth she should trust, because he is her enemy. After all, the Bomards slaughtered her people, the Eversuns.
Now Briony must learn how to live without her Mind Magic. Still, there’s a small light at the end of this dark tunnel — she just needs to wait, survive, and choose the right moment.
"Rose in Chains" is a very long book — unnecessarily long. Many chapters add nothing to the plot and don’t deepen the characters either. We get an extremely slow-burn romance, which can be enjoyable, but in this case Toven feels… too nice. Not like an enemy responsible for the massacre of Briony’s people. He comes across more like a good neighbor than a feared antagonist.
As for Briony, I honestly don’t have strong feelings. She remained completely neutral to me.
The main problem with this book is that even after finishing it, we still don’t truly understand what Mind Magic is, why people fear it, why the war is happening, or who the real villains are. It feels like a romance dropped into the middle of nowhere. There’s no solid hook, no foundation that helps the reader understand the world or become invested in the conflict.
I genuinely don’t understand how "Rose in Chains" ended up nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award. There are much better romantasy books out there. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the second book — maybe if I have a lot of free time. For now, I’m definitely not a fangirl of this story.