Picture this: the cusp of the fall of the Roman empire. A tyrant son of the former emperor, a wayward daughter & a 'savage' warlord. Add gladiators, laurel headpieces dipped in gold & an arranged marriage. Sound awesome, right? Well- I wish this had fulfilled any of those descriptions past the surface level. We had mounds of political intrigue, but the romance was insta-lust. This was unfortunately really difficult to get through and needed a lot of work to build any sort of tension.

A solid read. Not my fav to be very honest but the best quality of the book was the writing style and hoe poetic it was. My god it was divine. I just found the pacing to be a bit slow for my liking

⭐️ 4.75/5

“And when they went to war against the Empire, the whole earth shook at their coming.”

WOW I absolutely loved this book! An epic historical romance set during the last days of the Roman Empire. Some characters are based on historical figures and follows events in Roman history but the story overall is a work of fiction.

This was everything I wanted in this type of book: action, adventure, romance, found family, strong female main character, forbidden love, scandal, betrayal, political drama, war, and MORE! The writing was beautiful and you could tell the author had thoroughly researched the time period.

At times there were a few conversations focused on battle/strategy that I didn’t follow as well and times where I had to pause and remember who a character was. I also don’t *love* the title of this book. It sounds like it’s going to be a cheesy love story when it’s actually so much more than that AND it’s a beautiful love story that I think deserves a more powerful title.

Overall, I LOVED this book and recommend it to others who are interested in this genre.

For fans of Clytemnestra, The Song of Achilles, this one is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I basically inhaled this book. I'm very much into the Ancient Roman culture and when I read the summary of this book, I was hoping I'd be able to get my hands on this one. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for granting the opportunity to read this book.

Enemies-to-lovers? Oh, absolutely. This book really lives up to that trope, setting almost a gold standard (for me, personally). The relationship between Alaric and Julia is so perfectly paced and very intriguing. Once I started the book, I could not put it down. I wanted to know exactly where it was headed, keeping me guessing the entire time. There are some very angtsy moments during their relationship that just hit a home-run for me since I'm definitely a huge fan of that in particular. Jenny Williamson does tie in the story with historical aspects very well. Overall, very enjoyable and a quick read if you're into history + romance. Not to mention, there is a good amount of spice in the book.

5/5 stars!

I love antiquity and everything having to do with the Roman world, so now that I know there’s a whole subgenre of historical romances focused on ancient Rome, there is no going back for anyone involved (hooray). Enemy of My Dreams is everything you could want in a romance.

Read if you like…

🏛 Enemies-to-lovers where they actually want to kill each other
🗡️“Can you please get over that time where I kidnapped you?”
🏛 Attack first, ask questions later MMC
🗡️Always have a plan within a plan FMC
🏛 His warriors end up liking her more than him
🗡️Blood Oaths and sworn brotherhoods
🏛 High stakes intrigue
🗡️Hilarious side characters that always seem to be more emotionally mature than the MMC
🏛 A setting semi-grounded in Roman history
🗡️Strategy games that only increase the romantic tension (as they should)
🏛 “I will seduce you before you seduce me.”
🗡️Refusing to give into the passion before the other person because pride
🏛 A lot of (mostly) historically accurate diversity
🗡️Insult her and die
🏛 “Why does he look good covered in the blood of his enemies?”
🗡️ Caring for each others’ wounds
🏛 A FMC who respects herself enough not to put up with MMC’s crap

My one issue with this novel was the number of historical inaccuracies. First, Romans don’t have princesses; that title DOES NOT EXIST in Rome. Imperial women (there is no such thing as Roman royal women since Romans hated kings) would have been referred to as augusta or domina, not as a princess. Additionally, the timeline for the Goths sacking Rome was iffy, but if you treat the story like a romance rather than a historical epic, then the inaccuracies become less of an issue. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to see what else the author has to offer.

First off, thank you NetGalley, Harlequin publishing, and Jenny Williamson for the opportunity to read this book. I absolutely loved it.

WOW this book! It gripped me from the first chapter and kept me guessing the whole time. I am a history lover so naturally the historical context of the book drew me in, but the way the author wove a fictional story within a historical time period was truly incredible. I loved her writing style and the way she crafted and told the story. It was well paced and really had me guessing even until the very end.

While I loved the history, the true heart of our story are our main characters Alaric and Julia. I LOVED them!! The tension with these two was like no other. I wasn’t sure if I loved them together or hated them, but let me tell you I was eating it up!!! I mean truly I loved them together. I loved how protective he was of Julia and wasn’t afraid of her fierce feistiness. They were explosive together, again even till the very end.

The found family that Julia found amongst Alaric’s men was really beautiful. The friendship with her and the twins was probably my favorite.

This was such a fantastic book and one I will be recommending to everyone. Thank you again for the opportunity to read it.

When Julia,, princess of Rome, is betrothed to her brother's evil advisor, she makes a rash decision to ally herself with Alaric, King of the Goths and sworn enemy of Rome. Fleeing with the man that used to be her sworn enemy, she has to decide if she can trust this man with delivering her to safety, and whether she's willing to give up an empire to gain his love.

There were echoes of the 'Blood and Ashes' at the start of this book, and I enjoyed that Williamson took pains to set this story in a realistic historical setting, complete with political and regional nuances and rugged brutality. The side characters added color and comedy, even if there were a few too many of them, and I can easily see this being the starting point of a long-standing series.

What didn't work for me was the tone - Julia especially sounded too modern, and it felt like what a book version of "iphone face." There was no nuance to her personality, or depth to her relationship with Alaric. They wanted to bone, so they boned, and that's great, but there was no further reason I could glean about what drew them to each other. A six-pack a day does NOT keep the blues away.

Thank you Harlequin for the ARC - out 4 Feb.

Book review 📖

📜Enemy Of My Dreams
✍️Jenny Williamson
📠Harlequin Trade Publishing
📚Historical/Fantasy Fiction
🗓️Pub date: February 4, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️♾️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @harlequinbooks for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Also to @jennyfreakingwilliamson—wow wow wow. You blew me away with this book!

✨Julia, the sole daughter of the emperor of Rome, revels in her freedom to do as she pleases. Scandal, who she beds, and philosophies of life are at the top of her interests. However, when her father dies and her teenage brother inherits the throne, he tries to reel in his wayward sister.

✨Julia is determined not to be bound by any rules. Brandishing her lover as a weapon when her brother forces a suitor to marry her, the emperor makes a mockery of her by sentencing her lover to death in a deadly match in the Colosseum.

✨While Julia is lost in her own sorrow, a ferocious warrior, Alaric of the Visigoths, arrives to bargain land for his people. Julia sees him as a ticket out and uses him to her advantage. She must make an ally of him or else bring the entire empire to its knees.

✨This was a death-defying, sexy game of cat-and-mouse. It’s a regal and stunning work of art that highlights Rome’s deadly games, royal desires, a powerful empire, and what happens when it all comes crashing down. This is an epic historical masterpiece and one you won’t want to miss! I am absolutely in love with this book—the tension, the history, the betrayal—all the stars!!

#netgalley #enemyofmydreams #jennywilliamson #harlequintradepublishing #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #winterreleases #historicalfiction #fantasyfiction #romantasy #readthisnow

First of all, I LOVED that this book didn’t take place in the 19th century! It’s really refreshing as someone that reads a lot of historical romance, and does genuinely enjoy it but finds it a bit tedious that authors are reluctant to explore other periods in history, admittedly because readers are often averse to it.

That said, I liked this book a lot! I thought Julia and Alaric were both really compelling protagonists and their romance was engaging, and I felt like I understood why they were so drawn to each other despite their backgrounds. I also was surprised at how earthy the entire book was, like I could literally feel the dust and grime on the characters during their travels as I read the book.

Something notable about this book is how gory it was and it genuinely shocked me that in the first few chapters, Julia’s lover is literally thrown into the gladiator arena by her brother and torn apart by lions. I didn’t personally mind it (although I did admittedly skim over a few of the most graphic paragraphs) but fair warning to anybody that does since there’s no way around it entirely if you’re squeamish.

The only critique I have is that I think the book could have been at least 100 pages shorter. My ARC was 445 pages, and that’s markedly longer than most mainstream romance novels, and I think that tightening it up will make for a better final product.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Enemy of My Dreams is a historical romance rooted in Roman history, and revolves around the fall of the Roman Empire. I'm not quite sure how accurate it is because I'm not familiar with its specifics, but I mostly enjoyed it.

The story follows Julia, the sole daughter of the emperor of Rome. When her father dies, her younger brother Honorius seized power and forces Julia into an imminent unwanted marriage. Alaric, on the other hand, is the king of the Goths, who are a key enemy to Rome. Alaric initially goes to Honorius in an attempt to get him to cede back a portion of the territory the Romans stole from the Goths (which backfires) and in the scuffle, Julia basically volunteers herself to be kidnapped by Alaric so she can escape her brother and plot her return for the throne.

This book is heavy with political intrigue, which only partially works here. The establishing of the wars, power struggles, and general "world building" (even though it's technically a historical romance) could be dense at times. I've never read a historical romance that went as far back as Rome. An ancient enemies to lovers tale - certainly a unique perspective. But it failed to come across as the ancient Roman romance it was described to be, and was instead reminiscent of historical fantasy books like "The Road of Bones" and "A Fate Inked in Blood." Which isn't necessarily an issue, though.

In terms of Alaric and Julia: this is an enemies to lovers plot, but with very detailed instant lust that I think came into play too quickly and foiled some of the tension. There is so much vitriol between the two of them-- they hate each other off the bat: Julia being a spoiled princess and Alaric a brute and king of the enemy Goths. In every cat-and-mouse scene where they're antagonizing each other or doing something to piss the other one off, it was simultaneously like, "but he is so sexy, she's so beautiful and I want her, etc." I wish there'd been a bit less of that or at least that it had been a little later in the novel.

That said, the character growth the two of them had was excellent. Their relationship also evolved from pettiness to genuine devotion. Julia truly grows into her own and Alaric gradually shed his rough-around-the-edges, guarded persona especially when it comes to her. While there were some elements of the book I wished were different, it's undeniably well-written and I think many readers will enjoy this fresh, "ancient" take on forbidden love and historical romance.

Thank you so much to Canary Street and NetGalley for this ARC!! 📚

“Enemy of my Dreams” is a historical romance between Julia, a princess of the Roman Empire, and Alaric, King of the Goths. After her tyrannical brother makes an example of one of her lovers, Julia orchestrates her own kidnapping by Alaric, who in turn is perfectly willing to use her as leverage to gain what he wants: a parcel of land on which the Goths can build a home after their was stolen by the empire. Each of these people work to manipulate and seduce the other, with the upper hand switching places throughout the story.
Fans of spicy romance novels will probably enjoy this; personally I felt that Julia and Alaric kept rehashing the same conflict over and over, and the spicy scenes got repetitive pretty quickly. The pacing also felt very strange: the event that felt like the halfway point of the story happened around 80% through, and then it didn’t feel like it ended in the right place either. There is certainly character development, but I didn’t think either Alaric or Julia reached the point in their journeys where I actually felt like I would root for them.

I have to admit that this one had me intimidated at first glance:
1) While I love me some historical romance, I was worried that as far back as ancient Rome might be out of my depth.
2) I've recently gotten back into truly reading for enjoyment, and clocking in at almost 500 pages had me questioning if I'd like it.
3) I also don't usually gravitate towards enemies to lovers romances because they can often be problematic as hell.

However, this book pleasantly surprised me on all three counts. Williamson does an amazing job of immersing the reader in the ancient world, sharing details that really set the scene while not making it a tedious distraction. There were a few moments when I felt the pacing was slower than it needed to be, but overall it all tied together in a way that still made it interesting.

Finally, Julia and Alaric's tension was engaging to read from the very beginning, and their damn misunderstandings/miscommunication had me STRESSED. The growth and progression of their romance feels so genuine, and they're sexy and soft and stupid in the way only the most compelling book couples can be.

After about 1/3 of the way in, I couldn't put Enemy of My Dreams down. My only complaint is that the ending felt a little rushed -- but I may have just wanted more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Enemy of My Dreams follows Julia, a spoiled daughter of a Roman emperor, and Alaric, the king of the Goths who is engaged in a lifelong battle with Rome for a true homeland. When Julia's brother, the new emperor, turns on both her and Alaric, they find their destinies connected. First up, we always need more historical romances that are not set in England during the regency period, so this was a super refreshing change of pace for the genre. Alaric and Julia have a very interesting dynamic between the two of them that is founded on both admiration and deep suspicion of each other that does not go away despite their growing closeness. I really appreciated that they didn't suddenly trust each other just because they developed feelings for each other, especially considering that their reputations are well-known by both of them.

That being said, the last third of the book feels a little unwieldy and rushed. I don't feel entirely satisfied by how it ends and I wouldn't be surprised if another book comes down the pipeline for these two.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book. With the feel of a Greek myth retelling with heaps of spice added in, it was a perfect recipe for a page turner that gripped me
And wouldn’t let me go. There were only a few times I felt it was going on just a little too long, but in the end, I loved the way it all played out.

Julia was not a great person at the start, but what she was forced to endure changed her for the better. I loved watching her and Alaric fall in love, and I loved seeing her forge friendships with people who were so far and away different from her and where she started in life. Alaric was a hard man who knew what he wanted, and he did everything he could to make his desires come true. He was the perfect enemy to the princess until he wasn’t. I loved seeing his soft side reveal itself, both for Julia and for his friends.

Fantastic book, definitely recommend.

Enemy of My Dreams is a novel set during the Roman Empire. It is an enemies-to-lovers historical romance following Julia, the only daughter of the Emperor of Rome, and Alaric of the Visigoths, a sworn enemy of Rome. Julia has a mind for ruling but is quickly put aside for being a woman and is replaced by her brother- a petulant, arrogant heir to the throne. He offers her hand in marriage to a man she hates and decides to take fate into her own hands by orchestrating her kidnapping.

Julia spends this entire book fighting for the women in her life. She knows that they can be just as cunning, strong, brave, and cutthroat as any man can be. Many men in this story dismiss her knowledge simply due to her looks and the societal gender norms of women being meek and submissive. I do love the feminine rage that echos in the pages of this book.

I also really enjoyed the characters that are present. You can't help but love all of the side characters that come into play. Each has their own history without it being two dimensional or repetitive. They stick to their personality without being second thoughts, each is fleshed out.

It did take me a little while to get into the book. The first 2/3 was a lot of set up and not a lot of action. However, that last 150 pages were enthralling. I could not set it down for a moment because I needed to know what was going to happen next. I do look forward to an eventual book 2.

I also had some difficulty with Alaric as a MMC. He didn't quite have the character growth I was wanting from him, BUT I had not realized that this would be a series until close to the end and knowing that he has a lot more time to grow into a man worthy of Julia eases my frustration with his bullheadedness at times.

Those that love historical stories set in the Roman times, some spice, feminine rage, and found family will really enjoy this novel.

The amazing and well written story of Galia Placidia’s early life. What I don’t understand is why she’s named Julia in this story, when it would have been just as easy to give the main character her historical name.

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I have to say that this book deserves a stronger, more evocative title. While Enemy of My Dreams leans heavily into a rom-com vibe, it doesn’t quite capture the intensity and epic scope of the story. This is a tale of war, betrayal, and passion, set amidst the backdrop of the fierce conflicts between the Goths, Romans, and Huns—a much grander stage than the title suggests.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The pacing was spot-on, pulling me through the twists and turns of the story without feeling rushed. The characters were richly developed, with layered motivations and compelling arcs that made it easy to root for (or against) them. The storyline was fire, packed with enough intrigue, action, and romance to keep me glued to the pages.

The Roman setting was a standout element for me. It brought a unique and refreshing angle to the narrative, immersing me in the political and cultural complexities of the time. The vivid descriptions and historical depth made the world feel alive, and I loved the sense of stepping into a completely different era.

Overall, this book was incredibly entertaining and well-executed.

From the first the chapter, I was sort of convinced this book wasn’t for me, but I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Jenny Williamson did a phenomenal job at developing the side characters and bringing this story to life. The side characters make this story. I felt like I knew each and every one of them by the end and would have loved to regard them as friends. Although ruthless, their loyalties run deep and they do their best for their little make shift family.

I wish I had a map and a bit more background knowledge about the time period while reading this. I’m not sure I understood the historical significance of the feuding groups, but the story read well even without the background. Honestly, it felt more like I was reading a romantasy. Also, I found the writing to be confusing at times especially at the beginning when trying to follow which character perspective I was reading, but you get used to it.

I’m not the biggest fan of Alaric, but his character certainly kept me engaged. He fit the savior complex trope so well. Julia and Alarics romance skewed more towards lust than love at times and definitely had some toxic moments, but hey it didn’t stop me from inhaling this story. I enjoyed the concept of this book so much that I am hoping Jenny Williamson builds on it with books about some of the side characters like thorismund or the twins.

My rating: 4 stars

I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this arc.

I really enjoyed this as a historical fiction novel, it had that feel that I was hoping for from the last days of Rome. The overall story and characters worked with the storyline being told, I was engaged with the concept and how it was written. I enjoyed the way Jenny Williamson wrote this as it was a realistic setting and enjoyed that it felt like Rome. The story was so well done and was glad I was able to read this.

Many thanks to NetGalley.Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press for the ARC.

This was such a strong start, but towards the last third of the book, the plot started going wayward - I understand the push and pull of Alaric and Julia's relationship and how fraught it was with distrust, but this book could have been about 150 pages shorter. Her running away caused a lot of unnecessary plot filler that I think didn't need to be there. However, it was a fairly entertaining tale - I love Roman myth retellings and this was overall fun to read.