I’m always drawn to historical romances set in ancient Rome, and Enemy of My Dreams did not disappoint! Julia, a headstrong Roman princess, and Alaric, the fierce Visigoth warrior, make for an unforgettable pairing. Julia’s refusal to bow to anyone’s demands made her such a compelling protagonist, and Alaric’s sharp wit and commanding presence were the perfect match for her fiery spirit.

The dynamic between Julia and Alaric was one of my favorite parts. Their early journey together was full of tension and hilarious pettiness—Alaric making Julia wash his shirt, or Julia putting nettles in his bed? Priceless moments that kept me hooked. The mix of humor and heat in their interactions made their relationship feel authentic and entertaining.

This book is epic in every sense—rich with drama, suspense, and an incredible cast of characters. There were moments where I genuinely wasn’t sure if some of them would make it to the end, which added to the stakes and kept me turning the pages.

Between the vivid writing, the perfect balance of spice and story, and the captivating setting, Enemy of My Dreams is a must-read for fans of historical romance. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from Jenny Williamson!

Julia, princess of Rome, gets kidnapped by Alaric, King of the Goths. This is true enemies-to-lovers as both main characters discover what they want for themselves and from each other.

I love that Julia is a smart, fierce FMC while also having flaws and a big personality. It was interesting to read about her winning over Alaric, as well as his allies. Although, I think my favorite characters were the twins. I couldn't stop picturing a more brutal version of the twins from How to Train Your Dragon.

While this book doesn't neccessary end on a cliffhanger, I hope there is another book that continues to details Julia and Alaric's next steps. I also want to know what happens with Horsa!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! Honestly this was such an amazing read. The setting, the character building, the drama. *chef’s kiss*. I do wish insta-lust wasn’t at play here, but happy to overlook it for the political intrigue and at least partially played out forbidden love/enemies to lovers trope. Well written, fresh, and genuinely enjoyable.

While the beginning was slow, once I got into the story, I was locked in. The names made it a little hard to follow at first. The casual violence at court was off putting.
At first Julia was a little unlikable. She developed incredibly into a strong heroine whose mind outshone most, which was refreshing for this genre. Her character development was fantastic as she faced different challenges.
I was also so gleeful about the found family. The adventuring part of the story was well paced, and even when they were back in society I was still very invested in their stories. The writing was good, very readable and sucked me in.
Such a well done enemies to lovers story.

This is a historical fiction novel inspired by ancient Rome, drawing from parts of Roman history with a decided fantasy flourish. While there are details about the various wars and politics, it’s also filled with modern feeling characters, and Julia — daughter of Augustus — being described as a “princess.” I picked this book up because, as a fan of I, Claudius, I always felt sorry for Julia who had a very unhappy life, unhappy marriage, and horrific death, so to see a book that put her as a character and waved a magic wand to give her a happy ending? I was all for it.

But this isn’t that Julia, daughter of Augustus. This is some other girl, named Julia, living in a fantasy Rome, which wasn’t quite what I wanted — and that’s on me. I came into this book with certain expectations, that being that this would be a little more historical, and a little less fiction. So, just a heads up. This is a Rome-adjacent fantasy novel.

So, with that out of the way …

Julia is a modern woman with modern sensibilities living in a fantasy Rome where her desire for happiness, safety, and love have caused her to act out against her brother’s wishes. Her brother Honorius, to please his advisor, decides to marry him to Julia who decides to vanish into the hinterlands with a tall, dark and handsome man of mystery: Alaric of the Goths.

Alaric is a warrior who has sold himself and his men as mercenaries in the hopes of being given a new homeland. It’s made him bitter, angry, and mistrustful as — again and again — he’s told go here, fight this, it’s not time to give you land, but we have another battle, so on and so forth. Julia is a potential bargaining chip, and she’s beautiful and sensual and the two of them are very much into one another.

It’s a long game of flirting, fighting, sulking, bratting, scowling, and almost coming together … and then stopping. No matter how much the two of them want each other, there’s always something coming between them; but, to Alaric’s credit, no matter how hot and heavy he and Julia get, when she says stop, no, I want to talk … Alaric stops. He listens to her, respects her, and it’s nice to see that in a romantic hero. Someone with his own agency and personality and wants who doesn’t do the whole caveman “my woman” schtick. The two of them are well matched, and I enjoyed them as a couple.

The plotting is solid, the pace is good and the writing works with the story. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

Y’all this was a MESS.

Headhopping that absolutely kept me from the flow of the story? Check.
Historical inaccuracies that would have been resolved with a simple google search (princesses, really??)? Check.
Insta love from a character who spends 20 pages saying she’ll never be in love? Check.
Excessive miscommunication over the same thing 30 times? Check again!

I wanted to enjoy this so much, but quite literally nothing worked for me outside of the writing. In the sections I could read without being jarred into the next POV, the prose is very nice! But I’m not at all convinced this was the way to go about telling this story.

This is definitely going to be marketed towards fans of Song of Achilles and Circe, but if you DID like those books? You’re probably not going to vibe with this one.

Hmm, this book was okay. First historical details were ignored. The angst was contrived due to miscommunication, and unfortunately, this is not one of my favorite tropes, especially when it gets repetitive. Okay, but not memorable.

#netgalley #EnemyofMyDreams

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for the opportunity to advance read.

I love all things historical fiction and mythology but something was a bit off with this one for me. Parts of the book felt a bit rushed and repetitive. I wasn't a fan of the instant love or the miscommunication.

I did enjoy reading about a different time period and the side characters were a breath of fresh air during this read.

Lush descriptions in a romantic setting but perhaps a little slow for some, but I love historical fiction. Miscommunication can be frustrating at times.

Enemy of My Dreams held great promise, but never quite took off. I’m always excited for a historical romance set in an era other than regency. Although this novel certainly plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, a setting involving Romans and Goths is still a lot of fun. The enemies to lovers aspect worked especially well, but relied far too heavily on miscommunication. Miscommunication, especially with differing cultural backgrounds and languages makes sense, but they kept making the EXACT SAME assumptions over and over until they both came off as idiotic at times. The pacing also seemed a bit off. Where the book shined brightest was the cast of characters and unique setting.

A good read, but not a great one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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!! 📚