Gleam (The Plated Prisoner, 3)

Holy. Crap. This one gets the full 5 out of 5 stars.

Aurens build up in this book was just immaculate to me. She goes from a broken downtrodden captive with Stockholm Syndrome to a powerful in her own right bad@ss. It was very slow paced in a lot of places, but I think it was needed to accurately give the reasons and build up it needed.

I am all for gratification as quickly as possible but so much would have been lost if she gave us the quick and dirty. I absolutely loved this book and out of the first three, this was my favorite.

And that ending. I am still reeling from it!

Rating: 5/5 ⭐ Spice Level: 3.5/5

Tropes/CW: Dark Fantasy Romance, Retelling (King Midas), Abuse, Captivity, Toxic Relationship, Emotional Abuse, Torture, Enemies to Lovers, Slow-Burn

This book y'all, f*ing amazing. Best one in the series (so far). We're still following our girl Auren along on her journey, and what a journey. In this book we get frustration, growth, passion, tragedy and so much heart-wrenching trauma. This book made me laugh, cry and just plain broke me.

Auren - back with Midas, but standing up for herself. Rip/Slade - Just gets better and really encourages Auren to blossom. Midas - still a POS. Wrath - Getting more awesome.

Spice - we get some gooooood stuff in this one.

Now, when reading this, if you know you aren't going to finish it in one go, stop before you hit the 75/80% mark and pick it up again when you can finish it. Because if you past that point, you will stay up way later than you need to in order to finish it, or you will be super frustrated that you had to stop.

The last 20-25% is a wild ride so make you sure have your seatbelt fastened and arms and legs inside the cart.

Gleam by Raven Kennedy is a captivating blend of fantasy and romance that will enchant readers from start to finish. Set in a world where magic is both revered and feared, Kennedy weaves a tale of forbidden love, political intrigue, and the power of destiny. The characters are compelling, the world-building is rich, and the plot twists keep you on the edge of your seat. With its lyrical prose and immersive storytelling, Gleam is a must-read for fans of the genre

There isn’t enough of the good stuff and there’s too much of the drag out - the final scene was great it just took so long to get there. I feel like there could have been more steamy flirt scenes in front of Midas to pay him back for all the times he used his saddles and made her watch. Like this man did not get punished enough. Just a lot of waiting around when she could have fought back and stuck there all over Digby who she has like 3 Luke warm interactions with and then all of the sudden he’s her father figure. Also for the complete drag out of the romance, we could have used many more scenes of them building their relationship and the angst. It wasn’t exactly insta love but yeah. I still like our couple though and the world is pretty cool.