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RedditIn this Gleam book review I am sharing my thoughts on the third book in the Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy. Like always, I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, however, there still may be a couple of small spoilers.
“Shove down weakness, and strength will rise. You can’t be strong without conquering those weaknesses first.”
Raven Kennedy, Gleam
As I stated in previous reviews of the Plated Prisoner series I didn’t think I was going to read this series. While many people raved over how fantastic the series is on Tik Tok, the reviews didn’t really sell the book to me. However, I am glad I picked this series up because the books just keep getting better.
Before we dive in, I want to make it very clear that this series has a bunch of trigger warnings that you will want to be aware of. There is a lot of sexual situations. Grooming, narcissism, and emotional abuse are regular occurrences in this book. I have done my best to identify the triggers in this book below, but my list may not be complete.
Trigger Warnings
Since we don’t always get trigger warnings on books I like to give trigger warnings in my reviews. This can help people avoid certain triggers that could hurt their mental well being.
Possible Triggers in this book are:
- Abusive Relationship
- Assault
- Attempted Rape
- Blood
- Bones
- Bullying
- Death
- Decapitation
- Drugs
- Emotional Abuse
- Grooming
- Hostages
- Kidnapping
- Murder
- Physical Abuse
- Prostitution
- Rape
- Sexual Abuse
- Sexual Assault
- Sexually Explicit Scenes
- Slavery
- Torture
- Violence
For a list of the triggers I look for you can check out this link here. This may or may not be a complete list of triggers for this book, I do my best to make sure I mark anything that could be a potential trigger but I may accidentally miss triggers.
Synopsis and Author
Finally returned to Midas, Auren realizes pretty quickly that Midas isn’t just going to let her out of her cage. She’s realized she’s grown beyond Midas. So she starts making plans to leave Midas. However, as much as she wants to just go at it alone, she can’t help but to think about the people she will leave behind and what those people really did for her.
The Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy just keeps getting better. This third book will take you through a roller coaster of emotions and plots that will keep you turning pages. She has done a fantastic job about creating realistic character growth.
Gleam Reading Experience
We are still inside The Fifth Kingdom through all of this book. Inside the castle where King Midas is making decisions while the heir of King Fulke’s kingdom is too young to lead.
Our main point of views are Auren, Queen Malina, King Midas, and we even get the perspective of Slade. Even though I typically hate the perspectives of the enemies, Raven Kennedy does a fantastic job with it, and does it without giving away anything important.
The plot points in this book were amazing and the pacing moved quickly. This was faster paced than the last books in the series. There is mystery and suspense in this book that you can’t get enough of and makes the book hard to put down.
Writing Style
Gleam is much larger than the last two books coming in at 664 pages in the ebook and 48 chapters. As usual it’s easy to read, has descriptions that aren’t overly wordy, and amazing character development. This entire series just keeps getting better.
I personally couldn’t put this book down and now I eagerly wait for the fourth book in the series, Glow. The tension, slow burn, enemies to lovers filled with twists you don’t see coming just makes this entire series beautiful.
Gleam Book Review
Auren steps into her own in this book. She’s finally starting to realize her own strength and it’s a beautiful thing. We love to see a strong female lead, especially one that grows in strength through the books.
Slade is just wonderful. Excuse me as I sigh over how fantastic he is. Not only has he helped Auren find her strength but he does it in a way that doesn’t take any of the glory for himself. He’s just been a support for her through the changes she’s deciding to make.
Lu, Osrik, and Judd have all made my favorite list. I really enjoy the dynamic between them, additionally you can see how they are also accepting Auren and hoping she makes the right choice.
There are other characters that are favorites of mine in this book but I am trying to avoid spoilers.
Midas takes the cake as an evil son of a biscuit in this book. I hate him with a passion. There is a betrayal in this book involving him and others that just makes me hate everything about Midas.
Rissa is growing on me though and I do hope she achieves what she wants because I feel like she was dealt a bad hand in life and recognizes that Auren was dealt a similar one.
Again, this was another slow burn, enemies to lovers, that deals in trauma healing and growth. I love this book and I couldn’t put it down. I cannot wait for the next book in the series because I just know that it’s going to be great.
If you like K.F. Breene, CN Crawford, and Amelia Hutchins you will probably like this series.
Star Rating
Before I rate this book I want to give you a bit of background about what my rankings mean. I typically read books that I check out through the Libby app with my local library or through Kindle Unlimited.
I rarely buy ebooks unless they are cheaply priced or on sale. I also very rarely buy physical copies of books. I’m a bit of a minimalist so I have to absolutely adore a book to buy a physical copy that will be proudly displayed in my home.
So my ranking system is as follows:
- 5 Stars equals I am buying a physical copy of this book. I will read this book at least 10 more times, it is the best ever.
- 4 stars equals a great book. I might buy an ebook version when it’s on sale so that I can re-read it at least one more time.
- 3 stars equals a good book. I likely won’t read again but I appreciate the story.
- 2 stars equals “Meh.” I will not read this book again, it had a lot of problems and I did not care for it.
- 1 star equals a bad book. I barely finished this book and I will never recommend anyone waste valuable book reading time on this book.
- 0 stars is a did not finish book. I will never finish that book and it is banished.
Gleam gets 5 stars. It’s a beautiful book that takes you through all the emotions. You see these characters become better and grow as people. The twists that come along, the flashbacks that help us understand more, and the drama in this book are perfect.
Likes:
- Auren really steps into her own with a determined attitude.
- I like the dynamic between Auren and Slade and how it affects the growth of Auren.
- The world building in this story is fantastic and really makes it come to life.
Dislikes:
- The brutalness of some scenes was difficult to get through. Heart breaking and necessary but extremely difficult.
Final Thoughts on Gleam
This book is so good, once again Raven Kennedy delivers a beautiful continuation that just hypes us up for the next book. The realistic growth that we see in our characters, the evilness of the villains, and the descriptions bring this story to life and make it difficult to put the story down.
Raven Kennedy is quickly becoming a favorite author for me. This series will absolutely end up on my must buy physical copies list. Additionally, every single cover is beautiful.
Review for the Plated Prisoner series:
Have you read Gleam? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite book boards.
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