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RedditI just finished the latest book in the Plated Prisoner series so it’s time to do a Glow book review. Make sure you check out my reviews of the previous books and if you haven’t yet read this series I recommend you do before diving into this review.
As with all of my reviews I try to keep spoilers to a minimum, however, there may still be a few small spoilers.
“You don’t have to be cruel to be strong. You don’t have to be mean to seem brave. You don’t have to look down on others in order to stand tall. Having emotions does not mean you’re weak. It means you’re smart enough to let yourself feel.”
Raven Kennedy, Glow
Glow is the fourth book in the Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy. I have to say I am upset right now, only because there is a cliffhanger in this book that devastated me and now I have to wait a year before I can find out what happens.
I’ve raved over this series for a while now. This is one of those series that I didn’t really care for early on but it grew on me. The character development and the world building in this series is amazing. I especially love the twists you never see coming.
Check out my previous reviews of this series below:
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:
- Alcohol
- Anxiety
- Attempted Murder
- Blood
- Bullying
- Death
- Depression
- Drugs
- Fire
- Gore
- Kidnapping
- Murder
- Poisoning
- Profanity
- Prostitution
- Religion
- Sexually Explicit Scenes
- Slut Shaming
- 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.
Glow Synopsis
Warning: If you have not read the first three books this synopsis will spoil those books for you.
After killing Midas with her gold, Slade was forced to rot Auren in order to save her life. Now hidden away he needs to keep Auren safe, wake her up, and hopefully help her to understand her power better.
Meanwhile, the royalty of Orea are calling for a Conflux in which Auren must answer for the death of King Midas. In the process they are spreading vicious rumors about Auren swaying the public opinion in their favor.
Once again, Raven Kennedy comes in and twists the story so you never see what’s coming. In this book though, we really get a lot from Slade and his story is both tragic and one of strength.
Glow Reading Experience
First off, Glow is 705 pages so it is a thick book. It took me about 12-13 hours to read in total. I’m invested in this series, but I haven’t read a lot of fantasy romance or been in the mood to read fantasy romance for a while. It took me a bit to get into this book.
I did a bit of skimming at times because the story was so in depth and there were characters I just didn’t even care to read their perspective. That is my only complaint in this book.
This book has quite a few spicy scenes, a lot of emotion, and towards the end really hooks into you. The character development is so fantastic and you get so drawn into your favorite characters and how they change.
Towards the end I would recommend having some tissues nearby and there are a couple of parts in the middle that may also have you tearing up. If you are reading this as a part of a binge you will likely have more moments of tears than if you were to read this like I am as the books come out.
Glow Book Review
We get to meet a lot of new people in this book so we have more supporting characters brought in.
As usual I love Auren. Her trauma, growth, and strength are all fantastic. I love seeing how she’s evolving throughout these books. Likewise, Slade has had some growth and we really see how much in this book since we get more of his backstory.
The Wrath is at the top of my list for favorite characters. They bring a bit of lightness as well as delicacy in helping Auren and Slade through this book where they start to heal. Additionally, Digby is taking his role as Aurens guard very seriously and it really warms the heart.
We are finally leaving the fifth kingdom and going into the fourth so we get a whole new aspect of world building in this book. The world is beautiful and Raven does a fantastic job of describing each of the different settings. She really brings this world to life in ways that make you feel like you are there.
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.
Glow gets 5 stars, 3 peppers, and 1 tissue from me. While the book is mostly diving into back story, learning more about our characters, and seeing them heal from their recent trauma it is beautifully done. The last quarter of the book though is where the story shines because now it’s all coming together for a finale that leaves us begging for the next book.
Final Thoughts on Glow
My initial reaction to this book was how it’s mostly filler. However, all of that is what makes the last quarter of this book hit so hard. It sets us up for an ending that will leave you screaming. Raven Kennedy made this hurt so good and now I have to wait a year before I can read the next book in the series.
Have you read Glow? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Tik Tok and Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite book boards.
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