Gleam (The Plated Prisoner Series Book 3)

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Much of this book revolves around them working to figure out their relationship from there, and I liked that because I didn't want to see her jump into another relationship without questioning some important things, to make sure she is protecting herself and importantly developing a sense of self away from a relationship. But then, I feel like she does a 180 and the book becomes in your face ROMANCE. So, without getting spoilery, here were some things I had problems with:

Gosh, I love it. This series is definitely on the slow one (I have so many questions!) but definitely worth the try. Auren's Cleansing for the Conflux seemed like a nod to Game of Thrones, and I LOVED it! Honestly, all I could think about was the similarities between this scene and Cersei getting ready with Septa Unella and her walk of atonement. Reading about fanatical religious groups that try to cleanse the body/spirit brings up my religious trauma. I absolutely hate them with a passion and would love nothing less than to see them burn. I hope Queen Isolte and her fanatics get what they deserve. Maybe it's because I'm getting overloaded with all of the fae romances leading to multiple realms and someone who didn't know they were a Queen and now they have to war against other kingdoms...it's just not an original thematic element to use to carry on a series anymore. I'd like to see Auren & Slade's story come to an end and for the focus to shift to one of the other kingdoms we don't know much about and develop the world overall rather than dragging this current story out. To summarise, out of 66+1 chapters the side characters povs take up a whole 9 of them and none of them offer anything of relevance to the plot or progression of the story in the form presented for this book. They may shed a little light on possible further paths for the next book but to be honest, to finally go through with all those opened and continuously ignored plotlines, the finale of the series would need to have twice the size of Glow and probably still feel unfinished. Do I kind of expect RK to announce more books or butcher the series completely based on this? Absolutely, I do.If you've been waiting for the romance to reach its peak then you won't be disappointed, I promise you! Are you catching a theme here? This is what I like to call the domineering man trope. At some point, someone discovered that men that taking control and commanding women in the bedroom is sexy, and that women finding pleasure from men using "dirty" words about their body (and commanding the women to use them) is sexy. Again, tropes are tropes for a reason, and while I think this is boring and formulaic, there's not a problem with it. EXCEPT when you take a woman who has just poured her heart out about living a life where people only saw her body and what they wanted from it. For him to then talk to her like he's directing the porno she's in, and for her to like it, felt really wrong because it's too much like how she was treated before (where she also thought she liked it). The couple heartfelt sentiments in there didn't help the overall feeling that he was in control and it was about what he wanted physically. Auren should have been able to feel truly cared for a good while before they had sex - there are plenty of ways to be intimate, and this didn't feel intimate, it just felt crass. PS: His father can rot in hell. I know he will show up in the next book, and I hope Slade makes him pay! In this book we saw the golden girl really come into herself and get free of her past. We find out a lot of secrets and get some really steamy scenes 🌶🥵. The ending was something else, it was so good and unexpected that I even forgive some of the annoying m, sentimental rumbling in the middle of the book.

Queen Malina's side story. Her importance to the story has been a mystery to me, and I never really enjoyed her POV chapters in any of the books until now! Her role in what happens at the end is a huge deal, and I'm curious to see what she does moving forward. Gleam is so far the best book in this series. I couldn't wait to read the sequel to the second book and this book was everything I could have hoped for. Auren's character arc is once again very well-written: although she now feels betrayed by Midas, she has to fight old reactions in his presence. You don't break free of a manipulative relationship overnight, and the author wrote it in a sensitive, realistic way. As for Slade (Ravinger/Rip), Auren doesn't fall in his arms overnight either. She's struggling with Midas, with not knowing whether or not she can trust Slade after everything that happened to her, she feels betrayed and used by everyone. Slade is a villain through and through. He is unapologetic about it and he fully embraces his Fae nature and it's ruthless urges. I'm glad this is something Raven did not erase or attempt at a redemption arc and while he does have good intentions but he is ready to unleash the villain if anyone as so much harms a hair on Auren. If you thought you loved Slade before, I will tell you now, you were wrong. You will come out of this not remembering any of your other book boyfriend’s names.There were so many unnecessary POVs, so many random characters who suddenly got a storyline after being one-dimensional for 3 books, and yet nothing happened in this whole book. Absolutely nothing. None of the books were big on plot, but at least they were short. The first 60% of this is completely unnecessary and could have been cut, it’s an endless repetition of Slade and Auren having drama, the rest of the Wrath making jokes for comic relief, and Auren having inner monologues about the same exact thing 20 times in a row. It was such a drag and if I hadn’t gotten this far into the series already, I would have dnfed right there. You are the worst bad mistake I’m glad I never made,” she hisses. “And you’re still the best mistake I can’t wait to make,” I retort with a smirk. on the flip side, because this was the AUREN show, the other ‘main’ characters felt like they were only the extras, ESPECIALLY the H. we saw too much of Midas & Auren and not enough of the H & Auren. the good thing that came out of this was the 🥰 pining🥰 particularly from the H since his POV was also featured in the book even though it didnt appear until the 51% mark. so you see, the slow burn was killing me...but its okay cause i enjoyed the torture. 🤠 based on the ending, i think we’ll be able to finally see them together more in the next installment.

This book also played into my least favorite tropes: traumatized women can only be healed by an equally traumatized man, slut shaming, insta-love, miscommunication, etc. My eyes were rolling like marbles when Kennedy did the whole “mention a mysterious Her but surprise it’s his mother not his lover” bit. Tired and played out. With Queen Kaila as our main antagonist in this story, I expected to see her work her political magic - and I received two absolutely inconsequential chapters. We received TWO chapters for our main antagonist. TWO. And that was it. Do you need further proof of how RK valued porn over plot? The blindfold has been ripped from my sight. Now, my heart doesn’t squeeze. My stomach doesn’t flutter. He broke something inside of me far more than just my heart. He broke my will. My drive. My voice. He broke down my very spirit, and I let him." Excuse me if I fail to see any flaws in this right now. I mean yeah, I could care less about Queen Malina's chapters but I think can see where this is all going and I'm intrigued to say the least. poor Jeo didnt deserve to die for Malina like why?? smh i was actually hoping Malina would be killed but alas, that didnt happen. She can stay alive (especially now that Midas is dead) AS LONG AS SHE LEAVES AUREN ALONE doubtful I just wanted my Slade x Auren content and that's what I got😌 although there was too much Midas for my liking but he finally got the death he deserved so im not complaining🥺Every male is either (a) rapey misogynistic ass that is insanely triggering to read or (b) secretly traumatized powerful tough guy. warnings: mentions of emotional manipulation, physical and psychological abuse, and drug consumption. Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left. Many questions have been answered and I got more than I expected which I was very happy with. Many things readers have been wondering about are revealed and don't get me started on the plot twists. Thank you Raven for your generosity even if you broke and mended my heart many times throughout this book. Slade is so intense and I love him for that. He lets Auren know from the start what he wants, but he treats her in a way that makes it clear that while he says he wants everything and he will not let her go after one night, he doesn't plan on trying to control her, and he would let her go if that's what she wanted. Their slow-burn romance and the building of all that sexual tension were so so so good to read (and OMG, chapters 29-30 were a spicy perfection).