Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Gleam by Raven Kennedy

46 reviews

mikasana's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Best of the series (so far).

This is also the only series I feel has no definite beginning, middle nor end for each book. It’s more so just one sliver of a large overarching story that stems from the first book. There’s usually 1 definite moment that becomes the highlight of each book so far but again, beginning and end are all pretty blurry. 

This approach makes the world and its world-building pretty lacking with more questions than answers as book seems to stray away from. The majority of the focus is on its characters and their relationships/development. 

So despite all its flaws, the slowburn is immaculate. The payoff from book 2 into book 3 is delicious. I love the tension, the flirtations, and the push/pull between our FMC and her love interest.

I will say, however, my biggest gripes were some of the pet names that were used (I hate seeing “baby” as a term of endearment) and some of the raunchier scenes that just felt a little bit out of place with the rest of the book.

Overall the series has me hooked and despite its flaws I will be finishing all of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

itsbrianascall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

crystalfaery's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this one.

There were many twists and reveals that I didn’t see coming. The cliff hanger leaves much to question that I’m assuming will be answered in the future books.

I love Slade. I love the Wrath. Auren is growing on me….like a fungus. Lol

watching Auren come into her power was beautiful. She still made a few mistakes but she has learned to fight for herself and for Slade and it was so refreshing.

The sex scenes were very hot! It switched to more modern language for a second and it was a bit jarring at first but it was well done. There were also some heart wrenching scenes that were well done and had my jaw on the floor. I really liked this one and I’m glad I stuck it out to get to this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Torture, Blood, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Infertility, Vomit, Kidnapping, and War

spaghettii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

telepathictori's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Trafficking

dealfea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gleam might be my favourite book in the series. The banter between Auren and Slade is so fun. I love Auren standing up to Midas, fighting back any way she can.

The absolut heartbreak of her realising just how thoroughly he used and abused her. I hate Midas so fucking much. Auren's death for him was surely painful but it should have been even worse. The scene of Auren loosing her ribbons still tears out my heart and made me sob.

This woman deserves all the happiness she can get and I hate that she still has to suffer through so much more 😞 I really do love this series and the characters in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

feuchtitive's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Just meh. But I’ve invested. Why am I still here?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

boomwormbrittany's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gleam is the second book in the Plated Prisoner series. Gild is the first book in a fantasy romance series following a girl named Auren who is gold touched. She has lived in a cage in a palace with King Midas for what feels like her whole life but she doesn't mind. She's in love with Midas and would do anything for him. But when different plots start to come to light and Auren is let out of her cage for the first time, she finds that everything is not as it seems.
FINALLY SHE DID IT! The ending of this book had me cheering so hard for Auren. I was so proud of her at the end of this book and what she did. I was so happy to read this book as these books just get better as time goes on.
This book series is a very slow burn both in the love aspect and in the political aspect. I love how slow it is because it means that we can really try to figure out what the schemes are in this. The way this built up to the some of the reveals had me freaking out because it was so well done! I did guess one of the very minor twists but the rest of this had me on the edge of my seat.
I have loved seeing Auren grow in this book series as much as she has. She's really come into her own and I love seeing her starting to fight back. There was one part of this book that had me cringing so bad because I felt so awful for Auren. I also loved getting more of Rip and learning more about him in this book.
I am excited to continue with this series and see where things are going to go!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Murder

scarlett_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War