Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Gleam by Raven Kennedy

14 reviews

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

dealfea'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

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

bangiebangs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

Yes, this book finally delivers. You get all the steamy spice, the romance, the tension, and the twists. That, but heed the CNs again - where the last one was tamer, this one is pretty heavy, especially if you're sensitive to drug use and abuse. Spice, would say 4/5!

I read this one in one sitting again, and I feel like the story keeps picking up steam! The romance between Auren and Slade blossoms into steamy sex (dare I say: finally the slow burn is over!), and the first big story arc feels wrapped up. The book still ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but the main arcs are finished. 

There are a couple pretty intense themes in this one.

Spoiler

For me, the drug abuse - especially the scenes where Auren gets drugged - were pretty intense. This, along with the physical and psychological abuse is a severe mix.

Overall really good! I'm beginning to think you can skip book 1 (and maybe read a synopsis, or not), and just start with book 2. This could have been a duology. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexism, Addiction, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Torture and Slavery

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

This is absolutely my favorite book in the series, it wrenches my heart out every fucking time. Not a big fan of the narrators' performances in this one- I don't think Blake Lockhart reads women's voices well, so that took me out of the smut, and Zara Eden's inflection and pronunciation choices were strange at best. Narration I'd probably give a 3.75/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Torture, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Misogyny, Child abuse, Sexism, Confinement, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Trafficking

Minor: Infidelity, War, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, and Grief

januaryt123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Child abuse, Slavery, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Gore, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Confinement, and Addiction

kodafaith's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

This book actually hurt me to read. Seeing all of the trauma that Auren has endured makes you truly understand her behaviors, why she holds so tightly to Midas and pushes everything else away. Seeing her start to open her eyes to her abuse and then to literally have no choice to but to see

Spoiler

Because dear God Midas did you have to literally drug, mutilate, and torture this poor girl like stalking, brainwashing, using and manipulating wasn’t enough…. Thank god you died

what he has been doing all along.
The breaking in the end was so deserved but so freaking painful. To read everything she went through and just to think “Slade are you almost here… Slade she needs you… SLADE” but to know that Auren really needs to save herself. It was so nauseating to see her endure such painful trauma but I think that is a reason why this series has hit me so much harder than a lot of other fantasy out there…
Just so good. Can’t wait for more and to see how this story is going to end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug use

campisforever's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Listen, as part of the series the book is good. And the people who are upset about the perspective of the first sex scene are wrong—it’s great. 

There is, however, absolutely no reason this book should be almost 700 pages long. This one is slower than the other two, it drags, it repeats itself, and it includes points of view that aren’t necessary. Especially the last 70-100 pages, and the last two chapters (which are the same scene, word for word, from two different characters perspectives) are so slow and repetitive. I’m not into the “give me the same scene from this perspective now” because I think it’s lazy writing, honestly, so if I’d known I would have only read one of those chapters instead of both, because there was nothing additive about the second one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Addiction

Minor: Pregnancy and Trafficking

kotahlotah's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Confinement, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Minor: Vomit, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and War

viennajury's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Rape