Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Gild

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

202 reviews

dkgreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Liked the spin on the King Midas story. Auren’s Stockholm Syndrome is totally showing, but I love her inner commentary and positive attitude. I definitely see her character growing already and look forward to seeing her strength blossom. I already know Midas is a bad guy. . .because he’s blonde. Lol. Diving into Book 2 immediately.

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brooketreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Big content warning for sexual content and SA on page. If I hadn’t purchased this book on audible, I probably would have DNFed. I do see the potential, but my negatives far outnumbered that potential.

All the rest of this is major spoilers. I didn’t like how it started with an *rgy, and Auren is being forced to watch from her cage… but it was very confusing how she felt about it. Seemed like she didn’t like it, then it seemed like she did, but then it seemed like she didn’t because she wished to participate… confusing. But, somehow we are supposed to believe that King Midas loves the MC Auren… no. The whole concept of the “saddles” …barf. Then, oh Midas has a wife an hour and a half in that we haven’t heard about till this point. So not only is he massively sleeping around in front of the person that loves him and that he supposedly loves, but he also has a wife that is completely fine with him stepping out and even “purchased” him some of his “saddles” …again barf. And then left and right Auren is about to be r*ped by some gross man… why. Then, Auren watched another woman get r*ped when she could have stopped it the whole time and only stops it when that man is about to come for her… like wtf?!

If I continue the series, which right now doesn't seem promising, it will only be for Rip.

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morganhortonn's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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kelsven's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

WOW…check trigger warnings for sure.

I couldn’t put it down. So much happened in a short time. I wasn’t expecting the story to take the turns it did. I loved that there wasn’t the feeling of knowing what was coming. Great world and character building. I’m ready for the next one.

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bookworm_vevans's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

2.5

Book had a good idea with King Midas and his prized pet, but it felt like too much and not enough. Not enough on the MMC, not enough to fall in love with the FMC though she has promise, and the last 1/3 of the book was rushed. I left the book not understanding the motivation behind any of the characters and don't like any enough to care. I'd love to see if the next books in the series do a better job of tying things up, but I'm not sure I'll read the next.

Lots of sensitive topics and triggers come up. I read the book warning, so it didn't influence my aforementioned opinion.

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viselik's review against another edition

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dark

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

4.25

The book does have its issues, and I think if you know what you are getting into it's fine. But please read the content warning, this book is definitely not alright for younger readers who don't know what they are getting into!

The first time I read this I did not know it had the content in it that it did due to me skipping over the content warning and I finished the book feeling like I had missed something and felt icky. I only figured it out once I read the content warning that I had accidentally skipped and reread the book that it clicked what had actually happened, it wasn't what I expected and made me like the book a whole lot more than I originally did.

Edit 22/07/24: I have now read this three times, my most recent is to prepare for the release of Goldfinch, and I deeply enjoyed it. I think now, the first time I read this book, I may have been a slight bit too young as I didn't grasp the subject matter as well, but this time, I understood it a lot better. I still do feel this book can get a slight bit boring at times but I am highly excited to continue to read the series to prepare for Goldfinch's release.

I did find the whole first face-to-face talk with Rip a bit annoying this time, but I think it's more just I felt like I have read a similar thing over and over again by now. This is more a romance/romantasy issue I have though in general not just with this book.
Midus I feel like he was done well for what he is in the story, we can see the twisted perspective that Auren has of him and how it is slightly warped by the end of this book. We see some glimpses behind the mask and I deeply liked those moments where we get to see how he truly is.

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annikenr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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shellyrosebee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-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

5.0

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deyknight's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Very well written, but I struggled to understand what the intended overall plot was through most of the book. It felt very much like this book was a pilot episode, laying the ground work, backstory, and world building... But we only really discovered the plot/conflict at the very end of the book.

Also: definitely pay attention to the trigger warnings!

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thelibraryofjen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Gild - Raven Kennedy

BOOK ONE of The Plated Prisoner Series

Synopsis ~~

I picked this book right when I bought it because I was just so excited. This story is a King Midas retelling, with a much darker twist. We follow our main character Auren who has been caged up in the castle for over 10+ years. She is King Midas favored and we know why he is her favorite because she is completely gold.

Now for the things I didn’t like about this story is how late we meet the love interest. I was told this was a spicy romantasy and I just didn’t get that vibe at all. So if you go in expecting spicy scenes you will be disappointed. This story read more as a prequel book than has the first in a series. Be warned that there is a lot of grape scenes and the FMC has Stockholm syndrome so the choices and things she says can be a little weird for us, but for her that is all she knows.

The things i enjoyed is the pacing of this book it was really good to follow along too. This book I would say is more character driven than plot, but the plot that is in their is good there’s just way more character development. I really enjoyed the ending and how it left us on a cliff hanger. I also really enjoyed how Auren’s character transformed, she isn’t a scared girl anymore. She has so much potential and I really hope the author does her character justice in the later books. I also enjoyed her relationship with her royal guard that was a cute daughter/father relationship. It was so sad when Sail died, I rarely cry to books but that made me tear up a bit. The author’s writing was really captivating and made me keep reading. People have complained that this story doesn’t feel like an adult fantasy but for me it really did.

If you love:

⚜️ Fae

⚜️ Mythical Creatures

⚜️ King Midas Retelling

⚜️ Abused FMC

⚜️ Fantasy

⚜️ Magical Powers

⚜️ Character development for FMC

⚜️ War

⚜️ Character/Plot driven story

Genre/Type: Adult Fantasy, Romance (very little)

Format: Physical Book (462 pages)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.⭐️ (4.5)

Spice: NONE (THERE IS GRAPE 🍇)

Series or Standalone: First in a Series

CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️⚠️‼️‼️‼️

TikTok: @j3nslibrary_
Amazon: Jenesis

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