“The world taught me that things could always be worse. I learned to always look up, to take what I could get, to settle. I became too blinded by my bright sides to see the truth. Sometimes, you look at the silver lining so much that you drift into denial about the clouds.”
Gleam by Raven Kennedy has probably hit the hardest of all three I’ve read so far in The Plated Prisoner series. It landed in my lap at a time in my life where I’ve been trying to escape my own King Midas and I can truly say Auren gave me the strength to do that. It genuinely felt like Raven climbed into my brain and turned my life into a fantasy book reading this.
Watching Auren be engulfed by her feelings for Slade, her little glimmer of hope amongst the constant shroud of darkness around her melted my heart. I’ve been there, and I know how all encompassing it feels to have the blindfold torn off by everything you’ve ever wanted and be awakened to what you deserve. I felt every moment of doubt and yearning and desire so deeply and had to put the book down at times because it felt like Auren was plucking thoughts directly from deep within my own psyche.
That ending… my jaw was on the floor more than once and I couldn’t have even imagined the twists and turns that unfolded.
I can’t even begin to put into words how thankful I am for these books. How they have saved me, validated me and shown me the way at a time I didn’t realise I so desperately needed it. I can only hope, like we all are, that my own Slade Ravinger finds his way to me soon.
“Love happens in all kinds of ways. Fast. Slow. In bits and pieces, or immediate. Filled with lust, one-sided longing, a snap realization never noticed before. Deeply. Thoroughly. Love is a whisper we didn’t hear or a sound that drums in our ears and drowns out everything else.”
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find Gleam by Raven Kennedy on Goodreads.