Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Gleam by Raven Kennedy

71 reviews

forgottencupoftea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

The first two books are great, this third book is incredible! I'm now officially fully obsessed with this series and I will feel personally attacked if things end up going some type of way I don't like.

Gleam gives you all the great things that had been hinted at and scattered in Gild and Glint: great characters, a strong plot, an intricate political intrigue, slow burn romance, more plot twists/revelations and a journey towards self discovery.

Auren has slowly become one of my favourite heroines. She is a strong woman with warring/complex emotions, I've loved being able to experience firsthand (through her narration) the change in her thoughts, mindset. There's something incredible to the way she starts accepting herself and I'm weirdly proud of the fact that she starts embracing her true self. 

I, obviously, loved Slade. He is such a good (actually! for real!) morally grey character and love interest. What a man! (fae?!) I wish we knew more about him, I hope we end up getting some of his background because there is so much potential when it comes to his psychology/history.

The romance between the two of them was to die for! The banter, the angst, the slow burn, the chemistry, the encouragement...honestly, I could have died. If you were waiting on the romance, wait no more, dinner is served!

There were also so many heart-wrenching, harrowing, tear-jerking moments. The last 20% or so of the book were an emotional rollercoaster. I finished the book late at night and I was a sobbing mess (if you know, you know).

I will end this by saying that there were a bunch of POVs I could not find myself interested in? Mainly Malina's? I do feel quite bad about it to be honest as I'm very aware that she's in the position she's in because, as a woman, she was essentially "put" there but good grief she's pretty shit herself?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

doggomom's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

lynnette_reads's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

shannon_magee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-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? Yes

2.0

Up until about 80% this book was reading as the best of the series so far (despite an aggressive amount of analogies in the writing that made it a struggle to read. You could tell they wanted to be lyrical and meaningful, perfect for a blurb or social media quote, but there were just too many of them and they were too extended, clunking up the narrative. The pace also seemed highly confused, which wound up contributing to a clunky narrative). Unfortunately, at around 84%, this book became a dumping ground for trauma porn. Extensive trauma porn, in an already unabashedly trauma-tastic series. And the payoff is never satisfying enough to make going through the gleefully awful events in this book worth it. Every time I read a book in this series, I’m excited by the potential of the premise and the characters, and every time the writing is overdone and the dramatics so heightened it just leaves be hollow and disappointed. I truly don’t understand why the romantasy community is so happy with this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Addiction, and Murder

mreno5's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

reneec1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault

xlaurareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

screaming, crying, throwing up - this book was an absolute banger! i was anxious, i was sad, i was furious, happy, and completely torn apart. the character developmemt, the world-building, the plot twists - everything was amazing and thought through in greatest detail. the twist at the end of the book regarding midas? i wasn't expecting that and i was shocked to the bones. and the ending?

he deserved how auren ended him. every bit of it and more. i hate that bastard with all my heart.

the epilogue wasn't that much needed in my opinion although i greatly appreciate slade's perspective. and what i didn't like too much was the dirty talk. i mean, it was amazing..if it wasn't for the time this book is set in, that just didn't fit too well for me and disturbed my reading experience a teeny weeny bit. however, the book was so exceptional that i cannot for the life of me deduct points for this minor issue. this really might be new favorite series (and that means a lot after acotar had my heart for years). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

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

macykey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

There’s still some pacing issues in this book, but it was still so good! I want as much Slade as I can get!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

jasperw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This one was my favorite of the series so far. I think Kennedy still sometimes overdoes the metaphors in her writing. It sometimes just feels a little comical with how many there. But overall a good continuation of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death and Sexual assault