Everyone saw a gilded beauty. He saw her, and it ruined them both.

Gild by Raven Kennedy

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The Plot

Auren is the favored pet of King Midas, living in a palace of gold. Literally. Her body has been transformed by magic, her skin gilded, her freedom stripped. She tells herself she’s safe. Loved. Special. But when war looms and politics twist, Auren is sent away, and everything changes.

What follows is the unraveling of everything she believed. The world outside her cage is brutal, hungry, and ready to devour her. But buried under the gold, Auren has teeth of her own. And she’s about to learn how to use them.

My Breakdown

This book gave me:
✨ A heroine who’s more than anyone sees
🔒 A gilded cage metaphor that hits hard
🖤 A romance built on trust, tension, and mutual damage
🔥 A MMC who doesn’t try to fix her, just respects her fire

I read this series two summers ago during a beach vacation with my closest friends, and found myself hiding in my hotel room because I couldn’t stop binging it. So don’t start reading this until you’ve cleared some appropriate time 😊

When I started reading Gild, I thought I knew where it was going. I was wrong. This book is a slow-burn descent into a darker, grittier world than most romantasy dares to show. Auren isn’t your typical powerful heroine. She’s been gaslit, broken, and molded. And watching her start to wake up is quietly ferocious.

“You can pretend a lot of things in life. You can pretend so well that you even start to believe your own deceit. We’re all actors; we’re all on pedestals with a spotlight shining on us, playing whatever part we need to in order to make it through the day—in order to help ourselves sleep at night.”

What scene made you scream, ‘She’s finally waking up’?

The writing is sharp-edged and full of aching insight. The worldbuilding leans dark fairytale, with kingdoms carved by violence and ruled by men who take what they want. But the true treasure here is Auren—her trauma, her self-deception, and her rage when the lies finally crack.

The romance is slow. It’s earned. It simmers beneath the trauma and only starts to bloom when Auren begins to reclaim herself. He doesn’t try to save her—he sees her. The good, the rage, the rot. And still stays.

“This is the monster that King Ravinger unleashes on Orea. This is the male terror that the legends and gossip and tales are derived from. No wonder no one wants to meet him on a battlefield.”

What makes this romance so powerful is that it’s about choice. Auren is done being someone’s possession. And she doesn’t fall in love until she knows she’s hers first.

Gild is the first book in the Plated Prisoner series, and you can find it on Raven Kennedy’s website*.
My links are unaffiliated. I just like supporting authors.

You can find a lot of beautiful fan art for Gild on my Pinterest.