This was a much more cohesive story for me than book one. I'm happy that it was able to build on a lot of the things I enjoyed about book one.

It did have a few of the same things that I cared for less too. I was frustrated at times, but still couldn't stop reading.

However, even though I was annoyed by the decisions Kiva made a lot of the time, and I guessed many of the plot twists I still couldn't wait to read more. There were also some twists that I didn't pick so there was enough to keep me surprised.

The ending worked so well for me that I'm now desperate to read book three to see how it all ends. When will we have book three?

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic sequel that thankfully didn't suffer the series book curse!

It takes a lot for a second book to live up to the expectations and hype following an amazing first book in a series....
Noni not only delivered, she left it signed sealed and gift wrapped!

The level of world building was just as, if not even more fantastic than TPH. I found myself again, fully immersed in the world of Princes, magic, betrayal and so much more. It felt like I was living with these amazingly brought to life characters.

The amount of secrets in these pages should probably have left me dizzy with confusion and needing a Kiva remedy... however, they're introduced so fluidly that it reads so simply and without effort.

I can not WAIT for the next installment of this series. Can only hope and pray that it will be on our screens one day too!

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion*

And Again Lynette Loni surprised me with another amazing book.
It picks up about 6-8 weeks after the events of the first book. Due to the change of scenery, this book was very different, but it still had a feeling of familiarity. This is probably due to Loni's amazing character work. I just loved learning more about Kiva, Jaren, Tipp, and all the other characters. And all the new characters are either very lovable or extremely hateable.
And the story...damn..so many twists and turns. Some I expected, some took me completely of guard and for some I had a feeling. But the mix of this is what made this book so very much enjoyable.
So if you liked the first book, plot twists and a very very slow slow-burn you will definetly enjoy this book!
Also, that cliffhanger...mean, like I need book 3 now!

A phenomenal follow up and second part to this duology which YA readers will absolutely devour. I am sure this will be another huge success.

The Gilded Cage picks up right where The Prison Healer ended, Kiva has escaped the death prison, Zalindov and is with Jaran, living in the palace. Her plan has always been to betray him and his family to the rebels, but that becomes harder and harder for her to believe in as she gets to know them. Her family comes first though, so she can see no other way through.

Ok, look, I love this series SO much, but the whole way through this book I wanted to reach through the pages and throttle Kiva. She was just too….stupid. I mean, I get loyalty to family but holy crap, it only goes so far, right? Apparently not. Kiva spent so much time trying to play both sides, creating so much turmoil, not keeping her mouth shut when she should have, that she just ended up coming across as spineless to me. For the first half of the book I could barely breathe, hoping, with each secret, things would work themselves out and she would be able to stop lying to everyone and choose a side. At about the 3/4 mark I started thinking she deserved whatever she got. Plot wise it was great for betrayals and twists but character wise, I just couldn’t stand her.

The story was SO good, I was just frustrated with her as a character, which made it difficult for me to care about her at all by the end. However, Jaran was a brilliant character, again, and I absolutely loved Caldon! Actually, I think he was my favourite character in the whole book. He was sassy and arrogant, but with an incredible backstory that made me like him more with every page. I also loved that we still got to have Tipp as a fairly main character in this book! He was such a big part of The Prison Healer and I was hoping he wouldn’t entirely fade into the background as the story moved forward.

The political intrigue and twists were great and I’m really looking forward to finding out how they all play out in book three. Lynette’s writing is phenomenal (even her ability to make a fictional character infuriate me so much 😄) and I highly recommend reading this series! I’m sure Kiva will redeem herself in my eyes in book 3. Right? Right?!

The gilded cage is a fast paced, edge of your seat sequel to the Prison Healer. I really enjoyed the first in the series and this second encounter with the newly freed Kiva is even better than the first!

The plot moves on to how Kiva, Tipp and Javen adjust to life in the Palace. We're introduced to Jaren's family and get to know a whole new bunch of well fleshed out and memorable characters. My particular favourite was Kiva's eccentric Grandmother. I was howling with laughter at her ''book club' scene!

Through exciting twists and turns we learn more secrets about both families and are torn apart by Kiva's inner turmoil. There's political intrigue, a fab little slow burn romance and betrayal aplenty.

Another amazing novel by Noni which has left me desperate for the next instalment.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #hodderandstoughton for allowing me to read this amazing e-arc.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! I have been so excited to read this book since receiving the Prison Healer in the FairyLoot subscription box a few months back. Having to wait till the release date for this book was going to be painful so getting it in advance for a gift indeed! I am only sad now that I have to wait till next July for book 3! So here’s hoping I can request an arc of that at some point because Lynette Noni’s writing is addictive and i need to find out what happens next!
I am hoping FairyLoot does a matching copy to the rest of the series so i can have them all eventually looking gorgeous on my shelves because these books are amazing on the inside and the out. The covers drags you in and the writing keeps you there!

Lynette Noni does it again! I loved The Prison Healer - even if I did spoil myself for the final reveal by decoding the whole of the note image the first time it appeared. As a note, the same thing happens in this ARC in that when Kiva writes a coded note the same image appears that contains all the notes in the book.

The Gilded Cage picks up a few weeks after the end of The Prison Healer. Kiva and Tipp are settling into the palace, and we get to meet more of Jaren's family - and Kiva's. I loved most of the new characters, although I did feel that Jaren's character development was sidelined (as in, he didn't really have much unfortunately). There's also another mystery regarding Kiva's family and what's really going on there, which I loved.

Like The Prison Healer, this is full of twists and turns - some I saw coming, some I didn't. One had me groaning, "Please, no!" out loud at around the 80% mark when I started to get suspicious - turned out I was mostly right but not in the way I thought, which I loved.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this but you do need to read The Prison Healer first if you haven't already. A very solid 4.5 stars (knocking off half a star for Jaren's I'm-perfect-with-no-character-development-ness).

My best read this year so far. Book 1 and book 2 are really masterpieces. I fell deeply in love with the characters. The world is so interesting. There is not one part that is boring. Sometimes you think you could predict the story but there is always a suprise and so many good twists.
It is a book that you care about, you want to read again and you will want to read book 3 immediately! I highly recommend this serie!

An undeniably spectacular and incredibly addictive sequel to The Prison Healer,trust me you won’t want to put it down.

Kiva is a survivor.

She survived 10 years inside Zalindov prison,she even survived the deadly Trial by Ordeal—Now,her thoughts turn to vengeance. For Kiva has spent the past decade hoping to reunite with her family and destroy all those responsible for ruining their lives. But, after escaping Zalindov her mission is more complicated than ever.

Settling into her new life in the capital, Kiva discovers that she wasn’t the only one to suffer all those years—her siblings and their beliefs have changed too. Soon it’s not just her enemies she keeping secrets from, but her own family as well.

With tensions brewing outside the city walls, both from the rebels as well as a growing threat in the Northern Kingdoms;Kiva must decide where her loyalties truly lie.To survive, she’ll have to navigate the web of secrets and deceit before both sides turn against her and she looses everything.

I absolutely loved the Prison Healer and was incredibly excited for the chance to read The Gilded Cage—I can honestly say,it definitely didn’t disappoint!

The writing is yet again, phenomenal with a more expansive look outside of Zalindov, I enjoyed seeing more of the towns and cities within Evalon and exploring a little of the culture (the river festival sounded wonderful.)

There was also more scenes involving the elemental magic that was previously introduced—I really enjoyed seeing more of the different elements in action. Seeing the magic being used by some of the new introduced characters, such as Queen Arianna and how that differs to the way it was used in The Prison Healer, was definitely enlightening.

I also really enjoyed seeing Kiva again, learning to adapt to life outside of prison and reuniting with her family. Her development here is also handled incredibly well and I truly empathised with her internal struggle in having to choose between trusting her family or trusting the very people who destroyed her family.

The tension between her and Jaren was more palpable than ever and made for some very good (and angsty) romantic scenes. We also got to explore the backstories for Naari and Prince Caldon which helped me to empathise with them a little more (along with the introduction of several new characters.)

Honestly, I don’t want to say too much (in case of spoilers) but I can guarantee it’s just as action packed and plot twisty as it’s predecessor—in fact I’d argue;with all the factions and intrigue,it’s even better.

If you love YA Fantasy (and S.J Maas worthy plot twists) then you just HAVE to check out this series, it’s absolutely mind blowing!

Thanks again to Hodder&Stoughton & NetGalley for the ARC.

If you enjoyed Prison Healer you will love The Gilded Cage, it only got better! The continued world-building is great and I love the main characters and certain relationship developments (you know who I mean!)

It is the perfect continuation to Prison Healer, can I have book 3 now... PLEASE!

*WARNING! The below contains spoilers for The Prison Healer*

My reading slump is over thanks to this book! I can’t thank Kate at Hodderscape enough for approving my request on Netgalley, I’ve never read a galley so fast! I started The Gilded Cage late on Friday eve (my mistake) and I didn’t want to put it down to go to sleep. It’s been a long time since a book kept me up late so thank you Lynette Noni for writing such a captivating story!

The Gilded Cage kicks off not too long after the end of The Prison Healer (previously reviewed), Kiva has arrived at the palace with Tripp, Jaren and Nazeri and soon becomes torn between her duties and her heart as she gets closer to Jaren and his family. The change in setting was perfect, considering book one took place entirely in a prison, it was refreshing to change it up and this really gave the characters room to grow through the narrative of book two. Kiva has gone on such a journey but we knew her background from The Prison Healer, The Gilded Cage develops Kiva but also gives us background to the royal family and it introduces new players - some of them I really enjoyed getting to know (Caldon became a favourite for me in this book).

One of my favourite things about this series (so far) is the amount of content Noni can cover in one book! I’m seriously looking at her back catalogue. This series is fantasy but it includes themes that you would find in a contemporary novel. I love it so much. The world building and magic system is simplistic but effective, leaving focus for the actual storyline. It’s a hard balance to maintain and usually I would worry about ‘second book syndrome’ which many authors struggle with as they try to get the reader up to speed ready for the conclusion book but that doesn’t apply here!

It’s hard to review this one, I’ve thought about it all week as it is full of twists and turns, revelations and secrets - a joy to read. I loved seeing some of Kiva’s family after only having flashbacks in book one and it turned my stomach at the difficult position Kiva was put in by them. I dreaded getting to the end of this book but at the same time I could not stop. My heart rate went through the roof as I was reading, my emotions changed from one page to the next, it really was a rollercoaster! Kiva is such a fantastic character, I connect with her on so many levels thanks to Noni’s talented writing and, thanks to that ending I am absolutely desperate for book three! Every time I thought I had something figured out I was so far from the truth - definitely kept on my toes!

Basically - I loved The Gilded Cage and I need it to be October now so that everyone else can read it too! I also need it to be next March when book three will hopefully be out!

Due out in October 2021, I’m hugely grateful to have been given the opportunity to read this in advance of publication thanks to NetGalley…and now I am in eager anticipation of book three.
The Gilded Cage opens with Kiva going to stay with Jaren. They have become close, and - for obvious reasons - Kiva is worried about her growing affection for this man who’s come to mean so much to her. He saved her during the Trial by Ordeal, and she cares for him, but her mission weighs heavily on her mind.
Much of the book focuses on the growing threat from the Rebels, and though we don’t get a lot of detail it is clear that there’s a more strategic fight going on than we’re told about. Jaren and his family are fighting to save the King, and to try to keep their people safe.
From the outset, I was curious to see how Kiva would adjust to her new situation. She finds it hard to trust people, but a couple of key moments within the book show us that learning to trust your own judgment is often the hardest battle. After the revelations that come thick and fast at the end of this, it’s even harder to see how Kiva can hope to maintain the sense of equilibrium she had discovered thanks to Cal’s training and the support of those she trusts.
This is such a hard review to write as I don’t want to let crucial plot details slip. The pacing drew me in and I felt like I’d been put through the proverbial wringer by the end of it. There were highs…and lows…and I am genuinely excited to see how Noni continues this enthralling tale.

Thanks to #netgalley for the opportunity to read the second book in the Prison Healer series. This book did not disappoint. The character development including what had kept Kiva going during her 10 years in prison made for compelling reading.
The development of friendships and loyalty to family were shown through Kiva’s eyes in a way that made you wanted to scream at her to stop being so naïve and to see how she was still being manipulated by those around her. She made so many dangerous and frustrating decisions that it left you feeling sorry for her and cross in equal measure.
Unlike the first book some of the plot twists were easier to guess but in some ways that was better because as the reader you could see what was coming and become incredibly frustrated with the characters for not seeing it themselves.
All the way through I just wanted Kiva to see what she had and what she could do but she didn’t until it was too late. I cannot wait for the third book as it ended on the worst cliffhanger leaving me heartbroken and angry in equal measure. Definitely a book you won’t be able to put down.

Thank you so much to Hodderscape for a review copy of this book! Over a week later I am still not over this book.....
HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!! Don't worry no spoilers but beware if you are yet to read The Prison Healer!
I loved The Prison Healer and I think I loved this even more. The book starts a couple months after the events of Prison Healer so there is a little gap in the story but what went on was explained.
In this book we get to find out more about what is really going on with the Royal family, all the politics, and the rebel activity gave me much to think about! I loved getting more insight into the Kingdom and seeing Jaren acting as heir was really insightful. We meet new characters in this book, some you will love, others not so much...
I loved that we got to learn more about the other members of the Royal Family, getting their back story was really interesting and helped me understand them so much better. Caldon is now probably my favourite out of the Royals, I love him so much!
Everything Kiva thought she knew is turned on its head and she is so torn in what to do! The conflict between her heart and her head is a battle we see her struggle with daily. I'm not going to lie there were times when I was screaming at Kiva!
The sloooooowwww burn in this is killing me, like for real please Lynette I need some steam in book 3! There were so many twists and turns in this book, I didn't find it at all predictable and I must have gasped out loud about 5 times! I was an anxious mess at some points, literally on the edge of my seat heart pounding.
I could not put this book down, it was fast paced and there was always something happening and for me there wasn't any "filler" chapters.
I can't even explain how shook I was at the ending, like, I must have stared at the wall for a good 30 minutes after because I literally didn't know what to do with myself. Why do these authors love to torture us with such awful cliff-hangers!!!
I can't believe I have to wait almost a year for book 3, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!
All the stars!!!!

“Sometimes the people who act like they don’t care are really the ones who care the most.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: graphic injuries, abduction, drugs, and violence.

Kiva Meridan is a survivor. She survived not only Zalindov prison, but also the deadly Trial by Ordeal. Now Kiva’s purpose goes beyond survival to vengeance. For the past ten years, her only goal was to reunite with her family and destroy the people responsible for ruining their lives. But now that she has escaped Zalindov, her mission has become more complicated than ever. As Kiva settles into her new life in the capital, she discovers she wasn’t the only one who suffered while she was in Zalindov—her siblings and their beliefs have changed too. Soon it’s not just her enemies she’s keeping secrets from, but her own family as well. Outside the city walls, tensions are brewing from the rebels, along with whispers of a growing threat from the northern kingdoms. Kiva’s allegiances are more important than ever, but she’s beginning to question where they truly lie. To survive this time, she’ll have to navigate a complicated web of lies before both sides of the battle turn against her and she loses everything.

Kiva is seen in a different light. Outside of Zalindov, she has the chance to be different and enjoy her newfound freedom. But I really loved that this was overshadowed slightly. She has a cause she’s been told to believe in and when everything she’s been raised to believe is utterly wrong, she has to fight with herself about what to do. She’s determined and cautious, desperate to do what’s right - for the greater good. The perpetual conundrum she finds herself in throughout the story really endeared her more to me. I wanted to know more about what makes her tick, and see whether her heart or her head would win out.
We get to see more of Jaren as who he truly is - not prisoner, but heir to a kingdom. What I loved was getting to see the different sides to him: the firm ruler-to-be, the humble prince, the devoted paramour. Just brilliant. There are a few moments where I feel like we could have seen a little bit more of him, not his persona, but there’s truly some growth that’s so good to see.
Introduced to Caldon, we get the sassy cousin who loves to meddle and cause trouble for everyone. All I can say is that I LOVED getting to know Cal. His teasing nature and fiercely loyal, protective instincts just makes him an easily loved character. Here’s hoping we get to see plenty more of him come the third book.
Tipp is freeeeeee! I was so, so happy getting to see Tipp get up to misadventure, growing into himself and enjoying the world outside Zalindov. We get to see the effect his time in prison has had on him - and I am incredibly grateful for that because such a traumatic experience would leave a mark on anyone - and just experience the delightful ball of energy that is that young boy. I do feel that we don’t know what’s going on with him at the end so I hope it’s clarified at the beginning of book three!
I won’t say much but getting to know Kiva’s siblings was definitely interesting! Plots, deceit, reunions and family drama. Love it!

I am honestly in a state of shock after reading this book. The twists. The turns. The emotions. That ending too has utterly RUINED me. I cannot believe I have to wait a year for the third book because that length of time is going to be AGONISING to say the least. Lynette, how dare you rip out my heart so brutally. Ouch...

Overall, The Gilded Cage is an outstanding sequel, leaving you utterly in shock and oh so desperate for more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you again to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day

Wow this book was incredible. I was hooked from the start. There is always a worry with the second book that it may not live up to expectations of the first book but this lived up to it and more. I really did not know what to expect with this book and found myself so wrapped up in the story, I was fully invested in it. I liked getting to know different characters in this book especially a certain prince 😉 I also loved getting to know more about the magic and history in this book and seeing Kiva open her heart to others and trying to find herself in the world outside of Zalindov. I love Kiva so much, my heart just aches for her and everything she has been through.

I can’t wait to read the next book and really don’t know what to expect. I am still reeling after that ending ffffff there are no words!!!! I feel like this is how I have felt with each book, I honestly had no clue what to expect and I love that, even if I constantly feel on edge and nervous as to what might or might not happen. These books are thrilling reads with a lot of action, mystery and adventure that have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. This book has completely stolen my heart, the story is so gripping and will be a story that stays with me long after I have finished it

What the????
So I devoured the first book and the ending shook me so I immediately requested this arc and was not disappointed.
While I had a hard time wondering if I should like Kiva or not I felt fairly sure I knew what would happen..but no lynette did it again, she surprised me with that ending, this very rarely happens and never twice In a row. I don't know what to do with myself now having to wait so long for the 3rd book.
Another easy 5* book.
That EVERYONE needs to read

This book (and this series and this AUTHOR) are beyond incredible! I'm not sure I've ever been so gripped, and I don't know how I'm going to survive the wait for the next book after that ENDING!

Full of action, romance and magic, The Gilded Cage is possibly even better than The Prison Healer (also 5 stars). A new favourite book, with characters I'm obsessed with and a shattering twist.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ahhhh!! This series is just pure perfection and I cannot get enough of it! The characters, the relationships, the drama; it’s all phenomenal and I need book 3 desperately. I absolutely adore Lynette’s writing style, her world building and characters. She’s inventive, original and clever. A new firm favourite for sure!