Just when I thought The Prison Healer was one of my top books of 2021 The Gilded Cage comes along and blows me away.

I could not put this down, every single chapter has me hooked, the dialogue, the characters, the relationships formed. I was obsessed with it all.

If I could give this more than five stars I would, I can’t wait to re read it and I’ve only just finished it.

The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni is the eagerly anticipated sequel to The Prison Healer, which I read earlier this year and immediately added to my top books of the year list. To say I was excited to get my hands on a copy of this book is something of an understatement, and I am happy and relieved to say it did not disappoint.
Firstly I have to say that this is a book series that needs to be read in order, so if you have not read The Gilded Cage go do that first and then come back.
To give too much detail about the plot of this book would be a crime, the author has gone to great pains to take the reader on an exciting journey with plenty of twists and turns, and a couple of surprises along the way, most notably a cliff hanger ending that will leave you wishing that you had the next book to hand. Knowing how good these two were, I have no doubts it will be worth the wait.
Many of our favourite characters from the first book are back, and a good portion of the book is focussed on the development of the characters and the relationships between them. The romance between Kiva and Jaren becomes more nuanced, but the most important relationships are those between Kiva and the family members she becomes reunited with, leaving her with some very tough choices to make. The pace picks up in the last third of the book as the various strands of plot are woven together, and the dramatic conclusion is nothing short of spectacular. I loved the book so much that I am even willing to forgive the cliff hanger ending, something that I usually dislike intensely.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book was just as good as the last, possibly even more so as we got answers to questions from the first book and a more indepth look at some of the characters. These cliffhangers really aren't fair though! I'll be first in line for the next book!

This is such an incredible sequel to The Prison Healer. I absolutely loved the mystery and the intrigue. There were so many heartstopping moments in this book and so many shocking reveals that literally had me screaming or shouting or even crying. The story is so well done and never feels slow (a common problem with second books). And... the ending! I need the third book now! I want to know how this story ends!

Thank you to Hodder books, Hodder publishing and Netgalley for the review copy of The Gilded cage.

This is book two so I'll try not to be spoilery for book one, The Prison healer.

About halfway through the book I discovered that this was the middle book in a trilogy and not the end of a duology & thank goodness because there was not nearly enough time for everything that needed to happen before the end to happen.

The main character Kiva is somewhere new (is that too spoilery?). She meets a bunch of new characters & reunites with people from her past.

Kiva basically spends the whole book mega conflicted about her aligences. She starts the book with a definite plan but things are just not as black and white as she thought & she needs to work out the meaning of family and the real meaning of right and wrong and just what is worth fighting for.

Probably the stand out character in this book for me is Caldon, nephew of the Queen. We meet him briefly in The Prison healer but really get to know him well in this book. He's pretty hilarious at times and I love the brother/sister type of relationship he has with Kiva.

If I had a complaint about the book it would be that we don't really spend enough time with Jaren, Naari and Tipp.

The second half of the book is filled with twists, heartbreak & betrayals and yes it ends with a major cliff hanger & lots of characters in peril and I cannot wait to read book three.

After the events of The Prison Healer, Kiva now finds herself in the enemy's stronghold. Despite her blooming relationship with Jaren, she is still set on vengeance for everything her family has suffered at the hands of the royal family. But it's difficult to hold on to that feeling when said royal family embraces her with open arms, whereas her reception by her siblings leaves something to be desired. But ultimately, Kiva must choose a side, because there is no way for both families to win.

The biggest thing dragging this book's rating down for me is Kiva. I didn't go into this expecting her to be a warrior, because the first book sets Kiva up to be the compassionate healer, physically weak but mentally strong. Unfortunately, this book also left her mentally weak, and I found it difficult to reconcile this Kiva with the woman who spent 10 years in prison. From minor things like being unable to control her gasps and facial expressions while eavesdropping on a meeting, to bigger things like indecisiveness and very, very dumb decisions that feel out of character but are needed to drive the plot forward. I found it hard to believe that someone who stayed silent about who her family is for 10 years in a very dangerous setting suddenly starts blabbing her secrets without thinking about the potential consequences. It was very frustrating to read about.

However, this book has a lot I enjoyed as well, and where Kiva's character took a nosedive for me, I really loved the new characters that were introduced as well as the development we see for Jaren. The author does a great job of painting us a picture of the royal family, even the characters we meet for the first time, and Caldon is now easily one of my favourites. The romance really worked for me as well, including Kiva's angst surrounding her rebel activity and what that will mean for Jaren. The tension and angst felt believable. I loved how Jaren treated her; supportive without being pressuring, with trust and tenderness. He definitely feels like a cinnamon roll hero.

While I wouldn't say the plot is very action-packed, I don't think it dragged. I think it helps that the setting is completely different from the first book, so there is plenty that we get to discover about the royal family, the politics surrounding the split between the Vallentis and Corentine families, and Kiva's mother and siblings. There are interesting reveals and a couple of twists, ending with another tense cliffhanger, making this an overall enjoyable and solid middle book in the trilogy. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how everything wraps up (and rooting for Jaren and Kiva - the romance was definitely one of my favourite parts).

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with the arc via NetGalley, I'm so grateful I was able to pick this up straight away after finishing The Prison Healer. I rated The Prison Healer 4/5 stars as I found the pacing a little slow, The Gilded Cage is the sequel so go and get yourselves on to the first book if you haven't read it already! For me, this did not fall in to the disappointing sequel we often see with a series. For me it was actually an improvement on the first book and I am absolutely pumped for the next book. Looks as though this is set as a trilogy so prepare yourselves, we're not done with these characters yet!
There was so much going on with this book I could hardly put it down. I rarely finish a book in two days and that's how the 5 star rating has come in. I could put the first book down and give it paus as things slowly developed but in this book I just had to know what was coming next. I was addicted and have some catching up at work to do as a result!
If you've read the previous book you're aware we're completely changing settings from the restrictions of Zalindov prison. Going outwards in to that fabulous map, we're based now in the capital and more specifically the palace. We do venture outside the walls of the city and of course have far more news of what's going on across the wider continent. It gives an opportunity for the world building that was restricted by Zalindov's lack of information in the first book. It's not overwhelming as we don't experience too much first hand but it was refreshing from the first book.
We've got a range of new characters, I feel diversity was set up quite well in the previous book with LGBTQ+, disability and race coming in and we have some more characters hitting these areas. Not only do we meet and spend a lot of time with the royal but Kiva's family as well. Caldon is one of my new favourite characters, briefly seen in The Prison Healer but revealed in all his glory in this book. Kiva's family, well . . . I have conflicting feelings as I think most of us will. Kiva is still a little naïve, Tipp is still a sweetie and Jaren is still a romantic. I think we see growth in each of their characters, understanding their history, ambitions and lives outside of Zalindov.
We get to delve more in to the fantasy element of this series in this book, seeing what Jaren is truly capable of as well as understanding more of Kiva's family magic and the history to it. I enjoy that the magic is relatively limited as to what and who has it, it makes it feel more organic and unique rather than trying to introduce a whole new world of magical capabilities. The displays are bigger and more frequent than the previous book bringing some further entertainment and understanding of what's at stake and the danger presented by some of our characters.
The plot in terms of the overall series is still moving somewhat slowly, it still feels like the beginning to a much bigger series, there are many questions to be answered! However with all the expansion to the setting, magic and characters there are side tasks and stories coming in that kept me incredibly wrapped up and entertained. I'm almost annoyed I've read it. . . I want the next book NOW! The writing as with the prior book is easy to read, a good balance of description, dialogue and plot movement.
I was pleasantly surprised by this instalment to The Prison Healer books, some fluff, much laughter, shock and sadness. All the feels and a fantastic expansion to carry us towards what is supposedly the final book in the series. Be prepared to leave with questions, or perhaps save yourself from the turmoil and wait until all the books are out!

I was really happy to be given the chance to read this by Hodder and Stoughton. I thoroughly enjoyed The Prison Healer so was looking forward to seeing what happened next. The introduction of new characters brought a comical relief and helped tobfurther understand the development. I thought at times it was typical YA with much used troupes and therefore a little predictable. However, I was still fully invested and engaged with the story, and the journey it took to get there. I am really looking forward to the 3rd book to see how it all ends up

Firstly, I would *hugely* recommend a quick re-read of The Prison Healer before you pick this book up. You'll probably get by without it but I have to say that not only does it refresh your memory on who everyone is but also is a fun read the second time around knowing what we now know.
Second books are always something difficult. Second books in a YA series where the first book had a very narrow/limited setting/concept are almost always even harder. I would say this book does suffer somewhat from being so totally different from The Prison Healer. That's not to say it isn't well written or that the characters aren't compelling, it's more that without the setting of the death prison this does feel a lot more generic.
Now I'll admit that sometimes 'generic' YA fantasy is exactly what you need and this certainly scratched that particular itch. Perhaps 'familiar' is a kinder word - I can see a lot of people having a good time reading this.
I think what will be the saving grace of this series is in fact book three, because I think we need to dig a bit deeper into some of these characters and ideas. I'm particularly talking about Jaren who, while utterly dreamy and very very nice is a wee bit *too* perfect as far as I'm concerned. Now maybe I've been conditioned by years of YA to need my love interest to have a bit of edge, and the counterargument is that it's actually very lovely to have a prince who genuinely does have good intentions and whose fatal flaw seems to be caring too darn much - but at a certain point I need flaws for a character to feel real!
Kiva goes through a lot in these first two books and I think we all know her fight is far from over. I'll be very interested to see how everything shakes out in the end - and whether this is going to go beyond 'family vs love interest' and more into 'what is best for the people'.
Overall this was an enjoyable read, I had a good time reading along with Kiva's latest journey and I'll certainly be seeking out book three eventually - my hope is that things can go deeper and a little bit more unique!

Fantastic world building, very inventive, I read it all straight away. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book. Highly recommended.

If I had to sum up The Gilded Cage in one word it would be this: DECEPTION! Luckily I have more words so I’ll elaborate.

Everyone in this book was lying about something, and I do mean everyone, even little Tipp! We do still discover a lot about both the ruling royal family, and the rebel royals in terms of their political manoeuvrings and their magic.

Throughout the book Kiva struggles to manage her growing feelings for Jarren (they have slow burn tension DOWN) while remaining loyal to her family. We see her reunited with her siblings but it’s far from the reunion she had hoped for. Tensions are high and their relationships start to fracture.

Caladon was the dark horse of this book and I’m keen to see where his story goes in book 3. Tipp also stole the show again and must be protected at all costs.

Prepare yourself for the ultimate cliffhanger! The final twist was one I hadn’t seen coming and it has left me shaken! I’m hoping it’s a short wait for book 3 like it was between 1 and 2 because I desperately need to know what happens next!

Read for:
• Magic ✨

• Slow burn romance 💕

• Cinnamon roll Tipp

• Political drama

• Betrayal 🗡

I gave The Gilded Cage 5/5🌟 Even without the final book I can already tell this is a series I will go back and reread. I received a free copy of this book from @hodderscape through @netgalley #TheGildedCage #NetGalley

Lynette noni did it again !!!! I love this series so much!! Although this wasn’t as action packed as the first book, it was just as thrilling and focused more on the characters rather than the plot. This book was mostly just setting up the next book but we get loads of information on both Kira and Jaren’s families. And omg JAREN !!!! I love him so much and my heart HURTS for him and kiva. Truthfully I expected to find Kiva annoying in this book but instead I ended up liking her to much more as compared to the first book. The conflict she was going through was so intense and that ending hit me right in my feels. I’m not going to be okay until the next book comes out, until then I will be waiting in pain. I love the extended cast so much too! Caldon is amazing and Tor is the best brother ever. Thank you so so much netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this e-arc!!!

Firstly, I will make this as non-spoilers as I can.

The story carries on a couple of months from the end of The Prison Healer and we found out what happened to our band of characters and how they have fared. I have to say that I personally found the character of Kiva different from the first book, I don’t know if it’s the change of circumstances or this is how she truly always was but she is not the character we came to know in book one. Far pass decisive and constantly torn between what she wants to do and what she should do.

We learn a lot more about the the world in this book and how their politics work. As well as being given some more characters to meet and fall in love with. I loved the addition of Cal and found myself liking him way more than the other main characters!

For the first 75% however I will say that this felt very much like a middle book (or 2nd book syndrome). Not a lot happened and what did wasn’t massively interesting but I was fully into the story at this point so didn’t notice until I looked at how far through i was. But the final 25% definitely made up for the rest of the book and the action came thick and fast.

All in all, I really enjoyed it because I was fully enveloped into this world, also the ending….I NEED book 3 to come out and I need it now!!

Please take in mind it’s my opinion, and everyone is allowed to have one.

I thought The Prison Healer was amazing, but honestly The Gilded Cage was even better. This was so incredible, absolutely loved this from beginning till the end. The story continues in this book, the plot was so great. Felt so many emotions, the betrayal?? I’m still hurt bout that.

I absolutely loved the characters, each of them are written so well and with the introduction of new characters it still all made sense. Also the slow burn romance was slowly killing me.

Absolutely such a fantastic easy story, I’d recommend reading this. I’m so in love with this serie, I honestly can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

Well where do I start with this review... the twists and turns in this book made me pace my bedroom floor whilst desperately trying to finish the book, just to be left with the biggest cliffhanger!
This book series is probably one of the best YA novels I have read in a while, it's almost enemies to lovers and by the end of the book you don't trust any of the characters.

I like that even though this book has some magic in it, there isn't too much. It's a nice break from some of the other fantasy novels I have been reading where every main character is given some kind of power. I think the only downside I had to this book was that it wasn't long enough! I felt that the ending was rushed and would have enjoyed the whole final arc to have been spread out a bit more but it did keep the pace up for the last 100 pages of the book.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc of this book and I am so excited for the next book in this series.

Lynette Noni has done it again.

I’m absolutely devastated.

Quite honestly, the long length and the beginning of this book was lacklustre. The charm to the first book is its unique and harrowing setting - the prison. This book is a lot more political. About learning to live with your enemies, but maybe not everyone is who they seem.

The writing though, god. It’s so easy to be suckered in and fall for literally every character. I love Kiva and Jaren together like I’ve never loved any book character before. I love Prince Caldon too. Hell yeah I do.

Kiva is busy spending her whole time trying to remember that Jaren is from the family of her enemies. Whilst saying oh no, don’t take off your shirt, oh no, that shirt looks so good on you. I’m HERE for all of it!

This is a phenomenal YA fantasy and I’ve fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. The writing, world-building, characters, plot - this series has it all.

Please, please read The Prison Healer. Fall into Lynette’s gripping words and take part in Kiva’s journey. I will rave about this book until I am blue in the face.

Thank you SO MUCH again to Kate at Hodderscape for granting me an e-copy on NetGalley. I can’t wait to have an actual physical copy in my hands.

I had a love/hate experience with this book.

I loved The Prison Healer, but this fell short. It was still full of lots of surprise twists and one hell of a cliff-hanger at the end, plus I found the story interesting, and I wanted to keep reading to see what happened… but there was so much about this book that I also found a huge disappointment.

The characters in the Prison Healer were not the strongest, however it went downhill in The Gilded Cage. Jaren turned out to be a Gary Stu, and Kiva turned in to a walking face-palm… some of her decisions were really frustrating, and her personality was irritating. But the main thing that annoyed me about her was the fact that she hardly had any say in her story. Things just happened to her, she rarely saved herself and she didn’t have a huge overall impact on the story. She’s more of a pawn in other character’s games than a main character. Then there’s Jared who is too overly perfect, and his were outright cringy at times. I was just waiting to see some kind of flaw to his personality that would make him more interesting, but nothing was forthcoming. Then we came to Naari, who near enough disappeared from the story entirely.

Little Tipp and Prince Caldon were the only saving graces.

I also want to mention the plot, it’s a lot slower than the first book, to the point that I found it stagnant at times. Plus some of the actions that the characters took didn’t always make sense to me. Even some of the twists were obvious this time which was disappointing, as the huge twists and unpredictability of The Prison Healer was the main reason I liked it so much.

However, I still read on, eager to see where this story was going. And I still sort of cared what happened to the characters, (admittedly the side characters more than main characters), but this kept me engaged enough to finish the book. Plus I did really enjoy the cliff-hanger at the end, it left me feeling excited to read the next book despite this one barely hitting any of the expectations the last book left me with.

Wow! The plot was even more intense than in the first book, with a more vast world than just the prison, it leaves room for a lot of things to happen and it did happen. We started to hear about more kingdoms and their impact on the royal family and that was so interesting. Also, I loved discovering the capital and the places that become very important in the book. The plot twists were quite surprising even though you can guess pretty much what might happen, I still really liked the revelations that occurred in this second book.

As well as expanding the world, this book also introduces you to a lot of new characters and develops some characters that were already in the first book. This part was my favorite because you get to know a lot about Kiva's sister and brother, Caldon (who clearly became my favorite character), Jaren's cousin, and the whole royal family. You grow fond of Jaren's family so it really helps you understand Kiva's indecision throughout the book. Top marks from me!

I could not put this book down and finished it in one sitting!! The story and plot had me hooked from the start. There was definite character growth and plot twists that took me by surprise. Loved the slow burn romance.
I need book 3 now!!

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for a honest review.

After sitting and reading the Prison Healer in one sitting to complete this honest review, I have to say I was not disappointed.

The twists and turns the journey this book takes took me by surprise frequently throughout so I could not stop reading. I enjoyed the exploration of Kiva’s character and the people around her. The slow burn romance is not normally my favourite, and I must admit at times it was frustrating, but in general the story was very enjoyable.