H. D. Carlton

Shallow River

The_Darker_The_Better

This book was absolutely fantastic one of my top reads of the year without a doubt! I listened to it on audible but I will be going back to do a reread on KU. The voices they picked for this story fit so perfectly, the FMC’S voice was very sexy and sassy while the MMC’S voice was the right amount of dark, deep and Husky. I feel like this story was so well written, I never got bored wondering how the story was going to play out. I was practically foaming at the mouth to hear what was going to happen next!! 

The MMC: Mako 😍 was the right amount of bad boy with a good heart ♥️ 

The FMC: River 😈 was all sass and didn’t let her fucked up child hood bring her down. She had some weak moments but who the fuck wouldn’t in her situation!

Sara Uribe

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and options are my own.

First of all let me start this review off by saying, please do not read this book if you didn't look at the trigger warning. This book is NOT for people who don't like dark & gritty romance. And even if you do you'll question why they are reading it. 

Holy moly. What a fucked up read. When I started this book, I definitely thought it was going in another direction, but I was completely off. This book had me putting it down almost every chapter. I had to compose myself multiple times so I could digest what was going on. I was an emotional wreck the entire time while reading and it took me about three days to pick up another book after reading this one. 

If you are looking for something REALLY dark, with questionable content, but want to push the limit for yourself, I suggest you strap yourself in and get reading. If not, do not read this book. It will not be for you. READ that trigger warning.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

detelinka

no words. the amount of domestic violence i got to read and to end like that was kinda satisfying. I MEAN GURLL OMG. Mako and Allison are so hot omg please be mine🙏🏼 oh and i can see now why the book is named shallow River 😭

Shallow Hill is where souls suffer slow and miserable deaths.

When River McAllister escaped from Shallow Hill, she left her innocence behind--and some of her sanity, too. Now she's rebuilding her life with her dream man and life couldn't be better.

Ryan Fitzgerald is everything you'd want in a man. Attractive, rich, an aspiring lawyer, and would do anything to keep River. But that's not the only thing that attracts her. It's his attentiveness, his possessiveness... maybe not so much his temper.

When her relationship takes a dark turn, Ryan's estranged brother, Mako, is the only one who sees it. He knows exactly what Ryan is capable of, and it's not the first time he had to be a knight in shining armor.

River came from Shallow Hill, though. She's never needed saving before. What Mako doesn't see, is that River is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

The only one who should be scared is Ryan.

Jessie Stafford

River and Mako’s journey is not for the faint of heart but by you get to the conclusion of this twisted, vile tale of betrayal and horrific abuse you’ll feel the victory of a survivor. As you go through every traumatic scene you wonder how much worse it can get for River. How much more can one human take? She sure as hell doesn’t let it take her fire though. River fights to the end.

Enter Mako. The tattooed, half resident of the same darkness River resides in White Knight. He fights just as hard as River without over shadowing her. He complements her deviant side, which is strange to say but if you read this... you’ll get it. He’s the wind of change that shows her she doesn’t have to be the same tortured soul. She is her and she is beautiful in spite of every broken piece. 

This story has a lot of ups and downs. There’s so many dark elements and leads that I was wondering at one point of H.D would be able to pull it together. But she did. I’m very much looking forward to seeing where she goes in her writing. There is immense potential in her talent and I am eager to see what plot line she comes up with next.

Mariam Mohsen

4.5 stars.
 This book obviously deals with really heavy subjects.
 And honestly My journey through it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be as a dark romance reader.
 The story line was different than the usual, but nun the less, it was unique and sensational.
 This book was talking about abuse, and how important to report that if anything happens with us, because no one ever has the right to do that to any human being.
 All the plot twists were amazing. And in my opinion the setup of every character was spectacularly well done.
 I would definitely recommend this but it's not for everyone, so be careful before going into this one and check the trigger warnings. That's not sweet.
 But I really enjoyed it. It taught me so much.

Shallow Hill is where souls suffer slow and miserable deaths. When River McAllister escaped from Shallow Hill, she left her innocence behind--and some of her sanity, too. Now she's rebuilding her life with her dream man and life couldn't be better. Ryan Fitzgerald is everything you'd want in a man. Attractive, rich, an aspiring lawyer, and would do anything to keep River. But that's not the only thing that attracts her. It's his attentiveness, his possessiveness... maybe not so much his temper. When her relationship takes a dark turn, Ryan's estranged brother, Mako, is the only one who sees it. He knows exactly what Ryan is capable of, and it's not the first time he had to be a knight in shining armor. River came from Shallow Hill, though. She's never needed saving before. What Mako doesn't see, is that River is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The only one who should be scared is Ryan. Trigger Warning: Shallow River is a dark romance that contains domestic violence, rape, violence, and sexual situations.

Yaneli | @aquariusbookadventures 

Rating: 4.5 stars! 

I used to see this book everywhere and honestly I kind of ignored it lol. I didn't really know what it was about and I had no interest in it. So I really don't know why I bought this when it was free but I came across it on my kindle yesterday. 

Fast forward to today, and I had nothing to read so I opened up the ebook and I didn't put it down until I finished it. 

I was completely captivated in the story, I was ambushed and hit in the gut by how good this was. 
I don't even know what to say in this review other than I loved it.

Navya 

“𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈?” 
𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒔. “𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕, 𝑰’𝒎 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕.” 

Hands downs this is one of the darkest books I've read in 2020. Everything is just out there, totally straightforward with no coatings. The readers are to feel every emotion; fear, desperation, anger and satisfaction.

The physical, emotional and mental abuse, rape, f*cked up relationships, brainwashing and manipulation leads to only one thing---the desperation to survive. That's what River is supposed to do, but she's gonna do more than that; she's gonna get revenge. 
River is no damsel in distress, she's experienced many things which no one ever should, but that's what made her powerful, gave her strength and motivated her to leave the place. Finally after getting the guy she's been crushing on, she never knew how that handsome guy could be an ugly monster, but that's not where it ends.

While the society is not directly aimed, it is still a target. (You'll understand this during the end & when people wouldn't believe that a rich lawyer would ever do that)

There might be times from the story where you'll feel that River is a fool & is ignoring signs, but remember, we're thinking practically and getting about 40% of the emotions, not the full 100%. There's this cruel and twisty way men make females vulnerable by hitting on their insecurities, weaknesses and ordering them around, treating them less than a rag cloth. 

I would recommend that you should read the whole book at a go as it'll keep the continuity and emotions together, BUT ONLY if you've read such books with violence and darkness before. 

Ladies and Gents, females and males, while we're waiting for a better society we should not forget to be prepared for the worst, we cannot be a tiny ball ready to be crumbled by those heartless people. When this world is a safe place, there will still be some leeches ready to suck our blood & the only person who can save us is ourself. 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••
I've recieved an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Michelle Vasquez

“Do you remember when we first met?” Mako asks, breaking the silence. “Of course. When I met your parents,” I answer, my voice deceptively smooth. Mako slowly shakes his head. “That’s not the first time we’ve met, River.” His words silence the nerves. My brow creases with confusion as I try to recall meeting Mako before that. “I... I don’t remember,” I say. An almost despondent smile slides on his face. How could we have met before Ryan? How could I not remember him? Mako has a face you don’t forget. “You were drinking, so I can’t say I’m surprised.” Weariness replaces the confusion. I drank a lot my freshman and sophomore year of college. It was only after Ryan and I started getting serious that I stopped. He said it made him look bad having a sloppy girlfriend. “What’d I do?” I ask hesitantly. He chuckles.

“You changed my life, is what you did.”

River is living proof that it doesn’t matter where you’re from; that it only matters where you’re going. She paved her way, even through the darkness that surrounded her childhood, teen, and early adult years. The fact that she dealt with so much pain and anguish from such a young age only proved how strong she was later on in life. A senior in college, living in a stable environment and paired with the love of her life, Ryan, River thought she was finally in a good place. 

Turns out, her dreams turned into a nightmare.. one that had her thinking she was to blame, and forced her to live through it silently. Insert Mako. Her boyfriends brother. From the get go they harbored a connection towards one another and he was the only one that caught onto the signs of distress that River was unknowingly projecting. 

“Shallow River,” by HD Carlton is a dark romance. It has triggers, and deals with some heavy aspects of abuse. It showcases that even though River thought she was alone, she had people in her corner. She had hope, and found love through the darkness that surrounded her entire life. She overcame who she was and what was perceived of her.