Great read. Well-developed characters. Easy to follow storyline with low drama. Would highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to pass a couple of hours.

Considering I have been taking my time with this book and the events that happened since I requested this book and till today, I do not want to review the book due to behaviour of one of the writers .

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Did not finish this book, did not enjoy.

This book was angst on top of angst underneath a gloomy cloud. I felt weighed down while reading. And while I don’t always mind that, here it felt like too much. Also, the book felt too way long.

Will not be reviewing due to abuse and racism of the coauthor Taylor that I find inexcusable and should not be tolerated in publishing no matter what. Did not finish this book

I was disappointed by my reaction to Shadows You Left. I wanted to love this book, but it just didn't work for me, and it ended up a DNF for me.

*~~*ARC kindly provided from the publisher/author to me for an honest review *~~*

Full review to come

4 stars

This was honestly a perfect M/M love story, i loved River and Erik and their journey to get to know and love each other. Just so perfect and good! Jude Sierra and Taylor Brooke know how to capture a reader!

Shadows You Left is a bit difficult to review. I did like the book, but I wouldn’t necessarily say I wanted Erik and River to be together – not all the time at least. River has a lot of “issues” for lack of a better word; things he needs to work out and find healthier ways to cope with. He’s slowly getting there, but Erik can’t be the one that fixes him. I wouldn’t say this is a “love makes it all better” story, because it’s not, but it’s not always the healthiest of relationships either.

I will fight
I will fight for you
I always do until my heart
Is black and blue
And I will stay
I will stay with you
We’ll make it to the other side
Like lovers do

“Don’t Give Up On Me” – Andy Grammer

I definitely felt for Erik and River, and I wanted them to both heal enough to be with each other. Shadows You Left is a romance, but that’s not all it is. It’s not a romance where you idealize the relationship – but you still hope for a happily-ever-after.

Shadows You Left is an intense, passionate, complex novel. I loved Erik and River. They as main characters are so interesting to read about and I loved seeing their relationship develop. It was intense and so well done.

It’s so rough but so poetic at the same time.

I suspected I’m in for a treat when I received this book. A tough-to-swallow-but-so-worth-it-treat. I was right – only I didn’t know how tough as well as how worth it would be.

Mind the content warnings, dear readers (also yay for content warnings though I’m not surprised those two authors gave warnings for their book).

I was not able to read Shadows You left in one go – but I didn’t want to do that anyway. Instead I enjoyed it while taking reading breaks to just let everything sink in. To let my mind work through the words and emotions. To experience everything.

Shadows You Left is no book you read for a nice distraction; it is a book that makes you suffer and feel your own demons rise to the surface, but while it does make you feel your darker parts it takes you by the hand and leads you through everything back to safety.

Last Words: This is one of the heaviest books I have read in my life but it is heavy in the best of ways and I can’t wait to go on this journey again.

I was so excited to receive this book for review! I was immediately drawn in by the beautiful writing style and instantly fell in love with Erik and River, despite their flaws. I would absolutely read more of their story if it were ever available. It was a classic tale of will they, won't they and it brought on all the feels and all the angst. Both characters came with a ton of baggage and I enjoyed watching them try to navigate through their feelings for each other while also trying to work through their own issues. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is how inclusive it is and how diverse the characters are. If you're looking for an angsty M/M love story definitely check this one out!

Drama, Intensity, Dark Past!!

Synopsis:
Erik is on the run from his past. Never settling in one place, he cannot come to terms with what happened. Fighting is his thing... but don't mistake it for a boxing match! He is into cage fighting for high stakes and no rules! Multiple times a week, he gets into the cage at the darkest clubs in Seattle to earn his living the rough way. When he's not fighting, he's an average (ok... below average) bartender!
River is a tattoo artist with a sweet face and invisible scars. He has been hurt by people that he loved with all his heart, but he hasn't lost faith yet. When he meets Erik at the bar, they have an instant connect... but how will they both overcome their own scars? Will they make it?

Review:
In a word this book is INTENSE. I picked it up and thought I would finish it within a couple of days but I had to read it in smaller chunks to process it. The emotions are high... the drama is rich and the fights are brutal.

This book is all about the protagonists - Erik and River. The authors have built their characters with care and attention to detail. If you plan to read this for detailed sex scenes... DON'T!! Erik and River are very real and relatable... they both have real life problems like bank balance and peer pressure. I love how bits of their past comes out over the course of the story. Their ups and downs... the moments of love and moments of hope. Everything comes together to create a unique story with a dark edge.

I'd definitely recommend this book to readers who like books with a dark side! A great piece of writing and amazing characters.

This was a tough read for me. I found myself putting it down several times. There just is really no plot tow this. The main characters-Erik and River have some huge issues. they find each other. They have sex--have some time apart. Have sex again. The authors just kept giving us the daily lives of these two without much more thought to it than that. I was bored. I did make it to 50% before I stopped.

Not for me.

Interesting story but I didn't connect with the characters. I really struggled with this to be honest. This book was just not for me.

Not my favorite story.
Too much therapeutic talk, I like feelings and all but thus was just more than I wanted. The sex scenes were more about bruising hand positions than I care for as well.

The proper word to describe this romance is “angsty.”

The main characters both have baggage, and a lot of it. Erik is a cage fighter whose fights serve as a sort of penance for a tragic event in his past for which he blames himself. He commemorates his wins with tattoos, and that’s how he meets tattoo artist River. The two of them are immediately attracted to each other, but Erik’s moods and secretiveness worry River, who has a history of codependent relationships with his addict mother and crazy ex-girlfriend.

The authors did a great job of exploring the deepening feelings of two men who are attracted to each other almost in spite of themselves. Erik is convinced that River is too good for him and that he doesn’t deserve the happiness he feels when they are together. For his part, River sees the good in Erik but can’t help falling into his accustomed caretaker role in response to Erik’s physical and emotional pain. Their relationship is almost equal parts affection and anguish.

I think the book dwells the tension between these two aspects of their romance a little too long. It’s a very “interior” story, with all of the focus on the conflicting emotions felt by Erik and River. The push and pull between them as they come together and then retreat repeats over and over again. It’s a relief to both the characters AND the reader when they finally accept that their love is strong enough to be worth fighting for rather than running away from each other.

I did really appreciate that when they decide that they want to be together, it’s not presented as magically healing all their problems, as sometimes happens in romance novels. There’s a recognition that each of them is going to have to continue to work on overcoming their own issues in order for them to have a healthy relationship.

If you love romances with lots of angst, I’d suggest giving this one a try. I’m curious if the authors are going to collaborate again, because there’s a nonbinary character in this one that I would like to see more of in another book.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

* I have volunteered to share my review and all the opinions are 100% my own *

This is the story of Erik a cage fighter and and River a tattoo artist trying to dealing with each of their own baggage they want keeping in the past as well as trying to start a relationship with each other.
This story is quite dark with drugs and alcoholism and rough sex.

Erik asks River to give him a tattoo. They find they are both attracted and try to see where it goes. This is hard for Erik since he is often moving around and has trouble with trust.

River does not want to get his hopes up. He knows Erik is struggling to define himself. River normally sticks to his routine, however, his longing for Erik puts him at a whole new level.

This book has so much in it. These characters are seriously in need of one another. The story can be dark at times. I actually liked how they were together and found that if I made it past the grit, there was good heat and and friendship.


***This ARC copy was given in exchange for an honest review by Netgalley and its publisher.

this was good but parts irritated me.. each character had some flaws i just wanted to smack out of them lol. but it was all around a decent story and good plot. so i liked it