Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Shallow River by H.D. Carlton

48 reviews

hanschub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Rape, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, and Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty and Pregnancy

poupimali's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

5.0

That audiobook (and book)…
I have no word to say what I experienced.

In fact I have.
I’ve never been so angry, I’ve never yell as much as I did towards a character.
I even felt rewarded when the chapters were about Mako. It was like being soothed after being brutalized by the previous chapter.
This book is just for that: a masterpiece. 

If you are triggered by domestic violence, rape, emotional abuse, gaslighting and incest, please don’t. Don’t read it. These are normally not triggering for me and despite that, I sometimes lost it because how pissed off I was.

Jacob Morgan did an amazing job with all the despicable MMCs. 
This is a duet narration. Michelle Sparks did also an excellent job to give life to this strong abused River.
It made 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Addiction, Torture, Blood, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

ellebills's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Torture, Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

sarahanne_65's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Incest, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Infidelity

scoto435's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

• Heavy trigger warnings for DV and Suicide
• I didn’t like the jump from one romantic interest to the other. It felt like bad timing. 
• The book was incredibly sad to read. It didn’t take a turn for the better till 3/4 of the way through the book. 
• I felt like the author repeated a “scene” from one of her other books.
• Mako was a great dynamic character. It felt like the wrong person with poor timing.
• 1.5🌶️ (the non assault scenes)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Sexual assault, Addiction, Violence, Gaslighting, Suicide, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Death

shedevls's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

getting to watch a woman come back into her own, and acknowledge and take control of her power is always one of my favourite things

(especially when her getting revenge on those who wronged her is part of that process)

, but because of my own experiences, i really just didn't vibe with the way it all played out. there was a lot of nonsense and quite a few moments that felt more like they were there for shock value rather than having any real meaning. mako and river's bestie (whose name i am unfortunately blanking on) were the only saving graces of this story imo.

i can, however, see how this could be therapeutic in a sense for some. so read if you want, but this book doesn't make my recommendation list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Confinement, Rape, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use

vouija's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Incest, Confinement, Murder, and Rape

jessanicolesingh's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

*HEAVY trigger warnings on this book; I think this was the most intense book I have read to date

Shallow River is 70% a domestic violence survival story, and 30% a serial killer thriller (VERY different from the other dark romances I have read by this author). The rinse and repeat cycle of DV is incredibly well written, and you will be stressed from cover to cover. While there were some consensual spicy scenes, there were equally as many assault scenes, so do NOT go into this thinking it's a typical dark steamy read. Don't worry though, there is a HEA

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Violence, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Drug abuse

mizfitzkay's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is triggering for a rape survivor and as a person who watched a friend stay in an abusive cycle. I couldn’t tell you how frustrated I was with the MC. Almost DNF’d because she was insufferable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Incest, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Death, Drug use, Grief, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Rape, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Body shaming and Confinement

Take this book in breaks. Dont read it in one go like I did.

aliciaallisonmorgan's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Rape