HILLS OF SHIVERS AND SHADOWS - Pam Godwin

5 stars

This was quite the experience. I’m not sure how to talk about it? ...But I'll give it a whirl. I feel like Pam Godwin is in her own category and should be reviewed and talked about as such.

Concept: truly dark, truly a Pam experience, truly gripping
Sense of danger: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

I have no idea how to talk about this book—I feel that way about most Pam Godwin stories, let's be honest—because it's one of those stories that's meant for a very select readership and those readers often find these stories organically on their own.

So please understand me when I say that this book is NOT for everyone. And it's not even for most dark romance readers? It really, REALLY depends on your personal boundaries and preferences.

Let's pitch it like this...

Did you love Credence by Penelope Douglas , but you wanted a lot more angst with a real polyamorous angle, a lot more trauma, a lot more triggers, and truly terrifying scenarios?

Do you love horror and thriller books with twisted sexual angles in them?

Do you have the will to experience realistically paced triggers on page?

If you answered yes to all three of those things, then keep reading this review. (If you answered no, that makes sense and I love that for you, but then do please check out some other books instead of this one.)

Hills of Shivers and Shadows is a story about survival, first and foremost. And a love story as a distant second subplot (that clearly will grow in the later two books in this trilogy). Don't come for the romance—it's not really about that. It's a study of psychology, of locked-room decision making, of only hard choices and no ability to abstain.

What would you do if you were trapped and couldn't get out? Are you the type of character who, when caught in a bear trap, would chew off your own foot to survive if you needed to? Could you do it?

This is the kind of questioning that Pam puts our characters through. And it's the kind of gripping, engaging narrative style that forces the reader to consider those same questions of evil versus survival and the depths of human resilience when placed in the darkest of nights.

It's a 5-star read for me. But let me explain why, because I don't want to say it's a favorite because of the trauma or the triggers—the pain and traumas in this novel are NOT fetishized for the reader. This is a 5-star for its grip, its realism, and the sheer kudos that must be given to Pam for how absolutely singular this story was for me.

Trigger warnings abound in this novel. Click here to visit the author's website to view the list.

Thank you to the author for my early copy.