Reviewed by Cindy
TITLE: Shadows Never Leave
SERIES: Shadow Duet Book 2
AUTHOR: Lark Taylor
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 410 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2026
BLURB:
I can’t leave Ryan Davies behind any more than I can my own shadow.
It’s been ten years since Ryan turned his back on me and walked away. A decade of living my life without him. Dreaming of him. Longing for him. Craving him.
But I made a promise to him that night. A vow that one day, I’d be back to claim him. Because he is my shadow. Mine – and I won’t ever let him forget it.
It’s all boiled down to this moment. There’s nothing standing in the way of our future happiness.
Aside from Ryan’s fiancée.
I’ll sacrifice anything to have him in my life again. I’m going to remind him that love burns brightest in the dark. No-one can make Ryan happier than I can.
All I have to do is prove it to him before he stands at the end of the aisle.
Waiting for someone else.
I’ll wait in the shadows until he’s ready to accept what I already know.
That we belong together.
Shadows Never Leave is the final book in the Shadow Duet. It must be read after Shadows Never Lie. This contemporary, high-angst MM romance ends in a very satisfying HEA.
REVIEW:
I have to tell you, I could not wait for this book. The first one left me gasping and mad, even though I was sure it would all turn out for the best. I needed to know how!
Dominic is just the right amount of bossy and demanding, if that something you are into…and I really am. Under all the “perseverance” is a sweetness and kindness that leaves Ryan dying for more without knowing how to ask for it or accept it.
Ryan’s pain keeps Dominic at bay. And his lack of self-confidence. For all the growing he’s done in the 10 years Dom has been gone, there’s still parts of 18-year-old Ryan running around in his brain making him doubt everything.
I have to admit that I knew where it was going to go. There was never any doubt. But sometimes the journey is almost better than the happily-ever-after I’ve come to rely one. And please understand, I do not review books that don’t have happy endings. Life sucks enough, I don’t need that in the stories I read.
Watching Dom figure out just how much pressure Ryan can stand was a very interesting process. And along the way, we get to find out so many interesting things about him as he finds them out about himself. All that swagger is hiding some real big emotions that Dom is just hoping that Ryan can deal with.
Ryan is on another journey. He has a lot of relationships to figure out, with Dom, with his brother…with his fiancé…
There were some really heartbreaking parts to this story and there’s nothing I love better than some heavy angst to make things all the sweeter at the end.
I loved these characters and this series. And I started the whole thing with a generous amount of skepticism. But neither man turned out to be who I assumed they were at the beginning and that’s more than okay with me.
If you like your characters a little bit darker and if you’re a fan of the long game, this is definitely the story and the series for you. I absolutely could not put it down.
RATING: 
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