Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

179 reviews

romantasy's review against another edition

It made me feel really yuck ince I got to the gun scene and I couldn't read on which made me sad as I was enjoying the mystery of it:/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

karlyjo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

1.0

very conflicted with my rating for this book. did i stay up until 3am to finish it? yes. did the mystery element have me turning the pages like crazy? yes. for that reason it should be a 3-4star rating  BUT I cannot stand the countless times God was painted in a false light and Satan was glorified. Also Zade hates rapists and pedophiles but he rapes her but it’s okay because she ended up liking it? and he called her little girl while doing it? no. the spice was the majority of the book and had my jaw on the floor but despite me flying through this book i can’t rate it more than one star for those reasons. also the ending had my stomach twisting with the elevated form of child sacrifice and pedophilia and the dark part of the dark romance became a little too much for me. did i have a unique and fast reading experience? yes. could i ever in my right mind recommend this book to anyone? no. even though it was thrilling and the spice scenes were… on another level… at the end of the book i felt like i never should have picked it up in the first place. yet i’m curious to read the second but i don’t think i will anytime soon. or maybe ever. everyone in this book needs major therapy 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

darcynewtonn's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.75

While I'm still relatively new to reading dark romance or just reading in general, I can confidently say this is one of my favourite books and will remain a favourite. 

If you're reading this review i'm going to assume you have a basic understanding of the book because let's be honest here... what dark romance readers haven't heard of Haunting Adeline? Exactly 

When I went into this book i'd tried not to research it on booktok as I wanted the book experience without a swayed opinion. This is something I highly recommend doing as it allowed me to enjoy the true content of the book without knowing any spoilers and I think it just made it that little bit better. Admittedly any spoilers put onto TikTok would probably be removed due to inappropriate content so there isn't really much you can research on this book, but anyway, don't.  

Yes Zade may be a little effed up, however I still can't help falling in love with him... and I sort of wouldn't mind having my own sexy stalker to throw my life into the air... is that bad? Probably, but hey if you're reading this then you probably got something a little loose up there too so you can't really judge me.

The only true warning I can give is, even if you're into dark erotic scenes, some parts of this book do get deathly dark *literally*. Me and my sister very much read the same books however we have an ever so slightly different reaction to gruesome details and this is one I know she would not enjoy. So please understand the sheer depth of what you are about to read. It is graphic and it is very easy to visualise. 

One piece of information I do need to give on Hunting Adeline is that it is substantially darker and sadder reading the... situation?... thats going on. If you do plan on reading Hunting Adeline I strongly suggest you read the duet back to back with as little break in-between as possible, it makes the second book slightly less dark, not much, but slightly. 

Overall this book was fabulous and I really did enjoy reading it, especially chapter 30 ;). 
I've recommended it to numerous friends even though I think that's a slightly cruel thing to do but I really hope more people can love this book how I did. 

If you've made it to the end of this review, do send me a friend request as I love connecting with people who are just as mentally messed as me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

ajanel98's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Very very smutty. Definitely the dirtiest book Ive read and I think I liked it?! I personally thought the storyline was good and was definitively surprised by the little twist towards the end. I’ve already started book 2 and can’t wait to see how it ends! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

melodyramirez's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cannibalism

er_inreads's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m so concerned for my mental health because I really liked the idea of my own personal stalker that would fall instantly in love with me and convince me to fall in love with him. 

It would be my luck that I’d get the murdery type though. Disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

katiew221's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, and Gaslighting

tabbycat10414's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

zarakoconnor's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This book is nothing more than a right wing incel’s fantasy. The FMC is obviously a self insert of the author, being an indie book author, but we never see her writing or anything to do with her being an author other than her telling us. The paranormal elements were not fleshed out at all, so what was the point of including them? Clearly this book is a knock off of Q anon, with the right wing hero ‘Z‘ painted as the hero when the author is doing nothing but perpetuating weird conspiracy theories based in antisemitism. Not to mention the gaslighting and abuse the FMC suffers at the hands of this “morally grey” MMC. He is morally black. There is no redeeming this book. 🗑️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Though the author does flag sexual assault as a trigger warning, the author fails to mention that the abuse is heavily romanticised and glossed over as “romantic” or “unvoiced sexual desire”. Survivors or those triggered by sexual assault please be advised.

awil_23's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol