Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

1132 reviews

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark fast-paced
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I finished this for a trivia night but I wish I hadn't. Really terrible writing, even some grammatical errors. Author needs a thesaurus. Blatantly spells out how you're supposed to feel as a reader, but I guess if you want a book where you can turn your brain off then this might be it. Just... so much cringe.

2 stars because I just need to know what happens next now. But I might just read a summary to save time...

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Haunting Adeline by H. D. Carlton is the first book of the Cat and Mouse duet. It is very  heavy on the dark and light on the romance (unless a stalker’s obsession is your idea of wooing) with a lot of suspense. I’ve seen such mixed reviews for it and I completely understand why.

It has creepy vibes for sure. And I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified by a single red rose in my life. This book is just so deranged and I kept asking myself why I was still reading this, pretty much throughout the entire thing. Despite being mostly appalled, I was still flipping pages like it’s *my* life that depends on it. And I’m not gonna lie, exposing the entire government as corrupt pedos sounds like a theme that I can get behind here for sure. 

But, seriously, I just read 600+ pages and I’m honestly not sure how I feel here. Disturbed? Intrigued? Disgusted? Paranoid? It’s definitely twisted. Pretty deranged actually. But somehow the vigilantism is comforting. Even though the stalking obsession is hard to swallow.

Every time I read a f-cked up book, I think to myself, “wow, this is the most f-cked up book I’ve ever read.” And then, with the next one, I’m like, “No, *this* is the most f-cked up book I’ve ever read.”  But, ya’ll, without a doubt, THIS is the most f-cked up book I’ve ever read. And I’ve heard the next one is darker. Eek. 

The tension I felt while nearing the end was astronomical. There’s a very ominous feeling, but maybe it’s because I know that it’s going to end on a cliffhanger because this is a duet. I’m definitely reading the next one to see how this ends. And mostly to see why it’s her chapters are labeled as The Manipulator. 

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A very dark read, but thrilling nonetheless. Just as I was getting confident in my prediction skills, the plot would take an unexpected turn, totally throwing me off and ensnaring my interest once again. The characters are intriguing, both easy to love and hate at the same time. I was excited to see the author has written more stories about other characters, and can’t wait to read more of her work!

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adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Personally I loved it, it was the first book to get me back into reading and I have been looking for a similar book since. Have finished the series and unsure if I’ll find another book that grasped my attention as much as this did.

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ivanderspeckliche's profile picture

ivanderspeckliche's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 83%

Horrible writing, had severe headaches from rolling my eyes so hard over and over again. Unlikeable characters.
I was well aware of the CN and have read many dark books and fics before. This feels like fanfiction by an author who lacks (adult) experience in the real world and is trying to go for shock value but it’s always over the top. If this is what has gone through the editing process I shudder to think what the text looked like before.
Z is a stalker, murderer and rapist
…but his dick is so good and made Addie have the best orgasms she ever had in her entire life so she yearns to be raped again. Ugh.
And yes, he’s a stalker and a murderer
…but he only kills the really bad guys, so it’s ok. Ugh.
It goes on and on like this.
There are ways to write extremely spicy books. There are ways to write dub-con and non-con and treat it with the amount of care the topic deserves. This isn’t it.

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