Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

1132 reviews

dark tense medium-paced

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dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes

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challenging 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

I was hesitant to read this because I’d heard it was DARK. And they were not wrong… However, I still loved it. I remember starting this book in late 2023, and putting it down because I was freaked out by the house Addie lives in 😆

So, I read this and Hunting back to back. So doing a review for the first book will require me to pick through my memory bank, which is legit terrible. I forget major things about books right after I read them. My star ratings are based on “vibes”, if you will. Very in the moment, mood reader I am (oh hello Master Yoda). 

Anyway, Haunting was everything I was expecting and also… not. I don’t know why I thought it just *couldn't* be as hot as everyone was saying. I was wrong. It was. Now I understand the whole daddy Zade thing. He’s hot. And f*cked. Addie was hard to like at first, but I grew to really enjoy her character as her development progressed. I kinda thought her being an author was a little corny, but it actually worked. 

This book was spooky, which I’m not super into. I know it’s a dark romance, blah blah, but like, I just don’t like ghosts. So there’s that. 

The human trafficking themes literally ripped me up. It was so hard to read about. I know that it’s not exactly real life average human trafficking because usually it’s a family member doing the trafficking, not some elaborate government scheme, BUT, I think a lot of the elements here do really exist. It’s evil and horrid. Zade can justify killing child rapists any-day in my head. 

Spiceeeee was spicin’. Lemme just say: gun, belt, rose, knife, more belt, cliff (and this is both books). Need I say more. No, I need not. 

Anywayyy, 4.75 for the whole duet. Hunting is wayyyyy dark and crazy traumatizing. I don’t think my brain will ever be the same. But it added needed depth I think. Honestly coulda done without the side character Sibby. Hated Sydney. Rio was cool. Hated every trafficker’s guts and wanted them to die. Anyway, that’s all for now. 

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was dark and at times difficult to read. That being said I kept going as the story kept me engaged. This is NOT a romance novel!!!!!!

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

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

I absolutely LOVED this book. It's was the perfect balance of suspense, darkness, and spice. Zade is absolutely crazy but was also kinda redeemable in a way. He truly cared about the women and children he was saving and took everything to heart. He felt personally responsible for them, which made him somewhat redeemable in my eyes. Zade fell so hard for Addie and was undeniably devoted to her. I loved how he waited for her to fall for him, even when he did it in a quite unconventional way (stalking and dubcon/noncon). I loved Ruby and how she would boss big, scary Zade around and he allowed it because she was caring for the survivors. I was gasping (from the suspense, what else?! 😆), blushing, and swooning all through this book. It is definitely going on my "to buy" list.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense slow-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

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
I hate this from the bottom of my heart. If you genuinely like this book the way the author wanted us to like the book, then I cannot have respect for you. Calling this romance is WRONG on SO many levels. Our girl Adeline is one of the dumbest and the most unrealistic female characters I've seen in a long time. What woman that is in the right state of mind would fall in love with a stalker who terrorised her for months and r*ped her multiple times? How can our stalker boy Zade save hundreds of innocent girls from being hurt in ANY way, and then at the end of the day hurt another innocent girl whom he knows nothing about??? I mean WHO does he thinks he is to just see a random girl on the street and just claim her like she is some kind of object? Kill men who TOUCH HER. Because who is he to control her life so much? Who dies he thinks he is to not let her have any saying in who she is going to be with. He killed a man because she took him home. Oh I'm sorry Zade, are you jealous that Archie didn't have to force himself onto her like you did, instead she actually wanted to sleep with him? I can’t with this book. It's so so so bad. I liked the beginning because it was so spooky, but then they started calling stalking and traumatising a girl romance. No thank you. 
Eidt: Oh yeah, the one star is for the pretty cover.

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