Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Ti ritroverò, Adeline by H.D. Carlton

86 reviews

katharinajoha's review against another edition

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4.75

i don’t even know what to say… this was dark, twisted and incredibly kinky. zade and addie's whole journey was just something so harrowing and yet so beautiful to watch

“You and I will never end, little mouse. Even when we’re six feet under, and our bones are dust, I will haunt your soul until it aches to be free of me. And then, I will hold you tighter.”

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beth_waller97's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Had me in the first half ngl

After the 60% mark it just gets unhinged, story stops existing and it’s just pure sex - which is fine, but bro I was enjoying the story so much 

Spice is spicier than a ghost chilli, story was great until it wasn’t, pretty decent easy to binge book 

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isabelleroyall's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0


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alittlehasty's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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atlas_shruggs's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Jesus. I didn't think it could get more violent or trigger warning heavy, but oh boy was I wrong. I had been previously warned not to read this one as it got very very brutal, but because of how much I liked the first one and I wasn't fully ready to let Zade and Addie go I decided to give it a try. And the second half was pretty good! I liked the inclusion of Sibby as a main character and I liked how Zade and Addie's relationship developed. But I need the first half burned out of my fucking skull.
Don't get me wrong, it was decently written, but holy shit it made me so uncomfortable and so mad and kinda made me want to bathe in holy water and never look at another human being again in my life.
So if you think the first one was a bit too brutal for you or even just the right amount, maybe skip this one. I definitely would not recommend this to anyone, but if you do read it please, oh please read the trigger warnings.
https://triggerwarningdatabase.com/2022/05/13/hunting-adeline-by-hd-carlton/

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naaytaashreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

“Our mouths are touching the same spot,” she says shakily. “Does that count as kissing?”

“You tell me, little mouse. When I make you cry out for God, does that count as praying?”

The sequel blows my mind.
How was this so FUCKING good.
I thought the first one gave me so much adrenaline, but this one gave me an explosion.
I speed-read this in two days; that's how invested I was in wanting to know what's next, what's happening and how it will end.

Trigger warning, if you read the first book, you know how dark this book can get.
However, in this one, the first half of the book centres around sexual assault, abuse, rape, violence, injury, blood, death, killing and more.
While the second half deals with PTSD, trauma, disease, more violence and sex content of the course.
So, be warned.

While the first half of the book was heartbreaking to read.
It was important for Adeline's character growth and discovery in the second half.
She is by herself getting kidnapped, trapped in the house with these men and being done so much disgusting shit to her; she herself is in survival mode and how it keeps her sane and changes her later on.
Hence, why the first half was kind of a slow burn, as I feel like it was built up to the second half.

I love the different and new personality we get in understanding Zade.
How his mind works, we see his emotions more and understand how he loves Adeline in his dark ways. It was also a character growth for him.

In the second half, we learn and see the changes in Adeline, how her trauma has changed her and how in her way, she is healing together with the people around her, especially her relationship with Zade. It was raw, honest, and dark but such an important topic to talk about, and I feel like H.D Carlton did a good job writing it while intertwining it with the dark plotline, making it naturally addictive.

I love that while in such dark times, we still get the cat and mouse plotline concept.
It brings me such adrenaline, and the newer grown version of the character gave me a new outlook on their relationship and how they have to relearn to love the new version of themselves with each other.

By the end of it, I JUST NEED MORE.
There were so many romance quotes by both of them I DIED.


“Zade may be Hades, but the dark God has never been known to bow for anyone but his woman.”

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blueee7777's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

this was way better than the first. FL got kidnapped a raped and abused but gets saved and becomes a badass. it’s very dark and has a lot of violence and knife stuff. it was okay i like that he is obsessed but they do a lot of pain stuff that i don’t like. overall not horrible and i read it in 3 days. 

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baintexas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book. I can’t even adequately explain to you the emotional journey this takes you on. This is about sex trafficking, sexual assault, PTSD, recovery of the victim, and support of the caregivers. But, there is a comprehensive character arc from victim to survivor, which includes, an albeit abbreviated, explicit, heart-wrenching sexual recovery. 

Do you know how some dark romance readers read dark romance due to trauma and say it’s helpful with healing? I think this is the embodiment of that concept. 

⭐️: 5/5 - and I knew it 1/2 way through. It did not matter how it ended. 
🌶: 5/5 - it is extra spicy, but please note this isn’t all traditional sex. See triggers. 
Narration: N/A. If there ever is an audible, please make sure to get the kindle version so you can read/see the journal entries 

Summary: This is about sex trafficking and sexual assault. If you go into this thinking anything else, you’re wrong.

Readers should know:
  • Trigger warnings: SA, non-con, dub-con, sex trafficking, child abuse, murder, torture, prostitution, forced branding, somnophilia, grooming, forced medical procedures, PTSD, STIs
  • Primal, 🩸, 💨, bdsm, praise, degradation 
  • This is heavy. It is a dark, dark book.
  • Sibby and her henchmen. 
  • Chapters 33 & 34 are some of the most emotionally initiate, caring, heart-wrenching, beautiful scenes of recovery I’ve ever read. These alone are worth the pain of the book. 
  • Zade is still a villain. Not morally grey. Villains can have good qualities. That doesn’t change that they are villains. 
  • Hades and Persephone retelling 

“His darkness devours my light, and I decide I’m content living in the shadows.”

Would I spend $12 or an audible credit on it (again)? Yes, but it’s not on audible. It’s on kindle unlimited. I would pay for it though. 

Note: 🌶 - spiciness scale is from 0, fade to black, to 5, detailed, explicit, repetitive sexual scenes with non-traditional sex acts. 

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psyched_np's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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anastashamarie's review against another edition

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

3.75

3.75/5. I really struggled with a review and rating for this one. I feel like a high rating means that I recommend this book, which I can't necessarily say that I do. I didn't like most of it. However, it gripped me hard, and I flew through it. It tugged at my emotions with such complexity. So I do appreciate it for what it was, and this is what I settled on. But first...

⚠️ Please, for the love of God, heed the trigger warnings at the beginning of this book. The sexual violence, regular violence/torture, and emotional pain throughout this book are all incredible detailed and gruesome. This tips the needle toward vantablack on the darkness scale, and I think it could be damaging for a lot of people if they aren't properly prepared.⚠️

If the first book is a top-rated professional haunted attraction, this one was McKamey fucking Manor. 🏚️🕷️ Something that I, as a major horror fan, would get sucked into, but then wonder "wtf did I do that for?" Haunting Adeline (#1) was an intense, dark story but at its core, but it still felt safe. Uncomfortable at times, fairly violent, but still alluring and still controlled. Hunting (#2) most definitely is not like that. I've seen other reviewers call it unhinged, and that's a good descriptions. I would also describe it as disturbing, painful, and real-life scary. 

"Part One" of this was especially difficult to read. The author said she was trying to acknowledge the genuine horror of human trafficking, and this definitely makes you feel all of the fear, sadness, and confusion that's appropriate if that was her goal. But honestly, I think it was a little too well-done which takes me to my biggest issues with this book. 

😖 First, I felt like I had to emotionally dissociate so hard from the first half of the book that the second half just seemed flat and a little ridiculous to me. If you've ever been a part of any adrenaline-inducing event, traumatic or not, you know that the effects of the cortisol can only really affect you for so long. Eventually your nervous system levels out, and you just sort of go numb. Not that you don't care, but the feelings get blunted so that you can move instead of being stuck in crisis. Since this book is so long, I hit that numb point right around the time that Addie and Zade reunited. Though this definitely helped me to relate to Addie, it didn't make for the reading experience I had hoped for, especially with how enjoyable the first one was beginning to end.

🤨 Second, I can't help but put my therapist hat on here, and say that the "healing" part of Addie's journey did not seem realistic or healthy. I get it, this is a dark romance where he fell in love with her stalker, it's not supposed to be healthy. But if we are going to go for emotional realism for the terrible stuff Addie faced, let's go for emotional realism for the recovery as well. I wish there was more showing of the easing into normal life that she and Zade needed to do. I wish that there was more of a focus on Addie and Zade BOTH growing from this experience together and growing closer, not just that Addie changed. There was a lot of justifying how Zade was better/different than the people who kidnapped and abused Addie. Though I'm okay with the dark relationship that Zade and Addie had, it almost felt like the human trafficking plotline existed to show that that Zade "wasn't that bad" instead of him really examining how he could also be different/better.

(Also, please don't try to brute force yourself or your partner to just do things that feel scary or uncomfortable one of you is traumatized. It will do more harm than good.)

🌹 But then this book turns around in Part Two, after all the trauma, and gives me such interesting development for Addie. I'm a sucker for a training-to-literally-murder-your-demons empowerment arc. The humor comes back that I loved in the first book. The spicy scenes are still A+ work.

Idk man, this book put me through the wringer. Read it if you can handle it, I guess? But also maybe schedule time for self-care after the fact. 

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