Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

111 reviews

sbrooks7264's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Car accident, Gore, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Trafficking

sophiark2004's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Alcohol, Trafficking, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Violence

kaiyoung_kop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Holy shit. This book is my Roman Empire. Part I was my favourite, even though most prefer part II

the culling! I loved that shit. Poor Phoebe. I felt that death

Sibby was iconic (as always)
Changed rating to five stars just because of how disturbing this was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Cursing, Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Trafficking, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Car accident, Confinement, Gore, Murder, and Kidnapping

abbyu220's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Trafficking, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, and Stalking

mich3ll31221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual content, Stalking, Blood, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Confinement, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

killerkatastrophe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, Body horror, Car accident, Infidelity, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual violence, Bullying, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Violence, Slavery, and Torture

library_of_breezy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

5.0

Definitely read the trigger warnings first, the first part of the book was difficult mentally and emotionally with topics it touched on 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Torture

demy_summer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Abandonment, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Trafficking

mellifluousmemos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The second book in the series is way darker than the first book. Again, I would not call this series dark romance, I'd call it horror. My review of Haunting Adeline is true for this book as well, though it's far worse and way more intense. In this book, when the author warns of knife play, it should be more specified that it's not only knife play, it's also cutting into old scars, blood (way too much blood), blood during sex, ingesting blood, and the like. The amount of blood, especially toward the end of the book, was very difficult to stomach. 

I was able to read through the sexual assault, the rape, the abuse, and the like. I knew that Zade would rescue Addie, and that was why I kept reading. But it was very hard to get through. I appreciated that the story seemed to about picking up all of a victim's broken pieces and putting themselves back together again. Zade is not the most mentally well person to pick up Addie's pieces and help her put herself back together. But he was exactly what she needed to get back to herself again. 

Zade wants to be the only thing in Addie's life that scares her. And while that does not sound like a healthy relationship, it truly seems to work for the pair of them. Again, if this were real life, I would certainly not condone such behavior in a relationship. Addie even tries to claim that she has Stolkholm Syndrome at one point. To a degree, I can understand that if Zade is the scariest thing in Addie's life, he can sleep at night knowing that he'll forever take care of her. But on the other hand, he threatens to kill her over and over again. So, that balance is incredibly fragile. 

I appreciate that Addie not only gets her strength back after being victimized, but she also seems to get even stronger. I love the idea of her getting revenge on her captors and abusers. I almost wish that was more of the focus of part two, to be honest. I could have done without so much Sibby, especially for her to randomly disappear at the end of the book. It felt like she was a side character placed into the action for convenience sake rather than to propel the story forward in a more meaningful way. Overall, the spice was very intense. Sometimes the spice was hard to stomach due to the gore and the abuse. But it was a great Halloween read and there are defintiely some Zade quotes that I will be thinking about for a long time to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Please take the trigger warnings seriously and understand that book 2 is far worse than book 1 in terms of how difficult these parts are to get through.

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

Trigger warnings. Couldn't finish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Vomit, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Torture