Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

16 reviews

snowdrop11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Trafficking, Mental illness, Death of parent, Blood, Rape, Slavery, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Body shaming, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, and Torture

__romancereader__'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I thought this book was ok i had major anxiety for really the whole book this was the most anxiety I’ve gotten from any book ever i came so close to dnf this i have this thing where i only like for the main characters to have sex together and be together so when she got kidnapped and they actually raped her i got extremely disappointed i was debating wether i wanted to rate this book a three stars or four stars but i settled for four i guess because the ending I definitely enjoyed haunting adeline over this one by a longgggg shot i did find myself enjoying some parts of this book i also did enjoy meeting sibby again ifykyk i also did like the writing of the book the author told allot of details in situations but not to much to the point where your annoyed but yeah overall i rated this book four stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Vomit

Not all content warnings are for the main characters some are and some are for the other characters you meet/hear in the book 🥰🥰🥰🙃🙃🙃

bookswith_vivi's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Rape, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide

jules44's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.25

This is absolutely not for everyone but if you’re into taboo, dark romance, and murder kinks, this will satisfy an itch you didn’t know need scratching. The writing was elevated compared to the first book, but still fan fiction-esque giving ao3 roots vibes. This story is wild from beginning to end and the characters, though horrible disgusting human beings, really pull at your heart strings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Confinement

Moderate: Cursing, Stalking, Sexism, Torture, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bianca2004's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

This was a really fucked up book and I have never ever read anything like it. I could not for the life of me put this book down. I absolutely loved the sex even though it was weird and kinky and hella dark. The reason I didn't give it a 5-star read was that I became invested in the great-grandmother's plot and I felt that it was rushed and didn't get its spotlight if you get me. 

The intensity of her stalker was just like poooow mindblown... the gun scene??? The belt scene???? The wardrobe scene???? like there were so many fucked up scenes in this book and I ate that shit up.

I Ate Zade up too because that man knows his fucking stuff. Like you don't tell him twice 

I don't know what is wrong with me but I kinda liked the book and its darkness, it was definitely something new and I loved that 

Still, don't know if any of it was consensual...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Rape, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Gun violence

anastashamarie's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Cursing, Gore, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Bullying, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Slavery, Child abuse, Drug use, Medical content, and Misogyny

Please read the content warnings at the beginning on the book. This is a very graphic, disturbing story with great detail of trauma the main character faces