Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Haunting Adeline

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

1052 reviews

booktheshelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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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tina_lou_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

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

3.0

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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bethanyjgilmore's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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bookishvampiratelycan's review against another edition

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1.0

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morganemily's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

the_goddess_nyx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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.

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bookishkitten3's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

The story is good but this really is a situation of rape. Both characters blatantly call it being forced and talk about no consent multiple times. Anyone trying to call this CNC really doesn't understand it.
There is mention that he wouldn't have done it if "her body wasn't singing for him" or whatever but I'm sorry some bodily reactions and functions happen despite the situation or trauma and that is just damaging. I really enjoyed the writing and story other than that and will probably finish the duet to see the ending. I will say I know he's morally grey and a freaking stalker so I wasn't really expecting him to act any differently than he does, it's the people glorifying his behavior I think that gets under my skin. If this had been actual CNC with verbal consent then it would have been a lot better for me lol

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coccobacille's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It's twisted. Redest flag of them all. Don't read this if yandere ML is not your vibe. At first I thought there was a lot of dubious consent, but actually there is no consent at all. This is straight up rape. The ML is a hottie narcissist. I thought we were getting somewhere, but at the end, when jay said that he likes his women willing, Zade just laughed at him and told him that when a women say no, her body is actually saying yes. So, yeah. You have to be very grounded and mature enough to read this book.

As pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin, fear and arousal are also two sides of the same coin. I really liked how the author worked around that concept. The cat and mouse game was good. The characters swear a lot and it annoyed me.

They were also a couple of cringey scenes. The forced proximity arc was my favorite.

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laura_is_fae's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0

was just a pinky toe over the line for me

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paperbutsingular's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

If nothing else kept me entertained? My first one star finished read. I don’t care about the themes. It’s a book, it’s not real. Write about whatever you want. But just because you read does not mean you are able to write. And just because someone writes about sex does not mean it needs to be published. The worst part? The sex scenes are well written. It feels like the author is stumbling through the plot and quickly and obviously as possible to get to the sex. If the whole book had the level of care as those moments, it would be better.

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