Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

136 reviews

sophiejatta's review against another edition

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

3.75

I think going into this I had pretty low expectations. I was honestly expecting a spicy book with not much else. I had seen all the hype and that's what got me sat down to read this book. Oh how I was wrong. I loved this book. Every second. Not just because it's incredibly spicy but also because I was legitimately hooked by the story and that was not what I was expecting. There is a murder mystery that runs through the book and also a hitman/vigilante story line alongside the main plot of the MMC stalking the FMC. And I was hooked. 
The only negative to the book was the ending was a little obvious only because there aren't a whole lot of characters in the book so by the end the "plot twist" isn't much of a twist because the options were limited in the first place. 
Overall this book surprised me. I know it gets a lot of negativity online because of some of the darker themes but my honest opinion is that if you come away from this book wishing you had a stalker in real life then these sorts of books aren't for you. But its no more heavy hitting than the Netflix show 'YOU' and so if you enjoyed that show you would likely enjoy this book.
⭐⭐⭐.5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Child death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, Torture, Car accident, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Mental illness

_kamrynjesse_'s review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Low key felt like a poorly written Wattpad book from 2012. Appreciated the trigger warnings, but the book writes rape culture off as kinks. Super insensitive masking as “edgy”, and pretty awkward writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol and Cursing

Minor: Death of parent and Car accident

one_more_chapter96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

Very dark romance, check TW’s before reading as there are some very dark scenes depicted that  made my skin crawl and want to put the book down at times; but it was all a part of the undercover mission so it was understandable for the plot. A weird theme of falling for a stalker but the spice was very good and there was a lot of plot to go with it. Just quite uncomfortable to read at times. Overall the solving her grandmother’s murder was a good subplot too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Trafficking, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape and Infidelity

nineinchnails's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

i went in blind for this so i had no idea it was instalove at least from the mmc's side (i usually hate this) but i think there was enough push and pull in their relationship otherwise for it not to be the end of the world. i liked the prose a lot and i loved the setting of the book but i think the structuring could have been done a little better. i don't know if it's just me, but it feels like not enough happened for it to be 500+ pages long. i liked the characters for the most part, but something about zade calling her "little girl" (and himself "daddy") in a sexual context feels especially heinous considering his day job but also very out of character? from the way he was written outside of these moments it feels like the last thing he would ever incorporate into his sex life. in general though i did enjoy the read and the writing style was a welcome surprise.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Stalking, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Trafficking, Rape, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Car accident, Infidelity, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gore

blububbs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Genocide, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Death of parent, Misogyny, Rape, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident

sydneyglickman's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Bullying, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

jodi_xo's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.75

This is a really good book, although not for everyone as mayn’t aspects of this book are intense. It covers a lot of dark topics. Many trigger and content warnings attached to this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Slavery, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Child death, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Alcoholism, Stalking, Gun violence, Death of parent, Confinement, Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Pedophilia, and Death

kaileyhanrath's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

Please read the content warnings before starting this book. “Dark” is an understatement. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Child death, and Trafficking

bashsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

0.25

I've read 137 books this year, and this one stands out as the worst. It's not due to the sex, which is desperately trying to be edgy but is actually quite boring, nor is it due to the darker themes - I start my review by saying this because undoubtedly this author and fans of this work likely think that criticisms of it come from that angle.

My biggest issues with Haunting Adeline are as follows:

1) Its writing style is bad. This author cannot write for shit. This book is extremely vague and noncommittal in its descriptions, frustratingly unwilling to give much specific information about the world, and unbelievably cringe-worthy in its dialogue. 

2) It promotes a pretty fucked up view gender - the world of Haunting Adeline implies that even the best of men are predators and even the most strong-willed of women are victims/prey. I could go on about this point with a few dozen examples, but I will boil it down to the most galling one: at one point, there are two victims of human trafficking being discussed - one an adult woman described as a "twenty-four year old girl" and one a child, a little boy. And there is more time and focus put on how this poor "girl" than the actual child. It goes without saying that it's normal to feel for any victims of trafficking, but I find it suspicious that in a book that pulls out pedophilia and child abuse as an excuse for every other crime committed, more focus is given to the female victim, who is an adult, than the literal child - and of course, she's infantilized.

3) Putting a warning that says "this isn't antisemitic" at the beginning of a book is not sufficient. You have to actually not perpetuate antisemitic propaganda in the book. Saying "oh I just like conspiracy theories and it's just my twisted mind" and then vomitting the contents of right-wing Facebook memes onto the page is an act of both idiocy and hubris. God, the ego on this Carlton.

There is a lot more I could gripe about - like how the male lead Z justifies his murders in the most annoying and unconvincing ways or how the titular Adeline just takes him at his word about everything despite him stalking and raping her or the super pervasive ableism or the absolutely weaksauce attempt at class analysis or how this is absolutely catnip for white women who believe they're going to be kidnapped at Target - but I'll just save us both some time and sanity and tell you not to bother with this dumpster fire of a book. If you're looking for a dark bit of smut, just pull up AO3. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Violence, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Classism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Ableism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Blood, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Racism and Torture

Minor: Death of parent

katierosecrane's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.5

I like that the book is so graphic and Carlton wasn’t afraid to go too far with the book. I was worried about the sexual content warnings but once you read it, it’s different. I don’t think anything is super triggering in this book but everyone is different. It is GRAPHIC though so be prepared. 

The actual book was nice easy to read and kept me intrigued. I wouldn’t give it 5 stars because I didn’t think the ending was as shocking as I thought. Great book though, loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Slavery, Stalking, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Torture