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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
tense
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:
Complicated
So um, he dedicated his life to take down rapists and human trafficking rings, yet he still rape and abuse a woman multiple times?
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
God, this sucked so bad. Despite an alleged army of editors, there’s numerous typos throughout, including an inability to decide if a character’s family name should have two Rs or one.
The book warns that it contains DARK SUBJECT MATTER, but the darkness Carlton tries to imbue is boring, cliche, and falls flat. Blood red roses AND skulls, oooh!!! The actual unsettling part of the book is the insistence on lionizing a rapist, justifying his actions by giving him some shoddy moral code, not the murder or the swearing like Carlton tries to make it.
Zade, the 100-foot tall ubermensch, spends his days tracking down pedophile ringsand then killing everyone involved . He’s Dark and Twisted TM. In his free time, he stalks a woman, Addie, he sees briefly at her book signing, and this is where the alleged romance starts.
He kills a man she wants to hook up with for the crime of “touching what’s mine.” As an afterthought, he muses on the man’s apparently well-known history of physically, emotionally, and sexually abusing women. Despite his supposed dedication to stopping this kind of thing, he doesn’t do anything to this guy UNTIL he tries to have consensual sex with Addie.
Then, he rapes Addie with a loaded gun, but it’s okay, guys, because he could “read her body” and knew that despite her literal tears and begging him not to, she ACTUALLY wanted him, she just couldn’t admit that to herself because she’s uncomfortable also being Dark and Twisted TM. Yeah. Both Zade and Addie recognize this as sexual assault, but it’s glossed over because this is DARK ROMANCE and you vanilla normies just WOULDN’T GET IT. Sure, man.
Addie immediately falls in love with him. The half-assed reason is that the sex is SO MINDBLOWING because his wiener is horse-sized and his dedication to ridding the world of pedophiles is SO NOBLE that she can’t help herself. Also her best friend, who’s been watching how terrifying being stalked is for Addie, immediately gives her her blessing because “he’s so hot and she needed to get laid.” WHO NEEDS ENEMIES WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE!!!
It’s honestly offensive how stupid and gross this book is. The sex scenes make me want to crawl out of my skin—so many repeated “our juices combine,” “my arousal pools,” “I kick my head back,” and “he comes with a roar,” that it is legitimately too cringe to take seriously at all. First person present tense is also the most deranged POV for this!!
Carlton has a deep misunderstanding of kink, sex, and relationships. She wants to be hardcore and Different, but she happily falls in line with the justifications of the patriarchy and rape culture. We can have a book about a fucked up dynamic—hello, Toni Morrison’s Beloved is RIGHT THERE!!—but Carlton doesn’t have the range or the talent to craft a realistic or interesting one.
What makes it extra wild is that Satan’s Affair, the prequel to this, is actually a decent piece of schlock! What the fuck happened!
The book warns that it contains DARK SUBJECT MATTER, but the darkness Carlton tries to imbue is boring, cliche, and falls flat. Blood red roses AND skulls, oooh!!! The actual unsettling part of the book is the insistence on lionizing a rapist, justifying his actions by giving him some shoddy moral code, not the murder or the swearing like Carlton tries to make it.
Zade, the 100-foot tall ubermensch, spends his days tracking down pedophile rings
It’s honestly offensive how stupid and gross this book is. The sex scenes make me want to crawl out of my skin—so many repeated “our juices combine,” “my arousal pools,” “I kick my head back,” and “he comes with a roar,” that it is legitimately too cringe to take seriously at all. First person present tense is also the most deranged POV for this!!
Carlton has a deep misunderstanding of kink, sex, and relationships. She wants to be hardcore and Different, but she happily falls in line with the justifications of the patriarchy and rape culture. We can have a book about a fucked up dynamic—hello, Toni Morrison’s Beloved is RIGHT THERE!!—but Carlton doesn’t have the range or the talent to craft a realistic or interesting one.
What makes it extra wild is that Satan’s Affair, the prequel to this, is actually a decent piece of schlock! What the fuck happened!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Vomit, Car accident, Abandonment
Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton was a very dark but complex novel. I was immensely invested in Zade and Adeline throughout the book and the backstory behind Zade was thrilling and fast-paced. I was hooked on this book by the first chapter, and cannot believe the way this book ended. Im so glad I've got book 2 ready and waiting. 5 star read, cannot wait to read the next one.