Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

796 reviews

megreads12's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Rape, Pedophilia, Torture, Murder, Infidelity, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Trafficking, Stalking, Child death, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Car accident

rantsandreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

Just finished this on audio. It's a chaotic hot mess that's confusing, strange, disjointed and messily written, but somehow addicting enough to keep going. The cliffhanger at the end got me hooked, so here I am, diving into book two. Let's see if it gets better or if I'm just a sucker for punishment! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Murder

slswarner's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Child abuse, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Blood, and Pedophilia

sydneycrowley'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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Gore, Torture, Car accident, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

lattelibrarian's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.5

Well, this was something I read! To be honest, I read this due to people I know recommending this to me. I don't normally read this genre, or anything really adjacent to this genre, so I thought it'd be good for me to branch out. 

The good: there were some parts of this book that I fully agreed with. YES, Adeline, what Zade is doing to you IS stalking and rape and abuse. And YES Zade, how ARE you going to reckon your actions against your morals of saving innocent boys and girls from pedophile rings?? The bad? So much cognitive dissonance.

The good: Parsons Manor. Oh my god YES we love a creepy old mansion. The bad? Unfortunately, not actually haunted. I genuinely thought that Zade was going to be a ghost; perhaps the same ghost (until I was otherwise proven wrong) that haunted Adeline's great-grandmother. I was like hell yeah, multi-generational ghost-fucking? Let's GO. Nope, just a really creepy dude. Also the bad? Why must this take place in Seattle :( (which also, there's a LOT of woods in the setting for a book that takes place in an extremely urban area...Seattle is green but it ain't THAT green haha)

The good: Daya. Great best friend energy, the conversations with her were SO FUNNY. And she was a great reality check for Adeline. The bad? Y'know, I don't think there is a bad. I REALLY liked Daya. Personally, I imagined her in my head as Vella Lovell.

Okay, now for some general 'bad's:

Zade--oh my goddd he is so cocky and in such a small dick energy kind of way. BUT I liked his coworkers, Jay and Ruby, whenever they were around.

Lots of telling and not showing. Also, some of the comparisons were so out of left field that I was truly wondering about the points of reference for these characters. 

It was also so incredibly trope-y. As someone who loves a good trope, I can recognize that sometimes the plot exists just for the sex and the tropes. The chances of being in the same place as your stalker and someone from whom he's trying to protect you? Getting invited to a gala and NEEDING to wear a beautiful dress? Again, I love a good trope, but you do have to have some substance behind it to make it believable in a novel kind of way, and not a fanfiction kind of way.

Also, Sibby. While I enjoyed her plenty in the second book (review to come), this first book posits her and maniacal and deeply unsound. Which, to be fair, she is. But Zade (or the author) is very ableist when discussing her character. Sibby suffers from delusions--many of which I think are constructed to make her 'edgy'--and she kills everyone she thinks is a total creep. But Zade is willing to let her take the fall for him and consistently labels her as crazy. 

So, all in all, this was an entertaining read. But was it a good one?

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Alcohol

smilingsammie's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Violence, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Car accident, Trafficking, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Sexism, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

loreluvss's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Stalking, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Rape, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Death

Not for the light hearted.

michaelavanr's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

This book crossed lines that I am not comfortable with. However, I devoured and constantly found myself wanting to be reading it. I was gonna not read the second one because I can’t support a relationship built

on rape. But that cliffhanger ugh

. 

I am confused. I hate all the characters. The murder mystery was a fun thing in the background. I don’t know. I gave myself a full nights sleep before writing this review and still don’t know how I feel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Pedophilia, and Trafficking

ktmags's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Okay so this book scared the shit out of me and i can't get past the disgusting sex scenes and the idea of Zade being so sick in the head HOWEVER the other storyline surrounding Zade's career and everything he does was actually so good and it's probably the reason i'm gonna read the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Torture, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Cursing, Stalking, and Child death

deeloro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

This (second) time around I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook and hearing some of the changes that differ from the e-book, the physical copy and the audiobook. Very Interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic relationship

If you have any triggers what-so-ever, you should check them before you read this book.