Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

159 reviews

corallydeer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

One of my new favorite books. The subject matter is definitely very dark and people should absolutely be aware of that before trying to read these books. At least for me, the subject matter wasn't enough to turn me off, and in reality, I truly loved both the story and the author's style overall. Carlton has a wonderful writing style that flows exceptionally well and still feels completely natural. I constantly found myself enthralled and reading for hours on end with ease. Addie, as a character, was a bit annoying at first but I got used to her personality over time and I loved Zade and Daya (Addie's best friend).

Very curious now to see how I'll handle the second book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Blood, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Cursing, Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Murder, Rape, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Confinement, Grief, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcoholism

The amount of content warning tags makes it hard to explain them all, so for simplicity's sake

this is a dark, stalker romance with violent vigilantism around taking down child and adult human trafficking (for everything from sex trafficking, pedophile rings, organ trade, ritualistic sacrifice and cannibalism)

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trashely's review against another edition

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

Extremely poor writing that came across as Q-Anon's wet dream. Author had clearly never been to Seattle nor researched the region when describing the book's setting, extremely unrealistic portrayal of sex trafficking, and very poorly developed characters, not to mention the unredeemable rape scenes. I do not understand the hype and actively advise against reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Body horror, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Slavery, Trafficking, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

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

katiebug5614's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Rape, Stalking, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Slavery

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

jynai23's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Stalking, Torture, Domestic abuse, Rape, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

uniquelymace's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Smut is v good but not good enough to make this book worth the praise. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Child death

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

laujo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual content, Slavery, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Car accident, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

kelabr8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Slavery