Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Haunting Adeline

I've procrastinated reading it for months and I'm so happy I finally got around to it. Obviously this book isn't for everyone (pay attention to warnings!), but I'm perfectly happy with darker stuff.

I really liked how long it took for the real smut to actually start. I'm honestly not a big fan of smut in general, so I liked that it didn't start until about one-third of the way in. It really ramped up after that point, but I didn't mind. Like I said, I'm not a fan of it in general, but I don't let that reflect my ratings because it's something I've come to expect.

I also loved the mystery throughout the novel with Adeline trying to find Gigi's killer. I did guess it, but it took quite a long time for me to realize. The use of Gigi's diary pages between chapters was also a really nice touch.

And how can I talk about why I love this book without talking about "the shadow?" (I'll call him Z for the rest of the review just in case anyone considers revealing his actual name a spoiler.) This man is a whole comedian. I lived for his POV. I loved seeing him come face-to-face with pedophiles and absolutely obliterating them in his mind. Just a very sassy, funny little guy. I feel like under most circumstances I would dislike how much of a hypocrite he was (a rapist who hates rapists?), but the fact that he acknowledged his own hypocrisy and just didn't care was such a power move and kind of hilarious to me.

Of course, I loved Adeline too. Her conflicting feelings of desire and hatred of Z were really interesting to me, and I liked the parallel between her own feelings for Z and Gigi's feelings for her stalker. Even without Z, I appreciate her as a character in her own right. She's funny, sassy, and strong. Even if I preferred the shadow chapters a bit, I definitely enjoyed her chapters too.

I honestly would love to give this book a slightly higher rating because I absolutely adored it. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 was that it could honestly be a bit cringeworthy at times, specifically when it came to some of Z's dialogue. I wish I could give examples, but I don't have the book with me (borrowed it from a friend). I just know that as I read some of his dialogue, I had to put the book down and take a breath. It didn't happen often enough that it destroyed his character for me, but it was often enough that it brought down the book overall just a bit. Other than that, I have literally no other complaints. I feel like a lot of the hate comes from people thinking that it "glamorizes" things like sexual assault and stalking, but I never really got that feeling? I don't believe you're expected to read the story and conclude that Z would be a good person in real life. The warning at the beginning of the book literally describes his actions towards Adeline as non-con/dub-con. The things that happen in this book are pretty common fantasies for women (fantasy as in things that we don't actually want to happen in real life) and we shouldn't be ashamed of that.

I can't recommend this book enough. I've started the second one and I am loving it so far, and I'm definitely hoping I'll be able to give it 5 stars.

Content Warnings

ekmartin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The smut was good but it took so long to get there. Honestly shocked this was a slow burn. Also I definitely think the "Dark" romance aspect was way oversold. This isn't nearly as dark as all the booktok hype was letting on. I think maybe for those people this was their first dark romance - but I was expecting a lot more. The NC scenes were very much not NC as per the integral dialogue of the FMC, which just leaves us with stalking & murder. The end also drug on. Once I hit 80% I was wanting it to be over.

Content Warnings

mimo_'s review against another edition

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dark tense

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

ok so like what the fuck is this (again)
i dont care about either one of them and the "cliffhanger" at the end means nothing to me
i read this purely for science to see what the booktok girlies see in him and quite frankly i dont see much please seek help if this is ur man
despite all of the questionable things in this entire book its somehow not the worst thing ive read (iykyk) but it still. wasnt very good.

there is so much non-con in here like zade get it together this man has so many kinks that are doing a bit too much. after all this forcing himself on adeline because physically she wants it but mentally shes like get the fuck away from me hes somehow supposed to be redeemed bc hes a vigilante killing human traffickers

also why was there a random murder mystery in here it wasnt even that thrilling like she did the same thing jfkdndnksv adeline is stupid

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