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A review by blingping
Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
3.0
Man, I have such mixed feelings. First of all, how the fuck does a published book have so many typos? Some lines were near illegible, for example, on page 576, "Mo, Fm not, St explains a lot about your Mana and her strange attachment to the house." What were the editors doing? Grammarly is free, for fuck's sake, and this book was far too expensive for me to be nice about stupid misprints. Lost half a star for incredibly easy-to-fix blunders.
The book is also obviously a shit depiction of BDSM, in the same vein as Fifty Shades. It sort of feels like what vanilla people think BDSM is actually like, and then lauding themselves for reading something so far-fetched. However, it is unclear whether this is a genuine part of the story or just a marketing strategy to gain instant clout. If it is the latter, it's working. Just like it worked for Fifty Shades, Twilight, and a million others. It's the same cheap trick, and it's embarrassing people are falling for it. Lost an entire star for this. All you had to add were safewords, consent, and aftercare, and you'd be golden. Not that hard.
Having said all this, however, I will admit this author has immense potential. The pacing of the book is phenomenal, and it's clear Carlton is more suited to writing thrillers than romance. Her style of writing is rather captivating, too---the book is really hard to put down. In addition to this, I will happily admit that the book's cover and included art are both absolutely gorgeous, so kudos to whoever designed those.
Adding all this up, the positives and negatives sort of cancel each other out, leaving you feeling baffled about what the fuck you've just read, and with the distinct aftertaste of sheer mediocrity in your mouth. I'm going to go take a long fucking drink to wash it out...and then go read the second one, I guess. I hope it gets better.
Ultimately, however, I can't base the rating for this book on the potential for better ones in the future (at least, I sincerely hope for better ones). So, it's a solid C minus. Great job, team.
The book is also obviously a shit depiction of BDSM, in the same vein as Fifty Shades. It sort of feels like what vanilla people think BDSM is actually like, and then lauding themselves for reading something so far-fetched. However, it is unclear whether this is a genuine part of the story or just a marketing strategy to gain instant clout. If it is the latter, it's working. Just like it worked for Fifty Shades, Twilight, and a million others. It's the same cheap trick, and it's embarrassing people are falling for it. Lost an entire star for this. All you had to add were safewords, consent, and aftercare, and you'd be golden. Not that hard.
Having said all this, however, I will admit this author has immense potential. The pacing of the book is phenomenal, and it's clear Carlton is more suited to writing thrillers than romance. Her style of writing is rather captivating, too---the book is really hard to put down. In addition to this, I will happily admit that the book's cover and included art are both absolutely gorgeous, so kudos to whoever designed those.
Adding all this up, the positives and negatives sort of cancel each other out, leaving you feeling baffled about what the fuck you've just read, and with the distinct aftertaste of sheer mediocrity in your mouth. I'm going to go take a long fucking drink to wash it out...and then go read the second one, I guess. I hope it gets better.
Ultimately, however, I can't base the rating for this book on the potential for better ones in the future (at least, I sincerely hope for better ones). So, it's a solid C minus. Great job, team.