A review by alyciajstewart
Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The first 45% of this book is not a dark romance, it's just dark. Addie finds herself in an absolutely terrifying situation that is very hard to read about. The only reason I was able to keep pushing through was because I knew eventually the author was going to get her and Zaid back together. The second half of the book brings back the spice that I came to expect after reading the first book. However, the depiction of the Romance takes an especially dark turn in this novel. Obviously, Addy and Zaid have never had a normal relationship, but the depictions of violence against each other in this book were perhaps a bit too dramatic. I am not a fan of reading about knife play, so most of the spicy scenes were not for me. Overall, I really enjoyed the ending and I'm glad that Addie and Zaid got there "happily" ever after.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Child death, Hate crime, Slavery, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Rape, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Self harm, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexism, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Confinement, Gun violence, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, and Forced institutionalization