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A review by highladyofdelulu
Where's Molly by H.D. Carlton
5.0
4.5 stars
My song for Where’s Molly: Heal by Tom Odell
„At one point in our lives, we don’t know our soulmates at all. But that doesn’t make them any less of one.”
This review contains out-of-context quotes that could be considered spoilers
———
Though I loved Where’s Molly and finished it in one read, it wass not what I expected it to be. Because while it is a dark romance, emphasis on romance, Where’s Molly is, above all, about Molly. About how hard it is to see your own worth and accept to be worshipped when your entire life your soul has never been worth enough to be loved or protected.
“If anyone deserved to be the one to escape, it would’ve been her. (…) Turns out I wasn’t important enough to deserve it.”
Healing is a journey and while Molly has done so much of it, has survived the worst and learned to claim the parts of herself that had been taken and abused, she still believes she does not deserve to survive. Until Cage makes her.
”You’ve been alone nearly your entire life and don’t know what it feels like to have someone take care of you. Fine, we can work through that. (…) But what I will not do is allow you to run from me.”
The level of trauma Molly has accepted, dealt with and healed from is barely imaginable, yet H.D. Carlton made it so.
And once again I am glad that she doesn’t require her FMCs to get back to ‘normal’ in order to heal, rather acknowledging that the survival of the trauma will forever be a part of them. One they claim as their own (and what even would ‘normal’ mean to someone like Molly?).
“I will chase away all your nightmares until they grow wary of returning. They will fear me, my little ghost. But you never will.”
Cage is the deliciously dark morally grey MMC I expected him to be. His possessiveness and obsession are crucial to guiding Molly towards understanding her worth, as is seeing her through his perspecitve.
He didn’t feel as multifaceted as other MMCs (which might simply be due to the book being rather short) but again: He doesn’t need to be.
He helps Molly see she’s worthy of being loved - by him and herself - and for that alone I love him.
“Don’t be fooled, little ghost, I will own you even after you’ve disappeared. You may vanish, but your soul will always be mine.”
Morally speaking, Molly might also be the darkest of all H.D. Carlton’s FMCs – and for good reason.
In that regard, it made sense to me that Cage seems less contrasted, less predominant than the MMCs in her other books. He doesn’t take away from Molly’s story because she never needed him to heal or survive.
She did that all by herself.
’Because staring into her eyes is the only thing I needed, to convince myself she’s everything I’ll ever want for as long as oxygen invades my lungs.’
At first, I personally felt like the book could have been longer, talking about her trauma recovery in more length and detail, but seeing how it’s a journey we already took with Addie, it makes sense that she didn’t do it again in this one.
’If my body was a kingdom, he’d be waging a celestial war against me where I’d easily crumble beneath his forces.’
As always, the writing is immaculate, the spice on another level and I will always appreciate H.D. Carlton for how truly dark her books are, how well-crafted with these intricate psychological layers and deeply honest characters – something I’ve not quite found in other dark romance books yet.
My song for Where’s Molly: Heal by Tom Odell
„At one point in our lives, we don’t know our soulmates at all. But that doesn’t make them any less of one.”
This review contains out-of-context quotes that could be considered spoilers
———
Though I loved Where’s Molly and finished it in one read, it wass not what I expected it to be. Because while it is a dark romance, emphasis on romance, Where’s Molly is, above all, about Molly. About how hard it is to see your own worth and accept to be worshipped when your entire life your soul has never been worth enough to be loved or protected.
“If anyone deserved to be the one to escape, it would’ve been her. (…) Turns out I wasn’t important enough to deserve it.”
Healing is a journey and while Molly has done so much of it, has survived the worst and learned to claim the parts of herself that had been taken and abused, she still believes she does not deserve to survive. Until Cage makes her.
”You’ve been alone nearly your entire life and don’t know what it feels like to have someone take care of you. Fine, we can work through that. (…) But what I will not do is allow you to run from me.”
The level of trauma Molly has accepted, dealt with and healed from is barely imaginable, yet H.D. Carlton made it so.
And once again I am glad that she doesn’t require her FMCs to get back to ‘normal’ in order to heal, rather acknowledging that the survival of the trauma will forever be a part of them. One they claim as their own (and what even would ‘normal’ mean to someone like Molly?).
“I will chase away all your nightmares until they grow wary of returning. They will fear me, my little ghost. But you never will.”
Cage is the deliciously dark morally grey MMC I expected him to be. His possessiveness and obsession are crucial to guiding Molly towards understanding her worth, as is seeing her through his perspecitve.
He didn’t feel as multifaceted as other MMCs (which might simply be due to the book being rather short) but again: He doesn’t need to be.
He helps Molly see she’s worthy of being loved - by him and herself - and for that alone I love him.
“Don’t be fooled, little ghost, I will own you even after you’ve disappeared. You may vanish, but your soul will always be mine.”
Morally speaking, Molly might also be the darkest of all H.D. Carlton’s FMCs – and for good reason.
In that regard, it made sense to me that Cage seems less contrasted, less predominant than the MMCs in her other books. He doesn’t take away from Molly’s story because she never needed him to heal or survive.
She did that all by herself.
’Because staring into her eyes is the only thing I needed, to convince myself she’s everything I’ll ever want for as long as oxygen invades my lungs.’
At first, I personally felt like the book could have been longer, talking about her trauma recovery in more length and detail, but seeing how it’s a journey we already took with Addie, it makes sense that she didn’t do it again in this one.
’If my body was a kingdom, he’d be waging a celestial war against me where I’d easily crumble beneath his forces.’
As always, the writing is immaculate, the spice on another level and I will always appreciate H.D. Carlton for how truly dark her books are, how well-crafted with these intricate psychological layers and deeply honest characters – something I’ve not quite found in other dark romance books yet.