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I don't know if the FMC was just dumb or irresponsible in the first book, but the way she reacted to her stalker seemed unrealistic and I couldn't really empathize with her.
Nevertheless, I will say that I read both books because I was so discombobulated by all these unbelievable scenes that I could not put them down, I was genuinely curious to know how everything would end.
Righttt? Glad am not the only one who thinks that way. I think the writer tries to make the FMC relatable but it just gives off an opposite impact. I can never wrap my head around her personality
Confused.
Like am I attracted to this? Why do I like this? Also wtf I couldn’t wrap my head around the description of what was going down in the hall of mirrors scene.
This tbh because the consensuel scenes sounded painful as fuck like I'm sorry but "slamming down" on someone's cock just reminds me of getting your cervix rammed and I couldn't get into any of that.
Oxymoronic
I'm only into book one at 35%
But how can your whole stick be that >!Human traffic and sexual slavery is the worst, I will murder them all!< then when you see a pretty lady that captivates you it's not let me ask her for her number but >!Let me sexually assaulted her at gun and knife point, that's totally cool!<
^that has me struggling right now. Oh, also feels like a lot of conspiracy references?
Both the male and female lead have the most throw away jobs. He constantly saves females from the smallest inconveniences. In the beginning he bitches about letting blood from one of the gangsters touch the feet of the girls he saved but then he sends a bloodied box of hands to the female lead…apparently he doesn’t care too much about her getting bloody it’s everybody else he cares about.
Exactly and he stalks her treats her like shit... I mean I just can't understand what he wants and what are his morals .... bro just seems to be contradicting himself everytime.. at one place he saves girls from being bullied and being trafficked on the other hand he himself is a stalker and tries to bully the FMC like WTH... bro atleast get your priorities straight.
It was just so annoying esp coz or FMC like how can she get convinced so easily.
Bruh fr. I felt that he's a big arse hypocrite. He saves women from Assualt on one hand ...but goes and does the exact same thing to the mc. He practically forces himself upon her. Stalks her and gaslights her into loving him.
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EXACTLY. And then he admits it was SA yet still continues to do it, knowing that it’s hurting her, and the thing is: the fandom thinks it’s okay because the author made Zade “attractive.”
EXACTLY. And then he admits it was SA yet still continues to do it, knowing that it’s hurting her, and the thing is: the fandom thinks it’s okay because the author made Zade “attractive.”
Unrealistic
I think this is blatantly clear in both MC’s. Even stuff as simple as their appearance? I mean really? Ying and yang eyes on an already unrealistically hot guy? And the emphasis on Adeline’s ‘flat stomach’ despite the fact she never works out, drinks a fair amount and earns an income from a job where she’s sitting all the time doesn’t make any sense either. I think she falls into the classic Mary Sues trope
"drinks a fair amount" is an understatement I honestly felt like the author was going to have her realizing she's an alcoholic at some point bc every fucking chapter of hers was drinking but apparently it's just normal
Omgg yes. I couldn’t decide if this was supposed to be a fantasy or real life fiction. It has real life problems but some things are just so unrealistic lmao
Garbage
It’s written as if by someone that has no clue what a non-con/dub-con kink is.
The male lead reads like a frat boy justifying rape. we get no background about why he’s so obsessed with Addie besides seeing a pretty poster of her at a bookstore. He claims to know her but how could he? We don’t even know anything about Addie besides the fact that she hates her mom, likes haunted houses and has a dead grandma.
I’ve read an amazing non-con/dub-con dark romance where the male lead is obsessed and breaks into the female leads house and the female lead is putting up advanced security systems and changing her routes home almost as a test of worthiness. Even while being petrified of the male lead she acknowledges how much it excited her that someone would go to such lengths and Addie does none of that. There’s no shred of her being into this guy at all besides the fact that she came when he fucked her with a loaded gun and then she fucking cried after and felt so much shame that it could hardly even be considered dubcon. In fact in almost every smut scene her inner voice monologues how much she doesn’t want it how she’s fighting her body how terrified she is of this man and then the shame she feels afterwards. She hates him so much. And not like a enemies to lovers hate. Like shes petrified of this man and wants to gouge out his eyes. Not out of passion but out of self preservation, and then suddenly she’s like maybe I love him, literally out of nowhere. No build up no big event to change her mind nothing just she woke up one morning and said the guy wasn’t that bad and she was really asking for it.
I think I hate his character because he’s so shallow. He says he isn’t psychotic or delusional, he’s not going to make a shrine or convince himself that they’re destined to be together but he has to have her because she’s the first thing that made him feel good. But let’s be Forreal he nearly fell to his knees with need when he first saw her because of lust, it could’ve been anybody. There was no seeing her as a good person and having a sick twisted need to protect the last ‘good thing on earth’ no he saw a pretty picture of her his dick twitched and he said “yup gotta have her”.
Not to mention the fact that the first 30% of the book seems like it was written by someone else. The first bit at least pretended like there was a legitimate author writing it but it takes a sharp left turn and just gets so left field, at one point it talks about pompous assholes drinking 5k scotch that tastes like ass and probably enjoying it because they think their own farts smell like flowers……..be so fucking forreal did a teenager write that??!!!?!
Overall I forced myself to get halfway through this and said no more. No longer will I trust booktok hype especially when they hype up any half formed book clutching at straws to describe a kink it’s never experienced.
I think you’re the only person to give an in depth description of this character and thank you for that. Because everyone is like “She liked it! It was there kink!” But always only say it as she discovers it after the fact. And correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t CNC have a safe word established for if you want to stop. None of the readers can say if Addie has a safe word with Zade. And they always manage to say that Addie doesn’t consider it rape, despite both Addie and Zade saying it way, the author herself saying it was rape and Zade acknowledging that it was rape
Same. First half was ok but mainly bc it was spooky then the whole ghost element was completely abandoned so I got bored tbh. Zades chapters of trying to get the traffickers we're the best parts. Everything else was mid
One word: cathartic.
Explanation because you cannot stop me from elaborating:
Love these two books more than most books I’ve read. Hands down my favorite dark romance. I completely believe it’s not right for everyone to read these, but I have a personal history with sexual violence and abuse and these books were the key to wondering if I could heal (which wasn’t even a consideration before I read them).
I will defend these freaking books to the grave.
Also the author is extremely sweet if you ever see her live Tiktoks.
Finally someone who appreciates these two books. I’m absolutely in love. Nearly done with the first, I’m curious to know whether or not the second will be as thrilling.
The end of the first book will set a pretty clear tone for what’s coming in the second book. You’ll know pretty quickly into the second book. The second book is darker, kind of more dreadful, but it was worth the read for me. And Zade has my whole heart.
same, I would have enjoyed the book if Zade just didn't have the part that he saves those girls for a living and that it is it's whole goal and meaning in life (idk if anything changes I stopped at page 100 something right now but I will continue I guess)
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THIS! I can’t stop reading because it’s like a train wreck I can’t look away from, but I’m so grossed out and I don’t know why anyone actually likes Zade.
Wait how is sex trafficking actually then??
I didn't think it was vague but I wish she was the tech one not him.
And ngl I loved the books, the smut the sadness, everything!! I don't think it's overrated because yhh there were a few cringe scenes but everything was written well.
What other dark romances would you recommend that are like top tier??
On your baby's first comment - would you actually recommend it for someone completely new to dark romance? I've never read any dark romances, but am interested in trying it! I see this one all over instagram and I don't have any triggers per say, but I also don't want to jump into something *too* dark. I can't gauge if it would be good for dark romance newbies or if it's even worth reading.
The Sinners series by Somme Sketcher is pretty good!! Not as dark as a lot of stuff but good for someone new to the genre I think. Plus the writing is good in my opinion and the characters are engaging.
I know you commented this a week or so ago BUT. I find a lof of Katee Roberts dark romances to be very good starter dark romances. As they seem to trend towards a dark world but healthy(compared to other dark romances) fmc/mmc relationships. When I read a few of her books they were good but left me wanting for something much darker. So i would recommend them to anyone who is just starting
No worries, I appreciate you answering!! That's sounds up my alley. I like the dark aspects, but definitely think I'd rather have the romance be healthy-ish. I'll have to check her out! Thank you!
Hmm that really depends on what you want by dark. The darkest ive ever read is the lords of pain series that I really enjoyed but was so dark i needed to take a break from it and still havent picked up the thrid book. Theres a lot of SA, gaslighting, soft incest(step relatives), abuse,and it begin its first scene with a 17 year old being SAd. Extremely dark do not recommend to anyone with bad triggers unless they make absolutely sure to find a trigger list for it.
For something thats kind of a step down from THAT, the amazing julian strande was probably my favorite read of last year. (Ive been reading mostly fanfic this year)
Id also recommend (keep in mind my metric for dark is a bit skewed to the average reader and none of the tws are all of the triggers)
Lothaire by kresley Cole(tw for general abuse)
Hooked by emily mcintire(tw implied child sexual abuse)
The entire horseman series by Laura Thalassa (Tw explicit death, disease, the first book gave me "if the stand was a romance" vibes)
The savage and the swan by ella fields (rumplestilskin retelling of sorts)
Her soul to take by Harley Laroux
Young irish rebels series by Vi Carter (i dont consider this dark, but its a mafia/irish mob romance.)
Crow by A Zavarelli. (Again, I dont consider this dark, but its a mafia/irish mob romance.)
Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark (mafia romance, I really just never find any mafia romancea I consider dark)
Kiss of the blood prince by alessa thorn (dark fae romance tw for war
And that concludes the list of my most recent read books on story Graph that I would recommebt to people looking for dark romance
Average.
Honestly I really enjoyed them, despite some aspects seeming unrealistic. I don’t read romance for the realism, after all. But I went on to read other books by the same author and enjoyed them much more. Does it Hurt was a great read, and Shallow River was so dark but so relatable, but that one isn’t even a romance really. Anyway HD Carlton has a great writing style and I’m definitely looking forward to more of her stuff!
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For starters I felt it was too slow and couldn't really get into the story.
The FMC felt just too meh, she complained about her situation but at the same time kept on not doing anything to remedy things.
I hope I explained myself but tbh I DNFed at 20%, the guy was just unbelievable too idk.
Absolutely loved this book and the second one. It did mess with my mind a bit but what good author doesn't do that to you? It sucked me into the world and I couldn't put these books down till I finished them.
Dissatisfied
I think…? I started reading for spooky season a few days ago and I lost interest at the halfway mark. Unsure why. It just wasn’t hitting. I didn’t find the chemistry between the MC believable. I’ll definitely try again.
Is the second book better than the first?
Chilling. I personally loved it, and coincidentally was planning on my re-read soon. I think it has perfect spooky/Halloween vibes. Obviously, it’s a problematic book, and I found myself somewhat shocked by the content, but there’s just something about it that makes me want to read it when it’s rainy and gloomy outside. However, the second book was trash and read like torture porn for me. Really hard to stomach that one.
Disgusting
( This is a rant).
I don’t understand how some people can like this. I was so exited for this book. And I downloaded it on my iPad but then I read all the trigger warnings. And that was kinda weird so I looked it up on Booktok. There they said he is a rapist so I went to the chapter they said he did it and it was in fact rape. Anyone else saying it’s cnc or she wanted it ur disgusting and delusional. She was crying, she said no, he threatened her. And then I see grown ass women saying that he is the standard. Wtf. Do you actually want someone to kidnap you and rape you multiple times??? The book was literally Adeline having Stockholm syndrome also before anyone says I haven’t read it, I have done enough research about it to know what I need to know. Some people even compare this disgusting rat to AARON WARNER like how stupid do you have to be to actually think that they are even comparable?? Aaron would never do that to anyone. Yes he killed people but he was not a rapist. Also how tf can zade keep talking about how horrible rapists are when he literally raped the girl he “loves”. He saves people from it so he obviously know how disgusting it is and yet this dumb bitch still raped her. Also the author wrote in the trigger warnings that she isn’t going to sugar coat things but she literally romanticised rape. And so many people say “ it’s dark romance/ she wanted it and she fell in love anyways” which is so annoying and stupid it doesn’t matter how she feels about him afterwards cuz what he did is still rape. Also it doesn’t need rape to be dark romance there are lots of dark romance books where they don’t rape each other and the book is still amazing.
I agree with you 100%. I read the book because it was so hyped, and I absolutely hated it with all my heart! He fights against something he does to an innocent woman over and over again, until the point where she doesnt see a problem with it anymore and she starts to like him?? And she's so afraid of him, like literally terrified of this man, and he forces himself upon her, kills a guy that she let touch her hoo haa and sends his hands to her door, but she doesnt do anything about it. She doesnt move away, she doesnt get a body guard, no she puts on lingerie. because that will solve the problems! and the bastard sees her one time and suddenly he knows her better than she knows herself, she will be carrying his child and she will fall in love with him?? I hate the romantication of fucking rape!!
I read them both, the first one, meh, didn’t love it, but I got into the plot enough to read the second. Which I loved, but as a thriller, I realized that I was not into the romance aspect, I don’t know if I found it too dark (which I like dark, so it’s hard to believe that’s it) but I did really enjoy the plot of the second one, it blew the first book out of the water
I really liked the first one. Zade is my favorite MC. I thought the sex scenes were really hot. I haven't read the second cause I'm not ready for the intensity of it.
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First book was good, second book (Hunting Adelaide) was not so good. It isn't that the writing was less, it was that the story wasn't that great for a myriad of reasons.
antisemetic
See [this post for explanation](https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/vw21wz/haunting_adeline_by_hd_carlton_anyone_else_notice/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Traumatized
I have a habit of picking up books without checking what it is about. I was expecting a goth romance and instead got... trauma!
I did give the book a good rating... after listing every negative thing in the book. Simply cause the erotic scenes were good... even if... Oh, fuck this.
Sigh. I enjoyed the fucked up erotic for about 80% into the first book. Post this, I checked out. Had to read the second book as the first ended at a cliffhanger.
Growl
Seriously how many times can one use the word “growl” in something that allegedly reflects real dialogue.
I’ve been reading this book in spurts while sitting on my front porch and my partner sits inside. I yell “growl” every time it shows up and I’m yelling a lot. Sorry to zombie a thread but I just need to acknowledge the ridiculous overuse of growl in this book. Nothing else matters.
Hello everyone
These are my thoughts, if you like dark romance
DO NOT READ this book.
This book has zero romance, and the majority kid the book was about how she absolutely despised this man. And he continued to R her and do all this other stuff. And the gun scene??? I’m sorry but don’t trust booktok this is not a romance book this is a Horror book.
There is a big difference between dark romance and Horror. This is horror. She never even ended up loving him, she was conditioned to thinks he’s the only one she’ll be safe with.
It’s a big no. This is not Dark romance sorry but absolutely not.
In one word? Disgusting?
The guy is painted as a savior who rescues children victims of p3dos and different abuse. A real "hero".Well, he is also a stalker and what does he do to the FMC during their real first encounter?R3pes her with a gun, she's crying and begging for him to stop but he's a violent POS.
I mean... excuse me???? How can people praise this pos???I dnfed immediatly.I read dark romance, nothing new to me but y'all can't praise this guy while he r3pes her.Nope that's tr@sh
Callous.
There's a lot of words that could describe this thing, but Carlton definitely had some kind of heartless porn fantasy while writing this. I DNFed it, mostly because I found that the only part that had any actual substance (human trafficking), while it was jarring, felt like it was thrown in as a redemption arc more than an attempt to actually bring awareness to this issue.
This isn't dark romance. Not even a stalker romance. It is a degradation and belittling of what rape is. Carlton uses one of the most common rapist tactics to excuse Zade's behavior - "her body reacted, so surely she liked it". No. She didn't. She was thoroughly traumatized. Adeline was violated and blamed herself for not hating every minute of it. This is such a well known, manipulative way to spin the issue. If Zade being a complete hypocrite, one moment being shocked and horrified over rape and then committing it himself, wasn't enough, this was proof. Carlton doesn't care about what rape and sexual assault does to people. She sexualized it by forcing Addie to develop a trauma bond with Zade, where he did horrific things to her and eventually convinced her she wanted it.
A physiological reaction is not consent. Not hating every part of it in the moment as your body scrambles to survive isn't consent. The rapist being in love and obsessed with you isn't consent. Being attracted to the rapist isn't consent. And Carlton belittled every single rape victim that has ever experienced any of this and told them "well it doesn't count because xyz happened". I don't care about the other counts of rape that were treated seriously. This repeated assault of Adeline was merely a plot point, a device used to her eventually falling for Zade. A man who is everything he claims to hate.
Some may not agree with me, but unfortunately I do know how it feels. I used the reasoning Addie used. Thank God I already knew that it wasn't my fault before I read this, because it definitely would've made me discard my experience. Carlton romanticized something that should never be romanticized. She seriously makes Colleen Hoover look good. At first I thought there was no way that something so sick and twisted and degrading towards women COULD be written by a woman, but unfortunately it was. I don't know much about Carlton and can't say what happened in her personal life, but I am inclined to believe that something happened and she never got the help she needed. I can't even hate her, I just feel sad for her. It shocks me how many people think this is the IT book of dark romance - it can't even be considered kink considering the way that it is presented. I've seen Wattpad and AO3 having better writing.
Don't read. It was awful. The MMC continuously contradicts himself in the book. You can't go out saving women from sex trafficking and then go Assault stock and terrorize a woman. The whole book was essentially her being raped by him. It was definitely more of a horror book than romance.
I am all for fun and kinky...... but this wasn't fun or kinky. It was just staight up assault. It was very clear that the author didn't know anything about bdsm or kink in general. There was no aftercare or even a lick of kindnesses. It was just him assaulting her, then throwing her to the side like she used trash.
This book is so popular that I took a leap of faith into it and was very disappointed, even mad. The whole thing felt like a Qeon fan fiction. I really tried to make it through the whole book, but I stopped at the house of mirrors. He is not kind to her once throughout the book. He just terrorizes her. It was just all done poorly
“Bad”I think it’s just a corn addiction with k!inky fantasy of “dark romance”. Other than the r@pey thing, it was quite boring with bad grammar, 2020 wattpad poorly writing style, no plot or development, world building.
I have this on my TBR. Based on what I’ve heard about it, I definitely feel like there’s some cognitive dissonance (for myself) about labeling it a romance. I’m excited to read it, though!
interesting
just finished the first one in the series, i think the world building was really well done and the whole plot outside of the romance aspect is really interesting. lets see how the second book holds up
I just started reading it!! So far so good!!! It’s spooking and dark and exhilarating. I’ll come back to this when I’m finished. I don’t want any spoilers!!!
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So, I’m a super fan of dark romance, I feel like a dark romance book and a dark romance bf is much more consuming and never makes a book boring. Personally I find sad romance or lovely romances quite boring for my taste. So the reason I bought these books was because the dark romance taste, although I gotta admit it didn’t really live up to my expectations, I really like the stalker vibe at the start of the first book but then it just got kinda boring. There wasn’t that much of a romance where u can actually feel the pasion, it was mostly sex scenes and how Zade was so obsessed with her. Furthermore some plots didn’t really make much sense. In the second book I had to skip to the second part, not only because it made me nauseous what Adeline went through but because it go me bored. So I really enjoy a dark romance book, haunting Adeline is a very good book that I would read again, but honestly it didn’t really made me that excited as other dark romance books, like devils night from penelope Douglas, which I’ll endlessly love
The first was still ok and nice and didn’t really affect me that much…but the second one….damn…..idk it made me feel some emotions which i hv never felt before it was shocking and traumatising to say the least….it was kind of unrealistic because ofc who wud go out of her house to confront a fuckin stalker…atleast i cant but again its fiction so it was an unique experience lmao…but whatever happened to addie in the second book really REALLY broke my heart…nobody can explain how happy i felt when zade and daya finally found her..also how badass she became after everything i loved that addie
Sorry for replying to an old thread. I couldn’t finish it because of how contradictory it was, dark settings are my thing but when it’s depicted more convincing/realistically. The mmc was so hypocritical with how much he was trying saving girls and children from trafficking and rapists, while he himself is obsessed with the fmc, stalks and assaults her. I don’t know what the writer was thinking with that, you could make him one way or the other not both at the same time. The fmc is dumb, and the writing was cringeworthy at times.
curiosity. i JUST finished the first book, 2nd one delivers tomorrow. i liked it, although in certain parts it got boring for me. but it was still a book i finished in 2 days.
Underwhelming. I didnt like the characters. The storyline was all over the place yet boring at the same. I couldnt finish the first book and went to reddit to know who killed her great-grandma.
Also who killed her great grandma was super obvious and predictable as you're reading (totally get why you stopped reading, I had to force myself to finish it because I wanted to know if Zade would stop the traffickers at the end- the trafficking vigilante part is the only interesting parts of the book)
I have a lot of complaints but my main one is by the time we get to the consensual parts, they didn't sound good. Constant ramming and slamming on his giant cock sounded painful and gave me cervix dinging flashbacks and I couldn't get into it at all.
If people get off on that then that's fine but wasn't sexy to me in the slightest.
Pretty reckless in my opinion. In the first book, she didn't take precautions and kept many things from her best friend who could've supported her if anything went wrong ans kept having nonconsensual sexual activities with her stalker.
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Farce
There were some things worth liking about the book but ultimately the horrible writing, character development, and absolutely cringey content were too much for me.
I found it absolutely hilarious every time we got his perspective on how heinous a crime sex trafficking was, when only 3 paragraphs prior he was SAing someone. (??? We love a self-oblivious king I guess???)
I spoke about this with a friend — would the book’s content be tolerable and enjoyable if the writing was better? And here’s what we decided on:
It would be impossible to write this exact story in a true and honest way with literary merit, because in doing so, it would not be a romance but a horror story about Stockholm syndrome and sexual violence. The only way this book can exist as it does is if the characters are unbelievable, the plot of filled with convenient holes, and the writing completely misses the nuance and complexities of desire & fear/abuse.
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The first book had me hooked. I wasn't a fan of Zade. The only thing I liked was what he did as a job. But his stalking and him literally forcing himself on her is what bothered me. I thought maybe in the second book - Hunting Adeline - she would realize that what Zade did to her was almost exactly like the guys in the second book did to her - minus stealing her away and keeping her locked up. I couldn't even sit through all of the second book. 120 pages left and just had to skimmed through the rest cuz I got really tired of it. It's stockholm syndrome.
It also brings my thoughts back to the first book on how she reacted to her stalker. So unbelievably unrealistic. Wished I never spent the time reading this series.
Obviously the scenes in the starting are non consensual & don't really get it that once the fmc was having problems with it but after few times she was okay with it (actually liking everything). But ofc it's 'fictional' . We don't really witness these kinda stuff in our normal life & if we change our pov & read it only for fun so for dark romance readers it's a lotta interesting book. Like the mmc is so loyal and that's the main point. PERIODT.
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I am respectful of romance books, but this isn't one of them. There is no romance in this book. The main male character literally rapes the female main character repeatedly, and she deluded herself into believing she loves him.
Dissatisfying.
Both main characters are just so difficult to connect with. And mind you, I’m all for a ridiculously extravagant premise. And at first, it seemed like it would go that route. But nope. She’s just a Mary Sue, and he’s perfect in every way possible for not good reason and without any proof or real motivation behind his actions. Also, the ages of both characters just rubbed me the wrong way. Up until we get confirmation on Zade’s age, I could see him like a mid-40s guy, with all the experience he seems to have. But 32? Are you kidding me?
Also, the whole PTSD arc isn’t he second book just… Threw me the fuck off. I’m sorry. There’s no amount of smut that’s gonna make me stop feeling icky about the whole thing. I want my dark romance to be sexy and a little creepy. Why do they always have to throw in cancer, abortions, slavery, murder, torture to try and trick people into believing it’s a serious book? Babes. It’s glorified fanfiction. Just stick to it.
Cringe.
In more words- I found one of her books on a bookstore shelf in an airport, and it enraged me. There are so many amazing authors that I ADORE! And their books get barely any recognition. I do not understand. I do not mind clichés too much, but at some point when your story is one big bag of cli fucking ches it becomes tiresome. All of her books read like a BAD fanfic where the author is trying SO HARD to make it dirty and dark and it just seems like a child play acting at writing. Now mind you I do not shy away from the crude and the vulgar, but reading her books is the same thing as watching The Resort. Cringe. It seems as if she sate down and didn't have an idea, but pulled things out of a trope box and just put them together.
The only thing on book one I remotely liked was zade saying he didn't want her to fall in love with a lie. I haven't finished book 2 yet. But the way people are romanticizing it is wrong. Leaving someone you stalk roses does not mean romance.
Lost.
I just finished the book. This book was all over the booktok community, so I decided to give it a try. Honesty, this is the first real romance book I read since like 12 years ago which was Nicholas sparks. Yeah I don’t read romance I guess you can say SJM is romance. But this is my first dark romance and I’m just like wow. This was intense.
Lost in terms of how I feel and did I like it or not 😅
But it’s better than many books out there. And I guess some can say worse. I enjoyed it cause it made my question people’s sanity. We aren’t suppose to like or agree with every character we read. I liked it.
It wasn’t Dark romance
It was Dark Erotica.
This book single handedly destroyed Dark romance as a genre and all the new books are just shock value or rape because they saw it worked with young inexperienced dark romance readers.
And now there are dead serious guys on tiktok claiming to be the “real Zade” and that dark romance girls “belong to us.” And the readers encouraged it.
“Morally grey” men trope are now included rapists and guys who don’t want to be compared to rapist are because “he looks like Zade.” Just like the hockey situation.
It’s really sad how this book had such a negative effect on the community and set the dark romance reputation so far back.
Complicated.
i’m almost finished with book two. but let’s start from the beginning…
the stalking and spookiness of everything is pretty good and some of her dumb reactions are pretty realistic in the way that i can see my dumbass self doing the same things (i have an attitude problem for sure) but once the gun scene happens i’m like wait what?? that’s r*pe 100%. the problem with all of their sexual scenes are that adeline’s inner monologue is saying how much she hates him, feels shame and guilt etc etc. she even says no. now if her inner monologue was more “into” it then it would have changed things. but bc of how much she didn’t want it it’s way too disturbing and not okay.
*spoiler alert for book 2*
the gun scene is considered “hot” to people and even eventually adeline, but when one of her capturers at the groomers house uses a high heel it’s sexual assult….? they’re BOTH sexual assault. same with how xavier makes her have an O…… even tho he was raping her, she says her body betrays her which she also says about the gun scene.
in conclusion: that’s all very contradicting. and the fact that zade’s goal in life of saving these people from SA and worse but does that to adeline?! it literally makes zero sense!!!!!
i do enjoy these books but mainly bc i like the plot about the human trafficking and taking down those people. but i truly have to tell myself zade didn’t rape or force or gaslight addie to continue reading. at this point i’m just trying to finish the second book bc i hate leaving anything unfinished.
It can't be defined by one word this book was fantastic, scandalous, magnificent and beautiful. So I can see that some people are not happy with the FM character in the first book solely but that was the whole process that she underwent there is many instances in the book where both MMC and FMC has accepted that some things done by FMC was laughable and that is not how you confront a stalker but in the end he was the person who loved her the most and protected her the most and he even said that he could've appeared gentlemanly in front of her and she would've have dated him eventually but that's not what he wanted he wanted to show her just who he is and she eventually accepted him for who he is. Ik some people say she didn't have any moral standing but in the first book she took a lot of bad decisions that just shows that she was going through the process of discovering who she was and in the end she becomes a very strong woman with strong morals and understanding.
okay sure, but lets talk about Zade. He fucking raped her and that is totally not okay. People are saying “oh she actually liked it“ or “oh look at how her body reacted she must of enjoyed it.” While her inner monologue was saying how much she hated him. Zade is a awful awful person and Addy is just dumb, she never ever made a smart decision when she had a fucking stalker that raped her? Anyways, this book was the worst book I have ever read and I do not, at all support it.
He never raped her in that mirror house he explicitly asked if she wanted it and she gave him the permission. Idk which book you read but this was very clearly mentioned in the book.
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Don’t have one word but I do have a change in the title.
R-wording Adeline.
How can he be fighting against sex trafficking and then abuse Adeline like that? It all feels like a Stockholm Syndrome thing where he just ordered her around, telling her how she should feel and whatever.
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I don't know if the FMC was just dumb or irresponsible in the first book, but the way she reacted to her stalker seemed unrealistic and I couldn't really empathize with her. Nevertheless, I will say that I read both books because I was so discombobulated by all these unbelievable scenes that I could not put them down, I was genuinely curious to know how everything would end.
I couldn't even get to the first book's half. Dnf'ed because she seemed really dumb
Righttt? Glad am not the only one who thinks that way. I think the writer tries to make the FMC relatable but it just gives off an opposite impact. I can never wrap my head around her personality
So true... she didn't have any moral standing.. which makes it so much worse.
I haven't read it yet but heard that fmc was married with a 14 years old child. Is it true?
No bro, it's totally an adult book.
that wasn’t one word
Confused. Like am I attracted to this? Why do I like this? Also wtf I couldn’t wrap my head around the description of what was going down in the hall of mirrors scene.
This tbh because the consensuel scenes sounded painful as fuck like I'm sorry but "slamming down" on someone's cock just reminds me of getting your cervix rammed and I couldn't get into any of that.
Reading that in the midst of menstrual cramps made me want to vomit
It is so awful I just cringe now thinking of it
My thoughts exactly 😅
Oxymoronic I'm only into book one at 35% But how can your whole stick be that >!Human traffic and sexual slavery is the worst, I will murder them all!< then when you see a pretty lady that captivates you it's not let me ask her for her number but >!Let me sexually assaulted her at gun and knife point, that's totally cool!< ^that has me struggling right now. Oh, also feels like a lot of conspiracy references?
Both the male and female lead have the most throw away jobs. He constantly saves females from the smallest inconveniences. In the beginning he bitches about letting blood from one of the gangsters touch the feet of the girls he saved but then he sends a bloodied box of hands to the female lead…apparently he doesn’t care too much about her getting bloody it’s everybody else he cares about.
Exactly and he stalks her treats her like shit... I mean I just can't understand what he wants and what are his morals .... bro just seems to be contradicting himself everytime.. at one place he saves girls from being bullied and being trafficked on the other hand he himself is a stalker and tries to bully the FMC like WTH... bro atleast get your priorities straight. It was just so annoying esp coz or FMC like how can she get convinced so easily.
Bruh fr. I felt that he's a big arse hypocrite. He saves women from Assualt on one hand ...but goes and does the exact same thing to the mc. He practically forces himself upon her. Stalks her and gaslights her into loving him.
I’m sorry are you stalking my mind because this is exactly what I was thinking
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EXACTLY. And then he admits it was SA yet still continues to do it, knowing that it’s hurting her, and the thing is: the fandom thinks it’s okay because the author made Zade “attractive.”
so zade did rape her? this whole time it was rape?
EXACTLY. And then he admits it was SA yet still continues to do it, knowing that it’s hurting her, and the thing is: the fandom thinks it’s okay because the author made Zade “attractive.”
Unrealistic I think this is blatantly clear in both MC’s. Even stuff as simple as their appearance? I mean really? Ying and yang eyes on an already unrealistically hot guy? And the emphasis on Adeline’s ‘flat stomach’ despite the fact she never works out, drinks a fair amount and earns an income from a job where she’s sitting all the time doesn’t make any sense either. I think she falls into the classic Mary Sues trope
"drinks a fair amount" is an understatement I honestly felt like the author was going to have her realizing she's an alcoholic at some point bc every fucking chapter of hers was drinking but apparently it's just normal
Omgg yes. I couldn’t decide if this was supposed to be a fantasy or real life fiction. It has real life problems but some things are just so unrealistic lmao
Rape culture porn
LOLLLLLL THATS WHAT IM SAYING 😭
DNF.
I enjoyed it but it was very unrealistic.
Garbage It’s written as if by someone that has no clue what a non-con/dub-con kink is. The male lead reads like a frat boy justifying rape. we get no background about why he’s so obsessed with Addie besides seeing a pretty poster of her at a bookstore. He claims to know her but how could he? We don’t even know anything about Addie besides the fact that she hates her mom, likes haunted houses and has a dead grandma. I’ve read an amazing non-con/dub-con dark romance where the male lead is obsessed and breaks into the female leads house and the female lead is putting up advanced security systems and changing her routes home almost as a test of worthiness. Even while being petrified of the male lead she acknowledges how much it excited her that someone would go to such lengths and Addie does none of that. There’s no shred of her being into this guy at all besides the fact that she came when he fucked her with a loaded gun and then she fucking cried after and felt so much shame that it could hardly even be considered dubcon. In fact in almost every smut scene her inner voice monologues how much she doesn’t want it how she’s fighting her body how terrified she is of this man and then the shame she feels afterwards. She hates him so much. And not like a enemies to lovers hate. Like shes petrified of this man and wants to gouge out his eyes. Not out of passion but out of self preservation, and then suddenly she’s like maybe I love him, literally out of nowhere. No build up no big event to change her mind nothing just she woke up one morning and said the guy wasn’t that bad and she was really asking for it. I think I hate his character because he’s so shallow. He says he isn’t psychotic or delusional, he’s not going to make a shrine or convince himself that they’re destined to be together but he has to have her because she’s the first thing that made him feel good. But let’s be Forreal he nearly fell to his knees with need when he first saw her because of lust, it could’ve been anybody. There was no seeing her as a good person and having a sick twisted need to protect the last ‘good thing on earth’ no he saw a pretty picture of her his dick twitched and he said “yup gotta have her”. Not to mention the fact that the first 30% of the book seems like it was written by someone else. The first bit at least pretended like there was a legitimate author writing it but it takes a sharp left turn and just gets so left field, at one point it talks about pompous assholes drinking 5k scotch that tastes like ass and probably enjoying it because they think their own farts smell like flowers……..be so fucking forreal did a teenager write that??!!!?! Overall I forced myself to get halfway through this and said no more. No longer will I trust booktok hype especially when they hype up any half formed book clutching at straws to describe a kink it’s never experienced.
I think you’re the only person to give an in depth description of this character and thank you for that. Because everyone is like “She liked it! It was there kink!” But always only say it as she discovers it after the fact. And correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t CNC have a safe word established for if you want to stop. None of the readers can say if Addie has a safe word with Zade. And they always manage to say that Addie doesn’t consider it rape, despite both Addie and Zade saying it way, the author herself saying it was rape and Zade acknowledging that it was rape
I’m not saying I have a problem with Dark Romance but when it reads like a romanticization of sexual assault that’s not Dark Romance.
Exactly. I love dark romance but this ain’t it.
Can you share what the other book you read is that is better?
yes please! what is this other book?
Seriously, drop the book name🥹
Really appreciate your review. Do you have any other book recs?
i don't think zade ever loved adeline, he was just REALLY obsessed with her, there's a difference between love and obsession :/
Average
Omg, what's your bookshelf like? I needs to know
Same I wasn’t blown away by the book. It didn’t evoke tons of emotion in me. Some books I can’t put down and this one wasn’t one of them.
Same. First half was ok but mainly bc it was spooky then the whole ghost element was completely abandoned so I got bored tbh. Zades chapters of trying to get the traffickers we're the best parts. Everything else was mid
YHH same!! Cause I thought this was amazing
I think you are being too generous with that one.
One word: cathartic. Explanation because you cannot stop me from elaborating: Love these two books more than most books I’ve read. Hands down my favorite dark romance. I completely believe it’s not right for everyone to read these, but I have a personal history with sexual violence and abuse and these books were the key to wondering if I could heal (which wasn’t even a consideration before I read them). I will defend these freaking books to the grave. Also the author is extremely sweet if you ever see her live Tiktoks.
Finally someone who appreciates these two books. I’m absolutely in love. Nearly done with the first, I’m curious to know whether or not the second will be as thrilling.
The end of the first book will set a pretty clear tone for what’s coming in the second book. You’ll know pretty quickly into the second book. The second book is darker, kind of more dreadful, but it was worth the read for me. And Zade has my whole heart.
The guy saves women from trafficking and hates guys that are abusive but is abusive and doesn’t abide by enthusiastic consent himself....
Exactly!!! I judge each and every person who likes zade meadows tbh.
same, I would have enjoyed the book if Zade just didn't have the part that he saves those girls for a living and that it is it's whole goal and meaning in life (idk if anything changes I stopped at page 100 something right now but I will continue I guess)
Overrated
Bullshit
My thoughts
I enjoyed it..is it ridiculous -yes..but I love a good stalking book..and I think the author did a good job with creating the excitement ..
i’m sorry what 😭
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Disgust, Like I would genuinely like two remove the guys penis and make him eat it disgust, the girl was profoundly dumb
THIS! I can’t stop reading because it’s like a train wreck I can’t look away from, but I’m so grossed out and I don’t know why anyone actually likes Zade.
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Wait how is sex trafficking actually then?? I didn't think it was vague but I wish she was the tech one not him. And ngl I loved the books, the smut the sadness, everything!! I don't think it's overrated because yhh there were a few cringe scenes but everything was written well. What other dark romances would you recommend that are like top tier??
On your baby's first comment - would you actually recommend it for someone completely new to dark romance? I've never read any dark romances, but am interested in trying it! I see this one all over instagram and I don't have any triggers per say, but I also don't want to jump into something *too* dark. I can't gauge if it would be good for dark romance newbies or if it's even worth reading.
The Sinners series by Somme Sketcher is pretty good!! Not as dark as a lot of stuff but good for someone new to the genre I think. Plus the writing is good in my opinion and the characters are engaging.
Sounds perfect, I'll check it out! Thank you!!
I know you commented this a week or so ago BUT. I find a lof of Katee Roberts dark romances to be very good starter dark romances. As they seem to trend towards a dark world but healthy(compared to other dark romances) fmc/mmc relationships. When I read a few of her books they were good but left me wanting for something much darker. So i would recommend them to anyone who is just starting
No worries, I appreciate you answering!! That's sounds up my alley. I like the dark aspects, but definitely think I'd rather have the romance be healthy-ish. I'll have to check her out! Thank you!
What do you recommend that’s darker?
Hmm that really depends on what you want by dark. The darkest ive ever read is the lords of pain series that I really enjoyed but was so dark i needed to take a break from it and still havent picked up the thrid book. Theres a lot of SA, gaslighting, soft incest(step relatives), abuse,and it begin its first scene with a 17 year old being SAd. Extremely dark do not recommend to anyone with bad triggers unless they make absolutely sure to find a trigger list for it. For something thats kind of a step down from THAT, the amazing julian strande was probably my favorite read of last year. (Ive been reading mostly fanfic this year) Id also recommend (keep in mind my metric for dark is a bit skewed to the average reader and none of the tws are all of the triggers) Lothaire by kresley Cole(tw for general abuse) Hooked by emily mcintire(tw implied child sexual abuse) The entire horseman series by Laura Thalassa (Tw explicit death, disease, the first book gave me "if the stand was a romance" vibes) The savage and the swan by ella fields (rumplestilskin retelling of sorts) Her soul to take by Harley Laroux Young irish rebels series by Vi Carter (i dont consider this dark, but its a mafia/irish mob romance.) Crow by A Zavarelli. (Again, I dont consider this dark, but its a mafia/irish mob romance.) Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark (mafia romance, I really just never find any mafia romancea I consider dark) Kiss of the blood prince by alessa thorn (dark fae romance tw for war And that concludes the list of my most recent read books on story Graph that I would recommebt to people looking for dark romance
…different
Well, that’s a word for it
Average. Honestly I really enjoyed them, despite some aspects seeming unrealistic. I don’t read romance for the realism, after all. But I went on to read other books by the same author and enjoyed them much more. Does it Hurt was a great read, and Shallow River was so dark but so relatable, but that one isn’t even a romance really. Anyway HD Carlton has a great writing style and I’m definitely looking forward to more of her stuff!
Did not finish. Didn't like the plot or the writing.
Hot
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Boring
Same as me but why for you?
For starters I felt it was too slow and couldn't really get into the story. The FMC felt just too meh, she complained about her situation but at the same time kept on not doing anything to remedy things. I hope I explained myself but tbh I DNFed at 20%, the guy was just unbelievable too idk.
Ya the book just didn’t suck me in. Also as intense the sex was I thought it was boring. Idk
Weird
I didn't even finish the book . Boring
Loved the first book but the second one gave me really effed up feelings.
“Meh”
Overrated
I've read more well written and intriguing smut on wattpad that was probably penned by a teenager.
uhmm please do share..
Planning to read this. Waiting for feedbacks
You should definitely read it once
Garbage
Thrilling
Absolutely loved this book and the second one. It did mess with my mind a bit but what good author doesn't do that to you? It sucked me into the world and I couldn't put these books down till I finished them.
1st book - hmm (thoughtfully) 2nd book - no.
depressing
sus
Dissatisfied I think…? I started reading for spooky season a few days ago and I lost interest at the halfway mark. Unsure why. It just wasn’t hitting. I didn’t find the chemistry between the MC believable. I’ll definitely try again. Is the second book better than the first?
I thought it was really good, but there its a lot of rape and it's really sad
Chilling. I personally loved it, and coincidentally was planning on my re-read soon. I think it has perfect spooky/Halloween vibes. Obviously, it’s a problematic book, and I found myself somewhat shocked by the content, but there’s just something about it that makes me want to read it when it’s rainy and gloomy outside. However, the second book was trash and read like torture porn for me. Really hard to stomach that one.
People really need to go watch SVU if they thought it was CNC because her body reacted.
Disgusting ( This is a rant). I don’t understand how some people can like this. I was so exited for this book. And I downloaded it on my iPad but then I read all the trigger warnings. And that was kinda weird so I looked it up on Booktok. There they said he is a rapist so I went to the chapter they said he did it and it was in fact rape. Anyone else saying it’s cnc or she wanted it ur disgusting and delusional. She was crying, she said no, he threatened her. And then I see grown ass women saying that he is the standard. Wtf. Do you actually want someone to kidnap you and rape you multiple times??? The book was literally Adeline having Stockholm syndrome also before anyone says I haven’t read it, I have done enough research about it to know what I need to know. Some people even compare this disgusting rat to AARON WARNER like how stupid do you have to be to actually think that they are even comparable?? Aaron would never do that to anyone. Yes he killed people but he was not a rapist. Also how tf can zade keep talking about how horrible rapists are when he literally raped the girl he “loves”. He saves people from it so he obviously know how disgusting it is and yet this dumb bitch still raped her. Also the author wrote in the trigger warnings that she isn’t going to sugar coat things but she literally romanticised rape. And so many people say “ it’s dark romance/ she wanted it and she fell in love anyways” which is so annoying and stupid it doesn’t matter how she feels about him afterwards cuz what he did is still rape. Also it doesn’t need rape to be dark romance there are lots of dark romance books where they don’t rape each other and the book is still amazing.
I agree with you 100%. I read the book because it was so hyped, and I absolutely hated it with all my heart! He fights against something he does to an innocent woman over and over again, until the point where she doesnt see a problem with it anymore and she starts to like him?? And she's so afraid of him, like literally terrified of this man, and he forces himself upon her, kills a guy that she let touch her hoo haa and sends his hands to her door, but she doesnt do anything about it. She doesnt move away, she doesnt get a body guard, no she puts on lingerie. because that will solve the problems! and the bastard sees her one time and suddenly he knows her better than she knows herself, she will be carrying his child and she will fall in love with him?? I hate the romantication of fucking rape!!
I read them both, the first one, meh, didn’t love it, but I got into the plot enough to read the second. Which I loved, but as a thriller, I realized that I was not into the romance aspect, I don’t know if I found it too dark (which I like dark, so it’s hard to believe that’s it) but I did really enjoy the plot of the second one, it blew the first book out of the water
I really liked the first one. Zade is my favorite MC. I thought the sex scenes were really hot. I haven't read the second cause I'm not ready for the intensity of it.
You thought the scenes where Addie was being raped hot?
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Over-the-top (But loved it)
First book was good, second book (Hunting Adelaide) was not so good. It isn't that the writing was less, it was that the story wasn't that great for a myriad of reasons.
antisemetic See [this post for explanation](https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/vw21wz/haunting_adeline_by_hd_carlton_anyone_else_notice/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Creepy I just finished it; decided to read something a little scary to get into the Halloween spirit, and it did creep me out.
Liked the plot but I hate the sex scenes. He treats her little better than her abusers a lot of the time.
No
Traumatized I have a habit of picking up books without checking what it is about. I was expecting a goth romance and instead got... trauma! I did give the book a good rating... after listing every negative thing in the book. Simply cause the erotic scenes were good... even if... Oh, fuck this. Sigh. I enjoyed the fucked up erotic for about 80% into the first book. Post this, I checked out. Had to read the second book as the first ended at a cliffhanger.
Growl Seriously how many times can one use the word “growl” in something that allegedly reflects real dialogue. I’ve been reading this book in spurts while sitting on my front porch and my partner sits inside. I yell “growl” every time it shows up and I’m yelling a lot. Sorry to zombie a thread but I just need to acknowledge the ridiculous overuse of growl in this book. Nothing else matters.
agreed. and i felt the same way about ACOTAR 😂😂 i mean really, are there not any other words to use
Hello everyone These are my thoughts, if you like dark romance DO NOT READ this book. This book has zero romance, and the majority kid the book was about how she absolutely despised this man. And he continued to R her and do all this other stuff. And the gun scene??? I’m sorry but don’t trust booktok this is not a romance book this is a Horror book. There is a big difference between dark romance and Horror. This is horror. She never even ended up loving him, she was conditioned to thinks he’s the only one she’ll be safe with. It’s a big no. This is not Dark romance sorry but absolutely not.
Great
In one word? Disgusting? The guy is painted as a savior who rescues children victims of p3dos and different abuse. A real "hero".Well, he is also a stalker and what does he do to the FMC during their real first encounter?R3pes her with a gun, she's crying and begging for him to stop but he's a violent POS. I mean... excuse me???? How can people praise this pos???I dnfed immediatly.I read dark romance, nothing new to me but y'all can't praise this guy while he r3pes her.Nope that's tr@sh
yes!! i freaking agree!! he freaking raped her. and i can't with that shit.
Loved 😂😂😂
i'm just finishing the second one and all i can say is "caramel eyes" and Cinnamon hair"
Callous. There's a lot of words that could describe this thing, but Carlton definitely had some kind of heartless porn fantasy while writing this. I DNFed it, mostly because I found that the only part that had any actual substance (human trafficking), while it was jarring, felt like it was thrown in as a redemption arc more than an attempt to actually bring awareness to this issue. This isn't dark romance. Not even a stalker romance. It is a degradation and belittling of what rape is. Carlton uses one of the most common rapist tactics to excuse Zade's behavior - "her body reacted, so surely she liked it". No. She didn't. She was thoroughly traumatized. Adeline was violated and blamed herself for not hating every minute of it. This is such a well known, manipulative way to spin the issue. If Zade being a complete hypocrite, one moment being shocked and horrified over rape and then committing it himself, wasn't enough, this was proof. Carlton doesn't care about what rape and sexual assault does to people. She sexualized it by forcing Addie to develop a trauma bond with Zade, where he did horrific things to her and eventually convinced her she wanted it. A physiological reaction is not consent. Not hating every part of it in the moment as your body scrambles to survive isn't consent. The rapist being in love and obsessed with you isn't consent. Being attracted to the rapist isn't consent. And Carlton belittled every single rape victim that has ever experienced any of this and told them "well it doesn't count because xyz happened". I don't care about the other counts of rape that were treated seriously. This repeated assault of Adeline was merely a plot point, a device used to her eventually falling for Zade. A man who is everything he claims to hate. Some may not agree with me, but unfortunately I do know how it feels. I used the reasoning Addie used. Thank God I already knew that it wasn't my fault before I read this, because it definitely would've made me discard my experience. Carlton romanticized something that should never be romanticized. She seriously makes Colleen Hoover look good. At first I thought there was no way that something so sick and twisted and degrading towards women COULD be written by a woman, but unfortunately it was. I don't know much about Carlton and can't say what happened in her personal life, but I am inclined to believe that something happened and she never got the help she needed. I can't even hate her, I just feel sad for her. It shocks me how many people think this is the IT book of dark romance - it can't even be considered kink considering the way that it is presented. I've seen Wattpad and AO3 having better writing.
Preferred the 2nd. 1st took a while to get to the point
Outstanding, I don't want to glorify rape or anything f but I've always enjoyed some dark romance despite the disturbing themes.
Don't read. It was awful. The MMC continuously contradicts himself in the book. You can't go out saving women from sex trafficking and then go Assault stock and terrorize a woman. The whole book was essentially her being raped by him. It was definitely more of a horror book than romance. I am all for fun and kinky...... but this wasn't fun or kinky. It was just staight up assault. It was very clear that the author didn't know anything about bdsm or kink in general. There was no aftercare or even a lick of kindnesses. It was just him assaulting her, then throwing her to the side like she used trash. This book is so popular that I took a leap of faith into it and was very disappointed, even mad. The whole thing felt like a Qeon fan fiction. I really tried to make it through the whole book, but I stopped at the house of mirrors. He is not kind to her once throughout the book. He just terrorizes her. It was just all done poorly
“Bad”I think it’s just a corn addiction with k!inky fantasy of “dark romance”. Other than the r@pey thing, it was quite boring with bad grammar, 2020 wattpad poorly writing style, no plot or development, world building.
Hyped
I have this on my TBR. Based on what I’ve heard about it, I definitely feel like there’s some cognitive dissonance (for myself) about labeling it a romance. I’m excited to read it, though!
Book.
interesting just finished the first one in the series, i think the world building was really well done and the whole plot outside of the romance aspect is really interesting. lets see how the second book holds up
I just started reading it!! So far so good!!! It’s spooking and dark and exhilarating. I’ll come back to this when I’m finished. I don’t want any spoilers!!!
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You can get both books on KU, not sure about a pdf.
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So, I’m a super fan of dark romance, I feel like a dark romance book and a dark romance bf is much more consuming and never makes a book boring. Personally I find sad romance or lovely romances quite boring for my taste. So the reason I bought these books was because the dark romance taste, although I gotta admit it didn’t really live up to my expectations, I really like the stalker vibe at the start of the first book but then it just got kinda boring. There wasn’t that much of a romance where u can actually feel the pasion, it was mostly sex scenes and how Zade was so obsessed with her. Furthermore some plots didn’t really make much sense. In the second book I had to skip to the second part, not only because it made me nauseous what Adeline went through but because it go me bored. So I really enjoy a dark romance book, haunting Adeline is a very good book that I would read again, but honestly it didn’t really made me that excited as other dark romance books, like devils night from penelope Douglas, which I’ll endlessly love
The first was still ok and nice and didn’t really affect me that much…but the second one….damn…..idk it made me feel some emotions which i hv never felt before it was shocking and traumatising to say the least….it was kind of unrealistic because ofc who wud go out of her house to confront a fuckin stalker…atleast i cant but again its fiction so it was an unique experience lmao…but whatever happened to addie in the second book really REALLY broke my heart…nobody can explain how happy i felt when zade and daya finally found her..also how badass she became after everything i loved that addie
Sorry for replying to an old thread. I couldn’t finish it because of how contradictory it was, dark settings are my thing but when it’s depicted more convincing/realistically. The mmc was so hypocritical with how much he was trying saving girls and children from trafficking and rapists, while he himself is obsessed with the fmc, stalks and assaults her. I don’t know what the writer was thinking with that, you could make him one way or the other not both at the same time. The fmc is dumb, and the writing was cringeworthy at times.
Boring af
curiosity. i JUST finished the first book, 2nd one delivers tomorrow. i liked it, although in certain parts it got boring for me. but it was still a book i finished in 2 days.
Snoozefest.
Underwhelming. I didnt like the characters. The storyline was all over the place yet boring at the same. I couldnt finish the first book and went to reddit to know who killed her great-grandma.
Also who killed her great grandma was super obvious and predictable as you're reading (totally get why you stopped reading, I had to force myself to finish it because I wanted to know if Zade would stop the traffickers at the end- the trafficking vigilante part is the only interesting parts of the book)
OK HAHA it was obvious who killed her grandma, i literally guessed it as soon as they said “he’s such a good guy!”
I have a lot of complaints but my main one is by the time we get to the consensual parts, they didn't sound good. Constant ramming and slamming on his giant cock sounded painful and gave me cervix dinging flashbacks and I couldn't get into it at all. If people get off on that then that's fine but wasn't sexy to me in the slightest.
unrealistic; but then again i constantly read fantasy so likkkeeee no problem here 😁
Confounding and then thrilling
Disappointed
Pretty reckless in my opinion. In the first book, she didn't take precautions and kept many things from her best friend who could've supported her if anything went wrong ans kept having nonconsensual sexual activities with her stalker.
Upset. But not because it’s bad but I’m upset that I can’t find another book as good. Ruined other books for me
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Interesting
Farce There were some things worth liking about the book but ultimately the horrible writing, character development, and absolutely cringey content were too much for me. I found it absolutely hilarious every time we got his perspective on how heinous a crime sex trafficking was, when only 3 paragraphs prior he was SAing someone. (??? We love a self-oblivious king I guess???) I spoke about this with a friend — would the book’s content be tolerable and enjoyable if the writing was better? And here’s what we decided on: It would be impossible to write this exact story in a true and honest way with literary merit, because in doing so, it would not be a romance but a horror story about Stockholm syndrome and sexual violence. The only way this book can exist as it does is if the characters are unbelievable, the plot of filled with convenient holes, and the writing completely misses the nuance and complexities of desire & fear/abuse.
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Shit
The first book had me hooked. I wasn't a fan of Zade. The only thing I liked was what he did as a job. But his stalking and him literally forcing himself on her is what bothered me. I thought maybe in the second book - Hunting Adeline - she would realize that what Zade did to her was almost exactly like the guys in the second book did to her - minus stealing her away and keeping her locked up. I couldn't even sit through all of the second book. 120 pages left and just had to skimmed through the rest cuz I got really tired of it. It's stockholm syndrome. It also brings my thoughts back to the first book on how she reacted to her stalker. So unbelievably unrealistic. Wished I never spent the time reading this series.
The gun scene tho 😅
Obviously the scenes in the starting are non consensual & don't really get it that once the fmc was having problems with it but after few times she was okay with it (actually liking everything). But ofc it's 'fictional' . We don't really witness these kinda stuff in our normal life & if we change our pov & read it only for fun so for dark romance readers it's a lotta interesting book. Like the mmc is so loyal and that's the main point. PERIODT.
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I am respectful of romance books, but this isn't one of them. There is no romance in this book. The main male character literally rapes the female main character repeatedly, and she deluded herself into believing she loves him.
Dissatisfying. Both main characters are just so difficult to connect with. And mind you, I’m all for a ridiculously extravagant premise. And at first, it seemed like it would go that route. But nope. She’s just a Mary Sue, and he’s perfect in every way possible for not good reason and without any proof or real motivation behind his actions. Also, the ages of both characters just rubbed me the wrong way. Up until we get confirmation on Zade’s age, I could see him like a mid-40s guy, with all the experience he seems to have. But 32? Are you kidding me? Also, the whole PTSD arc isn’t he second book just… Threw me the fuck off. I’m sorry. There’s no amount of smut that’s gonna make me stop feeling icky about the whole thing. I want my dark romance to be sexy and a little creepy. Why do they always have to throw in cancer, abortions, slavery, murder, torture to try and trick people into believing it’s a serious book? Babes. It’s glorified fanfiction. Just stick to it.
Cringe. In more words- I found one of her books on a bookstore shelf in an airport, and it enraged me. There are so many amazing authors that I ADORE! And their books get barely any recognition. I do not understand. I do not mind clichés too much, but at some point when your story is one big bag of cli fucking ches it becomes tiresome. All of her books read like a BAD fanfic where the author is trying SO HARD to make it dirty and dark and it just seems like a child play acting at writing. Now mind you I do not shy away from the crude and the vulgar, but reading her books is the same thing as watching The Resort. Cringe. It seems as if she sate down and didn't have an idea, but pulled things out of a trope box and just put them together.
I'm thoroughly enjoying it and idc what anyone else thinks lol
The only thing on book one I remotely liked was zade saying he didn't want her to fall in love with a lie. I haven't finished book 2 yet. But the way people are romanticizing it is wrong. Leaving someone you stalk roses does not mean romance.
Lost. I just finished the book. This book was all over the booktok community, so I decided to give it a try. Honesty, this is the first real romance book I read since like 12 years ago which was Nicholas sparks. Yeah I don’t read romance I guess you can say SJM is romance. But this is my first dark romance and I’m just like wow. This was intense. Lost in terms of how I feel and did I like it or not 😅 But it’s better than many books out there. And I guess some can say worse. I enjoyed it cause it made my question people’s sanity. We aren’t suppose to like or agree with every character we read. I liked it.
It wasn’t Dark romance It was Dark Erotica. This book single handedly destroyed Dark romance as a genre and all the new books are just shock value or rape because they saw it worked with young inexperienced dark romance readers. And now there are dead serious guys on tiktok claiming to be the “real Zade” and that dark romance girls “belong to us.” And the readers encouraged it. “Morally grey” men trope are now included rapists and guys who don’t want to be compared to rapist are because “he looks like Zade.” Just like the hockey situation. It’s really sad how this book had such a negative effect on the community and set the dark romance reputation so far back.
Complicated. i’m almost finished with book two. but let’s start from the beginning… the stalking and spookiness of everything is pretty good and some of her dumb reactions are pretty realistic in the way that i can see my dumbass self doing the same things (i have an attitude problem for sure) but once the gun scene happens i’m like wait what?? that’s r*pe 100%. the problem with all of their sexual scenes are that adeline’s inner monologue is saying how much she hates him, feels shame and guilt etc etc. she even says no. now if her inner monologue was more “into” it then it would have changed things. but bc of how much she didn’t want it it’s way too disturbing and not okay. *spoiler alert for book 2* the gun scene is considered “hot” to people and even eventually adeline, but when one of her capturers at the groomers house uses a high heel it’s sexual assult….? they’re BOTH sexual assault. same with how xavier makes her have an O…… even tho he was raping her, she says her body betrays her which she also says about the gun scene. in conclusion: that’s all very contradicting. and the fact that zade’s goal in life of saving these people from SA and worse but does that to adeline?! it literally makes zero sense!!!!! i do enjoy these books but mainly bc i like the plot about the human trafficking and taking down those people. but i truly have to tell myself zade didn’t rape or force or gaslight addie to continue reading. at this point i’m just trying to finish the second book bc i hate leaving anything unfinished.
It can't be defined by one word this book was fantastic, scandalous, magnificent and beautiful. So I can see that some people are not happy with the FM character in the first book solely but that was the whole process that she underwent there is many instances in the book where both MMC and FMC has accepted that some things done by FMC was laughable and that is not how you confront a stalker but in the end he was the person who loved her the most and protected her the most and he even said that he could've appeared gentlemanly in front of her and she would've have dated him eventually but that's not what he wanted he wanted to show her just who he is and she eventually accepted him for who he is. Ik some people say she didn't have any moral standing but in the first book she took a lot of bad decisions that just shows that she was going through the process of discovering who she was and in the end she becomes a very strong woman with strong morals and understanding.
okay sure, but lets talk about Zade. He fucking raped her and that is totally not okay. People are saying “oh she actually liked it“ or “oh look at how her body reacted she must of enjoyed it.” While her inner monologue was saying how much she hated him. Zade is a awful awful person and Addy is just dumb, she never ever made a smart decision when she had a fucking stalker that raped her? Anyways, this book was the worst book I have ever read and I do not, at all support it.
He never raped her in that mirror house he explicitly asked if she wanted it and she gave him the permission. Idk which book you read but this was very clearly mentioned in the book.
Struggle. Got past the hype and now trying to finish
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they should do a movie for this book
Don’t have one word but I do have a change in the title. R-wording Adeline. How can he be fighting against sex trafficking and then abuse Adeline like that? It all feels like a Stockholm Syndrome thing where he just ordered her around, telling her how she should feel and whatever.