A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Series:
Cat and Mouse Duet #1

Genre:
Romance, Dark, Stalker, Contemporary, Thriller, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Alpha Male, Duology and Trilogy, Enemies to Lovers, Smut, Erotica, Adult, Spicy Romance, Steamy Romance, Dual Points of View, BookTok, Cliffhanger

Publication Date:
August 12, 2021

Pages Numbers:
551

Read Date:
July 20th, 2023

Date Finished:
July 22nd, 2023

Rating:
4/5

Blurb:

The Manipulator

I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me.
I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh.
But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave.
He's always there, watching and waiting.
And I can never look away.
Not when I want him to come closer.


The Shadow

I didn't mean to fall in love.
But now that I have, I can't stay away.
I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.
The way she undresses...
I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.
And once she is, I'll never let her go.
Not even when she begs me to.

While not required, it is highly suggested to read the novella, Satan's Affair, first.

This book was previously banned on Amazon due to the trigger warning. Please read reviews or go to the author's website.

Review:

Red flags, red flags everywhere when it comes to Zane, but do I care? Maybe. I had already had a slight glimpse of him during Satan's Affair, so I was already expecting his unending stalking, breaking into her home to leave a rose, or banging on her door when she had male guests over even going as far to kill them for daring to touch her. If this had been real life, I would have probably been appalled by the blatant disrespect he has shown to her, but this is a book, not real but I know that there are people out there that may have gone through something similar. All the more reasons to avoid this book altogether.

Addie is a writer who can weave a tale to captivate an audience. Just recently, her grandmother left her a beautiful home but it also holds a mystery - a mystery that led to the death of her great-grandmother, Gigi. During her renovations, she comes across Gigi's journal and sets out to solve the mystery, but Addie has a stalker that has started showing up. A dark figure broke into her home and left her a single rose without a single thorn.

Zade is the owner of Z, an organization a bit similar to Anonymous that sets out to find human trafficking victims and reunites them with their families or save them from an abusive situation. It is during one afternoon when he comes across Addie signing her books that his obsession begins with her.

I noticed that with many dark romances, this trope seems to be the favorite - an obsessive alpha male and a Stockholm female lead. Most female leads start off as badass and can literally make themselves less dependent on the male, but that seems to change when the alpha male appears and suddenly the female becomes the sudden damsel in distress. It always feels that the female character goes backward in evolution instead of growth. This is what I felt like with Addie. I wanted to see her grow but she doesn't. She continues to encourage the stalking.

I have had this book on my TBR. There had been many praises for this book on BookTok and I had seen it praised elsewhere but other book community influencers. Although I did enjoy this book, I am on the fence with the characters. Zane has so many red flags but don't all males have these in the dark romance genre?

Final Thought:

Will I be reading book two? Of course. I want to see how this story is tied up in two books.

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