Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse Duet)

Top positive review

Adeline and Zade

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 30, 2023

CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS ⚠️

Haunting Adeline is a dark romance, heavy on the dark side. If that is not your thing, then do not read this book. It is not for the faint of heart.

I am a fan of dark romance and Haunting Adeline really lived up to all the hype.
I enjoyed the writing so much as well as the story. Sometimes it is difficult to find both in one book, but H.D. Carlton has accomplished this.

The descriptive scene building was perfection, I could imagine each place in my head perfectly. Especially the dark, gothic, Parsons Manor, set back in the woods. I want to live there.

Adeline is a well known author who loves to be scared. She lives in her grandmother's house and stumbles upon family secrets. They lead her to start investigating her great-grandmother's murder.

Zade is instantly drawn to Addie, and he knows she will be his. He becomes obsessed with her and keeping her sage from everyone... except himself.

Adeline's character was so real. I loved how she didn't just fall for Zade immediately, as I have seen in many dark/stalker romances. Addie actually takes her time to come to terms with her feelings. It just felt more believable.

Zade is... the perfect stalker. I can't get over him. I already know I am unhinged for my love of fictional stalkers and such, but Zade set the bar so high. There is SO much more to him then just being a stalker though, and I think that's why everyone loves his character so much. Plus he never hides who he truly is, he is 100% always himself and upfront.

The spice level is also intense perfection. I'm not a fan of non-con, which there is some scenes of in this book. But there was something about the way it was written that I didn't get the ick feel I normally do. I think having Adeline's internal struggle with her feelings of hate and desire really help to make those scenes manageable.

There is so much more to this book then all of that as well. There's mystery and thrills, spice and dark themes. It is definitely a great read.

29 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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DeLaney

3.5 morally grey story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 18, 2023

So I was really torn between 3 and 4 stars for this one but when it came down to it 3.5 made the most sense. Honestly this story was weird for me. I had so many recommendations for it. Booktok was all about the dark romance and twisted story. I love a good dark and twisty story, but this one was extra. I couldn’t get past the stalker slightly almost forced sexual relationship. I mean it was weirdly consensual but also borderline not. Zade almost came across as a hypocrite to me. Like I want to like him but I’m also like dude just get to know her like a normal person dude?? You can still do the weird kinks and cat/mouse game without almost doing forced interactions that are borderline what you’re fighting against in your business world. I appreciate all the work he and his organization do but dang his personal life is messed up. I love Addie and the girl is rightfully torn because I’d be messed up with this slight case of what…Stockholm syndrome without the kidnapping? Anyway, I will probably still read book 2 because I want to see how the book series plays outs because my parents didn’t raise a quitter.

38,305 total ratings, 2,245 with reviews

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From the United States

JLew

Adeline and Zade

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 30, 2023

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29 people found this helpful

Helpful

erin | sinfulshelves

my favorite stalker romance 🥀

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 3, 2023

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“𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒖𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒇*𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒐𝒐.”

📖 Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Book Review - Spoiler Warning ⚠️

🚨 18+ Adult Content Warning-Check TWs before reading!🚨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 4/5

This book has been an anticipated read for me for a long time now and it did not let me down. So, I really want to dive into this review and talk about Addie and Zade separately and how they come together. I have so many thoughts and I’m honestly shaken to my core with how much this book is now engrained into me. So, here it goes. Let’s start with Zade.

Zade is the villian and the hero in this story. He’s the shadow that follows Adeline around, he’s the force that attempts to crush sex trafficking rings around the country, he’s the man that cuts someone’s hands off for touching his girl. He’s power on pages and his aura can be felt every time you see his name pop up in the book. You can feel his intensity, his passion and his determination to make Adeline his. But equally, you can feel his passion for his profession. For saving young women from the evil of human trafficking. He lives to save. He lives for Adeline. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, he cares about them both.

Addie is an author, an accomplished one at that. She has a penchant for scary attractions, haunted fairs, really anything that gets her blood pumping. And when I say a penchant, I mean it turns her on. I feel like that’s an important aspect of her character that makes her such a perfect match for Zade. Anyways, her chapters aren’t labeled “Adeline” they’re labeled “The Manipulator.” I have a few guesses as to why; she constantly claims this fear is a bad one, that it doesn’t equate to attraction, but you as the reader know it’s a lie. You know she loves every bit of the cat and mouse game more than she likes to admit. At the end of the day, her need for him is undeniable.

The two of them together starts out as a discomfort. A forceful relationship that’s one sided. It’s dark. His claim of her, his possessive nature so strong that he threatens (and will follow through on those threats) that she is his and his alone. But the build….the build of her falling in love with him and trying so hard to deny it. It’s addicting. I’ve fallen prey, I’ve fallen victim to Zade as a captor. I’ve found myself ignoring all the red flags and wanting to dive in head first. 😅 To say I loved this book is an understatement so here I go, running to read Hunting Adeline…

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

emilyburnell_

A Must-Read Dark Romance

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2023

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Overall Rating: 5/5⭐️
Character Development: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Readability: 5/5
Overall Enjoyment: 5/5

This was my first truly dark romance and wow, what a great start. This book gripped me from the moment I opened it and I physically struggled to put it down so that I could go to work or run errands. I brought it with me to the gym so I could read on the treadmill, even if it was for 5-10 minutes.

Adeline is an author- a master manipulator of the written word. She lives alone in the home her grandmother left her, where ghosts roam the halls, much to her delight. But something has always seemed off about her great grandmother’s demise, and Addie is going to unlock the truth, and find her killer. All while having a little fun here and there.
But little does Addie know that there’s someone watching…waiting to pounce.

Zade Meadows is not a good man- by all accounts he’s terrifying, and morally grey at best. He saves trafficked women and children- just not in the traditional judge and jury way. He’s a lone wolf, and he likes it that way. But then he sees her, and he knows he has to have her, even if she won’t have him….yet.

While Zade and Addie play their game of cat and mouse, something darker brews that will soon have them both tangled in a dangerous game neither of them are prepared to lose.

I loved this book- Zade…….wow. Unlike any other. Addie wasn’t as dynamic as Zade for me, there were some things that just made me feel she was a bit two dimensional and made me wander why Zade chose her, but then I realized when people are stalkers, there’s really no rhyme or reason to it, so I let it slide.
The spice is SPICY, incredibly well-written and had me feeling some type of way. The plot was a wild ride and everything about this book kept me on my toes and the cliff hanger at the end had me in actual heart palpitations.
Of course, like with all dark romances there were a couple plot holes or rather things that made me wonder why they were part of the book at all, but even that did not keep me from wanting to devour this book. It’s a dark romance I ALWAYS recommend. Be sure to check the trigger warnings because there are plenty.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kami McKinley

WTF

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

Okay… this is gonna take a minute.

Let’s start with the writing. It’s BEAUTIFUL. The book was put together so good and the first half was *chefs kiss* I loved the scary stalking portion of it. And the thrill she got was so good.

The way his character was put together was like piecing together a puzzle of ice.

Some of the writing just hits you different.

Plot wise, it was amazing. Although you can kinda see everything coming from a mile away but I’m a spoil the ending before I read the book kinda person.

Zade is… interesting. I am fu$ked in the head so I loved him.

And yes I know he forced him self on her 5 out of the 6 times they were every together. But in the end, she wanted him just as much. And she can’t deny that it was a two way street. He clearly states that he knows what he’s doing is wrong. But doesn’t care.

She clearly doesn’t care either. And I think something that stuck out to me was the fact that zade explicitly states that she was made for him because she gets off on fear. And I thought the same exact thing. No one would be better for him.

I love addie. Her personality suited his so so so well and I related to her in a lot of ways. She has a lot of potential.

I know that this book has heaps of things that are so romantized and wrong but it’s fictional. And at the end of the day these things need to be addressed and noted as unhealthy but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed the book any less.

It was well written, good plot, good spice, etc.

The only thing I wish I could have gotten a little more of is ROMANCE. I dont mean sex or the roses. I mean like the small intimate moments between Addie and Zade. They deserved more of it.

And as a warning, If your looking for something short and sweet and not gut wrenching, this isn’t the book for you.

I’m sure if I was the author I was love reading the reviews because wow. Some of y’all are passionate about these book but can’t deny yourself the small pleasure of reading them.

I already know most spoilers for the second book because as I mentioned, i love spoilers. So I’m hoping I get more of that on the second half of the second book but I know it’ll probably just be a lot of sex.

I still have to read it to get closure. I hope you guys enjoy this review because I don’t usually go into this many details but I felt like I had to this time. To unpack a lot of what this book made me feel.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Macy Walker-Hammaker

**DO NOT TAKE THE TRIGGER WARNINGS LIGHTLY**

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 7, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book affected me physically...

Zade is a magnetic character and despite all of his red flags, I love him anyway! That shows how much I am attracted to toxic men... Addie knows there is something wrong with the relationship dynamic and still goes along with it because of sexual attraction. In my eyes, she's easily manipulated and very naive.

I am a visual reader (a movie is playing in my head when I read) so I could see in my head the things happening in the book. While I loved the steamy parts of the book, the horrific scenes of children made me sick to my stomach. DO NOT TAKE THE TRIGGER WARNINGS LIGHTLY!

The twist at the end has me contemplating theories. I have had suspicions but I won't divulge them here.

I think I need to recover from this book before continuing....

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

4.5 Stars. Alexa, play Every Breath You Take by The Police

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

Me before this book: Idk if stälker romance is for me, stälkers are so pathetic
Me after this book: Stälk Me, Zaddy 🧎🏽‍♀️🧎🏽‍♀️🧎🏽‍♀️

This duet has been haunting me, so to speak, for more than a year now. I’ve wanted to read it, but as with all hyped things, could this one live up? Let’s talk about it. This book is notoriously divisive, and rightly so. It’s pitch black (heed the triggers), and quite frankly it’s the kind of book that’ll have you obsessed with it or one you’ll loathe. Addie and Zade’s relationship alone is toxicity central and bound to be triggering for half the people that read it. But boy was I obsessed.

Let me jump straight to the relationship; I called it toxic and it is (LOL, it’s straight poison) but don’t get me twisted, it’s a poison I could hook straight to my veins. Spoiler alert: he’s her stälker (GASP) and makes no bones about the fact. In fact, he’s audacious as you please about it, driving Addie up the walls of her super creepy house. But does she like him? Hate him? Drawn to him anyway? All of the above? After a, ahem, rough start, these two burn bright and hot, enough to even set damp, rainy Seattle aflame. Is everything consensual right from the start? Hardly. Honestly, these are the lines dark romance tends to blur and cross, and I’m along for the ride. I will not be answering any questions about what is wrong with me. Don’t worry, I know how to separate fiction from reality. I have read a lot of romance pretending to be dark but actually just skimming the surface, but this one does not pull its punches.

The thing I loved most about Addie (okay, there were several) was that she owned her propensity to hurtle face first into dangerous situations and bad decisions, and being the proverbial girl who’d be killed first in a horror movie. Zade would never allow it of course. But hey, whatever thrills his girl. Also that she’s no wilting teenage flower to his big bad wolf. I mean, he’s a wolf, but she gives as good as she gets. Until of course she’s dickmatized. Which, I don’t blame her. I found her sass and her internal monologues and conversations with God too hilarious and self aware, which is always refreshing.

Zaddy…Zade though. Sorry that’s forever the way I’ll think of him now. Man, the number of times I thought of this psycho stalker as so cute is actually unhinged. But really, his wooing technique might be unconventional but it’s so darn cute 🥺 Never mind that he’s engaged in several nefarious activities apart from stälker duties (which you know if you’ve read Satan’s Affair) and that he basically coerces Adeline into er, everything. All is forgotten once he says “Cat got your tongue, little mouse?” okay! Not just that, the way he worships her? He fcked up but he proteccc 🥺 Even the ghosts love him dammit, I rest my case. And for once we get a guy who has no heartbreaking excuses for his behavior, no justification, just plain owning up to his messed up bad guy choices. Morally grey indeed. Dark dark grey. Even though he has a deep sense of justice. My boy contains multitudes. I love broken men, but this was a nice change of pace. And he’s weirdly so fun, the rapier sharp wit alone had me feral for him.

The author creates a lush, gothic setting in the deep woods of Seattle, getting the atmosphere just right for this spooky, violent, and well, haunting tale. There’s haunted mansions, mysterious cold redrum cases, more unaliving in present day, and some serious vigilante shh. And of course, the stälking, some harassing, and plenty of resulting sxxy times. The author infuses a thread of humor throughout even as the book is far from light and deals with some heavy material and depressing situations, and it would be easy to just get sucked into the unrelenting abyss. It is a tad too long, but that only means the author gets to ramp up the eeriness of it all as time passes and by the second half things come to a head at breakneck speed and then…CRASH. It all comes collapsing down and now you’re left with this b!tch of a cliffhanger and a thirst for blood and vengeance yourself because why God why 😭 You know it’s coming, you know. But that sh!t still hurts. My thoughts are with the poor people who had to wait for book 2 to release because as it is I was barely holding myself back from starting Hunting immediately at midnight to get some answers.

106 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mims

What. In. Tarnation. Did. I. Just. Read.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 30, 2023

Verified Purchase

What. In. Tarnation. Did. I. Just. Read.

Stockholm syndrome central… to be fair, I DID read the trigger warnings and still went for the read. I inhaled this book in a few days because of how inanely gripping and intriguing it was. The thrill, the mystery, the nastiness…. I felt like the whole thing was so backwards…. The forcefulness of the beginning to the acceptance towards the end was nuts. Thank goodness for the main characters acknowledging the reasoning behind half the shit that took place sexually either through their own thoughts or through conversation. I would not have survived otherwise.

This book was not what I thought I was getting myself into and went from
-not being about it
-needing to know what was going to happen next
-ABSOLUTELY NOT
-then instantly to ROOTING FOR YALL

I feel dirty and confused after this wild outrageous ride of a multilayered novel.

PLEASE READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE DIVULGING INTO THIS BOOK.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Courtney

Must read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 28, 2023

Verified Purchase

Fear, anger, deception, monsters disguised as humans, temptation, rage, disgust, mystery, all rolled into one book. My thoughts are going all over the place, trying to process what I just read. One thing is certain, which is terrifying/sickening, that any and all of the advents throughout the story, could happen and does, in real life.

Adeline’s past wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, other than feeling detached from her mother and father, but closer with her grandmother. Uncovering a mystery within the house she was left by her grandma while simultaneously figuring out if her stocker’s motives, discovers a deeply hidden desire of the fear and unknown. Fighting the war inside her head to admitting anything, she pushes back and doesn’t make it easy.

With his line of work, Zade looks danger in the face and smiles. Helping stop the evil of the world and those effected by it, has its tolls. The unspoken need and desire Zade feels when he sees Adeline for the fist time is instantaneous. Now stalking the love of his life while simultaneously destroying the foundation of kidnapping, torture, selling, rituals/sacrifices, discussing society.

My emotions are all over the place and I’m left wanting more. The mystery of Adeline’s grandmother, feels of déjà vu, with both having stalkers, finding our her killer, knowing Addie’s in danger, Zade infiltrating and rescuing children and women, picking off one horrible, disgusting excuse for a human, will fighting each other. Addie hiding and ignoring her feelings while Zade is obsessed and knows exactly what he wants. Let’s just say I’m glad I don’t have to wait to read the duet, because that cliffhanger had me screaming in my car.

“I love storms—I just don’t like to be in them. I’d prefer to cuddle up under the blankets with a mug of tea and a book while listening to the rain fall.”

“They may have made that rose powerless by clipping its thorns, but I will gladly show them a rose is still f king deadly when it’s shoved down their throat.”

“The situation turns me on just as much as it terrifies me. I need to check myself into a mental hospital if I survive this night.”

“Let me know which stars you prefer. The ones above you, or the ones I make you see.”

"Sometimes the happiest people are the saddest," she says, reciting a common quote. "Then what are the miserable people in the world?" "Tired." "Sounds miserable."

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Carissa Janes

The ending was killer!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 13, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended by several friends and maybe that's why I judged it so harshly but pushed through. I'm defiant like that. I really didn't like the characters and felt like there was too much back and forth before anything good happened. The author seemed to pride herself on the length of her books, so maybe she could cut some extraneous stuff. Also, there seemed to be too much stuff going on with the different plot lines. The writing of the diary was annoying and dragged out and didn't seem appropriate for the time it was allegedly written. The last quarter of the book finally got interesting and then we got a cliffhanger, which is fine since the second book is out. I'll be reading the next book just to get some answers.

Helpful

Nicole Concepcion

My first Dark-Romance book & I loveeeeddd it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 26, 2023

Verified Purchase

Trigger warnings in the book: sexual abuse, child abuse, trafficking, religious cults, sacrifices, graphic physical violence, murder, gore, sexual play with guns, knives, and more.

This book had me screaming! It was my first dark-romance and I loved it. I listened to it on Audible and it was sooo good that I needed to get the physical book. Never thought that I would like this type of genre but I was mistaken. This book gave me life. It kept me engaged, intrigued, and wanting for more, then the suspense, horror, stalking, and just the sexual tension were EVERYTHING.

The book is about an author that moves to her grandmother's house that she inherited after her passing, it was a very old house but she loved it. It is dark and basically full of ghosts. There is murder mystery solving in the book as well.

I loved Zade and Adeline! Zade is supposed to be a "hero" but acts like a villain when it comes to Adeline, he forces her into being with him basically the entirety of the book, but at the same time, she likes it, loves the feeling of being forced, scared and gets a thrill from being chased after. Zade just loves seeing her beg, scared, and forcing her to love him.

The way Zade describes murdering the "bad guys" is just chef kiss because of the way he describes how they torture kids and innocent people, so in my mind, they deserved what he gave them. In the book, he also tortured the bad guys for information and their deaths were just epic for me. After this book, I just want to dive into similar books and I cannot believe that I really loved this kind of genre. I'm still impressed by my taste in books now that I discovered this one.

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5 star		63%
4 star		23%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		1%

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