Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton is the turning point in my taking any recommendations from TikTok. I was so incredibly underwhelmed. This was marketed as incredibly dark with a sexy male character and a female protagonist that isn’t an idiot. Well, it was all a bunch of lies. Now, I don’t know what that says about me that I didn’t consider this to be incredibly dark, but let’s get into it deeper.
This was a book that made little logical sense. And if you’ve followed my reviews for a while, you know that I am someone that really doesn’t care if things make logical sense. As long as there is one kernel I can cling to, I will let so much slide. I did not have that one kernel here. For being a dark, stalker romance, there sure was very little stalking. We’re told that Zade is stalking but we never truly see it or feel it. Zade interacts with Addie almost immediately. There’s no real build up or tension to the stalking. So take the stalking out of the equation and this is a dark romance. But I don’t know if I would qualify this as that even. I didn’t feel the romance in this at all. Zade loves Addie because????? She’s pretty? She makes him feel something? Addie loves Zade because??? He is good at sex??? He is a “good guy???”
Speaking of Zade, let’s talk about him. I disliked him so earnestly that I thought I was losing my mind because everyone that loves this book seems to love him. The way he is written is so incredibly cringe. He spouts off lines that make him sound like he’s a 13 year old edge lord. Zade talks about how well endowed he is, how rich he is, how smart he is, how he had a great family life. Like, okay… and then he just has the worst one-liners that I’m glad I cannot cite because I listened to this as an audiobook. But honestly, my biggest (well one of) problem? His ‘job’ is to end human trafficking, specifically it seems like sex trafficking. He talks about how he doesn’t want to let blood even though some child but has no problem doing what he does to Addie. How does that make sense? Additionally, Addie thinks it is so noble and dreamy of him to do what he does and because he does what he does he must not mean her any danger. Like what? This gives such an ick, like a corrupt cop.
Another huge thing I disliked is the dual (triple?) story going on. We have Zade dealing with human trafficking and some potential cult? Then we have Addie and her romance with Zade. And then we have a third story where Addie uncovers her great grandmother’s murder and that her great grandmother had a stalker. Literally I could not care at all about this. I didn’t give a single solitary damn about some lady that died decades ago that had an affair with a stalker. It added nothing to the story. It broke up momentum. And the worst part, it made whatever kind of relationship Zade and Addie were building ridiculous because what are we supposed to make out of their relationship and then the great grandmother’s relationship with her stalker. Are we supposed to draw a parallel? It’s absolutely ridiculous.
I absolutely do not recommend Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton. The only reason this got 2.5 stars was because I finished it and the sex scenes weren’t terrible (though again, highly unrealistic.) It was not a good dark romance, it definitely wasn’t a stalker romance, and was barely a romance in general. If you’re actually looking for a dark, stalker romance, I would suggest picking up There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark.
