Total Star Rating: 4 Stars

Because then I wouldn’t be true to myself, little mouse. 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 fucking love it. And I think a part of you does, too.”

– HD Carlton, “Haunting Adeline”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

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.

Author’s Note: This book ends on a cliffhanger. For CWs, please check the author’s website.

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I’ve always been a firm believer in how books are a way for us to explore ideas and circumstances that we wouldn’t necessarily ever experience in our real lives. Its a safe way for people to explore these ideas or even fantasies that we may have in a fictional and more controlled way that allows us to see how far we can go with things, but then also push away when we know we’ve reached our limit, and it can be as simple as shutting the book and putting it aside. People have all sorts of content that they find triggering because of past experiences, but not everyone wants to face those past experiences again or be reminded of them.

This one definitely explores a darker idea of having a stalker, but what if someone liked the attention? What if you liked being chased? The danger? It’s a work of fiction that explores these ideas that some people are definitely curious to look further into…

I’m not someone who comes with a lot of needs for trigger warnings personally, but I’ve found it interesting how different and how torn people are with them in the book community, specifically the dark romance community, which has really skyrocketed in popularity recent years. That brings me to this book, Haunting Adeline, which feels almost like the foundation of the sub-genre! If you’re familiar with dark romance or have even skimmed the surface of it, there’s no way you haven’t at least heard of the Cat & Mouse duet by HD Carlton. From my perspective, these books have put dark romance on the map whether you like it or not. But that also means I don’t believe these are truly the “gateway” to the sub-genre either…you definitely should work your way up to these because WOW these get graphic in more ways than one!

Not sure if this is relevant or not, but this is also not my first HD Carlton novel either; I did previously read Does It Hurt, which was a more recent standalone by her, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, so of course it lead me to checking out this duet, which is by far the author’s most popular titles.

Okay now onto the review of the actual book:

The story revolves around a young woman named Adeline who moves into an older, Victorian mansion that was her great-grandmother’s. Adeline is a budding author and its soon discovered about her grandmother’s mysterious murder that happened within the house.

The story is told in a duo-perspective as we also meet Zade Meadows, a definite anti-hero vigilante-type character who’s dark himself, but also comes out after dark to rid the world of other dark beings, like serial killers, rapists, human traffickers, etc. One night he goes into a bookstore, and he discovers Adeline at a book signing of hers, and becomes absolutely obsessed.

It doesn’t stop there.

Soon Addie is starting to feel a presence that is more than just possibly restless spirits in that old mansion as single roses mysteriously are left about, creaks and moans are heard in the dark of the night, and shadows dance at the end of her vision… soon it becomes clear she’s not always alone in that house at some point…

Normally they say an adult book is 18+ and I’d even normally be on the side of arguing “read what you want to read” with no censorship…..but this one was really something, I’m not going to lie. It gets pretty graphic. It’s truly not for every reader, and please look into the trigger warnings for this book because it is a lot and deals with some dark content with human trafficking too. And Like I say in this review, Zade Meadows is ABSOLUTELY NO DISNEY PRINCE…he’s not even a Damon Salvatore…well maybe he is, but if Damon Salvatore was XXX and not from The CW network if that makes sense? Maybe not still even…

This book comes with many warnings is what I can sum it up to. And I actually completely mean that.

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What I Liked:

1. The Murder Mystery Of Adeline’s Great Grandmother! I love a good whodunnit murder mystery story, and bonus points if a creepy house and romance/spice are in the mix, so right off the bat with that made this book feel right up my alley for that alone.
2. The Overall Creepy Vibes! Creepy Victorian Mansion on top of a hill that Adeline inherits? Check. Roses being left randomly around the house? Check. Her great-grandmother was murdered in said house? Check. See’s creepy dude in a hoodie lurking outside at night? Also check! The Vibes are definitely here for this book and its a perfect choice for spooky season!
3. How Morally Grey/Anti-Hero Zade Meadows Is! Call him an anti-hero or call him morally grey, either way I think we can all agree: Zade Meadows is a bad dude. He is a freakin’ piece of work. It doesn’t matter that he hunts down serial killers and human traffickers and kills them to make the world a better place in that sense, some of the things he does to Adeline in this book are ABSOLUTELY questionable and even atrocious at times…I mean no one’s perfect, but holy shit Batman are there red flags galore here! Despite all that, I will say it all adds to making Zade an incredibly enigmatic and and very enticing character. When he shows up, you pay attention and you perk up a little bit because you KNOW shit is about to go down more than likely.

What I Didn’t Like:

1. That Gun Scene…Even as a human of the male gender variety, even I had to say OWWWWWWWWWWW when I read that scene.
2. It Could’ve Been Shorter…I feel like this book could’ve definitely compressed a little bit and didn’t need to be 607 pages long. Maybe some more editing would’ve taken out some scenes that the book would maybe survive without? I don’t know, but I will admit it felt long and drawn out in some parts and just that it didn’t need to be as long as it is. Maybe this opinion of mine will change for book 2?

Conclusion:

Overall, this book was a dark and twisty and also extremely HOT book read that was a total binge-able guilty pleasure…It’s one you’re either going to absolutely love or absolutely despise with hardly any in-between! I personally enjoyed it and liked that it explored so many dark avenues in a safe, fictional, bookish way. I’m the type of reader where if a book comes with a ton of warnings like this one does, it makes me MORE curious and draws me rather than scare me away!

I’ll definitely be checking out book two, but I also can’t necessarily say this is a book I’d recommend to all the readers either. Try it if you dare but yes, it’s not for the feint of heart!

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell