Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Haunting Adeline

Oh Boy…this book certainly made me feel a lot of things…but none of them were nice. I think the main emotion I felt reading this was anger. After that came frustration. And utter disbelief. Disbelief, that there are so so many people that genuinely love this book. I don’t usually judge, but I think if you like this kind of romantic dynamic, then there is something wrong. But let’s get to the book in detail now. First of all, more than half of the book consists of sex scenes. And until page 473 (which is precisely where I stopped) they were not consensual. The MMC Zade does not understand the word no. He does not care and intentionally ignores it. I think that in itself is already so f‘d up. He was convinced that whatever he did to Adeline, she would enjoy and like, even if, while he did it to her, she didn’t and was literally telling him to stop. It made me so incredibly angry at Zade. I see so many comments here praising Zade…how?? The man literally rapes and sexually assaults a woman throughout the whole book. But what made me the most angry was that, while I was always hoping for Adeline to finally really fight back and stop him, she just succumbed to him and admitted that she did like what he did to her. That’s when I had to stop reading. She is literally just a weak character that lets a man treat her the way he wants to. So frustrating! All the things he says to her that resemble something like „you‘ll end up loving this“ and other things, become true because she allows it. I think the worst scenes in the book were when Adeline was literally in pain and he ignored it. That is so messed up…And to those who think, what Zade did to Adeline is okay, because she does actually secretly like it, I have one question: how did he know that though? He didn’t know her at all or what she was into before he met her. He just assumed that she would enjoy his assaults. But what if she hadn’t? Then it would literally be pure rape throughout the whole book (which in my opinion it still is)! I read this book bcs I wanted to understand what all the hype was about. While I must admit that from a psychological standpoint it is interesting, it is still extremely disturbing. If you like consent and strong FMC‘s, don’t read this !!!

Content Warnings

jennifergilbertt's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Content Warnings

embetweenpages's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The dubious consent tag needs to just read assault. Morally grey to the max. It’s got me torn and uncomfortable but it was also very hot.

Content Warnings

hanreadssbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

“an angel and a demon. forbidden but drawn to each other anyways.”

i’ve officially read this book twice now and i cannot get over it. zade and adeline complement each other so well and their story is so captivating. even though i just finished my reread, i wish i could read it for the first time again.

pay attention to trigger warnings before reading this book!

Content Warnings

sanskritig's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

turtles_hydranga_12's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is good. I decided to read it because of all the hype I saw it get from people online. I don't think it lives up to it all but it is well written and has a good storyline. The spice level is there though. I loved all the smut in it.

Content Warnings

lilyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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