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A review by anastashamarie
Halloween Haunt by Harley Laroux
adventurous
fast-paced
1.0
What in the high school scene queen Wattpad did I just read?
This had come across my bookstagram recommendations a few times in the past few weeks as a great-for-spooky-season romance. From the description, I was hoping for something along the lines of the Satan's Affair stuff in Haunting Adeline; I've been long obsessed with haunted houses and the lines between types of arousal (e.g. fear vs attraction vs excitement) and how anticipation plays a role in all that. Unfortunately, Haunting Adeline this was not.
I didn't buy the tension in the first place, and I think this sorely could have improved with a few more pages of flirtation and non-physical interaction. To be fair, I didn't realize this was a short story (only 32 pgs) when I started it. And fine, porn without a plot has its place. Except that the dialogue just got cringier and cringier as it went on, too, which totally derailed it for that purpose as well. When the MMC said "safe word is sausage" I officially decided that this had to be a joke.
He definitely played Pierce the Veil for her at one point though, so +1 for that, I guess.
I just...no. Sorry. If I was still 16 and didn't know how these relations work IRL, I'd have been ALL OVER a story where two horny emos bone in a haunted house. But almost-30 year old me says no thanks. Very much open to other haunted attraction romance recs if anyone has them though.
This had come across my bookstagram recommendations a few times in the past few weeks as a great-for-spooky-season romance. From the description, I was hoping for something along the lines of the Satan's Affair stuff in Haunting Adeline; I've been long obsessed with haunted houses and the lines between types of arousal (e.g. fear vs attraction vs excitement) and how anticipation plays a role in all that. Unfortunately, Haunting Adeline this was not.
I didn't buy the tension in the first place, and I think this sorely could have improved with a few more pages of flirtation and non-physical interaction. To be fair, I didn't realize this was a short story (only 32 pgs) when I started it. And fine, porn without a plot has its place. Except that the dialogue just got cringier and cringier as it went on, too, which totally derailed it for that purpose as well. When the MMC said "safe word is sausage" I officially decided that this had to be a joke.
He definitely played Pierce the Veil for her at one point though, so +1 for that, I guess.
I just...no. Sorry. If I was still 16 and didn't know how these relations work IRL, I'd have been ALL OVER a story where two horny emos bone in a haunted house. But almost-30 year old me says no thanks. Very much open to other haunted attraction romance recs if anyone has them though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Gore and Blood