I genuinely believe that this book deserves a much stronger warning inside the cover page than what it delivered. Haunting Adeline, the first book in the series, explored extremely dark topics that could be triggering to a lot of people, but was also very enjoyable for others.

 

Going into this book I definitely expected the same. However in almost every aspect, the dark and depraved have skyrocketed into oblivion, and not just in the sexy ways that most people go into it wanting..

 

It goes into extreme detail about rape and sexual assault, as well as self harm, thoughts of suicide and death. Throughout almost the entire first half of the book, there are many in depth events of rape that made me physically sick, and definitely made me cry multiple times. It gets to a point in the story where it's just so normalized the author treats it as just another page in the story.

 

I will say that the author, H.D. Carlton does a good job in sticking to realism in this part of the story. It definitely does not shy away from what real human trafficking victims go through and I can appreciate that, even if it will cause extreme emotional distress to the reader. 

 

When Adeline finally escapes captivity from the human trafficking ring, she is thrust right into the turmoil of severe PTSD, which includes multiple panic attacks and thoughts of self harm. The way that the author, H.D. Carlton, goes about her healing is extremely questionable, and a lot of it has to do with her sexual and emotional relationship with Zade. The author is trying to get the point across that by “taking back” her sexuality then she will be free of the emotional stress her rapists put on her. 

 

While I can understand what she is trying to do, it definitely fell short for me, mostly because of how Zade went about it. They like to act like Zade is such a good person because he held back on not having sex with Addie against her will, which is extremely gross and does the exact opposite of its intention. Then, when Adeline is finally “ready” to have sex, he further physically and emotionally harms her by cutting her skin and carving a rose into her chest while she is clearly in an emotionally vulnerable spot. From an outside perspective it looks like he is using Addies trauma to bond herself more with him so that it feels like she cannot leave. 

 

He is extremely emotionally and physically abusive to her in more ways than one, and there's several attempts to make these things excusable that do not correct it at all. 

 

My advice is that if you go into this book expecting it to be a repeat of Haunting Adeline, you will be very wrong. While that book definitely towed the line between cruel and sexy, this book takes a head dive into it, and you don't truly get into any “sexy” moments until half way through, and even those can be debatable in their cruelty levels. I am definitely not one to shy away from dark romances, but this book goes a bit too far in it. It is more a story of intense abuse, rape, sexual assault, and suicide mixed in with the PTSD, rape fantasy, and sexual trauma that comes from it. 

 

If you are looking for a dark romance book, this will not be for you. However if you like exploring those deep and triggering aspects of writing itself in a sexual fantasy world, then it may be worth a read.

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Trigger Warning: 

- Child Sex Trafficking 

- Rape

- Sexual Assault

- Dubious Consent Scenarios

- Blood and Gore

- Murder

- Torture 

- Kidnapping

- Stalking