These dark romance authors are beginning to make me wonder where they come up with their dialogue. Do they just make it up 100% or have they heard it in their own lives? Because I think they reeeeally need to hop on a 4chan board to see where, like, actual unhinged men hang out, and then ask themselves, “could someone reasonably find this sexy?” (The answer is no, not really.)
@@MykkiOnTheCusp it sounds like those quotes guys will put next to a picture of the joker or a random rich guy and post on instagram for other weird dudes
I feel like the author constantly reminding us that these guys “aren’t like Zade” was because as she was writing, she realized the descriptions of the encounters are the same.
I don't even remember Jay from the previous book but I'm obsessed with him being written like a gay stereotype as soon as it's revealed that he is attracted to men.
unfortunately i distinctly remember him... and i did think he was gay. i don't think there was anything in the book to imply that though, my own queer brain just makes up stuff when books get boring
As a nurse who has been assaulted by a patient having active post-anesthesia hallucinations to the point that I still carry scars like 5 years later and then not only took care of the patient again three nights later but lied to her about the injury to my arm and blamed my non-existent cat (because it wasn’t her fault the anesthesia affected her in that way and she was actually very sweet when not, ya know, seeing demons), no way on God’s green earth would I have walked into that room to get Zade to “talk about it.” I’d have set my damn nursing license on fire first. I do not tell that story to brag about how great I am, just to show how high my tolerance for bullshit is and point out that he still exceeds it.
Also, no, they aren’t docking her pay for the broken IV pump, it’s just not getting replaced for 3-7 business years. BUT it will sit in the break room forever as a “guess the fuck what one of Marsha’s patients did one time?!” gossip point.
HI! icu nurse and power lifter here: those beds….. weigh 570 pounds. anyone who can lift 570 pounds with only soft restraints attached to their wrists, and heck why not give him the benefit of the doubt and slap some ankle restraints on there too, should be dissected like a lab rat or at the bare minimum should be in a different line of work. i cackled hysterically hearing that little temper tantrum of his
Re: "She was someone's daughter." - Actually, she was her own person. This line really got under my skin; a lot of the time in my Christian community women were described only in relation to the men in their lives, and it has taken time to unlearn that. Re: diamonds - Diamonds are quite easy to brake, you can do it with a hammer.
I'd be SO pissed if some rando girl stole MY diary, read it and on top of that had THE AUDACITY™ to write on the blank pages I had left. Adeline cannot stand something not being about her, how dare we? 😤
Incredible. When she just summarizes the plot, it sounds genuinely horrifying with the constant rape and torture, but when she actually reads it, I am laughing my ass off, because the writing is so unserious. A My Immortal ass book.
The '2 months later' timeskip had me losing my goddamn MIND. Like okay, MAYBE if the s3x traffickers kept moving Adeline to different places every time Zade was getting a lead on them, crossing state lines, sending her overseas to other countries maybe then I can buy it taking 2 MONTHS and he doesn't even find her, she ESCAPES ON HER OWN WTF 😭
So we have both haunted and hunted Adeline. What's next? Hallucinating Adeline? Hydrating Adeline? Herpaderping Adeline? What will this book series do next!?
Personally, I hope they experiment with other letters and we get "Defenestrating Adeline..." because I hope she gets yeeted out a window harder than the actual book should be.
How Carlton depicts "dark" topics in her books is extremely negligent. Stereotypical depictions of human tr*fficking do real harm to real survivors. Authors like her exploit and sensationalize survivors' trauma for personal gain without supporting the survivors whose experiences they're overshadowing.
@@gothamtruecrime but it’s fiction so can’t she write what she wants though? I feel like once there are trigger warnings and anyone still goes in then it’s not the authors fault. There’s books with even worse things than this funnily enough.
@@makedam9263 she can still be criticised for it. i think because human trafficking is already such a misunderstood "industry" that there's a level of care you should put into your work, even if it's a garbage book with garbage characters. carlton didn't do that. write whatever you want, sure, but also you kind of suck and should deal with the consequences of that.
@makedam9263 Please don't take this the wrong way. This is a personal opinion/observation of mine. A lot of people don't really encounter survivors or survivors' stories outside of fiction. Fiction, by its own definition, is dramatised. Which than leads people (often women) to panic because they found a peanutbutter cup wrapper on their car windshield. Human trfficking is most often perpetuated by people already known to the victims. Thinking you will be snatched from a parking lot instead of being manipulated into a harmful situation from somebody you already trust isn't helping anyone.
@@makedam9263 A trigger warning doesn't mean that the book can't be criticized for bad representation. A trigger warning (like trafficking) can be written badly and can be called out for that. The point of the trigger warning is just to let us know the topic is in the book.
this is the worst set of books i’ve ever read. when i said that, i got 💀 threats like?? i don’t wanna read about abusers-especially abusers who are men?? absolute nonsense if i do say so myself. 😭
@@stardustdemon8273 people are gonna do it over anythingggg. I remember seeing an incident go down on Twitter where an artist was do××ed for keeping the ms paint ui visible in their artwork, crazy stuff
@@stardustdemon8273 I mean, we see how people in real life defend terrible people like their lives depend on it. I can only imagine how amplified that is when the terrible people fulfil some sort of fantasy for the masses.
For what it's worth, your dark humour is one of the reasons you're one of my go to reviewers. Imo, it generally doesn't come across as carelessly laughing at dark situations but rather at how carelessly these dark situations were written
Got into a fight with a delusional fan of this book because I didn’t read the second book, but why should I put myself through that torture when I knew Zade will still be assaulting her no matter what
I think freckles are also supposed to suggest a ‘down to earth’ thing where she has ‘natural charm’ as opposed to wearing full coverage foundation etc. they’re not actually going to have a woman be unconventional in the way of being bushy haired, muscular shoulders etc. and JUST TO BE STRICTLY FAIR, the terrible juvenile dialogue from all characters is probably also more a marker of the writer’s incompetence than calculated thought. The subtext is there for sure, the internalized misogyny of painting the women talking about empowerment as ludicrous and evil, the spunky feebleness of Adeline…. But I think the dreadful dialogue is genuinely mostly incompetence in the execution of the prose. Because he also sounds like a try hard twelve year old. She probably thinks it sounds very clever and unorthodox.
The reason I hate this book is I believe it romanticizes SA. If this subject matter was handled in a way that wasn't childish, I still don't think I would like the book(Zade is a giant douche. There is no way around that.) But I could understand why others like this book. I also worry about the teenage girls that read this book and believe that they may come to the conclusion that some form of the character's "relationship" is normal. I don't categorize Haunting/Hunting Adeline as a dark romance. It just dark from beginning to end. I been reading/listening to dark romance for most of my adult life. I also have read, listened to or watch true crime in some aspect or another. The darkness isn't what bothers me, so much as the way the themes in these books are handled. I think it fantastic that the author had an idea, wrote it down and was able to get it published. I just wish some time and consideration was put into the themes that make up 90% of the books. P.S. Sorry for the novel and I absolutely love your sense of humor. I also completely understand why you would need it reading through these books. Thank you for providing us with reviews and rants.
Same here. I can see the appeal of dark romance, but it's not always for me. Unfortunately, books like Haunting/Hunting Adelaine are thrust to the forefront of popularity, so these tend to be peoples' first experiences with the dark romance genre. I'm sure there are great books in the genre that tackle these subject matters in Haunting/Hunting Adelaine with the respect and tact that is required with the portrayal of these things. Edit: Also the constant infantilization of pretty much all of the women in these books, plus the weird shit Zade has going on with "having" to watch the gross videos from the people he hunts just gives me the vibes that the author likes some gross shit too and sees the book Lolita as a romance book and not the story of a girl being groomed and victimized by a pedo, told by a pedo in a way that he tries to make himself not seem bad.
I think what gave me the biggest ick with this duet was how Zade’s actions are constantly justified because “he’s a hero” at his day job. Like it’s fine that he’s a total hypocrite who abuses Adeline because he fights other men who do the same thing. Reminds me way too much of abusers irl getting their actions swept under the rug because “he’s a good singer/actor/athlete/politician/etc.”.
I jokingly answered "let the bodies hit the floor" when you asked what song was playing to drown out the torture sounds around 40:00 and when I tell you I HOLLERED 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 God what a masterpiece of a review. You are a much braver woman than I am, and you have both my respect & my pity for enduring these doodoopoopie books.
The whole tattooing slave tracking numbers also brought up when black people were branded or had numbers and/or the master's last name carved into they skin to identify them if they tried to escape the plantation during slavery. Just all around ignorant and yuck. The whole treating women as property to be sold and beating and SA is also gives flashbacks of learning about the further horror of slavery in the south during college. And don't get me started with the whole castration thing. I honestly thought he was gonna buck break Luke before offing him.
Yep. Honestly the depiction of human trafficking here felt more like the author read about slavery and decided that they were pretty much the same thing. They can have similarities but it's not always entirely congruent. Either way, the author did not do any research into how human trafficking works. It was all just an excuse for her to write SA scenes and call them spice.
no binch when you said “if i pass gas it’s over” i thought you were JOKING!!! i let that part go on for like a minute before i had to rewind and look at the text STOP
More interesting plot: girl gets sold into human trafficking and not being "pretty" enough has to play in the human hunting games all the while leaving notes diary pages and clues behind as she's moved around Meanwhile the detective trying to find her reading these pages left behind and falling in love with her or his idea of who he thinks she is
Books like these are why I write what I write. Dark stories don't deserves be treated like this because "it's shocking". I hate it. It upsets me greatly.
Former archery kid here - plastic arrows would hurt like hell! You are 100% right, youd need rubber-tipped arrows: think an arrow with an extra-large rubber marshmallow on the tip. You can use these to play archery tag which is fun and safe! But because the arrows fly slower from the weighted tip, it makes them much easier to dodge Arrows with plastic tips would splinter on impact, I would think, and hurt to get hit by
the fact that the dude kidnapped Adaline just to sell her off is so stupid, like you already know "the megladon" is after you so why not just unalive her?It's so unnecessary to go through all of the difficulties that come with said kidnapping. If it is for the money then that implies that our megladon can't even protect Adaline from petty criminals and i think i like that interpretation more lol
Haven't finished the video, but theorizing that Adelaide was originally written as a younger character (a child) in a previous edit of the book, but that she was aged up to avoid (even more) controversy?
random compliment but i so appreciate how quickly and well you speak! most of the content i watch HAS to be put on 1.25/1.5 speed in order to keep up with my attention span or i start wanting to crawl out of my skin but i always get to watch you on normal speed, i love it 😭♥️
I think a problem a lot of these books have is that they just don't establish the characters as unique or interesting. The love interest usually falls into a single archetype, and the main character feels forgettable at best. I think if they spent more time on what drives these characters or what gives them a reason beyond just love, it would work much better within the genre.
Wait, the guy’s named Rocco? Isn’t that what Elmo’s pet rock is called? I’m never going to be able to take him seriously because I’ll always be thinking about that
It would be so funny if Adeline straight up fell in love with one of her captors from the beginning of the book, but that couldn't happen bcuz they're not described hot
The whole "octaves" thing always bugs me so much, it's a real pet peeve of mine. It gets used incorrectly like this book did, or there will be a line like "his voice lowered several octaves" which is always hilarious. An octave is a big jump in pitch, so when they say *several* I'm suddenly picturing that person's voice in dog-whistle range or ridiculously low bass range. For context: Ariana Grande's voice range is D3 - E7, which is just over 4 octaves.
Your rave reviews have become my comfort watches on YT. Have reaaaaalllyyyy been looking forward to this one (I don’t read dark romance) and I love your humor and summary❣️
the like sex trafficking ring is sooooo qanon thinking that a 26 year old girl would sell for that much when like they got like kids that people don't care about or look for that they could get so easily get also the most common trafficking is labor so it's wild he has so many sex trafficking rings to stop
I need you to read Devil's Night, PLEASE!! not because i love it, but because i LOATHE it, and i never seem to find critical videos of it, when it absolutely should, since it's one of the worst things I've ever read.
I did not know you have teen boys! I imagine you're a great and fun mum. You making all those voices...it's really taking me out every time. Love your reviews, you and reads with rachel are my favourites.
the serious cap moment at 1:57:00 made me cry :') thank you for caring to be kind alongside all the silliness in these videos! also this outfit absolutely rules🖤
As a SA survivor, I have the theory/prejudice that most authors of ab*se/SA erotica sold as "kinky Dark Romance" have never experienced SA (good for them!) and Carlton conflating SA with spice just seems to prove my point...
The clips you choose to splice into your review are so good. I love your sense of humor, especially when covering bleak topics like this. The “Everybody in the Club gettin Tipsy” clip sent me WAY back.
this book is especially weird because while the first one is really messed up because of the "romance" element with the abuser, it was the whole plot of the book. The reason the abuse happened was that the author is depraved and thinks it's romantic (when the abuser is sexy). But HALF of this second book is just gratuitous abuse against women (depicted as actual abuse because the men are ugly). Just scenes of r and S/A and violence that serve no purpose, there's no commentary (I don't think the author is capable of doing that to be fair), it doesn't lead to character development, it's not integral to the story, nothing. It's just literal torture porn.
Girl I write for fun and I’ve watched so many of your videos that now I can’t stop hearing you “impersonating” the dialogue whenever my main characters say something😭😭
at this point i think the recurring butterfly imagery in these terrible books is a marketing campaign by crazy town to get back on the billboard charts
YOU'RE MY BUTTERFLY, SUGAR, BABY lives in my head rent-free and now I notice butterfly references in so many of these stories and I stART SINGING THE SONG 😭 Their evil plan is WORKING!! it's over for me 😭
I clicked on Part 2, realized I needed to watch Part 1, so clicked over here. But when you said you were only 50% of the way through and had to do a part two, my mouth dropped open. I'd forgotten. It had been so long, and this book so harrowing, that I forgot how I got here. (You made me laugh a lot, though.)
Just wanna say, in relation to the starting disclaimer on your jokes, that you’re my FAVOURITE booktuber solely because of the way you handle jokes. I know some great book tubers who, for me, come off a bit rude or even snobby. You have such a talent for making the review fun and in depth, but not being inherently cruel. As a viewer, it’s so enjoyable, and as a writer I never feel discouraged after watching your videos (like I sometimes project onto other tubers) just wanted to put that out there to celebrate the good that does land!
You know what might actually be interesting - Adeline being her own person and being a part of the same agency as Z and is actually going into this as an undercover person. You'd have to change the whole first book but if they were on the same level of kind of weird and fucked up because they are in the same fucking insane industry, then maybe this could be tolerable
Omg I had that same idea. She and Rio burn down the house to escape and they think it is Sydney because they switched trackers and they think Addie is dead. She goes to Daya to get her and Rio new ids. Some time later joins the Brotherhood because Zade got shot going crazy hunting down those who killed her and needs organs and becomes The Angel 😇 of Death 💀 Eventually years later she meets up with Zade. Sorry just my delusional mind ranting 🤪
Or that she was in danger from them from the start (as was implied) and she makes a devil’s bargain with Zade from that start, so the power dynamic is still kind of messed up and dark - with his boundary crossing and attitude, hopefully written better so he’s not such a disgrace - but there’s more agency and more consent than here. If the author was that desperate to have her be a fish out of water in the scenario.
Ahhhh incel romance. The main crux of dark romance genre. I’m sorry it’s just a fact. It’s like a pleasant surprise when I read a dark romance and the man can be a gangster and murderer but still ask for consent. It’s a hard life out here. 😂😂😂
Being a bi person who has terrible SA experiences in the past, I just love dark things and watching SA and R in books is cathartic ok? I honestly don't even have any triggers but never once would I have the inclination to read Qanon / incel fanfic tome of a book that's written like the author has no idea Wattpad or AOC is a thing 💀 so thank you for covering these books cause I'm addictive to your style of goofy humor ! You have no judgement for readers of dark romance like others and I appreciate it. Because someone needs to talk about this BS. I really appreciate you 🖤 you really took one for the team!
The way the first half of this book was like going back and forth between an exploitative horror/thriller movie and an edgy incel throwing a mantrum because his chewtoy got taken away 👀
Decided to do the dark romance bingo while listening to it, and I got one!: Down the middle Stockholm Syndrome Typos Free Space “He’s hot so it’s cool” Inaccurate/incomplete TWs list I had 15 boxes checked though, probably more that could’ve been checked that I just didn’t think of.
Your sense of humor is part of why I absolutely love your vids!! I know I can always count on your reviews to be hilarious, thoughtful, and responsible regarding the darker themes and I think that can be a really difficult balance to achieve, but you nail it every time so thank you!! ❤
Zade asking how those guys can be “good guys” in the organ trade is so rich coming from him bc he’s a literal r-ist who doesn’t respect boundaries yet *we* are expected to believe he’s a good guy…? Like if they’re not good guys, neither are you lol
I've given this video a bunch of extra views cos I kept falling asleep and waking up to find it finished (no shade to you, I have hypersomnia and it happens with any long video). Thankfully neither Adeline or Zade have infected my dreams yet
I wasn't expecting to cry during this, cause it's a fun silly time, but you telling me that I'm not what happened to me and I am worthy of love, it just got me. Thank you ❤
Whenever I feel like MY horror romance stories are leaning a little cringe, I think of the cat and mouse duo, and I feel so much better about my own writing (I mean, I'm not a best seller or anything, but DAMN. This story had some...choices.)
Yea Ik late ass comment💔 But I noticed that the butterflies on the covers of the books are all trapped in spiderwebs. Maybe it’s supposed to represent Adeline and Zade’s relationship? Adeline being the butterfly caught in the web, and Zade being the spider that’s going to murder and eat her? The implications are.. more than strange, if I’m being honest. No matter how you look at it there is literally no way to portray zade as a good partner or person because he’s ALWAYS portrayed as a terrible guy, wether the author likes it or not😭
I’m so tired that the author can’t keep her pet names/analogies/whatever they are straight. Are they cat and mouse? Diamond and megalodon? Hunter and butterfly or some crap?
I can never read another anything ever again without your voice impressions taking over in my head 😂🙌🏼 Thank you for taking one for the Weirdo Team and suffering through this book for us 🥹🤩 you are the real MVP here x
"I am not a man -- I'm a beast. I am annihilation." This is what incels in a COD lobby sound like. So ridiculous.
Even the cheesiest shounen anime usually know to have a side character say it about their Badass characters 😭
These dark romance authors are beginning to make me wonder where they come up with their dialogue. Do they just make it up 100% or have they heard it in their own lives? Because I think they reeeeally need to hop on a 4chan board to see where, like, actual unhinged men hang out, and then ask themselves, “could someone reasonably find this sexy?” (The answer is no, not really.)
Tbh sounds like the druid from my DnD party after rolling nat 20 on their acid splash and one-shotting the enemy for the 4th time this campaign
@@MykkiOnTheCusp it sounds like those quotes guys will put next to a picture of the joker or a random rich guy and post on instagram for other weird dudes
smol pp energy too!
I feel like the author constantly reminding us that these guys “aren’t like Zade” was because as she was writing, she realized the descriptions of the encounters are the same.
no but it’s different cause he’s HOTTTTT 😩💦😐
I don't even remember Jay from the previous book but I'm obsessed with him being written like a gay stereotype as soon as it's revealed that he is attracted to men.
we love a queer icon ✊😌
"Was there any indication that Jay was bi?" Girl I don't even remember Jay as a character LMAOO.
@@baileyBLIGHT I deadass thought "who tf is Jay???" to myself SEVERAL times during this video
unfortunately i distinctly remember him... and i did think he was gay. i don't think there was anything in the book to imply that though, my own queer brain just makes up stuff when books get boring
@@baileyBLIGHT I remembered Jay but who the hell is Daya?! 🤣
@@WomynxxThe token black bestie, of course 🥰
“Piercing the back of my thigh. It didn’t break skin.” So… it didn’t pierce your thigh?
Writers are both ignoring and overusing synonyms. But I guess 'poke' would be a much less sexy word lool
@Flareontoast “it hit the back of my thigh, bouncing off without breaking skin” would’ve worked but that’s too simple 😂
"Struck the back of my thigh" would be a better alternative lol
“It bludgeoned the back of my thigh but didn’t do piercing, slashing, or necrotic damage”
@@exogenesus6841 this one is especially sexy🤤
As a nurse who has been assaulted by a patient having active post-anesthesia hallucinations to the point that I still carry scars like 5 years later and then not only took care of the patient again three nights later but lied to her about the injury to my arm and blamed my non-existent cat (because it wasn’t her fault the anesthesia affected her in that way and she was actually very sweet when not, ya know, seeing demons), no way on God’s green earth would I have walked into that room to get Zade to “talk about it.” I’d have set my damn nursing license on fire first. I do not tell that story to brag about how great I am, just to show how high my tolerance for bullshit is and point out that he still exceeds it.
Also, no, they aren’t docking her pay for the broken IV pump, it’s just not getting replaced for 3-7 business years. BUT it will sit in the break room forever as a “guess the fuck what one of Marsha’s patients did one time?!” gossip point.
@@brittanycoker5203the monutment of: Patient shenanigans
Yeah, there’s a big difference between a patient experiencing psychosis and a mentally sound patient just being aggressive
HI! icu nurse and power lifter here: those beds….. weigh 570 pounds. anyone who can lift 570 pounds with only soft restraints attached to their wrists, and heck why not give him the benefit of the doubt and slap some ankle restraints on there too, should be dissected like a lab rat or at the bare minimum should be in a different line of work. i cackled hysterically hearing that little temper tantrum of his
I did as well.
I’m so glad you addressed her alleged conflation of SA and spice. Real gross feeling.
I’m just disappointed she didn’t continue the pattern: from Haunting Adeline, to Hunting Adeline, to Hnting Adeline
i would've expected her to milk it until only the H remained in the title
Hating Adeline.
@@jonweman6128except in this one, Adeline dies and she's STILL yapping about how awesome sauce Zade is 😭
Unting Adeline🥰🥰🥰
Me getting thanked in the first five minutes 😊
thanks forever bish
Me too! I was “Ryn”
@@iFlutterbyeOMG THATS HOW MY SISTER SPELLS HER NAME, IVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE ELSE SPELL IT THE SAME !!! (hers is short for kathryn)
@@caroline2900 that’s so cool! My nickname became Ryn since I’m a gamer and my real name never fits in the character name field.
The “RACHEL” was so pointed and it had me dying
Re: "She was someone's daughter." - Actually, she was her own person. This line really got under my skin; a lot of the time in my Christian community women were described only in relation to the men in their lives, and it has taken time to unlearn that.
Re: diamonds - Diamonds are quite easy to brake, you can do it with a hammer.
Sounds like your problem. Work on that instead of demanding others unlearn something you’re too ignorant to comprehend.
Yep, and diamonds aren't rare, they are very common gems. So Adeline being called the diamond, they're just calling her that she's common.
@@ruby7684should've called her that one flexible rock
I'd be SO pissed if some rando girl stole MY diary, read it and on top of that had THE AUDACITY™ to write on the blank pages I had left. Adeline cannot stand something not being about her, how dare we? 😤
Simultaneously, thank you and I'm sorry.
Simultaneously thank you and how dare you :P
Incredible. When she just summarizes the plot, it sounds genuinely horrifying with the constant rape and torture, but when she actually reads it, I am laughing my ass off, because the writing is so unserious. A My Immortal ass book.
book three introduces us to zades younger sister ebony…
“putting the unc in uncomfortable” had me cackling
The '2 months later' timeskip had me losing my goddamn MIND. Like okay, MAYBE if the s3x traffickers kept moving Adeline to different places every time Zade was getting a lead on them, crossing state lines, sending her overseas to other countries maybe then I can buy it taking 2 MONTHS and he doesn't even find her, she ESCAPES ON HER OWN WTF 😭
@@applebonker141 Oh but he’s supposed to be the MeGaLoDoN! 😩😩😍😍😍😱😱😱
Adeline has IBS. Called it!
She needs to see someone. A nutritionalist, a GI specialist, SOMEONE
Yeah, Idiot Bimbo Syndrome
@@weirdobookclub this girl needs medicaid for the doctors not a r-ist man to save her
I haven't finished the video yet, I just read your comment and now I'm fully expecting there to be watery bowels.
@rachelannebach2360 as a fellow IBS-haver, I concur
So we have both haunted and hunted Adeline. What's next? Hallucinating Adeline? Hydrating Adeline? Herpaderping Adeline?
What will this book series do next!?
Personally, I hope they experiment with other letters and we get "Defenestrating Adeline..." because I hope she gets yeeted out a window harder than the actual book should be.
Hectoring? Hauling?Hoofing? Halving? Hitching?
clearly Hatching Adeline(they're gonna learn a drawing technique and it'll be used for murder, probably)
((edited cause of a typo))
Harvesting Adeline. He’s going to straight up eat her.
@@vibethecat4194 haha! Truly we know the only the only correct ones would be HATING and HUMPING
How Carlton depicts "dark" topics in her books is extremely negligent. Stereotypical depictions of human tr*fficking do real harm to real survivors. Authors like her exploit and sensationalize survivors' trauma for personal gain without supporting the survivors whose experiences they're overshadowing.
@@gothamtruecrime but it’s fiction so can’t she write what she wants though? I feel like once there are trigger warnings and anyone still goes in then it’s not the authors fault. There’s books with even worse things than this funnily enough.
@@makedam9263 she can still be criticised for it. i think because human trafficking is already such a misunderstood "industry" that there's a level of care you should put into your work, even if it's a garbage book with garbage characters. carlton didn't do that. write whatever you want, sure, but also you kind of suck and should deal with the consequences of that.
@makedam9263 Please don't take this the wrong way. This is a personal opinion/observation of mine. A lot of people don't really encounter survivors or survivors' stories outside of fiction. Fiction, by its own definition, is dramatised. Which than leads people (often women) to panic because they found a peanutbutter cup wrapper on their car windshield. Human trfficking is most often perpetuated by people already known to the victims. Thinking you will be snatched from a parking lot instead of being manipulated into a harmful situation from somebody you already trust isn't helping anyone.
@@makedam9263 A trigger warning doesn't mean that the book can't be criticized for bad representation. A trigger warning (like trafficking) can be written badly and can be called out for that. The point of the trigger warning is just to let us know the topic is in the book.
this is the worst set of books i’ve ever read. when i said that, i got 💀 threats like?? i don’t wanna read about abusers-especially abusers who are men?? absolute nonsense if i do say so myself. 😭
That’s wild for people to do over a BOOK 😭
@@stardustdemon8273 people are gonna do it over anythingggg. I remember seeing an incident go down on Twitter where an artist was do××ed for keeping the ms paint ui visible in their artwork, crazy stuff
@@stardustdemon8273 I mean, we see how people in real life defend terrible people like their lives depend on it. I can only imagine how amplified that is when the terrible people fulfil some sort of fantasy for the masses.
For what it's worth, your dark humour is one of the reasons you're one of my go to reviewers. Imo, it generally doesn't come across as carelessly laughing at dark situations but rather at how carelessly these dark situations were written
Zade this whole book: 🎶I am the monster rawr rawr rawr🎶
@@EmRose.r Jorge Rivera-Herrans reference????
Got into a fight with a delusional fan of this book because I didn’t read the second book, but why should I put myself through that torture when I knew Zade will still be assaulting her no matter what
When Zade was raging I got an ad for anime where a dude was screaming and for a hot second I genuinely thought it was part of the but lol
I think freckles are also supposed to suggest a ‘down to earth’ thing where she has ‘natural charm’ as opposed to wearing full coverage foundation etc. they’re not actually going to have a woman be unconventional in the way of being bushy haired, muscular shoulders etc. and JUST TO BE STRICTLY FAIR, the terrible juvenile dialogue from all characters is probably also more a marker of the writer’s incompetence than calculated thought. The subtext is there for sure, the internalized misogyny of painting the women talking about empowerment as ludicrous and evil, the spunky feebleness of Adeline….
But I think the dreadful dialogue is genuinely mostly incompetence in the execution of the prose. Because he also sounds like a try hard twelve year old. She probably thinks it sounds very clever and unorthodox.
two hours AND it's a part one? thank you for the meal
The reason I hate this book is I believe it romanticizes SA. If this subject matter was handled in a way that wasn't childish, I still don't think I would like the book(Zade is a giant douche. There is no way around that.) But I could understand why others like this book. I also worry about the teenage girls that read this book and believe that they may come to the conclusion that some form of the character's "relationship" is normal. I don't categorize Haunting/Hunting Adeline as a dark romance. It just dark from beginning to end.
I been reading/listening to dark romance for most of my adult life. I also have read, listened to or watch true crime in some aspect or another. The darkness isn't what bothers me, so much as the way the themes in these books are handled.
I think it fantastic that the author had an idea, wrote it down and was able to get it published. I just wish some time and consideration was put into the themes that make up 90% of the books.
P.S. Sorry for the novel and I absolutely love your sense of humor. I also completely understand why you would need it reading through these books. Thank you for providing us with reviews and rants.
Same here. I can see the appeal of dark romance, but it's not always for me. Unfortunately, books like Haunting/Hunting Adelaine are thrust to the forefront of popularity, so these tend to be peoples' first experiences with the dark romance genre. I'm sure there are great books in the genre that tackle these subject matters in Haunting/Hunting Adelaine with the respect and tact that is required with the portrayal of these things.
Edit: Also the constant infantilization of pretty much all of the women in these books, plus the weird shit Zade has going on with "having" to watch the gross videos from the people he hunts just gives me the vibes that the author likes some gross shit too and sees the book Lolita as a romance book and not the story of a girl being groomed and victimized by a pedo, told by a pedo in a way that he tries to make himself not seem bad.
I think what gave me the biggest ick with this duet was how Zade’s actions are constantly justified because “he’s a hero” at his day job. Like it’s fine that he’s a total hypocrite who abuses Adeline because he fights other men who do the same thing. Reminds me way too much of abusers irl getting their actions swept under the rug because “he’s a good singer/actor/athlete/politician/etc.”.
girls , we’re eating tonight !!
I jokingly answered "let the bodies hit the floor" when you asked what song was playing to drown out the torture sounds around 40:00 and when I tell you I HOLLERED 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
God what a masterpiece of a review. You are a much braver woman than I am, and you have both my respect & my pity for enduring these doodoopoopie books.
When I saw it on the list, I rolled my eyes. Because of course, that edge lord song would be.
I’m sorry, but the clip of Yzma saying “Are you talking to that squirrel?” was what finally broke me. I am D E C E A S E D
My sense of humor can best be described as "pitch black" so personally i love your jokes. Your sense of humor is why I'm a subscriber.
mine is vantablack
Me realizing I'm the same age as Adeline 👀 the math ain't mathing
I was going into the shower....hmm. Guess I'll be washing my hair to this MESS 😂😂 thanks for your suffering, Natalie 💀❤
Natalie: "Hi, jerks welcome back to my channel."
Me: I'M SAT
The whole tattooing slave tracking numbers also brought up when black people were branded or had numbers and/or the master's last name carved into they skin to identify them if they tried to escape the plantation during slavery. Just all around ignorant and yuck. The whole treating women as property to be sold and beating and SA is also gives flashbacks of learning about the further horror of slavery in the south during college. And don't get me started with the whole castration thing. I honestly thought he was gonna buck break Luke before offing him.
Yep. Honestly the depiction of human trafficking here felt more like the author read about slavery and decided that they were pretty much the same thing. They can have similarities but it's not always entirely congruent. Either way, the author did not do any research into how human trafficking works. It was all just an excuse for her to write SA scenes and call them spice.
Or in the spirit of antisemitism (since that’s that the author was accused of) the concentration camp ID number 😖😖💀
no binch when you said “if i pass gas it’s over” i thought you were JOKING!!! i let that part go on for like a minute before i had to rewind and look at the text STOP
I WISH I WAS JOKING
More interesting plot: girl gets sold into human trafficking and not being "pretty" enough has to play in the human hunting games all the while leaving notes diary pages and clues behind as she's moved around
Meanwhile the detective trying to find her reading these pages left behind and falling in love with her or his idea of who he thinks she is
Ngl I’d read this
I'D DEVOUR THAT PLOT UP!!!
I'D DEVOUR THAT BOOK UP!!! (especially if it's mlm)
Look, funny people engaging with bad media is one of my favorite things. Blame my enduring fondness for _Mystery Science Theater 3000._
Books like these are why I write what I write. Dark stories don't deserves be treated like this because "it's shocking". I hate it. It upsets me greatly.
Had to remind myself again that PDF file ring has little to do with PDFs.
When I first heard it. I was for sure there was a file with all their names on it. Like o snap we got a gd list?
I can't finish your video rn so rather than stopping it and messing with your analytics I decided instead to play it in the background with no sound 😊
You sweet angel 💕
Former archery kid here - plastic arrows would hurt like hell! You are 100% right, youd need rubber-tipped arrows: think an arrow with an extra-large rubber marshmallow on the tip. You can use these to play archery tag which is fun and safe! But because the arrows fly slower from the weighted tip, it makes them much easier to dodge
Arrows with plastic tips would splinter on impact, I would think, and hurt to get hit by
Didn’t Jay say “I like my women willing” in the first book lol
Consent is so gay lol
-Carlton, probably
😂😂😂
Yep he did. Jay is a bi icon.
the fact that the dude kidnapped Adaline just to sell her off is so stupid, like you already know "the megladon" is after you so why not just unalive her?It's so unnecessary to go through all of the difficulties that come with said kidnapping. If it is for the money then that implies that our megladon can't even protect Adaline from petty criminals and i think i like that interpretation more lol
Between this and caricanread’s video on Crescent City 3 I have never felt so blessed by my favorite snarky book reviewers ❤
Haven't finished the video, but theorizing that Adelaide was originally written as a younger character (a child) in a previous edit of the book, but that she was aged up to avoid (even more) controversy?
Gotta say, I really am loving the Rachel/Natalie crossover arc y'all are in.
I went back and watched one of my old videos where I plugged a Rachel video when I first discovered her and now look at us 🥲
random compliment but i so appreciate how quickly and well you speak! most of the content i watch HAS to be put on 1.25/1.5 speed in order to keep up with my attention span or i start wanting to crawl out of my skin but i always get to watch you on normal speed, i love it 😭♥️
@SavyWritesBooks is another YTer who speaks more quickly than most
@@alisaurus4224 i love me some fast talkers, thanks for the rec
How is this book worse than Haunting Adeline? I never thought that was possible. “No no square” had me gagging.
No no square is so unserious. The only reason I use it is because the children in my house thinks its hilarious
I think a problem a lot of these books have is that they just don't establish the characters as unique or interesting. The love interest usually falls into a single archetype, and the main character feels forgettable at best. I think if they spent more time on what drives these characters or what gives them a reason beyond just love, it would work much better within the genre.
Time for a Hollow Knight brain-cleanse! 😋 Thanks for wading through this 💩 so we don't have to! 😻
Wait, the guy’s named Rocco? Isn’t that what Elmo’s pet rock is called? I’m never going to be able to take him seriously because I’ll always be thinking about that
"Hello Rocco -_-"
Elmo's enemy but yes exactly
"ROCCOS NOT ALIIIIVE!"
I thought of Rocco’s Modern Life tbh which I feel like is much worse 😂😂
That rock is his worst nightmare
I'm here for your wit, humor and narration...you're delightful 😅
love the hypocrisy of "ugh fatphobia!!!" when half the descriptions of the "ugly" men in this book have been about how fat they are
It would be so funny if Adeline straight up fell in love with one of her captors from the beginning of the book, but that couldn't happen bcuz they're not described hot
Carlton unfortunately lacks the balls of Blanka Lipińska. :(
The whole "octaves" thing always bugs me so much, it's a real pet peeve of mine. It gets used incorrectly like this book did, or there will be a line like "his voice lowered several octaves" which is always hilarious. An octave is a big jump in pitch, so when they say *several* I'm suddenly picturing that person's voice in dog-whistle range or ridiculously low bass range.
For context: Ariana Grande's voice range is D3 - E7, which is just over 4 octaves.
i have 2 octaves for a voice :(
i want to have 8 octaves so i can mimic a dog whistle
Your rave reviews have become my comfort watches on YT. Have reaaaaalllyyyy been looking forward to this one (I don’t read dark romance) and I love your humor and summary❣️
Proud to be on the blame list for this video ❤
When you said to guess which song he was listening to I thought Bodies instantly 😂
"what a dork" from the hospital scene KILLED me
the like sex trafficking ring is sooooo qanon thinking that a 26 year old girl would sell for that much when like they got like kids that people don't care about or look for that they could get so easily get also the most common trafficking is labor so it's wild he has so many sex trafficking rings to stop
I need you to read Devil's Night, PLEASE!! not because i love it, but because i LOATHE it, and i never seem to find critical videos of it, when it absolutely should, since it's one of the worst things I've ever read.
thank God someone said this
I did not know you have teen boys! I imagine you're a great and fun mum. You making all those voices...it's really taking me out every time. Love your reviews, you and reads with rachel are my favourites.
When I was 15, I was more mature the Adeline. That is not a 26 year old woman who is supposed to eloquent enough to be a famous author.
the serious cap moment at 1:57:00 made me cry :') thank you for caring to be kind alongside all the silliness in these videos! also this outfit absolutely rules🖤
As a SA survivor, I have the theory/prejudice that most authors of ab*se/SA erotica sold as "kinky Dark Romance" have never experienced SA (good for them!) and Carlton conflating SA with spice just seems to prove my point...
The clips you choose to splice into your review are so good. I love your sense of humor, especially when covering bleak topics like this. The “Everybody in the Club gettin Tipsy” clip sent me WAY back.
this book is especially weird because while the first one is really messed up because of the "romance" element with the abuser, it was the whole plot of the book. The reason the abuse happened was that the author is depraved and thinks it's romantic (when the abuser is sexy). But HALF of this second book is just gratuitous abuse against women (depicted as actual abuse because the men are ugly). Just scenes of r and S/A and violence that serve no purpose, there's no commentary (I don't think the author is capable of doing that to be fair), it doesn't lead to character development, it's not integral to the story, nothing. It's just literal torture porn.
The alternate universe sequel could have been "Adopting Adeline"
Rocco, Rick and Rio?
Is it disney?! Are we 6?
I AM ANNIHILATION. Im dyyyiinggg stoppppp LOL
he is tho
I’m 23, and I feel like a genius when I hear her inner monologues…
Also 23 here, and I feel the same
The amount of times the author uses the phrase “a pregnant pause” in this series is revolting me into planned parenthood
Girl I write for fun and I’ve watched so many of your videos that now I can’t stop hearing you “impersonating” the dialogue whenever my main characters say something😭😭
You're one of the creators that makes me laugh out loud
at this point i think the recurring butterfly imagery in these terrible books is a marketing campaign by crazy town to get back on the billboard charts
YOU'RE MY BUTTERFLY, SUGAR, BABY lives in my head rent-free and now I notice butterfly references in so many of these stories and I stART SINGING THE SONG 😭 Their evil plan is WORKING!! it's over for me 😭
I clicked on Part 2, realized I needed to watch Part 1, so clicked over here. But when you said you were only 50% of the way through and had to do a part two, my mouth dropped open. I'd forgotten. It had been so long, and this book so harrowing, that I forgot how I got here. (You made me laugh a lot, though.)
Throughout the video, your goofy voice while reading Zade's lines...Damn, Zade sounds like that to me now. LIKE YEAH
You are actually my favorite booktuber
Relistening since part 2 dropped
Just wanna say, in relation to the starting disclaimer on your jokes, that you’re my FAVOURITE booktuber solely because of the way you handle jokes. I know some great book tubers who, for me, come off a bit rude or even snobby. You have such a talent for making the review fun and in depth, but not being inherently cruel. As a viewer, it’s so enjoyable, and as a writer I never feel discouraged after watching your videos (like I sometimes project onto other tubers) just wanted to put that out there to celebrate the good that does land!
The uwu voice is so funny pls never stop doing it 😭
You know what might actually be interesting - Adeline being her own person and being a part of the same agency as Z and is actually going into this as an undercover person. You'd have to change the whole first book but if they were on the same level of kind of weird and fucked up because they are in the same fucking insane industry, then maybe this could be tolerable
that’s actually a great concept lol I would read the hell out of that
Omg I had that same idea. She and Rio burn down the house to escape and they think it is Sydney because they switched trackers and they think Addie is dead.
She goes to Daya to get her and Rio new ids. Some time later joins the Brotherhood because Zade got shot going crazy hunting down those who killed her and needs organs and becomes The Angel 😇 of Death 💀
Eventually years later she meets up with Zade.
Sorry just my delusional mind ranting 🤪
Or that she was in danger from them from the start (as was implied) and she makes a devil’s bargain with Zade from that start, so the power dynamic is still kind of messed up and dark - with his boundary crossing and attitude, hopefully written better so he’s not such a disgrace - but there’s more agency and more consent than here. If the author was that desperate to have her be a fish out of water in the scenario.
Ahhhh incel romance. The main crux of dark romance genre. I’m sorry it’s just a fact. It’s like a pleasant surprise when I read a dark romance and the man can be a gangster and murderer but still ask for consent. It’s a hard life out here. 😂😂😂
Fr tho what those books? I need a man who asks for CONSENT.
Being a bi person who has terrible SA experiences in the past, I just love dark things and watching SA and R in books is cathartic ok?
I honestly don't even have any triggers but never once would I have the inclination to read Qanon / incel fanfic tome of a book that's written like the author has no idea Wattpad or AOC is a thing 💀
so thank you for covering these books cause I'm addictive to your style of goofy humor ! You have no judgement for readers of dark romance like others and I appreciate it.
Because someone needs to talk about this BS. I really appreciate you 🖤 you really took one for the team!
What's with all the bathroom talk/jokes? like seriously. It's not even just Adeline, it's Zade too and it happens SO many times.
The way the first half of this book was like going back and forth between an exploitative horror/thriller movie and an edgy incel throwing a mantrum because his chewtoy got taken away 👀
I need you to stop being so funny!! I can’t actively listen and do my job at the same time 😂😂
I will dull it up next time!
Decided to do the dark romance bingo while listening to it, and I got one!:
Down the middle
Stockholm Syndrome
Typos
Free Space
“He’s hot so it’s cool”
Inaccurate/incomplete TWs list
I had 15 boxes checked though, probably more that could’ve been checked that I just didn’t think of.
R*pe disguised as CNC
Your sense of humor is part of why I absolutely love your vids!! I know I can always count on your reviews to be hilarious, thoughtful, and responsible regarding the darker themes and I think that can be a really difficult balance to achieve, but you nail it every time so thank you!! ❤
Zade asking how those guys can be “good guys” in the organ trade is so rich coming from him bc he’s a literal r-ist who doesn’t respect boundaries yet *we* are expected to believe he’s a good guy…? Like if they’re not good guys, neither are you lol
I've given this video a bunch of extra views cos I kept falling asleep and waking up to find it finished (no shade to you, I have hypersomnia and it happens with any long video). Thankfully neither Adeline or Zade have infected my dreams yet
I commented on the author’s instagram if she donates to charities for victims of sex trafficking or stalking and she blocked me lol
That tracks.
I wasn't expecting to cry during this, cause it's a fun silly time, but you telling me that I'm not what happened to me and I am worthy of love, it just got me. Thank you ❤
Whenever I feel like MY horror romance stories are leaning a little cringe, I think of the cat and mouse duo, and I feel so much better about my own writing (I mean, I'm not a best seller or anything, but DAMN. This story had some...choices.)
I knew the annihilation line was coming but it still made my jaw drop
Yea Ik late ass comment💔
But I noticed that the butterflies on the covers of the books are all trapped in spiderwebs. Maybe it’s supposed to represent Adeline and Zade’s relationship?
Adeline being the butterfly caught in the web, and Zade being the spider that’s going to murder and eat her?
The implications are.. more than strange, if I’m being honest. No matter how you look at it there is literally no way to portray zade as a good partner or person because he’s ALWAYS portrayed as a terrible guy, wether the author likes it or not😭
No, jerks is completely appropriate given what we put you through.
I’m so tired that the author can’t keep her pet names/analogies/whatever they are straight. Are they cat and mouse? Diamond and megalodon? Hunter and butterfly or some crap?
"You're my butterfly, sugar, baby~" -Zade, probably
the derry girls clips are everything to me
I can never read another anything ever again without your voice impressions taking over in my head 😂🙌🏼
Thank you for taking one for the Weirdo Team and suffering through this book for us 🥹🤩 you are the real MVP here x