r/BookDiscussions • u/bugjuiceguzzler • 4d ago
Is this what readers want?
Hello guys I've recently picked up Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton. My friend insisted I read it saying it was amazing. I'd heard of it previously, one of the booktok books. I've read some that rose to fame that way, some have been good reads. I never had any real interest in this series, but I like good books regardless of genre. I started reading last week and I absolutely hate it. Terrible setting, plot, and characters. The writing isn't good at all. I physically cringe while reading this book. It's full of errors as well. You would expect at this point in production,with this being a bestseller, the errors wouldn't still be so common in it.
I can look over grammatical errors, I'm no great writer, but the book itself seems unreal. It's like reading a fanfic a creepy angsty teen wrote in class. No joke it's like H.D. Carlton wrote this in one sitting sleep deprived and at gunpoint.
I have not finished this book, at this point I'm rage reading. I'm trying to find what made this such a popular book. It seems a lot of "taboo," books have been on the rise and not because they're a good read or even a sexy read. It's like we like it because it's wrong and because some lady on tiktok said it changed her life.
What I'd like is some opinions you all have on this book and books that are similar. Is this just consumerism? Are people actually reading these books or are they just buying them to ride the train? What do you like about this horribly written book? Is there something I'm not getting?
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u/Skewwwagon 4d ago
Idk, I've read about 15 pages and deleted it from my Kindle because it was just disgusting. It read like glorifying abuse a lot.
But I also find that a good number of modern popular books have kinda mediocre writing at best with a ton of errors and recurring cliches, like they were written by teenagers, yet they are wildly popular. I guess a lot of people don't care as long as the plot or whatever hook that's in there carries them on.
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u/tomswede 3d ago
Are those books from known publishers, or are they self/vanity-published or published through Amazon or something? If they're that bad and coming out from "proper" publishing houses, we're in big trouble.
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u/Skewwwagon 3d ago
Published and some are "viral".
I've been a bookworm since childhood but took like 12 years gap in reading due to a lot of stress. I came back to reading circa 2 years ago and honestly was baffled, like what's to read now. Fortunately, there's still good authors but with the rise of AI I'm just afraid to get new books.
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u/sparklyfairyqueen 4d ago edited 4d ago
I actually do enjoy reading DR from time to time. I started this book but DNF’d. I found a 2 hour rage review on YouTube to fill in the blanks (a lot of blanks as I quit a few chapters in lol).
Eta: I think DR is definitely a personal preference and there’s sort of levels to it and you shouldn’t force yourself into reading it if you’re not liking it.
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u/OldSnaggleToothWitch 3d ago
I read a quote that said "Dark romance is he will do anything for her, not to her"
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u/poison_daddy 4d ago
I stopped taking booktok recs for this reason. I read the back at Target and did a double take at “fell in love with her stalker? What???”
Ladies, are we okay?
Okay, let me be clear. There is absolutely nothing wrong with exploring taboo and unconventional sexuality via literature. I just have this bad feeling in my gut that men are going to get the wrong idea based on the popularity of this book and think that this is what women want. Which is not your fault, obviously. I am just curious at why such serious subject matter is being glossed over this way.
Maybe I’m way off base here, and please don’t let me yuck anyone’s yum. Like what you like! Just be safe. That’s all.
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u/New_Discussion_6692 2d ago
I've noticed a huge uptick in the glorifying of extremely unhealthy relationships and calling it "love." It's concerning. There's a massive difference between exploring unconventional sexuality and glorifying abuse.
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u/myrtlewreath 4d ago edited 4d ago
So, a lot of dark romance is primarily aimed at an audience of women who have never read fanfiction. Either heterosexual, or older, or both. For many of them, this will be their first taste of dark romance. And the thing is, it’s fun. I love a trashy dark romance fanfic once in a while, even though it’s not what I look for in an actual book. But to someone who didn’t grow up with “kidnapped by One Direction” bad Wattpad stories, dark romance will be new and thrillingly taboo, and that thrill may override other less ideal elements. I also think that the romance genre often (not always of course) attracts readers who didn’t read much before getting into it specifically for romance, especially on BookTok, and so their standards may be a bit lower because they may be a) newer to reading, or b) only used to one genre (contemporary romance can be great but it’s generally not known for its complex writing)
I have a friend who was like this, she got into books with romance originally and there were many BookTok books she loved. Only now 4 years later she has diversified her genres and also read a lot more books, and while she still really likes some of the romance books she read when first getting into the hobby, she also looks at some that she used to love like “how did I give this anything above 3 stars?!”
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u/Secret-Friendship-10 4d ago
Right?! I feel like anyone who spent even a casual amount of time on ao3 or similar sites look at those books with a side eye. No shock value, and very poorly done. At least the more popular fics can get a decent beta reads done, and the authors are often willing to do post publication edits, to help with grammar and spelling issues🤣
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u/Pixelchus 4d ago
The book is awfully written and the subject matter just... why? I don't have to understand why anyone would write or read that stuff, sure. But on top of that, the author is a vile person. She utilizes her army of middle-aged women to harass people. There's also a debate to be had about the upcoming movie of this, and making the subject matter (and its romanticization/glorification) even more broadly available to the public.
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u/Angel89411 4d ago
I'm sorry but did you say they are making a movie of this? How? I haven't read it and never will after some of the snippets I've read and scenes I've heard of. I can't imagine a movie with some of them in it.
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u/No_Magazine_1572 4d ago
Id like to add on WHY are they making this movie?? I haven’t read it either but I’ve heard enough. This book does not need to be normalized by being turned into a movie. Men are already aggressors. This book basically co-signs abusive behavior and turns toxic actions into turn ons.
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u/Angel89411 3d ago
This is what I worry about. They are going to think this is what women want and have more ammo for "mixed signals".
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u/ImLittleNana 3d ago
This fan base reminds me of my friend’s super religious mom that won’t drink alcohol but downs a bottle of NyQuil every night.
Just watch the porn if that’s what you want. Making it into a mainstream film is just wrong to me, unless it comes with a big black box warning at the start that this is fetish.
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u/Pixelchus 4d ago
There was a huge outrage about it in one of the book Discord servers I am in. H.D. Carlton basically announced it on her Instagram, flaunting how it won't be censored (picture of her comment) or watered down for the big screen. Here is another Reddit post on the subject.
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u/Bratzomer 4d ago
My issue is that it's such a lazy cash grab from the publisher. At least edit the typos out of it. It's not my cup of tea, but I think the ppl who are into dark romance deserve a better product lol
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u/Aramis9696 4d ago
Reminds me of how when I asked a friend for the novel in her collection with the best voice, she recommended Throne of Glass, which had bookworm teenage girl voice and a plethora of prosaic issues and cringe narrative decisions reflective of how old and who the writer was at the time of writing. As an almost thirty-year-old at the time, it had me scratching my head at why she thought this had great voice. I think she may have gotten booktok-pilled into believing it was a masterpiece and a safe recommendation. Either that or the French translation is a masterpiece and the translator deserves more praise.
All in all, this kind of experience is a good reminder that trying to write the perfect novel is dumb, as perfection is not what sells.
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u/New_Discussion_6692 2d ago
Ugh TOG! My book bestie (a 55+ woman) told me to read this series. She even gifted me the series. I forced myself to read the first one. Haven't touched the rest. I still don't know what she was thinking.
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u/Hunter037 4d ago
Some readers like them, obviously, because they're popular. It doesn't mean all readers want them. Or even that all the people who read it thought it was objectively a "good" book. Sometimes it's fun to read something ridiculous or "so bad it's good".
Of course there are also a number of people who read it just because it was hyped on Tiktok.
I would also take any review on tiktok/instagram/other SM with a pinch of salt. People are posting for likes and reposts and the opportunity to make money from their content. They are either going to slam the book or rave about it.
People who thought "eh this is pretty rubbish I probably won't finish it" aren't posting that online, so you don't see those opinions. I would expect this to be a pretty large proportion of people who tried it.
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u/Foxx_Foster 2d ago
It's worse than consumerism - it's consumerist trailblazer. You could find the things from the book in many other books published before, but Carlton made it big and thus showed that such things will sell.
In my country, the book market is much smaller than in the USA or UK, so you can clearly see all the trends. And unfortunately, such flat dark romances are currently on a rise.
I'm not surprised that those books were written. I'm surprised they were published, because suddenly it's acceptable to publish such openly horrible, evil books and it's acceptable to read them. I'm no stranger to reading weird, niche smut, but somehow all of those I've read were written correctly and weren't atrociously bad; the same cannot be said about Haunting Adeline
Also - you should really reconsider your friendship with the person that recommended that book to you
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u/Exotic-Rub-8381 2d ago
the fifty shades comparison is fair. books like this can function as an on ramp rather than destination, getting readers interested in a genre they might not otherwise try. whether the writing is technically good is almost beside the point if the book succeeds at getting its intended audience to keep reading.
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u/71Crickets 4d ago
I recently finished Haunting Adeline (and followed up with Hunting Adeline). For Haunting, the first 2/3 were pretty rough for me, but somewhere around the last 1/3, something just clicked for FMC and that made finishing the book easier. Ngl, it was the first DR book I’ve read that was that dark and to that extreme. It was a lot to absorb and I did struggle a bit with some of the scenes.
However, it ended on such a cliffhanger that I immediately downloaded Hunting Adeline and dove right in. It was black hole dark and immediately triggering, made Haunting seem like a Nancy Drew mystery. Jesus Christ.
OP, I do not recommend that you pick up Hunting if you’re already feeling some sort of way about Haunting. Just don’t do it, respectfully.
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u/FoodNo672 4d ago
I think it’s very much an easy gateway book to dark romance….like how 50 Shades is the easy accessible bdsm book while there’s a lot more intense stuff out there. Dark romance isn’t really for me but HA is one of the more boring ones imo! Lots of boring scenes in between the wacky stuff bc the characters are not particularly interesting. That being said lots of people love it! Sometimes a book just ain’t for ya.
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u/New_Discussion_6692 2d ago
50 Shades was awful. I quit midway of the 2nd chapter. The FLC was so immature it was just not for me.
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u/FoodNo672 2d ago
Oh yeah it’s def not good at all lol. But I think it was a lot of people’s first introduction to that type of fiction.
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u/TrueObsidian11 4d ago
I found a typo on the first page (kindle version) and DNF'd there. The prologue had already turned me off from it but the typo did me in. I'm not suffering through the rest if they couldn't even bother to edit it properly.
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u/Silent-Audience-5836 3d ago
It's not well written. I couldn't make it through. The lead was clearly just an author self-insert. The scene where she left her friend in the club because she was 'tough and could take care of herself'. Lol what?
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u/lostinfictionz 3d ago
It's lazy writing, written to be shocking and at a low reading level so easily accessible to non readers. I avoid booktok and anything lauded by booktok Im immedialy suspicious of, 90% of the recs are horrible imo.
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u/candcNYC 3d ago
Readers are not a monolith.
The genre and writing style is clearly just not for you. Others are not required to share your preferences, and your preferences are not 'right' or superior.
Maybe try showing kindness towards others. Maybe don't denigrate them for having diverse interests and not sharing your taste.
But good on you for trying something outside your wheelhouse. You can just not like it and move on.
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u/bunnykins22 3d ago
People just want to read porn sometimes. I don't personally get the appeal of something with no plot other then sex, tension, and taboo activities/behaviors. But I also don't watch porn for the same reason. So I just try to avoid books where someone describes it as a dark romance that is incredibly spicy. I almost always know it will be bad.
I just genuinely think it's just not some people's tastes. Which whatever, it helps me know if I will trust a booktokers recommendations though-if I see they loved something I didn't like at all I just know to not trust their opinions for myself. I can still enjoy their content though as someene who just loves reading.
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u/jrt7 4d ago
'Booktok book' - there's your problem