Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

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So I was listening to our last episode, Pen Pal.

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Yeah. And we talk about how it's sexy

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when men use your name. It just feels flirty.

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So I was messaging with a guy at work,

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and he messaged me back and said

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something about how, like, oh, are you just gonna sign

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me up for all of these events, Nicole? And I was

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like, this feels flirty. And I showed another guy at work,

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and he's like, did he have to use your name?

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Oh. I was like, I'm not. I know.

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I know. It just feels different when they use your name.

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It reminded me so much of you just saying how

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it's sexy when men use your name. Yeah. And I was like, it does feel

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different. They don't have to. And then I started thinking about how infrequently

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a lot of these men use my actual name. Like, they don't say my name.

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Yeah. My husband hardly ever uses my name. I know.

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So when they do it just sexually. That's a lie. He does actually say

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my name. But most, like, in normal. In normal

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conversation, the only time that he really uses my name is,

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like, when we're having sex. But in normal conversation,

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he really doesn't. He always calls me babe.

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Yes. Same. I have to tell you something about my husband.

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I text him today, and I was like, how big of a deal is it

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to have the battery in my car remote changed?

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And. Cause it's, like, been low, and it's, like, now it's to the point where

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it's like, it doesn't recognize my remote anymore. So when I have to, like,

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manually unlock it, it's, like, so annoying. Yeah. And he texted me back, like,

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almost immediately and was like, oh, it's not a baby, dad. I'll take care of

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it for you. I love that. For you.

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Okay. Yes. All right, well, I'm Amanda.

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And I'm Nicole. And we are Plot tarts. We read, recap, and review

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smutty books. Let us help you decide if this book should stay on your tbr.

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What are we reading? Today? We are reading Hunting Adeline by

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HD Carlton. And we look at. We know that we said that we weren't.

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We specifically said we weren't. We specifically said we would never

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do it, but it just felt incomplete. And there's

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been some recent, like, stuff stirred up with this author.

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We gotta give the people what they want. We really. Yeah, we really do.

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So this is gonna be our unwrapped episode. So there are

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spoilers ahead. If you haven't read the book and you don't want the spoilers then

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you can stop listening now. We'll have a wrapped episode

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posted sometime in the future. Hey, we're going to start with the content warnings

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which are. They're not even content warnings, they're just an important I have so

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many strong opinions about this author's writing style. So important. Note as

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some of you may know, the first book in this duet, Haunting Adeline, was banned

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due to the warnings, but it is so necessary to have one. These are

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also available on my website. This book contains very dark triggering situations,

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particularly a four letter one that starts with R and ends with

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E, though not between the main characters.

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Is that creative enough? Zahn Question mark these

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scenes can be detailed, so please proceed with caution. There is also graphic violence,

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sexual assault, explicit sexual situations, human trafficking,

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PTSD, and a very particular kinks such as blood play,

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knife play, degradation and somnophilia. This book is significantly darker

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than the first. Please take these warnings seriously. Your mental health matters.

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And then there is an author's note that says if you are expecting

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a quick reunion, then this book isn't for you. Don't worry,

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there's not any less spice. And I have to say,

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in case you are wondering that that is factually wrong

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and incorrect. Agreed. This book,

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this book is so I would not recommend this book to people. Like this book

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is so, so much darker. Yeah, really, if you

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have trigger warnings, do not listen to this episode. Really don't.

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And honestly, I would even go so far as to say that this book,

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for me, technically speaking, it is a smutty book.

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It's not a smutty book. Nope, it's really not.

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We are doing it because it is technically considered a smutty book. And again,

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like Nicole said, it's been coming up on social media and it's kind

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of a give the people what they want kind of a deal. But once

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we kind of get into it, we can kind of talk a little bit more

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about the air quotes. Smut. In this book we

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pick up where we left off at the end of Haunting Adeline.

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And just as a friendly reminder, Daya had called or was

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texting Adeline to come over to her place and Adeline

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rushed out the house, got in her car, started to go over there and

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her vehicle was hit and basically totaled and

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she was taken from the vehicle and basically kidnapped at the same time that

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Z or Zade's infiltration of the

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society, which is a child sex trafficking ring, had gone sideways

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and he was also caught at gunpoint. We Literally pick

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up right where we left off. From there, Adeline wakes

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up in a warehouse. She receives some care from a doctor. Thirty stitches,

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apparently. And Zade meets

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the bad guys, or I guess rather the bad woman behind

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the explosion, and learns that Addie has

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been taken. It turns out that this. I'm gonna

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get through this, and then we're gonna talk about it. Yes. It turns out that

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the wife of a politician from the previous book that was killed,

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his name was Mark. He was kind of the big wig. They went over to

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his house and had sex in his movie theater. His wife was

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actually the mastermind behind the Society and

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behind the trafficking ring. And apparently the whole abused,

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you know, whatever was all just an act. And then while

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attempting to kidnap Z and his

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employee Jay, his team intervenes by chasing

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the van that they're being taken in down. And then,

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like, crashing the van. His team discovers

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Addie has been posted on the Dark Web with a

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bounty of $12 million if successfully captured and brought into

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the Society. Now we're kind of back with Addie, so there's

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like, a lot of this, like, back and forth. We're trying to get, like,

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our feet underneath us. She is in this warehouse with a doctor,

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and then the two men who kidnapped her, Rio and. What was the other guy's

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name? Rick. Rick. Rio and Rick. And this

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doctor is kind of like, I don't know. We find

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out some crazy shit about him later, but he basically, like,

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wakes Addy up and is like, come with me. I'm gonna rescue you.

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And she's, like, getting a bad vibe off of him, and she ends up slicing

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his throat. And, like, he ends up getting shot in the head by

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one of the kidnappers, Rio. Adeline is then transported

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to her new location, which is the house where she is going to be groomed

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at. At this point, Zade put together that Max,

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who is Archibald Talavera's friend, that was the guy

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that Zade cut his hands off after he went on the date.

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Yeah. And murdered his whole family. He put a separate bounty out.

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So he basically, like, the original Bounty was for 12 million.

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He put out a separate bounty for 3 million so that he could get his

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9 million and whatever. For somebody else to

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do the dirty work. Yeah, basically. And so Zade goes over to

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his place to interrogate him and learns that this whole thing was set in motion

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by a video Max received, supposedly from Zade,

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of Zayd killing Max's father.

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We never actually get confirmation of where that came from or if that's Actually,

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what happened. But Zayd realizes that it's all been set up to get Max involved

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so he would assist in the kidnapping. Zade tortures him and then,

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I don't know, preserves his body, keeping him alive so that he can continue to

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torture him later. But then again, we never go back to him and we never

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see what happens to him. Then he goes over to Luke's house.

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Luke was also one of Archibald Talavera's friends who

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was previously dating Daya. Daya has been kidnapped

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by Luke, so he rescues Daya from Luke.

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He's had her tied up, and he's been raping her and inflicting

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pain on her for a week. And then they work together.

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Daya and Zade work together to,

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like, inflict pain on Luke.

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I would say, in this situation. I have a note

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here that we are subjected to one of the worst scenes ever written. I want

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to read it to you so that you can understand what I'm talking

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about. So he goes in,

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he rescues Daya. He and Daya are torturing

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this man. And there's a page break and the

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paragraph starts. I pound harder.

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Fuck, I need to do it harder. The answering moans send a shot of

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pleasure down my spine. And every time I hear it, all I can think about

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is Addie. I can never stop thinking about her. Even as the begging follows

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the screams. Harder, please. The plea is breathless, but it's not

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good enough. Please. What? I demand through gritted teeth, sweat dripping down my temple from

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exerting myself. It's still not enough. It never will be.

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Not until I have Addie again. Zayd diet calls,

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please. I look over to her, my mallet suspended over the massive nail lodged

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into Luke's leg. She looks a little nauseous, but I can't find it in myself

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to care right now. Why is that scene so fucking gross?

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I had to read it twice. I. It's. I literally,

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because I was like, what is he dreaming? What's happening? I have

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some really big opinions about the way that this person, that this author writes these

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books. And I came into this book, Nicole and I talked about it. I wanted

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to give her the benefit of the doubt. I said it in the first episode.

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If you haven't listened to our haunting Adeline episode, go back and listen to it,

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I say. In that episode, she reads like a

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rural Midwestern conservative. That is

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how her books read, every single one of them. And this scene right here

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is indicative of that writing style where there's just this,

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like, complete lack of even empathy for her. Own reader.

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The thing that I would most compare this book

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to, just for like, ease of understanding based on

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what we've previously read in terms of like the taboo nature of

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this book, it would be Credence. Credence is a taboo book. Yeah,

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Right. So I realized there are different taboos. Penelope Douglas

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and HD Carlton wrote Taboo Topics

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in such a distinct way. Penelope Douglas wrote Taboo

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because she had a story to tell. She had a story to tell. She knew

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what she wanted to express and what she wanted to portray. She knew what she

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wanted the audience to feel. And she wrote that book being cognizant

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and aware of the fact that that story that she told is a

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tale as old as time. It has just never been put down on paper before.

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This author, H.D. carlton, the way that she

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wrote this book, it reminds me of like when I was 13 years old and

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I started playing with my boyfriend's penis and would like tell my

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friends about it. And like, I would say things like, to get that shock factor.

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Yeah. Because I was like, so cool. Because I was like, yeah. And then I

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get my hand job. You know what I mean? And that is how this fucking

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book reads. Like she is a fucking child writing the book. And I just

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can't. I can't fucking deal with it. I have so I don't

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have a single fucking nice thing to say about this book. So. You know,

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a ton of people say that this book changed their brain chemistry.

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No. All over Booktok people are like, I loved Haunting Adeline

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five stars, but hunting Adeline changed my brain chemistry. No, I can't. It was

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reading it again. I text you being like, I forgot how sick this book is.

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It's. It's a hard read. I had to. So where we're at right now in

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this book, I had to call Nicole in the middle of this to

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be like, who are these people? I forgot too. I had just listened to our

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last episode. So it's terrible, terrible writing.

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I don't know. How are you feeling right now? That's like the first chunk

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of book, like first hundred pages or something. And so much

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happened. This is a 600 page book.

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Yeah. So it is 585 pages

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of this shit, of this fucking garbage.

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I do think she writes

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predators well because it just.

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It tracks like it reminded me when I was reading the scene where

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Addie, she wakes up in this hospital room and then with these bad people.

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And then the doctor is going to help her, but he's not actually going to

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help her. He's going to kidnap her for himself. And that reminded me of a

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story that I had read where a woman was, like, jogging or something and she

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got raped and left her dead on the side of the road by a man,

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obviously. And then another man finds her unconscious on

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the side of the road and he also rapes her and leaves her for dead.

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Like, if men can get away with it,

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they will. And the way that.

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What I couldn't get past is, like, how Adeline's despair is written.

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She has. She has very,

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very sad thoughts. Yeah. About her situation and it was really

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hard to read and get past. I felt dirty reading this book.

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Oh, interesting. Yes,

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interesting. All right, well, let's. We'll get there. I have.

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I point out sometimes. Let's continue. Yeah. I'm curious.

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I had a very different reaction to this book. Interesting.

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So, yeah, I'm curious. Yeah. Adeline meets her madam

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slash groomer, Francesca, and Rio,

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the man who crashed his car into her car

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and then kidnapped her and then shot the doctor in the head to save her

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from him. He's put in charge of basically, like,

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healing her or, like, taking care of her before

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she gets put up for availability. She has to go through, like,

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a. Series, learn how to be a slave. Yeah. She needs to, like, go through

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a series of, like, training exercises, basically,

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and. Heal because they fucked her up. She's lucky to

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be alive after that car accident. Yeah. They really maimed her.

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Yeah. And she's not. 30 stitches in her back. She's not quite ready.

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Healed enough to go get attacked some more. She is

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tattooed with her, like, ownership number for

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the branded. Yeah, she's basically branded. And she

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also gets a tracker injected under her skin in the

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early, like, stages of the book. She is blessed with

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being drugged every night before she goes to sleep.

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It's here inside, in sort of like a delirious state

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that she discovers a journal in the floorboards of

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00:15:24,370 --> 00:15:27,410
this house. I'm going to tell you up front right now,

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the journal on the floorboard is about Molly, which is a novella

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00:15:32,350 --> 00:15:35,410
that is, like, based in the same universe that. Yeah. Where's Molly?

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00:15:36,130 --> 00:15:40,130
Yeah, I'm. Again, spoiler alert. They're just

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00:15:40,630 --> 00:15:44,250
the same way that Gigi's diary pages were interspersed in

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00:15:44,750 --> 00:15:48,420
haunting Adeline. That's how Molly's pages are. But they end relatively

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00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,380
quickly because Molly ends up escaping. I don't talk about her pages at all.

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They are not relevant to the story. I think it was just a really

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00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,900
shameless plug for this author for her next book, basically. I also think

247
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that they Did Molly? Because later we get Adeline's journal.

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And it would have been weird to, like, start with Adeline's journal just randomly later.

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00:16:11,180 --> 00:16:15,350
So I think it was just that continuity. Oh, yeah. Because once Molly's

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00:16:15,850 --> 00:16:19,710
pages end abruptly, then Addie starts journaling, and then she continues

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00:16:20,210 --> 00:16:23,550
to journal throughout the rest of the book. And we get those pages

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00:16:24,050 --> 00:16:27,430
interspersed. The next day, one of the other women,

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a woman named Sydney, who is an absolute fucking loon,

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00:16:31,430 --> 00:16:35,190
collects Adeline and brings her to the women's dressing room,

255
00:16:35,830 --> 00:16:40,370
where Francesca's brother Rocco attempts

256
00:16:40,870 --> 00:16:44,130
to cut moles off of one of the girl's faces.

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00:16:44,770 --> 00:16:47,850
And so I. This is. This is where, like, it started,

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00:16:48,350 --> 00:16:51,530
where I was like, I feel gross. Sure. I don't want to read. This is

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00:16:52,030 --> 00:16:55,810
sick. He takes a knife out, like a rusty knife,

260
00:16:56,210 --> 00:17:00,370
and basically just starts, like, digging into her face. And Adeline

261
00:17:00,870 --> 00:17:03,890
is like, you're just making her uglier. Like, she says it out loud, like,

262
00:17:04,390 --> 00:17:08,380
what are you doing? And he pulls her out

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00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,300
of the line, pulls her pants down in front of everybody and rapes

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00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,940
her. And we get that description. I want to talk about. I want to,

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00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,660
like, pause and talk about that, because we have talked about this

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00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,700
in the past. Like, we talked about this with credence, where there is a certain,

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00:17:23,780 --> 00:17:27,220
like, audience, where there is sort

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00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:31,260
of this, like, cathartic element of reading and,

269
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,390
like, taking over ownership and, like, of, like, stories of

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00:17:35,890 --> 00:17:39,510
things that have happened to you as a way of, like, coping. This is

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00:17:40,010 --> 00:17:43,110
not written like that. This is not written in a way.

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00:17:43,430 --> 00:17:47,630
Where you're in her head. Yeah. And you're getting assaulted

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00:17:48,130 --> 00:17:51,590
along with her. Yes. And I would also add, like, if you are somebody who

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00:17:52,090 --> 00:17:55,310
likes non con. This is not written as a sexy

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00:17:55,810 --> 00:17:59,430
non con. No. The way that this scene is described,

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00:17:59,830 --> 00:18:04,640
in my opinion, all of these rape scenes are described is with

277
00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,640
almost like a medical detachment.

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00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,080
It's very like he pulled my pants down and then I

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00:18:12,580 --> 00:18:14,800
could feel him at the back of me. And then he. And. And then he

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00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:18,400
rammed. And it's. It like, I. I fucking hated this book.

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00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:22,360
Well, we describe. You get the description of Addie screaming and she's

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00:18:22,860 --> 00:18:26,680
being raped. After reading the entire journal, Adeline decides

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00:18:27,180 --> 00:18:31,640
that she's going to continue with her own story. It's revealed to Sidney that

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if she is not caught during the next culling, which is

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00:18:35,980 --> 00:18:39,520
the event that the madam uses to, like, sell her girls,

286
00:18:40,020 --> 00:18:44,040
basically, she sets up buyers who chase

287
00:18:44,540 --> 00:18:49,360
the women through a maze in the woods. Hunt. Hunt the women with crossbows.

288
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,400
Sidney has Continuously been captured, which she's not supposed to be.

289
00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:57,850
She's supposed to be getting out of it. It's very convoluted.

290
00:18:58,170 --> 00:19:01,530
I don't. I literally don't even have the patience to explain,

291
00:19:02,030 --> 00:19:05,530
like, the whole Sidney Francesca dynamic because it's so ridiculous

292
00:19:06,030 --> 00:19:09,330
and unnecessary. But basically, if Sidney can't get her shit

293
00:19:09,830 --> 00:19:13,650
together, Francesca tells her that she's gonna die. And the reasoning

294
00:19:14,150 --> 00:19:18,330
behind that is because Adeline is essentially like a leveling up strategy

295
00:19:18,730 --> 00:19:22,050
for Francesca. So she's using her as a way

296
00:19:22,550 --> 00:19:26,380
to, like, attract wealthier buyers. And it

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00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,180
really is just the most ridiculous reason to create an enemy

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00:19:30,420 --> 00:19:33,860
of Sidney for Adeline, basically because then

299
00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:37,220
from here on out, Sidney makes Adeline's life a living hell.

300
00:19:37,540 --> 00:19:41,540
And every time she does something, Adeline gets punished for it. She blames

301
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,020
it on Adeline and they always believe her and it just. It just didn't need

302
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,820
to happen. All of it. She's already being raped in traffic. Yes.

303
00:19:48,950 --> 00:19:52,790
And then we have this girl who is tormenting her and

304
00:19:53,290 --> 00:19:56,790
getting her again raped and beaten. And then we also

305
00:19:57,350 --> 00:20:00,590
have this culling, which again, I don't feel like we needed.

306
00:20:01,090 --> 00:20:04,630
Like, did these girls need to be hunted with crossbows? Yeah. On top

307
00:20:05,130 --> 00:20:08,470
of what's already happening. Yeah. It was like, H.C. carlton was like,

308
00:20:08,790 --> 00:20:12,390
this needs to be the sickest shit you've ever read. Yeah, I'm going

309
00:20:12,890 --> 00:20:16,230
to fuck everyone up. Yeah, 100%. And again, I have to go back to.

310
00:20:16,930 --> 00:20:19,970
There is such a thing as, like having a story and like

311
00:20:20,130 --> 00:20:23,570
trying to tell that story. In this

312
00:20:24,070 --> 00:20:27,530
case, this literally like what, what you just said is exactly what

313
00:20:28,030 --> 00:20:31,490
this book is. H.D. carlton thought of the most fucked up shit that she possibly

314
00:20:31,990 --> 00:20:35,330
could and she just like, word vomited it all over a piece

315
00:20:35,830 --> 00:20:39,450
of paper and then like packaged it as like a taboo, dark romance. And that

316
00:20:39,950 --> 00:20:42,810
is not what this book is. This book is. I think we've all heard of

317
00:20:43,310 --> 00:20:46,580
torture porn. This book is emotional torture porn.

318
00:20:46,660 --> 00:20:49,940
And we're going to get deeper into it. And I have more thoughts about it.

319
00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,020
But basically what ends up happening is that Francesca,

320
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,220
as part of her training for Adeline, and Adeline has like, you know,

321
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,900
she's super fiery and she's, you know, likes to pop off at the mouth,

322
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,620
which, like, babes, I get you. But she is doing

323
00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:09,380
a really good job of like keeping her thoughts to herself and

324
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,440
she's like really seeming to like, impress these people. And her thought is

325
00:21:13,940 --> 00:21:16,960
like, if she can get on good terms with these people, they'll give

326
00:21:17,460 --> 00:21:20,120
her enough of a leeway for her to be able to get away from them.

327
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,960
And so Francesca makes Adeline lick her shoe and

328
00:21:24,460 --> 00:21:28,280
then later that night discovers that her shoes have been destroyed and

329
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,560
assumes because she had Adeline lick her shoe,

330
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,360
that it was Adeline who destroyed her shoes,

331
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:38,040
when in fact it was Sidney. And she has

332
00:21:38,540 --> 00:21:42,610
someone shove the broken heel of the shoe into. Into Adeline

333
00:21:42,690 --> 00:21:46,290
and then allows Rocco and his friends to rape her all night long.

334
00:21:47,730 --> 00:21:50,810
And that's all written. And I also,

335
00:21:51,310 --> 00:21:54,370
like, I need to say this if you enjoyed this book. I'm not trying to

336
00:21:54,870 --> 00:21:58,250
shame you. I'm really not. I just think, like, we all just

337
00:21:58,750 --> 00:22:02,050
need to take a fucking step back and really, like, get a grip of what

338
00:22:02,550 --> 00:22:05,650
the fuck is happening here. I don't though. I know a lot of women who

339
00:22:06,150 --> 00:22:09,410
liked Haunting Adeline. I don't hear as much about this one. And I have had

340
00:22:09,910 --> 00:22:12,170
a lot of people ask me if they should read it. And I've told all

341
00:22:12,670 --> 00:22:15,980
of them no. Yeah, because if you're looking for what you got with Haunting Adeline,

342
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,340
you are not getting that here. No, you are not. And honestly, Haunting Adeline could

343
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,740
have ended. Oh, we didn't need this. Yes,

344
00:22:24,060 --> 00:22:28,540
absolutely. This could have been its own dark, fucked up book and

345
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,940
didn't need to be. I don't feel like I had to read this to

346
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,740
learn that Addie gets her happy ending. We could have just ended it and

347
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,820
then you could have picked two different people to do this with or something.

348
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,560
Well, and I have some opinions about it as well once we get there,

349
00:22:44,060 --> 00:22:47,640
but I agree with you so much. So as the days

350
00:22:48,140 --> 00:22:52,040
lead up to the culling, the women are subjected to continuous sexual

351
00:22:52,540 --> 00:22:55,800
violence at the hands of Rocco and his friends. And as

352
00:22:56,300 --> 00:23:00,080
a reader, we start to see a distinct change in Adeline as

353
00:23:00,580 --> 00:23:03,800
she wars with her anger and pain. The evening of

354
00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:07,880
the culling, the high roller that Francesca is trying to impress chooses

355
00:23:08,380 --> 00:23:11,640
Adeline, as everyone knew that he. Would, to hunt her. To hunt her.

356
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,160
And although Addie does well, she ends up finding

357
00:23:16,660 --> 00:23:20,080
herself helping one of the other women who is ultimately

358
00:23:20,580 --> 00:23:24,480
shot with an arrow, and then lures her hunter into a trap and

359
00:23:24,980 --> 00:23:28,920
uses his own crossbow to kill him, allowing Adeline

360
00:23:29,420 --> 00:23:33,160
to escape and make it to this air quotes like Safe Zone.

361
00:23:33,660 --> 00:23:36,880
And this again was just so sad to read. I didn't like

362
00:23:37,380 --> 00:23:40,660
reading it. This girl is terrified and tries to find comfort with

363
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,460
Addie. And Addi is so. She is definitely somebody who would help a girl.

364
00:23:44,860 --> 00:23:48,060
But at this Point she is completely only focused on her survival.

365
00:23:48,140 --> 00:23:51,860
Yeah. That we see her basically try to, like, push this girl away and tell

366
00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:55,820
her to, like, get fucked. Like, get lost. Yeah. It just. It showed me,

367
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,260
like, so much how. How far down Addie had gone.

368
00:23:59,500 --> 00:24:03,380
Yeah. And where her mental state was. Yeah. Like, how broken she was to

369
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,290
where she's gonna let another girl get killed so that she survives. And it

370
00:24:07,610 --> 00:24:10,890
broke my fucking heart, I guess. Interesting that

371
00:24:11,390 --> 00:24:14,770
it was so heartbreaking for you because I felt like

372
00:24:15,270 --> 00:24:18,490
she didn't do the heartbreak justice. Sure. And I think, like,

373
00:24:18,890 --> 00:24:22,450
knowing how it made you feel, maybe that's for the best because, like,

374
00:24:22,950 --> 00:24:26,210
it might have been too much to. Addie didn't care. Deeper into it.

375
00:24:26,710 --> 00:24:29,810
Yeah. Addy didn't care. Like, this girl is going, like,

376
00:24:30,310 --> 00:24:34,170
this girl needs help. She's scared. She's young. And Addie did not care.

377
00:24:34,410 --> 00:24:36,930
And for me, that was the point where I was like. Because we see her

378
00:24:37,430 --> 00:24:39,250
a lot. She's trying to be strong. They're not going to break her. She says

379
00:24:39,750 --> 00:24:43,210
that over and over. They're not going to break me. Girl, you are fucking broken.

380
00:24:43,710 --> 00:24:46,890
Yeah. And I felt like that was kind of writ where Addie's, like,

381
00:24:47,390 --> 00:24:50,890
disconnect from her psyche. She doesn't realize how broken she is.

382
00:24:51,050 --> 00:24:54,170
Yeah. That's how I felt about it.

383
00:24:54,670 --> 00:24:58,010
Yeah. Well. And I think, like, it was. I wouldn't say it's a nice thing.

384
00:24:58,850 --> 00:25:01,650
I don't want to give this author that much credit,

385
00:25:01,970 --> 00:25:05,370
but there was a scene in, like, this section of the

386
00:25:05,870 --> 00:25:09,250
book where one of the girls has been sick or,

387
00:25:09,750 --> 00:25:12,970
like, healing, so she hasn't had to participate in

388
00:25:13,470 --> 00:25:16,770
the rapings of the girls. And Adeline, like,

389
00:25:17,270 --> 00:25:20,610
goes into the dressing room and is, like, sees her and,

390
00:25:20,690 --> 00:25:24,010
like, like, immediately identifies, like, oh, where the fuck

391
00:25:24,510 --> 00:25:27,490
has she been? And, like, starts to get angry and, like, starts to, like,

392
00:25:27,990 --> 00:25:31,650
really feel a lot of resentment and anger towards these other women. And then,

393
00:25:32,150 --> 00:25:35,570
like, girls turn on each other. Yeah. And then has to basically, like, walk herself

394
00:25:36,070 --> 00:25:39,810
back and be like, I'm not mad at them. They're also victims.

395
00:25:39,890 --> 00:25:43,290
Like, it's not them that I'm actually mad at. I do think

396
00:25:43,790 --> 00:25:47,530
that that was a very, very, very realistic

397
00:25:48,030 --> 00:25:51,380
response. Yes. To something like this. After the

398
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,500
calling, the surviving women are subjected to a mingling event

399
00:25:56,220 --> 00:26:01,260
where they are required to go downstairs and have a drink with the players

400
00:26:01,420 --> 00:26:05,660
of the game and the women who

401
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,940
lost the culling. So it was two women,

402
00:26:09,100 --> 00:26:12,220
including the one that paired up with Adeline.

403
00:26:12,940 --> 00:26:16,660
They are dragged into a room where the

404
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:21,350
air quotes the victors beat, rape, and dismember and brutalize

405
00:26:21,910 --> 00:26:25,870
them all, while the women who are freed have

406
00:26:26,370 --> 00:26:30,150
to line up outside of the room and stand by

407
00:26:30,650 --> 00:26:34,350
and listen to it all happening until it's over and the

408
00:26:34,850 --> 00:26:38,990
women are brought out to the survivors, laid out

409
00:26:39,490 --> 00:26:42,390
in front of them, missing chunks of their body and their flesh.

410
00:26:42,950 --> 00:26:46,780
And Francesca informs them that

411
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:51,260
their final task of the evening will be to take care

412
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:56,020
of these women. And so they bring them outside to a bonfire.

413
00:26:56,420 --> 00:26:59,780
The three or four surviving women are each given a rock

414
00:27:00,180 --> 00:27:03,540
and with the expectation that they should beat these women to death,

415
00:27:04,260 --> 00:27:09,060
which is like, while. While the. While the air quotes, Victors and.

416
00:27:09,300 --> 00:27:13,020
And Rocco and Francesca and all of the people in their house stand

417
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,600
by and watch them do it. I don't. Isn't that, like,

418
00:27:17,100 --> 00:27:20,560
your money maker? Why are you killing these women?

419
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,600
None of it makes any sense. Their. Their reasoning behind it

420
00:27:25,100 --> 00:27:27,600
in the book, in case you're wondering, their reasoning behind it in the book is

421
00:27:28,100 --> 00:27:31,680
because, like, if they're not strong enough to survive the

422
00:27:32,180 --> 00:27:35,400
culling, then they're not strong enough to survive the men

423
00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:38,880
who are going to buy them. It's the most disgusting thing. These men buy them

424
00:27:39,380 --> 00:27:42,600
to kill them. I just can't. Yeah. At the bonfire,

425
00:27:43,100 --> 00:27:45,800
the men and Francesca surround the women, give them all rocks to kill the two

426
00:27:46,300 --> 00:27:50,280
girls. Adeline ends up using the rock that she receives to

427
00:27:50,780 --> 00:27:54,160
throw at Sidney's head and knock her out, and then uses the sharp end of

428
00:27:54,660 --> 00:27:58,480
a stick from the bonfire to stab her woman in the jugular,

429
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,200
thanking her for her help in the maze and, like, comforting her as

430
00:28:02,700 --> 00:28:05,520
she dies. There are a couple of things that happen in this,

431
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,240
like, in all of that chunk. One of them being that during

432
00:28:09,740 --> 00:28:14,000
the mingling sessions, Rio steps in to save Addie

433
00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:17,200
from Xavier the millionaire, who is, like,

434
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,400
going to buy her, basically. And we kind of start to see

435
00:28:21,900 --> 00:28:25,920
a shift in their relationship. Here we learn that the reason that Rio is

436
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,280
working for Francesca is because Francesca has his

437
00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:32,920
sister. And then my favorite part of this entire book is

438
00:28:33,420 --> 00:28:36,530
also in this section here. It's the only part of this book that I liked,

439
00:28:37,030 --> 00:28:40,650
that I enjoyed. Adeline is getting

440
00:28:41,150 --> 00:28:45,250
into it with Sidney in the dressing room and thinks

441
00:28:45,750 --> 00:28:48,970
to herself, what would Zade do? And basically grabs Sidney

442
00:28:49,470 --> 00:28:52,730
by the hair and, like, slams her face into her dressing

443
00:28:53,230 --> 00:28:56,810
room table and tells her to, like, leave her the fuck alone. And then Francesca

444
00:28:57,310 --> 00:29:01,170
comes in, sees Sidney struggling, and is like, no, you probably deserve

445
00:29:01,410 --> 00:29:03,650
it. Honestly, she does.

446
00:29:04,690 --> 00:29:07,650
And again, I don't want to give this author too much credit, but I have

447
00:29:08,150 --> 00:29:12,010
read sex trafficking books. Like, those were some of the books that came up when

448
00:29:12,510 --> 00:29:15,730
I was, like, looking for new stuff to read and I was looking for something

449
00:29:16,230 --> 00:29:19,970
dark, but I was like, I was getting recommendations that I was not expecting

450
00:29:20,530 --> 00:29:23,730
and so I kind of went into them blind and then was like, oh.

451
00:29:24,210 --> 00:29:27,810
But in a lot of the sex trafficking. Sex trafficking books that I've read,

452
00:29:27,890 --> 00:29:32,050
the women, like, the main female character unites

453
00:29:32,550 --> 00:29:35,970
all of the women and is like a hero and like, whatever.

454
00:29:36,130 --> 00:29:39,330
And this is a very realistic version

455
00:29:39,570 --> 00:29:43,010
because Adeline is not trying to unite anybody. She is solely

456
00:29:43,510 --> 00:29:46,370
focused. She doesn't care if anybody else dies. Yes. She is solely focused on her

457
00:29:46,870 --> 00:29:50,650
own survival moment to moment, which is very realistic and I will give

458
00:29:51,150 --> 00:29:54,130
the author props for that. But other than that, I just, like,

459
00:29:54,210 --> 00:29:57,460
I really just fucking can't. While all of this has

460
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,860
been happening, we're getting little, like, spurts of

461
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,260
Zade, who's honestly really not doing much. No,

462
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,460
no. Like, I don't know. Yeah, it's been months. You're supposedly like the

463
00:30:10,620 --> 00:30:13,780
fourth best hacker in the world or whatever the statistics were, and you

464
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,180
can't fucking figure out where she is. Like, anyways,

465
00:30:17,340 --> 00:30:20,660
I'm way too long. Like, we learn a lot. All of his parts. Like,

466
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,690
you can basically just skip until he finds her. There are months. Adeline is

467
00:30:25,190 --> 00:30:28,970
at this place for months. Yeah. Anyways, he finds the warehouse

468
00:30:29,450 --> 00:30:32,570
and the dead body of the doctor who had tried to,

469
00:30:33,070 --> 00:30:37,130
like, kidnap Adeline. It leads him to an auction

470
00:30:37,690 --> 00:30:40,970
where two of the women from Addie's house are

471
00:30:41,470 --> 00:30:45,130
put up and Zade buys them before killing all of the bidders

472
00:30:45,530 --> 00:30:48,810
and then streaming it on the Dark Web. And then the two

473
00:30:49,310 --> 00:30:52,700
women tell him they know Adeline and the name of

474
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,700
Xavier, her buyer. But that takes. I just

475
00:30:56,940 --> 00:31:01,180
gave you all of his chapters or all of his sections all

476
00:31:01,500 --> 00:31:04,380
scrunched up into one. It takes him for fucking ever to get there.

477
00:31:04,940 --> 00:31:08,500
Our next chapter starts two months later. Adeline is getting ready for her

478
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,260
time with Xavier, who is raping her on a regular basis now,

479
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,140
torturing her and torturing her. And he likes blood play,

480
00:31:16,460 --> 00:31:19,900
so he uses a knife on her while he rapes her,

481
00:31:20,420 --> 00:31:24,060
basically leaving scars. She's. Little cuts all over her whole body. All over her

482
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,180
body. And she is still being attended to by Rio.

483
00:31:28,340 --> 00:31:31,780
And they are trauma bonding at this point after

484
00:31:31,860 --> 00:31:35,940
a particularly heinous night where he forces an orgasm

485
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,940
out of her. It was horrible. Yeah. I felt dirty.

486
00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:43,140
Yeah. She is forced to meet with Claire.

487
00:31:43,540 --> 00:31:46,660
Claire informs her of the trouble

488
00:31:46,980 --> 00:31:50,620
Zade has made for her via this tape that he's

489
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,100
made and that her sale to Xavier will be

490
00:31:55,180 --> 00:31:58,620
expedited and completed in three days. That night,

491
00:31:58,940 --> 00:32:01,900
Sydney accosts Addie while she's sleeping,

492
00:32:02,060 --> 00:32:05,780
sharing that she knows her plans to escape because she

493
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,500
read Adeline's diary. And Addie kills her with a pen.

494
00:32:09,980 --> 00:32:13,700
And then Rio comes in to see what's going on. Addie makes a bargain

495
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,630
with him. If he helps her get out, she and Zade will save his sister,

496
00:32:18,130 --> 00:32:20,510
which I don't know why we didn't come. To that sooner,

497
00:32:20,750 --> 00:32:24,030
honestly. It just. None of it makes any fucking sense.

498
00:32:24,270 --> 00:32:27,750
No, it didn't need to be months. I would have been

499
00:32:28,250 --> 00:32:31,910
fine with this book if she would have gotten to the house, maybe gotten assaulted

500
00:32:32,410 --> 00:32:36,870
once. She gets rescued immediately. Yeah, this was

501
00:32:37,370 --> 00:32:38,910
horrible. I have a headache.

502
00:32:42,030 --> 00:32:45,950
And we barely laughed in this episode. We're just devastated.

503
00:32:46,350 --> 00:32:49,630
Yes. All these things come colliding together

504
00:32:50,130 --> 00:32:52,710
as Addy makes it to a hiding place in a train in the woods.

505
00:32:53,210 --> 00:32:56,470
And Zade and his team, using information from the women that they bought at the

506
00:32:56,970 --> 00:33:00,870
auction, have managed to narrow down the area that she's in.

507
00:33:01,370 --> 00:33:05,270
And they find her and they rescue her. We spend time with Addie as she

508
00:33:05,770 --> 00:33:09,310
recovers from her physical injuries and her emotional scars. She is,

509
00:33:09,630 --> 00:33:12,790
as anyone would expect, not doing

510
00:33:13,290 --> 00:33:17,110
very well. She's completely broken. She says multiple times she wishes

511
00:33:17,610 --> 00:33:20,670
that Xavier would have just killed her. Yeah. And after several weeks,

512
00:33:21,150 --> 00:33:24,270
Zade takes her to one of his survivor camps,

513
00:33:24,830 --> 00:33:28,110
where survivors who have nowhere to go can

514
00:33:28,610 --> 00:33:31,910
stay after he rescues them. This is sort of the beginning

515
00:33:32,410 --> 00:33:35,450
of the shift for her, who expresses that she

516
00:33:35,950 --> 00:33:40,050
wants to help. And she and Zade begin their training

517
00:33:40,550 --> 00:33:44,170
again. I just fucking can't. Reading these notes back.

518
00:33:44,670 --> 00:33:48,170
I'm like, did I fucking read this trash? Zade one

519
00:33:48,670 --> 00:33:52,650
day leaves. This was my only solace in this book because I fucking love

520
00:33:53,150 --> 00:33:56,530
Sibby. And shows up with fucking Sibby, who, for a reminder,

521
00:33:57,030 --> 00:34:00,300
is the crazy doll from the haunted house. Yeah. She's escaped

522
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,820
from the mental institution. Taunting. Yeah. She killed her sight, her therapist, and escaped

523
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,060
from the mental institution and called Zade, apparently.

524
00:34:08,620 --> 00:34:12,540
And now she's staying at Parsons Manor with them.

525
00:34:12,940 --> 00:34:15,340
And my note here just says, chaos ensues.

526
00:34:15,659 --> 00:34:18,860
Honestly, you should read her book. I haven't read her book.

527
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:23,020
I need to read her book because I. I don't like this book. And now

528
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,300
I feel like we're never going to do another HD Carlton. Because you're going to

529
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,290
be so mad at her. Yeah. Because I. I really like. Does it

530
00:34:30,790 --> 00:34:33,370
hurt. Yeah. But it's never happening because you're done.

531
00:34:34,010 --> 00:34:37,410
I mean, I bought it, so I might have to read it just for

532
00:34:37,910 --> 00:34:41,370
that. But some time you'll get over this. Just like Addie does. Well,

533
00:34:41,870 --> 00:34:46,410
Sibby is a good time because she's literally loony.

534
00:34:46,810 --> 00:34:50,050
She's just having orgies with her fake henchmen. Yeah. Which I'm

535
00:34:50,550 --> 00:34:53,770
honestly kind of curious. What does that look like? Because she loves a

536
00:34:54,270 --> 00:34:57,310
public orgy. What is happening? I don't know. What does it. Look,

537
00:34:57,810 --> 00:35:00,710
at one point, she talks about. She's talking with her henchmen.

538
00:35:00,950 --> 00:35:04,270
There's five of them, right? Yes, there's five henchmen. At one point, she's.

539
00:35:04,770 --> 00:35:08,190
They're all. They all have a name also. And they sit in places so

540
00:35:08,690 --> 00:35:12,030
that, like, Addie can't sit down because, like, Jack is sitting there or whatever

541
00:35:12,530 --> 00:35:15,790
the fuck. And, like, at one point in time, she's, like, mumbling to them

542
00:35:16,290 --> 00:35:19,710
about, like, using popsicles. It's just. She just.

543
00:35:20,210 --> 00:35:22,910
Is I. Because she has a very. Some of them are very good in bed.

544
00:35:23,410 --> 00:35:26,920
And I need to know. Yeah, what does that look like? Are there

545
00:35:27,420 --> 00:35:31,120
props? Is it just her? I'm so curious

546
00:35:31,620 --> 00:35:35,200
because I feel like one of them likes anal. Like. Yeah, she does talk

547
00:35:35,700 --> 00:35:38,800
about that. Yeah. Chaotic. And she's always trying to do it in front of

548
00:35:39,300 --> 00:35:41,960
everybody. Yes. And so Zade and Addie are constantly like,

549
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,840
sibby, can you please go upstairs? And then she, like, calls them wet

550
00:35:46,340 --> 00:35:49,840
blankets. And, God, it's so funny, she calls them boring. And at one

551
00:35:50,340 --> 00:35:53,870
point in time, Adeline is like, are not boring. Like, yes.

552
00:35:54,590 --> 00:35:58,030
All right. Well, months pass and Daya manages to track down

553
00:35:58,530 --> 00:36:02,390
Francesca and Rocco. The squad go and pick

554
00:36:02,890 --> 00:36:06,190
them up, bringing them back to the manor. And then apparently

555
00:36:06,270 --> 00:36:09,430
Addy plans to chain and torture them. But we don't actually get to see that

556
00:36:09,930 --> 00:36:13,550
because immediately after we get them home, we're on a flight to a sex

557
00:36:14,050 --> 00:36:18,160
club where Xavier is discovered to be going. And on

558
00:36:18,660 --> 00:36:22,560
the plane we get a scene. There is kind of a scene before this in

559
00:36:23,060 --> 00:36:26,600
a car. But, like, I just don't have it in me to talk about it,

560
00:36:27,100 --> 00:36:30,960
honestly. No, nothing really happens. She smokes a cigarette and

561
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,560
gives him. Until she finishes the cigarette to. Yeah, to touch.

562
00:36:35,060 --> 00:36:38,800
Anyways, so that happened earlier and it was not a good scene.

563
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,680
So Adeline was gifted a knife from Zayd,

564
00:36:42,180 --> 00:36:45,600
who has been trying to slowly get Addy more comfortable with him touching her

565
00:36:46,100 --> 00:36:50,290
because she. She obviously can't stand being touched.

566
00:36:50,770 --> 00:36:53,890
This evening, he brings the knife to her, asking her to let him

567
00:36:54,390 --> 00:36:58,050
strap it onto her leg. And the sexual tension flares.

568
00:36:58,550 --> 00:37:02,330
And Zade asks Addi if she's ever heard of taking control of your

569
00:37:02,830 --> 00:37:06,610
fears in order to master them. Knowing that Xavier cut her while he

570
00:37:07,110 --> 00:37:10,730
raped her, she agrees to let him hold the sharp edge of

571
00:37:11,230 --> 00:37:15,210
the knife while she holds his hand and maneuvers the knife handle

572
00:37:15,710 --> 00:37:19,450
to fuck herself with. She does this, asking Zade if it hurts not

573
00:37:19,950 --> 00:37:23,050
to touch her, and he says yes. And she tells him that he can't.

574
00:37:23,550 --> 00:37:27,010
And then she tells him he has one chance to taste her,

575
00:37:27,170 --> 00:37:29,970
and when he does, she comes.

576
00:37:30,610 --> 00:37:34,610
I felt dirty. We just had graphic scenes of her being raped,

577
00:37:35,090 --> 00:37:38,450
and now we're expected to get turned on.

578
00:37:39,090 --> 00:37:43,210
And I felt dirty, dirty. I felt

579
00:37:43,370 --> 00:37:45,770
like, these scenes, they will continue.

580
00:37:46,810 --> 00:37:50,410
And I would say, like, I didn't like Zade in the first

581
00:37:50,910 --> 00:37:54,450
book. I liked the sex scenes in the first book. I didn't like Zade at

582
00:37:54,950 --> 00:37:59,090
all. Like, I had nothing nice to say about him. I don't know how somehow

583
00:37:59,590 --> 00:38:02,050
she managed to make me like him in this book. He's the only character that

584
00:38:02,550 --> 00:38:06,170
I really do like. He's incredibly, incredibly patient.

585
00:38:06,860 --> 00:38:10,940
He says all of the right things. Yes. He knows. He obviously,

586
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:14,620
like, he works in sex trafficking. He works with survivors of sex trafficking.

587
00:38:14,780 --> 00:38:18,540
He knows all of the psychological things and all of the activities

588
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,939
and all of the things. And he's incredibly patient with her. And the more

589
00:38:23,100 --> 00:38:26,860
that we, like, dive into her recovery,

590
00:38:27,180 --> 00:38:31,100
the more uncomfortable I am because it feels like

591
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,300
voyeurism. It feels like I am participating

592
00:38:35,620 --> 00:38:39,300
in a healing process that is none of my

593
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,860
fucking business. Yes. That is such a good way to put it.

594
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,460
Yeah. It. Just because you do, as you're reading. You just feel kind

595
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,940
of icky. Yeah. The whole time, huh?

596
00:38:50,020 --> 00:38:53,860
Yeah. I couldn't. I could not have gotten there if I wanted to.

597
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,060
No. Even listening to you talk about it, I think I have, like, a grimace

598
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:00,820
on my face because I'm so. You look so uncomfortable.

599
00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:05,280
Yeah. They make it to the club.

600
00:39:05,780 --> 00:39:09,400
Adeline finds herself locked in a private room with Xavier and proceeds to fight him

601
00:39:09,900 --> 00:39:13,600
off until Zade is able to break in and take Xavier out, collecting his body

602
00:39:14,100 --> 00:39:16,960
and returning to the manor. And we get another scene here.

603
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:21,760
And again, I, like, I have to go back to, like, it's very clear

604
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:26,160
that we are participating in something that is incredibly intimate and private.

605
00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:29,890
And, like, I know that that sounds so weird because we

606
00:39:30,390 --> 00:39:32,890
literally talk about smut for a living. But, like,

607
00:39:33,530 --> 00:39:36,810
I. I can't underscore

608
00:39:36,890 --> 00:39:40,250
enough how uncomfortable reading this scene made me.

609
00:39:40,410 --> 00:39:44,090
These Scenes made me more uncomfortable than the rape scenes, if I'm

610
00:39:44,590 --> 00:39:48,330
being very honest, because to your point, it felt like she wanted

611
00:39:48,830 --> 00:39:52,410
me to be excited about them. She literally says in the beginning that

612
00:39:52,910 --> 00:39:56,010
there's no less smut. Yeah. And I. Yeah. And I'm like, this is not.

613
00:39:56,330 --> 00:39:59,950
I don't. This is not smut. No. This is. Was not a sexy

614
00:40:00,450 --> 00:40:03,510
book. No. So Adeline is reeling from her encounter with Xavier.

615
00:40:03,990 --> 00:40:07,670
She's spiraling and Zay basically comes up with an idea. Initially,

616
00:40:08,170 --> 00:40:11,830
he has her get naked and then lie back against him between his

617
00:40:12,330 --> 00:40:16,230
legs. And then he has her hold a rose between her fingers

618
00:40:16,630 --> 00:40:19,910
and run it over her pussy, which is wet,

619
00:40:20,410 --> 00:40:24,070
apparently because of the thorns that he doesn't remove anymore.

620
00:40:24,150 --> 00:40:28,130
He used to remove the thorns, now he doesn't. And then he basically has

621
00:40:28,630 --> 00:40:32,570
her finger the rose and then herself until she orgasms. And then not

622
00:40:33,070 --> 00:40:37,010
being done, she gets Zade, like all worked up and

623
00:40:37,510 --> 00:40:40,370
he sits in a chair and has her crawl to him, then suck his dick.

624
00:40:40,870 --> 00:40:43,890
And eventually he fucks her. Um, no, he doesn't fuck her.

625
00:40:44,050 --> 00:40:47,650
He. He fucks her tits. Oh. He fucks her breasts

626
00:40:48,150 --> 00:40:52,420
while he. While she fingers herself. And then they both come.

627
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,180
And then. I have to make a note here. First of

628
00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:59,580
all, do you want to say something or should I just continue to rant?

629
00:40:59,740 --> 00:41:03,060
It's. I'm sorry. I feel so bad. I literally have

630
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,620
just been screaming at this microphone for the last hour. I mean, you're saying everything

631
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:10,500
so well. My only thing with this scene is just again, logistically. And I've been

632
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:14,060
titty fucked a lot. You need both hands.

633
00:41:14,380 --> 00:41:17,820
Sure. Where'd the third one come? That she's fingering herself? Cuz he will not

634
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,890
touch her. Yeah. Zade is very careful for a very long time to

635
00:41:22,390 --> 00:41:26,290
not touch her. His hands replace her hands. He said they say. Does he say

636
00:41:26,790 --> 00:41:30,570
that? Okay. Because I was like, she needs both hands. That is holding that

637
00:41:31,070 --> 00:41:34,930
together. Very reasonable logistical clarity. I read it like five times

638
00:41:35,430 --> 00:41:38,210
because I was like, who? He keeps talking about how he's not going to touch

639
00:41:38,710 --> 00:41:42,050
her. And she's like, you can't touch me. Yeah. And I'm like,

640
00:41:42,550 --> 00:41:45,770
how did that work? Because I remembered when I was listening to the

641
00:41:46,270 --> 00:41:49,490
first episode again, like, it talks about how she has just beautiful big boobs.

642
00:41:49,570 --> 00:41:52,850
Yeah. You need both hands. I'm so sorry. Yeah,

643
00:41:53,330 --> 00:41:56,810
no, it's totally recent. So that's my only thought from that because I couldn't get

644
00:41:57,310 --> 00:42:00,370
past it. Yeah. Because sometimes authors forget.

645
00:42:01,010 --> 00:42:04,250
Like, I think we've done that in another Book where it's like, wait, did they

646
00:42:04,750 --> 00:42:07,850
flip over? Because now they're facing each other, but they never mentioned flipping

647
00:42:08,350 --> 00:42:11,970
over. I actually think the other logistical. One of the other books there was.

648
00:42:12,470 --> 00:42:16,230
We for sure had a logistical question about Hooked. Yeah. And then I

649
00:42:16,730 --> 00:42:19,790
think the other one was with this book was with haunting Adeline. I think

650
00:42:20,290 --> 00:42:23,590
it was something to do with them in the mirror. Yeah. Well, my whole

651
00:42:24,090 --> 00:42:28,270
thing about this was I think that this scene

652
00:42:28,770 --> 00:42:31,950
coupled with the, like, the last two scenes, we see

653
00:42:32,450 --> 00:42:36,030
this sort of, like, relationship shift, this,

654
00:42:36,530 --> 00:42:39,950
like, sexual dynamic shift between Addie and Zade.

655
00:42:40,190 --> 00:42:42,710
And they talk about it a lot. They talk about how, like, you don't chase

656
00:42:43,210 --> 00:42:45,110
me anymore and you used to chase me. And he's like, you know what that

657
00:42:45,610 --> 00:42:47,530
would mean now if I chased you and I forced myself on you and it's

658
00:42:48,030 --> 00:42:50,690
just, like, different and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we're going to come to

659
00:42:51,190 --> 00:42:54,730
another scene in a little bit here, but, like, Adeline is taking control

660
00:42:55,050 --> 00:42:58,490
here, and this author is trying to make a point.

661
00:42:59,130 --> 00:43:02,570
She never makes it. She is really

662
00:43:02,730 --> 00:43:06,490
trying to make an effort to, like, show that, like,

663
00:43:07,210 --> 00:43:10,730
Zade is not the dominant, that Adeline

664
00:43:11,230 --> 00:43:14,010
is the dominant. She also says that a hundred times. Yeah. And he's like,

665
00:43:14,140 --> 00:43:17,620
don't you see? I have no control. And the way that I respond to you

666
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:21,460
is because I'm completely out of control and blah, blah, blah. It's just

667
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,860
not well done. And I think you and I have had this conversation before where

668
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:28,140
it's like, I can't decide if I want to be a dom or a sub,

669
00:43:28,300 --> 00:43:31,660
where I'm constantly torn about it. And I think that I

670
00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:35,580
realized, like, as a person, I want to be the dominant person, but I

671
00:43:36,140 --> 00:43:39,860
don't want to be a top. I don't want to be the one controlling all

672
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:44,330
of. I want. I want to be the one directing. I want to be manhandled,

673
00:43:44,830 --> 00:43:48,250
though, and I want it to be, like, on my terms, like, what I say

674
00:43:48,750 --> 00:43:52,130
goes. And I think that's what she's kind of trying to go for here,

675
00:43:52,630 --> 00:43:56,570
and she just does not fucking execute. It's so poorly

676
00:43:57,070 --> 00:44:01,090
done. Well, also these scenes, which I know is very realistic for people

677
00:44:01,590 --> 00:44:04,810
who happen to have been raped, but while Zade is

678
00:44:05,310 --> 00:44:08,980
doing stuff to her, she's thinking about Xavier. Yeah. And it's

679
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:13,340
so uncomfortable. Yeah. I. Again, I don't know how you would.

680
00:44:13,500 --> 00:44:17,580
She says they're smut and there's just not. This is not. This is not inspiration

681
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:21,020
torture porn. Yes. For sure. We get our revenge Scene here,

682
00:44:21,180 --> 00:44:25,100
Rocco, Francesca, and Xavier are interrogated for information while

683
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,980
being tortured by Sibby. Psychologically tortured.

684
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,380
She's singing. Literally.

685
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:36,140
Sibby is in this book. Yeah.

686
00:44:36,220 --> 00:44:39,850
It's so funny. Once they have all the information they need,

687
00:44:40,010 --> 00:44:43,530
they line them up in front of the woods outside Addy's house and

688
00:44:44,030 --> 00:44:47,050
then hunt them down one by one with crossbows the way that they did in

689
00:44:47,550 --> 00:44:51,290
the maze. I did like that. It felt good, right? I did. I did

690
00:44:51,790 --> 00:44:55,050
like the little conversation that Adeline has with Xavier when

691
00:44:55,550 --> 00:44:59,010
she finds him. He's, like, behind a tree, and. Yep. She's like,

692
00:44:59,510 --> 00:45:03,410
how does it feel? And I'm like, that would be so satisfying. They died

693
00:45:03,910 --> 00:45:07,380
a little too quickly. They did. I was fully expecting them because he tells

694
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,420
Sibby not to kill her, and Sibby's like, fine. Like, I won't.

695
00:45:11,660 --> 00:45:14,420
Then they get him all together, and I'm like, oh, they're gonna bring him back,

696
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:17,820
and they're just gonna repeat the cycle and keep torturing them. And. No, they.

697
00:45:18,060 --> 00:45:21,460
It is kind of funny, though, because as Adeline

698
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:25,220
is chasing Xavier, you hear Francesca screaming, oh,

699
00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:29,100
you bitch. Yeah. And things like that to Sibvy, because, you know, Sibvy is

700
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:33,110
just fucking with her. Yes, absolutely. And then Siby, like, drags her

701
00:45:33,610 --> 00:45:37,550
on over. It's just good. The thing of it is, is, like, Civvie is

702
00:45:38,190 --> 00:45:41,550
characters like Sibby are your people. Yeah, they are.

703
00:45:41,790 --> 00:45:45,510
They just. It's so funny. Which is so funny because I

704
00:45:46,010 --> 00:45:49,630
have a note. Sibby correlates everything to smell, which she's known for.

705
00:45:50,110 --> 00:45:53,190
Yes, I know. And who does that remind you of? Yeah, it reminds me of

706
00:45:53,690 --> 00:45:56,950
me. Yeah. Yeah. Where she's literally like, oh, they smell like rotten eggs.

707
00:45:57,450 --> 00:46:00,970
Yeah. I. It's so true, though. I don't think that people

708
00:46:01,470 --> 00:46:04,650
understand the way that they smell. I like that Siby is

709
00:46:05,150 --> 00:46:09,010
known for that. Yeah. I don't ever want to be known for that, because when

710
00:46:09,510 --> 00:46:12,490
people find out that I can smell them, it makes them uncomfortable, usually.

711
00:46:12,990 --> 00:46:16,890
Oh, yeah. So I just, like, don't usually tell people about it now.

712
00:46:17,390 --> 00:46:20,890
Everybody's gonna know. Well, they kill everybody. But not until after

713
00:46:21,370 --> 00:46:25,190
Zade fingers Adeline while she holds

714
00:46:25,690 --> 00:46:28,910
Xavier at arrowhead point and then

715
00:46:29,470 --> 00:46:32,870
does that until she comes, like, telling her to say his

716
00:46:33,370 --> 00:46:36,510
name because Xavier always wanted her to say his name and she never would.

717
00:46:36,910 --> 00:46:40,630
I really don't think that this would have hit Xavier how

718
00:46:41,130 --> 00:46:44,350
it does in the book. Oh, no. Like, he cares so much. Like,

719
00:46:44,850 --> 00:46:47,470
when she says Zade's name, he's so mad.

720
00:46:47,970 --> 00:46:51,550
Yeah, girl, you're an. He doesn't care. No. You're an object.

721
00:46:52,050 --> 00:46:55,890
He's upset that he was caught by you because you're inferior. Yes. He is

722
00:46:56,390 --> 00:46:59,250
not upset that you never said his name. Yes. Yes.

723
00:46:59,570 --> 00:47:02,450
Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't kill her sooner. Yeah.

724
00:47:03,250 --> 00:47:07,730
After the killing, Zade finds Adeline in the bathroom ruminating

725
00:47:08,610 --> 00:47:12,210
the killing, though, where. Siby just gets a little too excited

726
00:47:12,710 --> 00:47:15,850
and dismembers Francesca and is then playing Frisbee

727
00:47:16,350 --> 00:47:20,410
with her body parts. And Zade is like, so upset

728
00:47:20,910 --> 00:47:24,090
that he's having to run around and pick up Francesca's body parts

729
00:47:24,590 --> 00:47:28,590
because Sibby's having the fun. She's not doing the clean out. No. 100% no.

730
00:47:29,090 --> 00:47:32,150
And he says that he has to. Like, he sends hours trying to find the

731
00:47:32,650 --> 00:47:36,310
last of the ten fingers because. God forbid she doesn't leave

732
00:47:36,810 --> 00:47:39,630
the hand intact. It's so.

733
00:47:39,950 --> 00:47:43,470
I just, I can picture Sibby with her, like, pigtails dismembering

734
00:47:43,970 --> 00:47:47,510
Francesca and then like, running around with her arm. Yeah. She's a chaos

735
00:47:48,010 --> 00:47:51,390
demon for sure. After the killing, Zade finds Adeline in the

736
00:47:51,890 --> 00:47:54,590
bathroom ruminating over her scars from Xavier.

737
00:47:55,340 --> 00:47:59,740
Zade uses glass shards from the mirror to

738
00:48:01,020 --> 00:48:04,740
make his own cuts over Xavier's so that when

739
00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:08,460
she looks at them, she'll see him instead.

740
00:48:08,700 --> 00:48:12,660
And then he carries her to the tub, cleans them both of

741
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:17,180
the blood and gore. And then Addie straddles him,

742
00:48:17,340 --> 00:48:20,620
telling him she's in charge, and then first

743
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:25,250
rubbing herself up and down his cock and then eventually having

744
00:48:25,750 --> 00:48:29,130
him penetrate her shallowly. And then she

745
00:48:29,630 --> 00:48:34,170
rubs herself until they both come. I pictured Zade completely

746
00:48:34,670 --> 00:48:39,690
differently physically in this book than I did in the first one. Really interesting.

747
00:48:39,770 --> 00:48:42,970
Yeah, it's interesting how. Because his character is so different

748
00:48:43,470 --> 00:48:46,250
in this book. Yes, it is. Than it is in the first book. It's not.

749
00:48:46,750 --> 00:48:50,250
They're not even the same person, honestly. Really, to me, even like,

750
00:48:50,690 --> 00:48:54,410
as Z. He doesn't feel the same. He does not

751
00:48:54,910 --> 00:48:58,130
feel as all powerful. He does not feel as menacing

752
00:48:58,610 --> 00:49:02,210
as in the first one when I was even listening to our episode. I'm like,

753
00:49:02,370 --> 00:49:05,970
this could have been different people. It really could

754
00:49:06,470 --> 00:49:09,810
have. He's nothing like he is in the first books. We get little brief

755
00:49:10,290 --> 00:49:14,290
snippets of him in his, like, air quotes, beast form.

756
00:49:15,090 --> 00:49:18,730
But for the most part, like, personality wise, he's kind of a

757
00:49:19,230 --> 00:49:22,530
goof. He's like a little, like. I don't know,

758
00:49:22,610 --> 00:49:25,730
it's hard to describe. But yeah, even in the first one, he, like,

759
00:49:26,290 --> 00:49:29,650
he didn't have a ton of time for Siby. He leaves her alone

760
00:49:30,150 --> 00:49:33,490
with the body, with the men for, like, four hours. But he, like,

761
00:49:33,990 --> 00:49:37,410
doesn't have. He's kind of exasperated with her. And in this book, he's. She's his

762
00:49:37,910 --> 00:49:41,570
second. Endlessly patient. Yes. Yeah. In the first book, he was, like,

763
00:49:42,290 --> 00:49:44,530
in my brain, he was kind of stocky.

764
00:49:45,490 --> 00:49:49,170
Not stocky like how you think stocky, which is short. Yeah.

765
00:49:49,670 --> 00:49:52,770
But, like, stocky from the perspective of, like. He's, like, meaty.

766
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,600
Sure. He was more of, like the video that I sent you yesterday of

767
00:49:57,100 --> 00:50:00,520
the guy in the mask. He was more like that body type. In this book,

768
00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:03,480
he's more like soccer.

769
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:07,560
Very, like, lean and muscled and just. I don't

770
00:50:08,060 --> 00:50:11,720
know why. He's just completely different. In this book, Adeline realizes that she loves Zade

771
00:50:12,220 --> 00:50:14,920
and that she has to tell him, and she doesn't want to.

772
00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,840
After a stunt he pulls where he intercepts airwaves

773
00:50:19,490 --> 00:50:23,210
reporting on Xavier's disappearance, Masked and confessing to

774
00:50:23,710 --> 00:50:27,490
murdering him, he returns home to Addie and they

775
00:50:27,990 --> 00:50:31,330
discuss Rio. Adeline decides that she would like Zade to spare him.

776
00:50:31,810 --> 00:50:34,890
And then she and him, like, have a fight, but they

777
00:50:35,390 --> 00:50:37,650
really, like, don't have a fight. He just, like, goes in the bathroom and she's

778
00:50:38,150 --> 00:50:41,330
like, oh, your energy is off and you're making me feel bad, literally. I.

779
00:50:41,410 --> 00:50:43,970
I again, had to read that part twice because I was like, wait. Why are

780
00:50:44,470 --> 00:50:47,770
they fighting? Did he do something? Yes. And he's mad. He actually is

781
00:50:48,270 --> 00:50:51,930
mad. So she apparently read it. Right. Anyway, so they hash it

782
00:50:52,430 --> 00:50:54,850
out and I don't know, something about control.

783
00:50:55,090 --> 00:50:58,770
And I have a note here that says, this is poorly done. Yeah.

784
00:50:59,270 --> 00:51:01,970
Zade is literally just like, don't you. You need to realize you have the power.

785
00:51:02,130 --> 00:51:05,570
Yeah. You forced me to stalk you. Yeah. This is all

786
00:51:06,070 --> 00:51:09,290
your fault. Yeah. That I'm like this. That I'm obsessed with you.

787
00:51:09,790 --> 00:51:13,660
Yes. Yeah. Zade busts out a pair of handcuffs and

788
00:51:13,900 --> 00:51:17,460
allows Addie to handcuff him. She commands

789
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:21,900
him to get on the bed, where she rides

790
00:51:22,220 --> 00:51:25,980
him while he's, like, on his knees on the bed. And then

791
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:29,620
she tells him that she loves him, like, while she's on top of

792
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:33,540
him. And then after she comes, he commands her

793
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:37,660
to uncuff him. And when she does, he basically turns into a wild

794
00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:41,320
animal, fucking her and choking her. And then she has

795
00:51:41,820 --> 00:51:45,080
him cut a rose into her chest to match

796
00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:50,080
the one that he had put on his while she was missing. And he

797
00:51:50,580 --> 00:51:53,880
does that while they're having sex. And then they both come. Yep.

798
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,640
It's actually so funny because Nicole is watching me recap this

799
00:52:01,140 --> 00:52:03,680
and you can tell that she's just kind of like, what's she gonna say next?

800
00:52:04,180 --> 00:52:07,080
Yep. I feel like I blacked out for. This book.

801
00:52:09,070 --> 00:52:12,990
Because, like, I don't know. None of it.

802
00:52:13,490 --> 00:52:17,110
Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. We do need to start recording

803
00:52:17,610 --> 00:52:21,110
because, like, video. Because I feel like my face is

804
00:52:21,610 --> 00:52:24,270
probably entertaining. Your face says it all.

805
00:52:24,430 --> 00:52:28,470
Yeah. So Claire's henchmen have kidnapped Adeline's

806
00:52:28,970 --> 00:52:32,510
parents to draw her out from Zade's protection. This seems ridiculous.

807
00:52:33,010 --> 00:52:36,400
And why on earth. Thank you. You.

808
00:52:36,720 --> 00:52:40,080
You're again, supposed to be this criminal mastermind.

809
00:52:40,580 --> 00:52:43,960
Yes. And you're just like, I've got all the guards

810
00:52:44,460 --> 00:52:47,280
on Addie. They're not going to go after her parents. Why would they go after

811
00:52:47,780 --> 00:52:50,800
her parents? Yeah, I just couldn't. Yeah.

812
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:55,200
Well, after her heroic rescue resulting in her

813
00:52:55,700 --> 00:52:58,000
mom being shot in the crossfire, but, like, surviving,

814
00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:01,720
Adeline picks a fight with Zade and tries to take back what she

815
00:53:02,220 --> 00:53:05,280
had said about loving him. But calling her bluff, he leaves.

816
00:53:05,780 --> 00:53:09,040
And a cat and mouse chase ensues, with Addie initially thinking

817
00:53:09,540 --> 00:53:12,920
that she's chasing Zade, but it was actually just a trap. He catches

818
00:53:13,420 --> 00:53:16,640
her tying her to a tree by her neck with his belt.

819
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:20,600
And then he recreates

820
00:53:21,100 --> 00:53:24,560
the scars that he has on his body. On her

821
00:53:25,060 --> 00:53:28,080
body, basically using a bra, a tree branch switch.

822
00:53:28,970 --> 00:53:32,810
I didn't like it. Until Addie is bleeding and begging

823
00:53:32,970 --> 00:53:36,450
him to have sex with her, and he fucks

824
00:53:36,950 --> 00:53:40,610
her up against the tree, briefly stopping to eat her out and then going back

825
00:53:41,110 --> 00:53:44,330
to fucking her, implying that he has removed her IUD and is going to

826
00:53:44,830 --> 00:53:48,410
get her pregnant. They both come and he confesses that he didn't actually remove her

827
00:53:48,910 --> 00:53:51,690
iud. Real class act. Yeah. Again,

828
00:53:53,130 --> 00:53:56,900
nothing. We love when

829
00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:00,580
they have sex up against the trees. Yes. And we love. I like it.

830
00:54:01,080 --> 00:54:04,540
A little violin. Yes. We love a belt around the neck. We love

831
00:54:04,620 --> 00:54:08,700
it all. This scene did nothing for me. Not a single ounce of

832
00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:12,540
anything. Nothing. Zade and Adeline come up with a plan to

833
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,780
lure Claire, pretending to be captured by her henchmen.

834
00:54:17,100 --> 00:54:20,860
And then while they wait for her to show, Zade and

835
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:24,610
Adeline had sex on the edge of a cliff with Adeline's head hanging

836
00:54:25,110 --> 00:54:29,090
over the edge. Claire eventually shows up, offers an alliance,

837
00:54:29,590 --> 00:54:32,490
and is promptly, but not promptly enough,

838
00:54:32,810 --> 00:54:36,010
disposed of. Adeline's mom comes to visit Addie

839
00:54:36,510 --> 00:54:40,370
with her man nurse, who we learn he

840
00:54:40,870 --> 00:54:44,170
and Sibby know each other. And then that's

841
00:54:44,670 --> 00:54:48,530
the end. Of the book. And then we get an epilogue where Zade fucks Adeline

842
00:54:49,030 --> 00:54:52,450
in the ass. They come and he proposes to her,

843
00:54:52,690 --> 00:54:55,330
and she says yes. That's the book, you guys.

844
00:54:55,970 --> 00:55:00,130
Yep. Would you read it? I wouldn't

845
00:55:00,690 --> 00:55:03,690
recommend it. Did you say all of your thoughts,

846
00:55:04,190 --> 00:55:06,450
or did you just listen to me. Say all my thoughts? And there were a

847
00:55:06,950 --> 00:55:10,050
lot of things, especially in the beginning, like, thoughts I had. Like,

848
00:55:10,550 --> 00:55:14,250
when Addie first gets kidnapped and she's very much in her head,

849
00:55:14,750 --> 00:55:18,130
like, I need to pull my hair out to leave evidence. And, like,

850
00:55:18,370 --> 00:55:21,650
isn't that what we've all been taught? That. Oh, sure. Like,

851
00:55:22,150 --> 00:55:25,570
you're. You. You're. You're going to die. Yeah. Accept it.

852
00:55:26,070 --> 00:55:29,810
They've removed evidence. Yeah. If they've moved you from your original location, you're gonna

853
00:55:30,310 --> 00:55:33,570
die. Yeah. And you need to pull out your hair, scratch things, claw,

854
00:55:34,070 --> 00:55:37,450
leave your blood, leave your fingernail, like, whatever you can leave so that they

855
00:55:37,950 --> 00:55:42,970
can find your killer. And I just. I had a conversation today with

856
00:55:43,470 --> 00:55:46,610
a straight white man about how hard it is to be

857
00:55:47,110 --> 00:55:50,850
a straight white man. No. And I just.

858
00:55:51,350 --> 00:55:54,930
Like, this book is like. Okay, so tell me, if you were kidnapped by

859
00:55:55,430 --> 00:55:58,330
a man and being moved to another location, what would you do? Yeah.

860
00:55:58,489 --> 00:56:02,490
Nothing. Yeah, well, I did some research on

861
00:56:03,450 --> 00:56:07,010
Rio and the Basilisk brothers, and H.D.

862
00:56:07,510 --> 00:56:10,810
carlton is going to be doing a book on Rio. First it'll be a standalone,

863
00:56:11,350 --> 00:56:15,470
and then she's gonna do a four book series on the Basilisk

864
00:56:15,970 --> 00:56:17,990
brothers. It is not a reverse harem.

865
00:56:18,470 --> 00:56:21,950
Interesting. I would have expected. Yeah. Why choose or

866
00:56:22,450 --> 00:56:25,830
reverse harem? What's the. Is there a difference? Why choose

867
00:56:26,330 --> 00:56:29,670
reverse harem? I think reverse. I don't actually

868
00:56:30,170 --> 00:56:33,110
know if there is a difference, I think. Or is why choose like, when we

869
00:56:33,610 --> 00:56:37,270
all end up together? But reverse harem is just. When it's a harem

870
00:56:37,770 --> 00:56:41,520
of men, you're multiple men's at men at once. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds

871
00:56:42,020 --> 00:56:45,160
right. Okay, we'll say that I use them interchangeably.

872
00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:50,760
I don't know. I like the idea of a lot of men, so it doesn't

873
00:56:51,260 --> 00:56:55,640
matter to me what capacity. A lot or two. I think probably three.

874
00:56:56,140 --> 00:56:59,960
Three, I think, is your number. Because then one man fucks one man who

875
00:57:00,460 --> 00:57:03,600
fucks you, and then the other man fucks you as well.

876
00:57:04,100 --> 00:57:07,160
You are right. Yes. Yep. The Perfect Fit by Sadie Kincaid was.

877
00:57:07,890 --> 00:57:11,330
And pucking around a good book for me. Yeah. I actually think,

878
00:57:11,830 --> 00:57:15,090
like, the perfect combo for me would be two men

879
00:57:15,410 --> 00:57:18,770
and then a lady who only likes women. Mm.

880
00:57:19,730 --> 00:57:22,610
That would probably be my perfect combo.

881
00:57:23,010 --> 00:57:26,130
Honestly, sure. But the men have to also like each other.

882
00:57:26,690 --> 00:57:30,210
I want the women all to myself. Okay. I don't want to share her.

883
00:57:30,450 --> 00:57:34,480
I don't mind the idea of me being shared. I do

884
00:57:34,980 --> 00:57:38,120
not share, though. If a man is with me, he is

885
00:57:38,620 --> 00:57:41,640
with me. If there are two men with me, they are each with me.

886
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:45,560
They are not with each other. Sure. It needs to

887
00:57:46,060 --> 00:57:49,080
just be about me. And see, I'm fine with them being with each other.

888
00:57:49,159 --> 00:57:52,520
Nope. I don't mind. I'm fine cheering a man.

889
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:56,160
Just not a lady. Just not a lady. She's mine. You can't

890
00:57:56,660 --> 00:58:00,280
have her. Sure. So anyways, so if you are still feeling like you would like

891
00:58:00,780 --> 00:58:04,620
to read H.D. carlton after this, then I've liked. I have

892
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:08,420
read a lot of her books. I liked Haunting Adeline, and I liked Does

893
00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:12,580
It Hurt? I also read Shallow River, I think it's called. I didn't like

894
00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:16,660
that. I didn't like this one. So I like. I'm like,

895
00:58:17,160 --> 00:58:21,220
50. 50. Yeah. I think my thing is, like, I'm willing

896
00:58:21,300 --> 00:58:26,500
to forgive bad writing when there

897
00:58:26,660 --> 00:58:30,540
is a lot of smut. Penelope Douglas, the way

898
00:58:31,040 --> 00:58:33,700
she writes a sex scene versus H.D. carlton.

899
00:58:34,200 --> 00:58:38,300
100%. A hundred percent. But I would prefer Penelope Douglas Douglas's

900
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:42,020
storytelling. Like, I have to say, like. And I. That's why we structure our

901
00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:44,580
rating system the way that we do. Like, we have the pros in there for

902
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:48,740
a reason. So you can, like, gauge. Is this just, like,

903
00:58:49,240 --> 00:58:52,540
smut? Is this just trash? Like. Cause that happens a lot in this

904
00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:56,740
genre. And again, if the sex scenes are sexy, I'm willing to forgive it.

905
00:58:57,080 --> 00:59:00,680
I really am. There is nothing sexy about this

906
00:59:01,180 --> 00:59:04,360
book. I am completely disappointed that it is even part of this category.

907
00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:08,960
I just cannot forgive the bad writing. It's not sexy enough for

908
00:59:09,460 --> 00:59:12,919
me to be able to forgive it. And I really, really, really wanted to give

909
00:59:13,419 --> 00:59:17,320
HG Carlton the benefit of the doubt. She came out and made a pretty strong

910
00:59:17,820 --> 00:59:21,880
stance about sort of where she lies on the political spectrum.

911
00:59:22,450 --> 00:59:25,850
I think that she has a lot of work to do because

912
00:59:26,350 --> 00:59:29,890
she really, genuinely. She came out and was like, I don't know

913
00:59:30,390 --> 00:59:33,730
why. There are so many of my readers who are thinking that I'm.

914
00:59:33,890 --> 00:59:37,570
That I align with, like, this conservative mentality. But, like, I am

915
00:59:38,070 --> 00:59:41,890
not. Rest assured, I'm not. And it's like, have you not read your

916
00:59:42,390 --> 00:59:45,730
own books? I know. Let me tell you something. I don't have to

917
00:59:46,230 --> 00:59:49,990
question where Bryn Weaver lies on that spectrum. I don't have to

918
00:59:50,490 --> 00:59:53,630
question where Ali Hazelwood lies on that spectrum. I don't have to think about where

919
00:59:54,130 --> 00:59:57,550
those authors land on the spectrum. I fucking know

920
00:59:57,870 --> 01:00:01,590
I can read it in the way that they write. And I just.

921
01:00:02,090 --> 01:00:04,510
I don't know. I really wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

922
01:00:04,750 --> 01:00:07,830
I think I should feel bad, but I don't. I'm. Because I'm really mad that

923
01:00:08,330 --> 01:00:11,830
you wasted 600 pages of my life. And we have

924
01:00:12,330 --> 01:00:15,870
people who read similar book stats who like similar things, and we are giving our

925
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:19,640
unfiltered opinion. Yeah. So I don't think we need to apologize

926
01:00:20,140 --> 01:00:24,000
for hating books. Thank you. I like a lot of books that people hate.

927
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:28,440
I hate a lot of books that people like. Yeah, that's true. I think

928
01:00:28,940 --> 01:00:32,480
that helps our listeners. All right, well, we want to

929
01:00:32,980 --> 01:00:36,240
thank Paggle for letting us use her green room to.

930
01:00:36,740 --> 01:00:40,080
As always. As always. To. Or her greenhouse to record in.

931
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:43,960
Follow us. On social media, we are at plot tarts pod. On all

932
01:00:44,460 --> 01:00:48,230
social media, we are online still@booksletspodcast.com.

933
01:00:48,460 --> 01:00:50,780
we are going to update that at some point. We just don't know how to

934
01:00:51,280 --> 01:00:53,900
do it. Let's jump into ratings. All right. Spice level.

935
01:00:54,540 --> 01:00:57,860
So for spice level, I really struggled with

936
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:01,940
this because I usually use graphic. Yes. And this book

937
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:05,980
is, like, pretty graphic, but I think I'm using

938
01:01:06,060 --> 01:01:09,500
graphic in the context of sexuality. And this book is

939
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:13,020
not graphic in the context of sexuality. And so for that reason, I'm going to

940
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:16,150
give it a one. And see, that's what I was like in my. I went

941
01:01:16,650 --> 01:01:19,750
back and forth. I had so many. I went down to a three and I

942
01:01:20,250 --> 01:01:23,750
was like, I don't know. So I went purely based on

943
01:01:24,230 --> 01:01:28,550
cause with haunting Adeline. We did, like, graphics. Slash trigger warnings.

944
01:01:29,110 --> 01:01:32,590
So I gave it a five. Sure. I struggled a lot. Yeah. No, that makes.

945
01:01:33,090 --> 01:01:36,230
That totally makes sense. The trigger warnings in this would be heavy. Yeah, for sure.

946
01:01:36,730 --> 01:01:40,610
Yeah. Spice frequency. I would give this a 5.

947
01:01:40,770 --> 01:01:45,410
It's pretty frequent how often they're talking about sex. And I

948
01:01:45,910 --> 01:01:49,890
mean, the entire book is about sex trafficking. Yes. So it's a pretty reoccurring

949
01:01:50,390 --> 01:01:53,810
theme. Sure. Throughout. I only gave it a 3. Just because the actual

950
01:01:54,310 --> 01:01:57,810
sex act doesn't happen to. It doesn't happen till the last third

951
01:01:58,310 --> 01:02:01,170
of the book. Sure. It's a lot then. Yeah. It's not. I don't know.

952
01:02:01,670 --> 01:02:05,170
Yeah. Pros. I'm gonna give this book a solid one. I knew you were

953
01:02:05,670 --> 01:02:08,900
gonna give it a one. Yeah. I gave it a three. Storyline.

954
01:02:09,460 --> 01:02:12,980
Also a one. Sure. I gave it a two.

955
01:02:15,380 --> 01:02:18,620
I don't know what else to say. Like, you guys cannot

956
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:22,180
even begin to imagine how poorly this story is compiled.

957
01:02:22,680 --> 01:02:26,180
Yeah. You just. I mean, without reading it, you just can't. Yeah, it's.

958
01:02:26,420 --> 01:02:29,940
But like, in my head, I'm like, okay, what? And like

959
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:34,600
I said, what could I have done to make this better? And the bones

960
01:02:35,100 --> 01:02:38,400
could be there. Sure. And that's why I gave it, I guess, a two.

961
01:02:39,840 --> 01:02:43,040
Sure. Overall, I'm gonna give it a one.

962
01:02:43,440 --> 01:02:46,200
If I could give it a zero, I would. Yeah, I did give it a

963
01:02:46,700 --> 01:02:50,320
two. The question of

964
01:02:50,720 --> 01:02:54,120
indulge or abstain. I feel like everybody knows we'd abstain.

965
01:02:54,620 --> 01:02:58,080
This would be an abstain. I would. I agree with Nicole 100% on this.

966
01:02:58,580 --> 01:03:02,560
I would literally never recommend this to any person under any circumstances.

967
01:03:02,640 --> 01:03:05,310
Yep. All you need to know is that at the end,

968
01:03:05,810 --> 01:03:08,430
Addie gets her happy ending, even though she is kidnapped at the end of book

969
01:03:08,930 --> 01:03:12,310
one. Yeah. All right, well, thanks for joining us.

970
01:03:12,810 --> 01:03:15,830
We post every other Thursday our unwrapped episodes.

971
01:03:16,330 --> 01:03:19,710
We are eventually going to start doing our wrapped episodes as well, which are spoiler

972
01:03:20,210 --> 01:03:23,830
free. I think the week that this comes out, we're going to post Haunting Adeline's

973
01:03:24,330 --> 01:03:27,630
wrapped. Oh, yes. So, yeah. So stay tuned for that.

974
01:03:27,950 --> 01:03:31,310
We are so excited to

975
01:03:31,810 --> 01:03:33,750
be done with this book and move on to the next one. So we got

976
01:03:34,250 --> 01:03:37,590
some good stuff coming down the pipeline here through the holidays

977
01:03:38,090 --> 01:03:41,510
and the new year. Yeah. Into the new year. I'm Amanda.

978
01:03:42,010 --> 01:03:44,270
And I'm Nicole. And we are plot tarts. Bye.