Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse Duet) Paperback – January 25, 2022

Whoah!!! A great conclusion to an insane story. I have read dark books, but this is the darkest book so far. Not so much with the torture of bad guys, but the trauma that Addie experiences while being held captive ready to be auctioned off. Parts were uncomfortable to read, but I think that’s a testament to the great writing. Zade really burned the world down to get Addie and get his revenge. I loved how Addie then used her trauma to strengthen herself and she became a bad ass getting revenge alongside Zade. It was a good break from the typical damsel in destress that happens in dark romance books. I feel like there were some unresolved story lines, and I would love more from the characters in the future…but overall this duet was a great read and really captivated me!

Read the trigger warnings before you read. Don't pick up this book with the intention of anything kind or heroic happening. If you do, you have no one to blame but yourself if you dislike it.This book is not a romance book. It is a dark horror that delves into the bowels of humanity and will remake your own moral compass. THIS BOOK IS REALITY.TWS: R@P#, Explicit Violence and Details, Murder, Blo0d, S*x Trafficking, PTSD, Psychological torment, Trauma, Dubious consent, CNCHunting is as enthralling and real as Haunting was. It is completely different but just as enthralling. It is dark, it is unhinged, it is the worst of humanity, and it is unapologetic. There is also strength and resilience.This book hurt and you bled when Addie and Zade bled. You cried for them and you felt for them. I have my own traumas and this was as close to reality as I have ever read. This book broke open the heartbreaking reality of what happens to women and children around the world every day and that reality deserves to be unpacked and witnessed. Having to witness it through Addie hurt more than I can say. We all need to take a page out of Zade's book and adjust our moral compass when it comes to fighting for the freedom of the reality that is outside this book.This book broke me and put my jagged pieces to fit with Addie and Zade, and I was okay with that. Addie's experience is painful. I liked that HD didn't shy away from that and put it to paper. Usually, the hero saves the heroine before the trauma occurs or the trauma is light in comparison to what Addie experienced. A small part of me hoped she would follow that plot line but then I realized this book mirrors reality and the hero doesn't always show up or arrive in time. I cried for Addie. I lived her pain in my own life and then I lived it again through her story, but I was okay with that pain. There was no mercy for Addie. She tore her moral compass to pieces, broke her own heart, took a life, and contemplated the end. HD gave her a real experience with real thoughts and reactions. I have never had an author write such an authentic character with real-world experiences and reactionsRio, our new character and participant in Addies horror show, has me conflicted. He has his own moral compass and like Addie, I'm blurring mine when it comes to him. Rationalizing his choices, his actions, and his treatment. I can empathize with him though. Is it not the same thing that many would do to save their own sister? I can't wait to unpack his story when HD writes it.<<<Fast forward to after her escape>>>>The psychological and physical trauma that Addie has experienced wrecks both her and Zade. There is no happily ever after or easy ride into the sunset. It is raw and devastating. Addie is not the little mouse Zade tried to tame in book 1. She's a broken shell. I have experienced all of the emotions Addie did and all I wanted to do was scoop her up in my arms and remind her that one day in the future it will get better. One day the darkness will lighten and you will be able to take baby steps. Then those baby steps will lead to bigger steps until finally (however long it takes) you can stand in the light again and breathe.We see the side to Zade we knew was hiding in there. Addie hadn't seen that side of him yet, she had only seen his jagged pieces. Zade stands strong behind her and holds her up when she falters. He is patient, he is loving, and he will wait until the end of the world for her if he has to. There is no force or pressure. The Zade from book 1 regarding their s*xual encounters is gone. He doesn't take and watch her body for responses he lets her set the pace. He said in book one that she "holds my life in the palm of her hand, she’s just incapable of seeing it that way" and this is proven in this book. He lives for her and slowly she starts to see that no matter what her inner thoughts and feelings tell her from her trauma he will never leave her.Zade helps her take ownership of her trauma from her time with Xavier. One of my favorite scenes, which he does only with her consent (such a change from book 1), is when he uses a knife over the scars Xavier left giving her a new experience and new emotions to tie to them. He helps her heal through s*xual, physical, and emotional needs. He molds himself into whom she needs and what she needs and my heart beats for him more because of it. He helps build her up and heal her into the new version of Adeline. The version that matches all of his jagged pieces.I am in love with Zade and Addie. I am in love with their story. I am in love with the reality and truth that shines from this book. I am grateful to have read it and for HD for bringing it to life.

Hunting Adeline was a wild, gutting ride—but this time, it didn’t completely own me like the first one did.I’ll be honest—I struggled at the start. The pacing dragged a bit, and it didn’t immediately hold me the way Haunting Adeline did. I found myself putting it down more often, not because it wasn’t good, but because it didn’t grab me by the throat the same way. But when it did hook me again? I couldn’t stop.The trauma in this one runs deep—it’s raw, brutal, and honest in a way that’s hard to look at and even harder to look away from. Zade is still that terrifying blend of savior and sinner, and Adeline's spiral was painful, human, and real. I appreciated the emotional weight even when it hurt.The plot twists? Genuinely satisfying. There were moments where I had to stop and say, “Oh….That makes sense,” and I love when a book ties things together like that. The spice was still there—dark, dirty, and intense—but it didn’t hit quite as hard as the first book. A solid 3.5 in heat, but a 4 in impact.This book is darker. Heavier. More healing than hunting. And even if it didn’t wreck me like the first one, it still left a mark.Rating: 4 stars Spice: 3.5 stars Final thoughts: Worth finishing. Brutal and beautiful in its own way.

Thank god for the happy ending that's all I have to say. Dark romance on another level, reminds me of the movie "Taken" but lovers, not father/daughter story, also wayyyyyy darker.

I wanted to give this book more stars because I liked the underlying story. I could have definitely done without A LOT of the so called consensual scenes. YES, I get that this is dark...but I'm sorry...you have to be pretty sick to like some of the stuff that Zade does to Addie. I did like the tender scenes right after she is saved and how he tries to help her through her trauma...BUT, OMG...what is with the whole idea that he feels the need to destroy her and hurt her. I know that there are times that he says this just to get a rise out of her because he knows that this is what turns her on...being that she gets off on fear and adrenaline...but the book honestly could have ended with her rescue and the part where he is able to finally get through to her and get her to where she is comfortable with his touch again. Oh and after they dealt with all the ones who hurt her...I could have done without all of his punishments. And what with the belt around the neck!!???? Honestly...as a survivor of multiple forms of abuse...THERE IS NO WAY I would let a man or anyone treat me that way and consider it love!!!!I get that there will be those who will like this book...and as I said...I liked about 50% of it...could have done without the cringey demented parts. This is a woman who has been through multiple R@pes and has been trafficked!!! I would think he would treat her differently after and also considering that this man cringes at the sight of others being treated the way he actually treats her. Make it Make sense!!!! I know this is a dark fantasy...but I guess I just got tired of it by the end. Got tired of flipping past those parts to get to the actual story.