Where's Molly

First off, let me just say, I LOVE H.D. Carlton and every book of hers I have read so far. Her mind is brilliant.

Now, on to the talk about Where's Molly. Where's Molly is a story I didn't know I needed as desperately as I now realize I did in fact need. THE PIGS?!? I always heard that's the best way to rid a body lol. But who knew Hailey herself could make it so true, so realistic, and so dark and gruesome just by her writing! She is just brilliant it amazes me how her mind thinks, and she comes up with the stories she does.

Cage is a teddy bear for Molly and is so possessive and protective. Molly has an attitude like no other, let's no one push her around, and is just an utter bad@**! The two of them together? Pure electric! I couldn't be happier for the closure that Hailey gave us in Molly's story, allowing us to see how she has healed since what we knew about her from Hunting Adeline, and letting her find peace and happiness with how far she has come.

I can't wait to get my hands on the next book Hailey releases!

I am so glad I read the cat and mouse duet series like I did. It was great to actually meet Molly and Layla and to find out what exactly happened to them before, during and after. I love that Molly allowed Cage to be her safe haven. I love that she was able to rescue her sister. She went thru hell to get back to her but she never once stopped until she did. It’s amazing that all the characters in these books all end up with a love worth dying for or in these books worth living for. Thank you again for another wonderful read.

Definitely dark, don't get me wrong. But not nearly as dark as Haunting/Hunting Adeline, and a lot less creepy (i.e. Addie's house iykyk). So painfully good in the storyline and also just as spicy as the two Adeline books.

Molly is most definitely a survivor and her story reminds me a little of Dexter in a way, you'll see what I mean. Cage is almost as good a Zade. Both are top tier but I'd have to pick Zade. 2 first person POVs, flashbacks, found family, cliffhanger ending in the Epilogue part 2. If you haven't read the Adeline books it may be slightly confusing at times. 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 - not for under 21 I'd say, hahaha.

Short and sweet. I loved the backstories and the tie in to the present-day universe. Addie finally getting to meet Molly was beautiful and I hope we get to see more of them in the future. I wish the book had been longer and we got to see Molly reunite with her sister. Definitely not as dark as her other books, but still so good. I need more Cage and Molly and I pray Hailey blesses us someday.

📚Where’s Molly📚

By: H. D. Carlton Format: E-book (Kindle Unlimited) Genre: Romance POV: Dual POV Setting: Montana Tropes: Dark Romance, Surviving Trauma, He Falls First, Touch Her and 💀Vibes,

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Review: Even if the Cat and Mouse Duet wasn't some of my all time favorite books I still would have loved this book, but the connection just makes it more special. If you haven't already read “Haunting Adeline” and “Hunting Adeline” by H. D. Carlton then STOP what you’re doing and go read it!!!

This story follows Molly, who we were introduced to in Hunting Adeline. Addy found and read Molly’s secret diary while she was imprisoned at Franchesca’s house. Reading Molly’s words is part of the reason Addy made it through her ordeal. So now we get to meet Molly and hear her story.

Even before Molly was sold into human sex trafficing by her drug adict father, her life was dismal. Her only reason for living was her baby sister and trying to make a better life for her. But after escaping Francesca’s house of horrors and murdering her father Molly realizes that the best thing to do for her sister is give her up.

Years later Molly owns a pig farm and makes a living by disposing of dead bodies for Legion. During a delivery Molly runs into a familiar face from her past. Cage was the man that helped her disappear and start a new life and the only man to make her feel safe and alive. But Molly has been a survivor for so long that she can't let anyone else in.

Cage fell madly in love with a little ghost many years ago only for her to disappear as planned, but he never forgot her. When a delivery puts him face to face with his little ghost he never plans on letting her go again, but can he keep her from running?

This book was dark, disturbing, and so incredibly HOT!!! I LOVED these characters and Molly’s tragic story. I loved how Cage loves Molly and pushes her where she needs it. And that surprise epilogue was EVERYTHING!!! 😍😍😍 Reading this makes me want to reread “Haunting Adeline”!

What are your thoughts on rereads? Hell yes? Or can't be bothered?

This was a really entertaining read. It was satisfying to hear about Molly and who she was prior to ending up at Francesca's, how she escaped, and what happened after. I always wondered, like I'm sure most did after learning about her through her journal found by Adaline in Hunting Adaline, about what happened to her and if she ever made it back to her sister. The bond and devotion she had for her little sister due to the toxic home they came from, was so beautiful and sincere. It really made your heart ache for her in the struggles she faced due to the evil other people forced onto her. Who she became through her struggles and journey made you cheer for her self gained strength and happiness. I enjoyed the bouncing back and forth between the past and the present as we walked out where Molly came from and how she got to the present time. Her relationships in business and her personal life and what happened to her little sister Layla. Although this was a spin-off of a Hunting Adaline character, the book very much possessed its own energy and feel that I personally think it gave the book more power, but it did mention Z here and there as you learn the path Molly has chosen for herself. It was a short read that I feel was just enough. Enough story. Enough spice. And the closure I needed in the end.

I would recommend you read Haunting and Hunting Adeline before reading this one. You don’t have to, but the details of what happened to Molly during her time with Francessca is found in those stories. This one is short and I wanted more story, but I think it’s purpose is just to fill any gaps in Molly’s story.

Spoilers******* Molly is the oldest daughter to two drug addicts. She is sexually and physically abused by her father. She works and uses her money to take care of her baby sister Layla, and the rest goes to her parent’s drug habit. Her father ends up selling her to Francesca’s men where she spends eight months being assaulted. She escapes and returns to find that her mother overdosed and after her father says he’s going to sell her and Layla back to Francessca, Molly kills him and feeds his body to pigs. She takes Layla and has her for four years until she realizes she can’t provide for her. She leaves her on a family’s doorstep after researching that they are good people. She gets a call from Legion who gets her set up to meet for a new identity. She meets Cage, who sets up her new identity, but the two hit it off and end up sleeping together. She leaves the next day for Alaska. She lives there for several years, though we have no insight into that time. She decides to come back home and ends up buying the pig farm where her father was disposed of. She begins working for legion and disposes of his bodies. Cage who also works for legion finds her four years after she returns and their relationship picks back up. She eventually reaches out to Layla, now Emma, and she agrees to meet with Molly.

This is a perfect short story for the people who were wondering what happened to Molly, the mysterious girl from the journal Adeline found at ‘the house’. Call me sick in the head, but I wanted more. I was a bit disappointed to find this story to only be about 200 pages barely touching on the house of horrors, I wanted a full-length story depicting all the horrendous things she endured; that being said, what we were given was perfection (as usual). I almost feel this was a shorter, ‘lighter’ story to give us a brief break before Sibby’s duet launches…

I did enjoy how HD kept switching from past to present, it kept you hooked and desperate to know what happens next. While I wish we had more written about her time under Francesca and Rocco, I was pleased that it wasn’t the sole focus. We learned about the abuse and negligence she suffered years before, and we saw her years later after finding Legion and finding a way to help others. Can we just take a moment and enjoy the irony that she disposed of her father’s corpse from a show her mom used to watch while being drugged out? Perfection.

Cage and Molly’s energy was on point. He followed her case from when her disappearance was on the news, and was enthralled before he even met her. He knew just how hard to push her without crossing boundaries and making her uncomfortable. Well, he certainly crossed boundaries, he did reserve every hotel room available in a 30-mile radius just to force her to stay with him for the night, but that’s how all love stories start, no? He was definitely unhinged and possessive but was quite a bit more reserved than Zade. And then when he talks about his Mama? Ugh, talk about swoon. Mama Winifred is amazing, what a breath of fresh air.

After everything Molly has gone through, her reasoning for suffering through and pushing on has always been for her sister, and when she lost Layla, I choked up. The utter heartbreak I felt for her when she was discussing that loss with Cage, ugh, my heart. But that ending when Margot contacted her and allowed her to meet her sister? You could tell that the last of Molly’s wounds were finally able to begin to heal.

That ending!! Why was Zade reaching out to Molly? Could we perhaps get a second book? Or is this the prelude to Sibby’s story? Or after Sibby’s duet, will there be another release where all three worlds collide? Gah! The possibilities are endless it seems and has me reeling.

Overall, while there was some scenarios I wish were changed, or expanded on, of course this book gets a 10/10 recommendation.

PS – I know it’s probably wrong, but I love Rio even more now knowing he let not only Adeline go, but Molly too. I am desperate for a book about him.

I enjoyed this one.

I liked that we had a side story to Haunting/Hunting Adeline. A lot of us readers questioned about the diary and Molly's life. I am glad we got some insight into that storyline. BUT! I wish we got more. I felt like we were missing so much from that aspect of the story.

Personally, I wish we got a few more chapters with Molly in the house. I felt like this was very rushed, like it was mentioned, to fill up space in the story.

same as Cage's story. His back story was very rushed as well.

Everything was fast and to the point.

But H.D Carlton is an excellent writer. I did enjoy this one.

SPOILER WARNING

I have never followed a publication release from an author so closely before. I was so excited to read this book, I invited friends over so we all could sit and read it front to back.

Now that it's read... I am severely underwhelmed. My thoughts are still reeling over that extended epilogue scene so bare with these bullet points lol

There was so much potential with Molly her story. It could have gone SO much better. I feel like I would have enjoyed her story more if there was more evidence of her the horrors she experienced and how it affected her present day. I liked her job, I liked her work with Legion, and I liked her being able to find love. I would have preferred a full novel over a novella for her, however.

Main reactions:

1. Cage was made into a wannabe Zade (and not in a good way). There was so much personality crossover - I was literally waiting for him to start leaving Molly roses like Zade did with Addy. I am all for an obsessed MMC, but with the lack of character development, it was more psychotic obsession than a hot obsession.
2. I would not consider this a dark romance. Her job was gruesome and her history was dark, but the actual on page content was not, in my opinion. It felt more of a true crime story with a hint of dark romance in the smut. (The smut did have BDSM and degradation in it).
3. I am obsessed with Winifred. I wish we got more time with her!!! She was freaking hilarious, and I think her and Gigi would have hit it off!
4. I liked the reason Cage got into his business and his prior history with his sister. That chapter I think was one of best chapters in the book because it felt actually real and not superficial like most of the others.
5. Still a Rio stan.
6. Molly's background was so sad, and I did almost cry when she was explaining the bite marks on her body.
7. BITE MARK SCARS! OUCH! But Cage biting over them????? ICK. I understand wanting to take back the narrative and turning them into as good as memories as he could for her... but instant ick. It reminded me of Verity by CoHo and the headboard sex scene. The same exact ideology was done with Zade and Addie with the knife, and that was executed perfectly. I did not enjoy it in Molly's story because it came so far out of left field. There was no character development or trust organically built between the characters for it to make sense and not be perceived as anything other than gross.
8. With someone with Molly's background, I feel like she trusted and was opening up with Cage so easily. It felt like Stockholm syndrome.
9. What the heck happened to Mario?
10. WHO IS LEGION???? WHO IS THE WOMAN OF MANY NAMES?????
11. I hope her and her sister reconnect! It was sad to see that subplot have an open ending, but again, reminding myself it is just a novella.

Maybe I am still not over the cat and mouse duet, but I feel like the extended epilogue made the book worth reading. The writing and story felt rushed and just generally did not feel like H.D. Carlton's writing. The story came very unexpectedly, so I felt like Hailey could have taken more time and executed the story better (even with keeping it a novella). Mind you, I am a complete H.D. Stan, but if this was my first exposure to her, I would not continue to read more of her works.