You finished Haunting Adeline at 2 a.m., immediately bought Hunting Adeline before your brain caught up, and now you're staring at your Kindle library wondering: wait, is that it?
It isn't, not even close. Plenty of readers hit this wall after the duet, only to find a prequel they didn't know existed, a spinoff novella, and a brand-new series already racking up BookTok edits.
Her catalog is scattered across self-published originals, traditional reissues, and titles with release dates that keep shifting, making it genuinely hard to know what's canon and what connects to what.
So this guide pulls it all together in one place:Every book she's written, in order, with what it's actually about and who it's for.
Here’s where it starts.
About H.D. Carlton
H.D. Carlton is a self-published-turned-traditionally-published dark romance author best known for the Cat and Mouse Duet.
She writes stalker romance, morally gray pairings, and explicit content with consent deliberately blurred rather than assumed, and she’s upfront about it.
Her books carry content warnings printed at the front, a practice that’s followed her since Amazon suspended her original Haunting Adeline listing in 2021 over the warnings themselves.
Her style leans on dual first-person POV, letting readers sit inside both the stalker’s and the stalked’s heads in the same book, with long, interiority-heavy chapters built around obsession rather than fast plot beats.
She writes her villains and love interests as the same person on purpose, framing violence as devotion rather than resolving the contradiction away.
She names Penelope Douglas and Callie Hart as influences, and she tends to build a shared universe rather than one-off books, spinning side characters off into their own spinoffs and sequels.
The Famous One: The Cat and Mouse Duet
This is the series that built her audience, and it's where most readers start. Five books total, across two prequels, the two-book main duet, and one companion spinoff.
Satan's Affair (2021)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: April 26, 2021 (self-published)
- Genre: Dark romance/horror novella
- Pages: 179
- Series: Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 0.5
- Rating: 3.71/5 (Goodreads)
A prequel novella following Sibby, who executes visitors she judges evil at a traveling Halloween carnival with the help of her five henchmen.
It's darker and stranger than the main duet, and Sibby also appears in Haunting Adeline.
Who should read this: Readers who want the full Cat and Mouse timeline from the start, and anyone who likes reverse-harem horror with a body count.
Haunting Adeline (2021)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: August 12, 2021 (self-published); reissued August 27, 2024, by Zando
- Genre: Dark romance / psychological thriller
- Pages: 624 (reissue)
- Series: Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 1 of 2
- Rating: 3.93/5 (Goodreads)
Adeline Reilly inherits her grandmother's Gothic mansion, Parsons Manor, hoping for quiet to finish her next novel.
Instead, she gets a masked stalker, and her great-grandmother Gigi's diaries describe an unsolved murder and an obsession that never lets up.
It ends on a cliffhanger, we've laid out exactly how that plays out in our full Haunting Adeline summary.
Who should read this: Dark romance readers who want a genuine mystery attached to the stalker plot, and anyone drawn to leads written as both threat and protector at once.
Hunting Adeline (2022)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: January 2022 (self-published); reissued September 24, 2024, by Zando
- Genre: Dark romance / psychological thriller
- Pages: 704 (reissue)
- Series: Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 2 of 2
- Rating: 4.07/5 (Goodreads)
The second half picks up within moments of that cliffhanger, as Adeline fights to survive captivity and Zade tears through every resource to reach her.
It's the darkest material in the duet, and the book where the aftermath finally gets real page time, including whether the ending delivers, which our Hunting Adeline summary breaks down in full.
Who should read this: Readers who finished book one invested in Adeline and Zade specifically, and anyone who wants trauma and recovery treated as a real arc.
Where's Molly (2024)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: February 16, 2024 (self-published)
- Genre: Dark romance thriller
- Pages: 257
- Series: Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 2.5 (companion novella)
- Rating: 4.15/5 (Goodreads)
A spinoff following a side character from the duet, dealing with the fallout of trauma and a story of vengeance that runs independently of Adeline and Zade's arc.
Who should read this: Fans who've finished the main duet and want a shorter, standalone-feeling return to that world.
Phantom (2025)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: January 4, 2025 (self-published); reissued April 22, 2025, by Zando
- Genre: Dark romance / historical romance
- Pages: 368 (Zando reissue)
- Series: Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 0 (prequel)
- Rating: 3.9/5 (Goodreads)
A prequel told from the perspective of Gigi, Adeline's great-grandmother, set in 1944, decades before the main duet and covering the affair and marriage referenced in her diaries.
The publisher's recommended reading order places it after the duet, since it spoils the diaries' reveals.
Who should read this: Only readers who've already finished Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline, reading this first spoils both.
The Newer One: The Hollow Graves Duet
Carlton's newest series, set at a fictional university and built around a different kind of dark romance premise.
A woman hiding her identity as a serial killer's daughter, and the man out for revenge who gets tangled up with her instead.
My Dreadful Darling (2026)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: April 21, 2026
- Genre: Dark romance / gothic
- Pages: 608
- Series: Hollow Graves Duet, Book 1 of 2
- Rating: 4.37/5 (Goodreads)
Reverie Adams is hiding her identity as the daughter of a serial killer while trying to keep her head above water. The book ends on a cliffhanger with the author's own note.
Who should read this: Readers who liked the psychological intensity of Haunting Adeline and want Carlton's take on forced proximity and obsession in a new setting.
My Darling Reverie (Release Date TBA)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: Release date not yet confirmed
- Genre: Dark romance / gothic
- Pages: Not yet confirmed
- Series: Hollow Graves Duet, Book 2 of 2
- Rating: Not yet available, unreleased
The closing half of the duet, continuing Reverie Adams's story after the cliffhanger ending of My Dreadful Darling.
Carlton first listed it for 2026, but the preorder was later pulled, so check her website for the current date.
Who should read this: Anyone who finished My Dreadful Darling and needs the resolution. Don't start the series here.
The Standalones
Two books outside any series, both set in Carlton's recognizable dark-romance register but with no shared characters or universe.
Shallow River (2020)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: November 1, 2020 (self-published), reissued January 7, 2025, by Zando
- Genre: Dark romance/suspense
- Pages: 432 (Zando reissue)
- Series: Standalone
- Rating: 4.12/5 (Goodreads)
River McAllister escaped Shallow Hill and is rebuilding her life with Ryan Fitzgerald, whose possessiveness turns abusive, while his estranged brother Mako is the only one who notices.
Who should read this: Readers who want Carlton's voice in a grounded domestic-abuse story with suspense elements. Check the content warnings first, which include domestic violence and rape.
Does It Hurt? (2022)
Book at a Glance
- Author: H.D. Carlton
- Published: July 21, 2022 (self-published)
- Genre: Dark romance / horror-suspense
- Pages: 430
- Series: Standalone
- Rating: 3.88/5 (Goodreads)
Sawyer Bennett, a woman running from her past, is taken aboard a boat by Enzo Vitale, a man out for revenge, and the two end up shipwrecked on a remote island with a lighthouse.
Horror and supernatural elements run through the romance.
Who should read this: Readers who want the darkest, most horror-adjacent entry in her standalone catalog.
The Discontinued Ones: The Zero Saga
Two early titles, Hollow (2018) and Untainted (2019), make up what fans call the Zero Saga.
Carlton has confirmed in a Goodreads author Q&A that both are no longer published, with no near-term plans to bring them back, so they're part of her bibliography but not something you can currently buy or read.
My Take on These H.D. Carlton Books
If you’re going in cold, know what you’re signing up for: Carlton isn’t writing feel-good romance with a dark cover.
The stalking, the blurred consent, the sheer length of these books, it’s all intentional, and it’s not for everyone.
That said, the Cat and Mouse Duet earns its reputation.
Haunting Adeline’s mystery subplot gives the stalker romance actual stakes beyond the obsession, and Hunting Adeline’s decision to slow down and show Adeline’s recovery instead of rushing to a happy ending is a braver choice than most dark romance authors make.
Where the catalog gets uneven is pacing.
Carlton’s chapters run long, her internal monologues run longer, and by the third or fourth book in a series, the repetition starts to show.
Phantom and Satan’s Affair feels more like fan service for readers already invested than strong entry points on their own.
My Dreadful Darling is the most interesting recent swing: New setting, same intensity, and it’s too early to say if the Hollow Graves Duet will stick the landing the way Cat and Mouse did.
Bottom line: Start with Haunting Adeline, read the content warnings seriously, and don’t expect a quick read.
Sum Up
Ten books are published so far, including the two discontinued Zero Saga titles, and My Darling Reverie is still to come.
From self-published novellas to a traditionally published, genre-defining catalog, her trajectory says as much about dark romance's rise as it does about her own writing.
If you're picking a starting point, Haunting Adeline is still the one that built her audience and the safest first read.
But if you want her voice without committing to a whole series, Does It Hurt? and Shallow River both deliver it in a single book.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a movie or show based on any H.D. Carlton book?
A film adaptation of Haunting Adeline is in development, announced by Carlton in July 2026. It drew backlash over its subject matter, which she’s addressed directly while confirming production is moving forward.
Are H.D. Carlton’s books available as audiobooks?
Yes, most of her catalog has audiobook editions, usually with dual narrators since her books alternate between two points of view. Hunting Adeline’s audiobook, for example, uses a full ensemble cast beyond just the two leads.
What age group are H.D. Carlton’s books meant for?
She recommends 18+ for all her books due to graphic violence, explicit content, and dark themes like stalking and dubious consent. She’s said this directly in author Q&As rather than leaving it to inference.
