Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Belladonna

I absolutely loved this book! I cannot wait for the second one to be released! Death was so perfect and the descriptions were so beautifully written. As long as you can handle some spirits, I would recommend this book to everyone! I’m such a sucker for a Hades/Persephone tale and Belladonna was even better than I had hoped!

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introverted_reads's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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katievallin's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This was a reread. Some things were more cringey and cliche and black-and-white than I remembered. Didn't agree with all the ideals pushed, but some of the quotes have just stayed with me and found a permanent place in my mind. The audiobook narrator does an excellent job.

"Your name is no curse, Little Bird. I just like the taste of it."

"You must not allow yourself to be consumed so thoroughly by death. It's not selfish to live."

"'It's exhausting,' Signa said as she looked down to her lap, 'to pretend you are something - someone - you're not.' Blythe took her by the hand. 'Then do not spend your life exhausted.'"

"To me, you are a song to a soul that has never known music, light to someone who has only seen the darkness."

"You are no soft thing to be coddled.... You are bolder than the sun, Signa Farrow, and it's time that you burn."

"I don't want you so focused on the world of the dead that you forget to enjoy that of the living."

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shaylee_n_20's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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giulianalb99's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3,5⭐️

⚠️THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS⚠️

The book is quite good and it's super well written, but it has parts that don't quite convince me. It's very slow, and it's only at the end that everything gets tense. I loved how the author writes, however its true that there were parts in which I was bored.
I was so sure I was going to give this book 4 stars, but it was very predictable and I didn’t like the fact that Percy was the one behind everything…
The romance was good, but I expected more. Of course, there’s a toxic relationship between the MC and Death (I don’t know why authors LOVE to write about toxic relationships), and the tension between each other is great, but since the very beginning I knew who Death was…

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headinthepages's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I usually struggle with the pacing that often comes with a historical/gothic fiction but this was absolutely brilliant.

I was engaged in the story as soon as I started reading and found the style of writing, characters & dialogue particularly good.

I loved the plot and was very much along for the ride. I loved Death as a character and can’t wait to find out what happens in Foxglove!

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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this far more than I had expected! I love reading a story in which Death is personified and throughout a great deal of the book, I had expectations that would have put the rating lower, including a pretty annoying book trope. But nothing was what I predicted, even when I thought I was starting to piece the puzzles together and the ending was an absolute surprise. I went into this book mostly blind, having skimmed the blurb very briefly and I was drawn in by the murder mystery aspect, definitely not what I was expecting when I initially started the book. And despite there being a romance in this, I felt like a greater deal of importance was placed on the MC's love for her newfound family, and that is always more of a delight to read over romance, at least for me. I will certainly be picking up the sequel when it comes out this August!

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nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was one of my most anticipated releases for the year and I’m bummed I didn’t like it as much as I had hoped!

I am not really a fan of horror and the part of the book where Lily’s spirit looks like Scarlet Witch when she comes out of the gong in Dr. Strange’s Multiverse of Madness movie, limbs cracking/moving in odd angles and her mouth gaping open with blood and sores, was a little bit too horrific/graphic for me. It was so strange because that scene was creepy/scary but then the rest of the book did not keep with that tone. That scene just tonally felt so off for me and just came out of nowhere. Then the story goes back to a campy, Clue-like mystery with the dark-brooding Death love interest. It just felt very odd/out of place for me.

Also, I feel like Death and Signa’s love/relationship did not feel very fleshed out for me. It was giving very Edward and Bella. Death tells Signa “I’ve waited forever for you.” He’s literally a deity and Signa is a 19 year old girl. The whole thing just felt very strange and rushed. Like okay your cousins are dropping like flies but you need to make out with Death in a garden, okie doke.

Also Death meets Signa when she was a literal baby when everyone at this party dies, including her parents, but Signa does not. It’s giving Jacob and Renesme? Like Death knew he was going to wait until Signa was “of age” for him to have her even though he’s been watching over her since she was a literal baby. Through out the book, Death kind of deceives Signa and lies to her. Okay she can see dead people like he can but other then that, why should they be together?

I know this was Adalyn Grace’s first kind of time dipping her toe into more adult content, which I think is awesome, good for her. However, this book was just an odd mix of adult themes/scenes with the characters still being very YA in their development and lack of personality.

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