Reviews with content warning for Cancer - For Whom the Belle Tolls

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

167 reviews

lrose02's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book had so many elements to it that I can’t not rate it a five star. It’s a rom com for sure, with smut and romance and all that delicious stuff. But it’s also a beautiful story about two non perfect individuals finding each other, and others, and working through their trauma. This author just gets people. The characters are so well thought out and complex that I was fed. The book is long, and I admit the start was slow but I feel like that’s a big book intimidation problem and not specific to this book. There’s plot, that comes out in the last third, with many hints up to it in the start. But it’s also a very character heavy plot, and you follow their growth and the life together. The hellp desk is actually a minor plot point but also the heart of the book, as Lily couldn’t be where she is without that. Her writing on religious is so relatable and beautiful, and is really touching especially for people who have had issues with their faith or have left it behind. There are trigger warnings, as the author explores many bad things about humanity as well as the good. Chapter 42 is especially heavy, as it follows Lily’s human life. There’s SA, self harm, suicide attempts and then her actual cancer battle and death. I won’t spoiler warning these as it’s important to know. The grief at the end is so beautiful and I love how the culture of the afterlife is explored in the way the funeral is. The ending is a happy one, and one I feel is fleshed out enough. It makes sense in the end. And I loved the epilogue. I feel like it’s a reference to the skits on TikTok which I know vaguely of but I like it, as it’s a perfect reflection of Lily’s start. I feel lucky to have read this on KU and she’s an author I hopes keeps writing because I haven’t read prose this beautiful in a while.

Content Warnings

writerlygirl's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

roguekat's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

emmakate08's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I don't know if I can accurately put into words just how much I love this book. If there is an afterlife, I hope this is what it's like. This book has one of the kindest, most empathetic takes on death and the afterlife that I have ever seen. This book shattered my heart and put it back together again. I was laughing and crying, sometimes within the same chapter. It is a long book, and you absolutely HAVE to mind the trigger/content warnings. That said, this book could've been a thousand hours long, and I'd have been perfectly content. I've loved the Hell's Belles series on TikTok almost since the beginning, so I already knew and loved the characters, but this book somehow added even more depth to them and made me love them even more, which I really didn't think was possible. I've listened to this book twice already (which is, admittedly, a little insane since it's almost 24 hours long). The first time I read it, I finished it in two days, because I simply could not wait for the next work day to find out what happened next. The second time I read it, it took me through three full shifts at work. To be honest, I'll probably read this several times between now and the release of the next book. The world is so rich and engaging, and the writing is so beautiful. If you love couples who are also best friends, I highly, highly recommend you give this book a try!

Content Warnings

theahrbee's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

For fans of TikTok's "Hell's Bells" series, there was always a fear maybe that the story they love would not translate to the written word. Jaysea Lynn blew those fears out of the water with this stunning debut.

The depth of character and quality of writing is phenomenal. Exploring the depths of Lily, Sharkie and Bel was a journey filled with manifold treasures. The cosmology that she has created, that understands evil and good in such a gentle and satisfying way really braces up your view from having watched the TikTok series, but easily stands alone and is worthy of a deep reading.

And the smut is really really satisfying.. Like too satisfying.

Highly HIGHLY recommend!

Content Warnings

lpm_reads's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

A thirty-something dies from cancer and she’s now a soul in the afterlife, who opens a help desk in Hell, where she uses her customer service experience to deal with difficult souls who resent being sent to, well, Hell. She falls in love with a demon (a prince of hell and a general in Lucifer’s army), adopts a lost little soul named Sharky, and gives God a piece of her mind.

It was creative but also weird, and it felt a little too long. And it was also super horny. I actually skipped a few of the steamy scenes because I just wasn’t feeling it. But I liked the found family elements. So overall a mixed bag.

Content Warnings

annatollia's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

huddle_dragon's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was an absolute love of a book, to the point where I now own it as a physical book, ebook and the audio. I do HIGHLY recommend the audiobook, the narrators give such a life the Lily and Bel!

This book start with Lily coming to the afterlife and her trying to come to terms with that she was a good person even with religious trauma following her. Her journey through this book is coming to terms with the fact that she didn’t get to live as much as she wishes. Is her new found family enough to make her want to stay in the afterlife or will she go back to Earth.

Content Warnings

teaand_tomes's review

3.0

medium-paced

Thank you Jaysea Lynn, Saga Press Books #SagaSaysCrew, and Simon Maverick for the free gifts!

This book had a killer premise (pun fully intended): a snarky, terminally ill woman dies, ends up in a weirdly whimsical Afterlife, and finds herself managing chaos at the gates of Hell like it’s a customer service desk. Honestly? That concept hooked me instantly.

There’s a lot to enjoy here: Lily is a likable, layered character, and her arc from grief to agency is one of the strongest parts of the book. Her dynamic with Bel, the demon general with the voice of sin, is slow-burn and sweet, with an emotional intimacy that builds gradually. Their chemistry is quiet but real.

However, the execution was a little uneven for me. The tone fluctuates between deeply emotional introspection (Lily’s cancer diagnosis and death are treated with sensitivity) and quirky dark comedy (think “The Good Place” meets Supernatural), but it doesn’t always find a consistent balance. Some emotional beats felt undercut by humor, while others felt out of place given the story’s otherwise light-hearted rhythm.

Additionally, the main conflict—the ominous threat to the Afterlife—was too vague and offscreen to generate real tension. We’re told a lot about this danger, but we don’t feel it unfold in real-time. When the characters refer to it later as if we’ve been through a war, it doesn’t quite land, since we were never actually in the trenches with them.

Despite that, the narration was a highlight. Elena Wolfe captures Lily’s compassion and resilience beautifully, while Sean Masters’s deep, smooth tone was spot-on for Bel. They brought warmth and personality to the characters in a way the text alone didn’t always deliver.

This was a creative and thoughtful debut with standout narration and heart. The plot pacing and tonal swings didn’t fully work for me, but fans of cozy underworld vibes, grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and character-driven romantasy may still find plenty to love.

Content Warnings

mamabagel92's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

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