Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

24 reviews

vagrantheather's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

A fun read, but problematic at times, and not very deep or moving. Death was rather sexy. Hard to have a book about death and murder and yet not really feel that it's a dark book, but here we are.

There were a lot of plot devices I disliked. Death's fascination with (and interference on behalf of) our MC feels like grooming. A wealthy orphan girl being passed along to a home full of constant ribald parties - unlikely, given the time period, but plausible for a smutty regency book. However it doesn't go there - it ISN'T a smutty regency book where our innocent young heroine finds herself in a scandalous situation. So it feels unnecessarily edgy on part of the author.

The garden fiasco and overall vibe (mansion estate, ghosts, death, a sexy servant boy) summon The Secret Garden. And I love TSG! But the garden ends up being basically unnecessary. There's some waffley excuse that spirits can't communicate well when removed from their place of (death? Burial? Can't recall), but the whole "ahh I must find this secret garden then KILL MYSELF to gain entry" was so unnecessary. Surely the spirit could talk to you from, idk, the other side of the wall? And could you really not think of a single other way to enter a locked garden than by poisoning yourself to summon death's powers of intangibility? Maybe try looking under a rock for the key? Or ask the servant for a key? Or look for a key in the mansion? Maybe try scaling a nearby tree? Maybe stand on the horse's back to hop over? So many options that don't require summoning your professed enemy.

I was very disappointed by the author's tendency to distinguish characters by hair and skin color. The characters were mostly thin/flat.

The author puts in place a mechanism for Signa to play God by taking one life to spare another, but ultimately does very little with this theme. She was essentially A-OK with having murdered an old aunt to spare her young cousin. Sure, she didn't know what she was doing, but after finding out her power the guilt was a short lived thing, easily shrugged off. Flimsy.

It's an enjoyable read, but shallowly developed and ultimately forgettable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Terminal illness

Minor: Self harm, Death of parent, and Sexual content

aecoralie's review

dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

it's been a long time since i enjoyed a fantasy book this much. this story had everything i needed and more: compelling characters, atmospheric setting, and a nice mystery that kept everything nicely flowing. i can't wait to read the second book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Vomit, Death, Chronic illness, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury

calicat42's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

anoelle896's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Gore, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Physical abuse, Classism, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, and Alcohol

amberghinii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Chronic illness, and Classism

geiravor's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

blewballoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Overall this was good. I enjoyed the spooky murder mystery with ghosts. I liked death as a character and

would have been obsessed with his relationship with Signa as a teenager, but as an adult I worry about things like a huge age gap and lack of common ground.

I wish we had gotten more of Signa using her unusual abilities but I can understand why they needed to be limited. There were plenty of red herrings with the murder mystery, so it wasn't too easy for the reader to solve. I do wish this wasn't a series, I would have preferred to have

everything wrapped up at the end like it was going to be, before the cliffhanger happened.

But I could see that the author wanted to do more with the characters that had been set up. I'm not sure if I'll read any sequels. This book sort of reminded me of The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause, although the plots and setting are very different. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Chronic illness, Self harm, and Misogyny

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Chronic illness, Child death, and Sexual content

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, and Animal death

nat20charisma's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.25

I really enjoyed the story, but I got a little annoyed with the end. It felt like the author would have a wrap up, but then the story would continue. There were probably 6 endings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Chronic illness

Minor: Vomit, Blood, and Child abuse