Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

29 reviews

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

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hopkinsa3's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

microbemom's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Alcohol

xoxlululuxox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

Belladonna follows Signa in her search for answers to her inability to die; which eventually changes to the search for answers to prevent the death of her cousin. Throughout her journey she quarrels with Death only to grow closer to him and lean on him in her time of need. 

This story is everything I could have wanted. I love books that feature Death as a person, especially when it is done in this manner. I loved his character, and the relationship he and Signa formed throughout the story. The mystery surrounding Blythe, Signa's cousin, was also intriguing and had me guessing until the very end. 

The idea that Signa has the powers of Death is also super interesting. We still don't know much about how or why, and it makes me look forward to the next books in the series to find out, but at the same time, it felt like one of the only mysteries that would carry forward. 

As much as I loved this book from the start, I am a little disappointed in the ending. The story was pretty much wrapped up within the main chapters of this book; the main mystery solved and other than the lingering questions of 'how did Signa get her gift' and 'what happened at Foxglove' we aren't left with much to carry on to the next book... until the epilogue which introduces more questions. But still, I feel that having the book end reasonably neatly and requiring an epilogue to continue is not 'enough'. 

This is my only complaint though, and as much as I personally don't enjoy this structure, I really did love the rest of the book, and the writing style. It was absolutely beautiful, and the cover really sells it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

margaret_k30'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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

katesmars's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

abiham's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I adored it. The writing was solid, the mystery was intriguing, and I liked the characters a lot. I only wish that the foreshadowing for the love interest plot twist had been more thoroughly fleshed out. I somewhat questioned if that plot twist was going to happen, but then I managed to convince myself out of it really well, so idk if it really flowed well. Still loved it though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

The main character can’t die, but she uses near-death as a way to talk to the reaper, so she essentially repeatedly commits suicide without facing the lasting consequences.

blewballoon's review

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

Minor: Chronic illness, Misogyny, and Self harm