Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

58 reviews

thegabscast's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This book felt like it was trying to be Gothic atmosphere meets Bridgerton, but failed at both. First, the “Gothic” atmosphere really wasn’t present, there was no haunting landscape and the world building did not add to this atmosphere in any way. Second, Signa, the main character is insufferable. She’s naive, fickle (drools over every man she meets and envisions a future with them), and vapid. However, you’re meant to believe she’s spunky, strong-willed, and charming. That’s not ever shown though, you’re just told over and over again despite her being the definition of a damsel in distress. She doesn’t even figure out the mystery herself, the answer  literally has to be spelt out for her to even register it. Maybe it’s because she spends more time obsessing over boys than she does actually trying to discover the answer? The answer was also blatantly obvious within the first few chapters, but not to Signa. Death was a great character if you just pay attention to his dialogue, but not if you actually stop and think about the fact that he has no personality. His sole purpose is to be obsessed with Signa and that’s all you really get from him. There’s no depth to him, there could have been, but it’s not in this book. His dynamic with Signa initially felt oddly paternal and not romantic, so making the jump from that to his declarations of love was uncomfortable to say the least. It was insta love, but Signa is soooo childish and “just a girl” that it really just feels creepy, not to mention that she’s literally 19 years-old. The “Little Bird” nickname did absolutely nothing to help with that either. I would have loved more of Blythe and I hear the third book is that, but I’m really not intrigued enough to continue reading this series. The writing itself wasn’t bad, but these characters were so one-dimensional and there was no true depth to the story that I found myself just trying to get through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ladybug12793's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing fast-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

3.5

Good Halloween read. 


I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and I finished it in less than 24 hours. It’s perfect for the spooky season because it’s fantasy with a little bit of mystery and ghosts. What I didn’t like is that the romance went from 0 to 1000 in about 0.25 seconds. Then, by the end of it, I was genuinely curious what the point of it all was. Also, confused about the murder’s plot. Even with those things, I had fun reading this book. I would recommend this to anyone that wants to read an easy, cozy, slightly spooky romantasy. However, If you are looking for some literary masterpiece, then I wouldn’t recommend this book.

0.5 🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide attempt

nafsaila's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness and Violence

misslys's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

unboundbooklover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bectothebooks's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

Wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. Even more shocked that I thoroughly enjoyed a

romance with Death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Infertility, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

klenda_vee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Terminal illness

Minor: Animal death

ziracrow's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

niya_books'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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

tessamariee's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

3.0

I wanted to really love this, but it was predictable and the characters were not flushed out enough. It fell a little flat in my opinion. It was fun though! I love a good slow burn and I love some of the personalities in the family! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, and Vomit

Moderate: Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexism, and Terminal illness