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wheelyautistic's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Such a well written piece and was hooked at every page. I enjoyed the development of the character of death and the romance was balanced nicely with the family aspect
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Death, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Child abuse
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!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Death, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
xtsukix's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
Took me a little bit to get into but I adored this and wanted to read it non-stop once I did get into it. The mystery was delectable, the romance was (a little sudden but) so sweet, very much an “I’ll burn the world if you ask me to” romance which I adoreeeee. The plot twists were intriguing and whilst Signa was not the most relatable character, we understand why she made the choices she did. I was wondering how this was going to prompt a sequel, and I’m absolutely happy with how this book ended and am super excited for the next one. I definitely want to read the entire book over knowing what I know now, even directly after reading it, which is how I know it’s a new favourite of mine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Abandonment, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Murder, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gore
giulianalb99's review against another edition
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…
⚠️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…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
bethsreading's review against another edition
DNF at 25% 1⭐️
God this was bad. I was so excited to pick this up and I had heard good things and it was in the kindle 99p sale. But the writing felt like a 2012 whattpad fanfic and Signa was the most annoying main character. Girlie, please put the thesaurus away and stop saying ‘dark tresses’, ‘dark waves’ etc - just say hair dear god. The plot was stupid and the rules of the magic/ghost system were not properly explained, it felt like the author just made up a rule for whatever was convenient to the plot at that moment. She is angry at Death for doing his job and keeps talking about him as if he is the Devil which made no sense. For example she says that Death probably ‘invented deciet’ - why? if anything Death is honest and works for nature, why would he be such a bad guy. The only reason she gives is that she thinks he is obsessed with her and wants to make her life specifically difficult. I think he should have more going on than worrying about the day to day life of some bratty girl. But no, to make things even stupider, it turns out he does care about her and is going to be the love interest? Nope. It was just bad and not even in a fun way. I tried to get to 40% to give it a really fair shot but I actually couldn’t make it a page further.
God this was bad. I was so excited to pick this up and I had heard good things and it was in the kindle 99p sale. But the writing felt like a 2012 whattpad fanfic and Signa was the most annoying main character. Girlie, please put the thesaurus away and stop saying ‘dark tresses’, ‘dark waves’ etc - just say hair dear god. The plot was stupid and the rules of the magic/ghost system were not properly explained, it felt like the author just made up a rule for whatever was convenient to the plot at that moment. She is angry at Death for doing his job and keeps talking about him as if he is the Devil which made no sense. For example she says that Death probably ‘invented deciet’ - why? if anything Death is honest and works for nature, why would he be such a bad guy. The only reason she gives is that she thinks he is obsessed with her and wants to make her life specifically difficult. I think he should have more going on than worrying about the day to day life of some bratty girl. But no, to make things even stupider, it turns out he does care about her and is going to be the love interest? Nope. It was just bad and not even in a fun way. I tried to get to 40% to give it a really fair shot but I actually couldn’t make it a page further.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Murder, and Suicide attempt
nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.25
My favorite characters were Thaddeus the Library ghost who was only in two brief scenes and Blythe who didn’t get nearly enough scenes or dialogue if that tells you anything
•
I’ll give credit where credit is due: the murder mystery was done really well and was the only reason I kept reading & wanted to finish the book (Blythe being at the center of it and being a favorite character of mine also helped me finish the book). I genuinely had fun trying to solve the mystery occurring at the Hawthorne Estate but sadly I was too often overcome with a rage at the cons the book had that the fun never lasted long.
First off, I did not care AT ALL about Signa. I found her to be an annoying, boring halfwit of a protagonist. Which is confusing because surely a character who cannot die, can speak to death & spirits, AND has powers wouldn’t be boring. But alas. There were also so many instances where I found myself rolling my eyes at Signa’s decisions; I didn’t understand her complete idiocy when things felt so obvious they were staring her right in the face. Because I didn’t care about Signa, anything that didn’t have to do with the murder mystery such as her debut into high society or her interaction with her love interest(s) made me want to rip my hair out. Okay that’s dramatic, I just was uninterested and wanted the plot to get back to the murder mystery portion. Other than Blythe, I enjoyed the characters of Lillian, Thaddeus, and the Apothecary woman (mostly side characters).
Second, Death and Signa’s relationship gave me the ick. Like I can often overlook immortal beings that are thousands of years old with a 19 yr old but the way Adalyn Grace writes their relationship feels so gross and weird. Death first meets Signa when she’s just been freshly birthed and then watches her grow up and then gets into a sexual/intimate relationship with her. Normally I would mark this as a spoiler but it is SO obvious from the start that they will eventually be hot for each other. Not only does Death first lay eyes on Signa was she is a wee little baby but Adalyn Grace MULTIPLE TIMES MIND YOU describes Death as speaking to Signa as “if she were a child.” It just made me so uncomfortable and I’m sure I cringed through all their scenes together.
Third, one of the supposedly biggest reveals (other than the murder mystery) was extremely obvious. So obvious that I predicted it by Chapter 3, page 24. The actual reveal wasn’t until Chapter 43, page 372.The reveal I’m talking about is Sylas being Death
I was majorly disappointed with this book. I was hoping for more ghosts and a more likable protagonist but didn’t get either.
I’ll give credit where credit is due: the murder mystery was done really well and was the only reason I kept reading & wanted to finish the book (Blythe being at the center of it and being a favorite character of mine also helped me finish the book). I genuinely had fun trying to solve the mystery occurring at the Hawthorne Estate but sadly I was too often overcome with a rage at the cons the book had that the fun never lasted long.
First off, I did not care AT ALL about Signa. I found her to be an annoying, boring halfwit of a protagonist. Which is confusing because surely a character who cannot die, can speak to death & spirits, AND has powers wouldn’t be boring. But alas. There were also so many instances where I found myself rolling my eyes at Signa’s decisions; I didn’t understand her complete idiocy when things felt so obvious they were staring her right in the face. Because I didn’t care about Signa, anything that didn’t have to do with the murder mystery such as her debut into high society or her interaction with her love interest(s) made me want to rip my hair out. Okay that’s dramatic, I just was uninterested and wanted the plot to get back to the murder mystery portion. Other than Blythe, I enjoyed the characters of Lillian, Thaddeus, and the Apothecary woman (mostly side characters).
Second, Death and Signa’s relationship gave me the ick. Like I can often overlook immortal beings that are thousands of years old with a 19 yr old but the way Adalyn Grace writes their relationship feels so gross and weird. Death first meets Signa when she’s just been freshly birthed and then watches her grow up and then gets into a sexual/intimate relationship with her. Normally I would mark this as a spoiler but it is SO obvious from the start that they will eventually be hot for each other. Not only does Death first lay eyes on Signa was she is a wee little baby but Adalyn Grace MULTIPLE TIMES MIND YOU describes Death as speaking to Signa as “if she were a child.” It just made me so uncomfortable and I’m sure I cringed through all their scenes together.
Third, one of the supposedly biggest reveals (other than the murder mystery) was extremely obvious. So obvious that I predicted it by Chapter 3, page 24. The actual reveal wasn’t until Chapter 43, page 372.
I was majorly disappointed with this book. I was hoping for more ghosts and a more likable protagonist but didn’t get either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Animal death
Minor: Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Medical content
kel_under_the_cover_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse
katesmars's review
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Pedophilia, Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Self harm
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, and Self harm
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.