Reviews

The Belladonna Maze by Sinéad Crowley

leanne29's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

leilaxx's review

4.0

Gee wiz

I finished this in a matter of hours. I was so absorbed in the world that I didn't realise how quiet my house had gotten and how much time had passed. Tell me why I decided to check my phone for the time, thinking it would be around 11:30 pm, only to find out it was past 2 am. My goodness, this story engulfed me. I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't expect plot twists, which is always refreshing.

akaasia's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

marield's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

lowimpactelly's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

4.0

super_jane19's review against another edition

I think I will re start this book again when I’m out of my Star Wars mood 

laurahastoomanywips's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This started off really well. I was gripped by the plot, the setting (an old country house, and the multiple timelines/viewpoints really drew me in, especially with the supernatural element to the story.
I just felt a bit let down by the super cheesy, rom-com-esque ending with everything tied up in a neat little bow too. I felt from about 60-70% this was what was coming and it sort of took the shine off my enjoyment. Still would recommend reading as some may like that sort of ending.
With thanks to the Pigeonhole for the opportunity.

vee5000's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Read with thanks to Pigeonhole in staves. An interesting mix of history, tension and romance, with some ghosts thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed reading this each day, it wasn't scary scary, but there were parts that would have had me running away from the house at night - there was lots of tension though. 

liseyp's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Thank you to the author, publisher Aria, and online book club The Pigeonhole for the chance to read this. This is an honest and voluntary review.

 

After years swapping between winters nannying in London and summers as a Greek tour rep, Grace returns to her native Ireland as a full-time nanny for the Fitzmahons in the impressive, and possibly haunted, Hollowpark House.

 

An easy to read story combining the history of family homes, the devastating impact of the Irish potato famine, some spookiness, long unsolved mysteries and a little bit of romance. If you don’t go into this with too high expectations there is plenty to enjoy here.

 

Grace is a fairly well-developed character and apart from a predictable and tiresome crush on the father of the child she is nannying, manages to solidly carry moat of the plot. The story hinges on Grace being open to the possibility of ghosts and sensing that something isn’t what it seems with the Fitzmahons while also having believable reasons for staying. And for the most part, and certainly the much stronger first half of the book, she fulfils her role well.

 

The secondary characters are also pretty solid, with people with secrets hiding them well, and people who are red herrings acting just suspiciously enough. Unfortunately for me the first half of the book sucked me in too well and I had much higher expectations of what the overall story would deliver. 

 

Even as some of my fellow Pigeonhole readers expressed doubt over some plot points I was willing to let them go to follow the flow of the story. But, a very anticlimactic resolution to the main corporeal threat of the story, followed by an extended ‘what happens next’ section that explains things that could have been left ambiguous, left me sadly disappointed.

aminakara's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm so torn by this book, because the first half was so good and had the potential to be really amazing. Sadly, for me, the second half of it let me down. It just fell really flat, especially in terms of how clichéd a certain aspect of it turned out to be, and also how unbelievable part of the story was..Like, I just couldn't get past the actions of a character or the reasons given for said actions.  

The writing was good to start with especially since it really created a tense and creepy atmosphere. 

The setting was such a good one, and if not for what I mentioned above, it could've been such an amazing read. 

Thank you to PH and Sinéad for the chance to read this book.