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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
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
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
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
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get to this one! A dark romantasy with an intriguing mystery that I absolutely devoured. That cliffhanger ending, along with some unresolved plot points, makes me wish that the second book in this series could come sooner! the only thing I didn’t really like was the resolution of the mystery. I thought it happened so quickly and I didn’t buy into the culprit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Body horror, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Chronic illness, and Classism
kbairbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
5.0
This was so much fun! A murder mystery that wasn’t scary?? I love it! Dark, and at times creepy, but filled with love and family and so much fun. And that ending?! Oh my gosh. I loved the ending so freaking much. I can’t wait for Foxglove!! Although I thought for a bit maybe book two would focus on the mystery of her origin? But oof I seriously loved how it ended and all the final ‘battle scenes’ if you will. Mysterious, deadly, and oh so good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual content
l_e_lavalle's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
It's a good book, I saw the plot twist from a mile away but it was written in a way where it was still fun. I'm not a huge fan of romances where the love interest is super old compared to the main character but at least she was an adult.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
headinthepages's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I usually struggle with the pacing that often comes with a historical/gothic fiction but this was absolutely brilliant.
I was engaged in the story as soon as I started reading and found the style of writing, characters & dialogue particularly good.
I loved the plot and was very much along for the ride. I loved Death as a character and can’t wait to find out what happens in Foxglove!
I was engaged in the story as soon as I started reading and found the style of writing, characters & dialogue particularly good.
I loved the plot and was very much along for the ride. I loved Death as a character and can’t wait to find out what happens in Foxglove!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Vomit, Abandonment, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Infertility, Alcoholism, Medical content, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Gore, Child death, and Infidelity
maeverose's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
2.75
I had to edit this review because my feelings changed a lot in hindsight.
TL;DR: Loved the beginning, meh towards the end. Love the atmosphere, the secret garden vibes. This is new adult not YA. The romance was highly problematic.
The first half of this book was an easy 5 stars, but the second half was more of a 3 at best. (And in hindsight, the problematic romance just kinda tainted the whole book…)
🖤 🖤 🖤
The thing I loved the most was the atmosphere and writing. The descriptions in this book are so vivid and atmospheric I could clearly picture everything in my mind. I want to be in this world. I love immersive writing, especially in a gothic book, it’s one of the number one things I look for and this definitely delivers on that.
I loved the secret garden vibes. I don’t know if it was intentional but this definitely feels like a gothic retelling almost of the secret garden. Lots of similarities.
💔 💔 💔
I’m very picky with mortal x immortal pairings because they often feel icky. This one did. Without spoilers, Death met her as a two month old baby and kept an eye on her from then until she was 19, when the book takes place. and he knew from a vision that he had when she was a baby that they would get together when she was an adult…. Yeah. That aside, my original thoughts on the romance before realizing how messed up it was: it feels very much like what you’d expect from YA in that Signa is very quick to catch feelings despite the fact she hated the love interest in the beginning. I didn’t feel their chemistry because Signa didn’t really get to know Death or spend much time with him. Her attraction to him was really only physical.
Signa is so focused on men the entire book when she’s supposed to be focused on saving someone’s life, something that’s incredibly urgent. There was a love triangle that while reading I felt was entirely unnecessary and just took up space in the book that should’ve focused on the actual plot.
Another thing about the romance is that it gets a bit steamier than I would say is appropriate for YA. There’s an on page sex scene that’s somewhat explicit, and besides that Signa is just very horny throughout the book. I would categorize this as new adult, not young adult. I feel like authors forget that the target age range of YA is 12-17. I would not give this to anyone younger than 16, personally.
Signa is very obsessed with being a ‘proper lady’ throughout most of the book and I found those parts to be very annoying. If she had grown out of that mindset earlier I wouldn’t have minded it so much because it does make sense given the time period and her high class status that she’d care about that, but it was overdone imo.
While I loved the writing in the first half, after that it started to feel overwritten and like it was trying too hard to be poetic at certain parts. It started to drag on a bit as well and was a bit repetitive at times. Kinda felt like the author wrote the book in order and got burnt out towards the end.
About the end reveal of who did it: I didn’t understand why Percy continued to poison Lillian when it didn’t kill her the first time… if it was an accident and she survived he could’ve just waited for it to leave her system… It didn’t make sense to me.
A very subjective issue: I just don’t like YA. Even though this has more adult themes it’s still written like YA. The main character is very naive (understandably so, but still), she’s so focused on boys instead of the very pressing situation going on, and there’s unnecessary petty drama with some of the other girls her age. I feel like these are common tropes in YA. Maybe it’s just because I’m an adult and don’t like those things but I remember disliking those things when I was a teenager as well so… I just would’ve preferred if this had been written as adult and the characters were more mature and less easily distracted by cute men.
TL;DR: Loved the beginning, meh towards the end. Love the atmosphere, the secret garden vibes. This is new adult not YA. The romance was highly problematic.
The first half of this book was an easy 5 stars, but the second half was more of a 3 at best. (And in hindsight, the problematic romance just kinda tainted the whole book…)
🖤 🖤 🖤
The thing I loved the most was the atmosphere and writing. The descriptions in this book are so vivid and atmospheric I could clearly picture everything in my mind. I want to be in this world. I love immersive writing, especially in a gothic book, it’s one of the number one things I look for and this definitely delivers on that.
I loved the secret garden vibes. I don’t know if it was intentional but this definitely feels like a gothic retelling almost of the secret garden. Lots of similarities.
💔 💔 💔
I’m very picky with mortal x immortal pairings because they often feel icky. This one did. Without spoilers, Death met her as a two month old baby and kept an eye on her from then until she was 19, when the book takes place.
Signa is so focused on men the entire book when she’s supposed to be focused on saving someone’s life, something that’s incredibly urgent. There was a love triangle that while reading I felt was entirely unnecessary and just took up space in the book that should’ve focused on the actual plot.
Another thing about the romance is that it gets a bit steamier than I would say is appropriate for YA. There’s an on page sex scene that’s somewhat explicit, and besides that Signa is just very horny throughout the book. I would categorize this as new adult, not young adult. I feel like authors forget that the target age range of YA is 12-17. I would not give this to anyone younger than 16, personally.
Signa is very obsessed with being a ‘proper lady’ throughout most of the book and I found those parts to be very annoying. If she had grown out of that mindset earlier I wouldn’t have minded it so much because it does make sense given the time period and her high class status that she’d care about that, but it was overdone imo.
While I loved the writing in the first half, after that it started to feel overwritten and like it was trying too hard to be poetic at certain parts. It started to drag on a bit as well and was a bit repetitive at times. Kinda felt like the author wrote the book in order and got burnt out towards the end.
About the end reveal of who did it:
A very subjective issue: I just don’t like YA. Even though this has more adult themes it’s still written like YA. The main character is very naive (understandably so, but still), she’s so focused on boys instead of the very pressing situation going on, and there’s unnecessary petty drama with some of the other girls her age. I feel like these are common tropes in YA. Maybe it’s just because I’m an adult and don’t like those things but I remember disliking those things when I was a teenager as well so… I just would’ve preferred if this had been written as adult and the characters were more mature and less easily distracted by cute men.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Minor: Suicide attempt and Religious bigotry
Graphic: poisoning Moderate: description of a broken neck Minor: an implication that having a lot of sexual partners leads to ‘diseases’