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headinthepages's review against another edition
- 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 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!
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
seraphina2000's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
novelty_reads's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
If you ever wanted a Tim Burton-esque YA book, look no further than Belladonna.
This book had everything my gothic romance loving heart could've ever wanted. From the very first page in arguably one of the best prologues I've read in YA, I was hooked. I was obsessed. Everything jumped from the page and felt so real.
Belladonna follows Signa Farrow, an orphan girl with a unique ability to communicate with Death. When one of her relatives dies, she is brought to Thorn Grove, the residence of her last remaining family. When the wife of the patriarch of the house appears and claims she was poisoned, Signa enlists the help of stable hand, Sylas to find out the killer, fearing they might strike again.
The very first thing that jumped out for me was the writing style. This book is gloriously thematic and aesthetic and I was in awe of how the ambience was built up so well from page one. The book flowed so easily, the progression of events feeling so natural and rich with description. From the very start we discover the unfortunate circumstances that lead to Signa's orphanhood and her relationship with the mysterious figure, Death who she's tried seeking out since her parents died when she was a baby. Layering and backstory really enabled a deeper understanding of her character and I loved reading about her on the page. She was a lonely, sad, yet kind main character who was just seeking friendship, a thing she had the misfortune of never experiencing. Her characterisation was one of the best elements of the book.
We also got a lot of backstory and depth to the side characters which was a delightful touch. I found myself connecting to Blythe, Percy, Elijah, Marjorie and Sylas and I enjoyed the moments when Signa was alone with them so we could understand them better.
The one thing that brought this book down a bit rating wise was how predictable some parts of the book were. I predicted the storyline between Sylas and Death from the very start, thinking how strange it was that these characters were never seen together nor seen by anyone other than Signa. I just wished we had more emotional scenes between them so that I could connect to their characters a bit more.
That being said, I am confident the connections between all characters would further develop in book two. This book, especially the ending has left me wanting more and I'm so excited to read Foxglove as soon as it releases.
ACTUAL RATING: 4.4 STARS
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
thecatconstellation's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Pregnancy, and Classism
maeverose's review against another edition
2.75
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.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Religious bigotry and Suicide attempt
Graphic: poisoning Moderate: description of a broken neck Minor: an implication that having a lot of sexual partners leads to ‘diseases’ofpagesandparagraphs's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
jamiebrito's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
lauramparis's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
azrah786's review against another edition
4.25
CW: violence, blood, gore, death, death of parent, murder, suicide attempt, self harm, emotional abuse, parental neglect, grief, chronic illness, vomit, medical content, sexual content
--
An addictive read that is beautiful blend of fantasy and mystery, Belladonna will enthral you from the opening pages.
The story follows Signa Farrow a girl who has been surrounded by death ever since she was born both in how the various guardians she has been taken in by have met untimely ends and in how she is able to see and communicate with Death (and ghosts) yet elude it herself.
Signa soon finds herself arriving at Thorn Grove to be in the care of the Hawthorne family, her last remaining relatives who are mourning the death of their matriarch who died of a mysterious illness which the daughter of the house, Blythe is suffering from too. However, when she crosses paths with the ghost of the matriarch who pleads her to get to the bottom of how she really died as the rest of the family could be in danger, Signa finds herself teaming up with Death to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Grace’s writing perfectly captures all the paranormal and gothic vibes that surround this page turning mystery and I honestly couldn’t put the book down. Not only was this an entertaining twisty tale but at its at heart it is a story about a girl finding confidence in herself and a place to finally belong.
Though I did find her musings a little repetitive at times, Signa’s characterisation and journey throughout was wonderfully done and I really loved the bonds she formed with other the characters from the members of the Hawthorne family, to Sylas the prickly stable hand she befriended to Death. The secrecy surrounding everyone played nicely into the mystery and really keeps you on your toes but it was also just so heart-warming to see Signa finding people who actually seemed to care for her.
The dynamic she had with Death was definitely the stand out though. They had great chemistry and banter and I just loved seeing their connection strengthen and grow.
Though I was able to guess some of the reveals, how the plot unravelled was so satisfying and the ending has me super excited for what is to come in book two!
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, and Medical content
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I am not really a fan of horror and the part of the book where Lily’s spirit looks like Scarlet Witch when she comes out of the gong in Dr. Strange’s Multiverse of Madness movie, limbs cracking/moving in odd angles and her mouth gaping open with blood and sores, was a little bit too horrific/graphic for me. It was so strange because that scene was creepy/scary but then the rest of the book did not keep with that tone. That scene just tonally felt so off for me and just came out of nowhere. Then the story goes back to a campy, Clue-like mystery with the dark-brooding Death love interest. It just felt very odd/out of place for me.
Also, I feel like Death and Signa’s love/relationship did not feel very fleshed out for me. It was giving very Edward and Bella. Death tells Signa “I’ve waited forever for you.” He’s literally a deity and Signa is a 19 year old girl. The whole thing just felt very strange and rushed. Like okay your cousins are dropping like flies but you need to make out with Death in a garden, okie doke.
Also Death meets Signa when she was a literal baby when everyone at this party dies, including her parents, but Signa does not. It’s giving Jacob and Renesme? Like Death knew he was going to wait until Signa was “of age” for him to have her even though he’s been watching over her since she was a literal baby. Through out the book, Death kind of deceives Signa and lies to her. Okay she can see dead people like he can but other then that, why should they be together?
I know this was Adalyn Grace’s first kind of time dipping her toe into more adult content, which I think is awesome, good for her. However, this book was just an odd mix of adult themes/scenes with the characters still being very YA in their development and lack of personality.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism