befcia's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? No
3.75
fancyspices's review against another edition
"death is the love interest" SAY LESS
Merged review:
"death is the love interest" SAY LESS
Merged review:
"death is the love interest" SAY LESS
libraryofjess_'s review against another edition
4.0
✨ 4 stars ✨
“Your name is no curse, Little Bird. I just like the taste of it.”
Okay I need the next book asap! This was an addictive read!
Loved the fantasy murder mystery with a gothic atmosphere. And a romance with Death?! I’ll take it!
(I should probably question my taste in fictional men but I won’t cause I loved this) The plot was amazing and had so many plot twists, I did however guess one thing that would happen which I can’t say but I screamed “I KNEW IT!!!”
Absolutely amazing, easy read and great mysteries!
Definitely recommend, check TWs!
Happy reading
Merged review:
✨ 4 stars ✨
“Your name is no curse, Little Bird. I just like the taste of it.”
Okay I need the next book asap! This was an addictive read!
Loved the fantasy murder mystery with a gothic atmosphere. And a romance with Death?! I’ll take it!
(I should probably question my taste in fictional men but I won’t cause I loved this) The plot was amazing and had so many plot twists, I did however guess one thing that would happen which I can’t say but I screamed “I KNEW IT!!!”
Absolutely amazing, easy read and great mysteries!
Definitely recommend, check TWs!
Happy reading
“Your name is no curse, Little Bird. I just like the taste of it.”
Okay I need the next book asap! This was an addictive read!
Loved the fantasy murder mystery with a gothic atmosphere. And a romance with Death?! I’ll take it!
(I should probably question my taste in fictional men but I won’t cause I loved this) The plot was amazing and had so many plot twists, I did however guess one thing that would happen which I can’t say but I screamed “I KNEW IT!!!”
Absolutely amazing, easy read and great mysteries!
Definitely recommend, check TWs!
Happy reading
Merged review:
✨ 4 stars ✨
“Your name is no curse, Little Bird. I just like the taste of it.”
Okay I need the next book asap! This was an addictive read!
Loved the fantasy murder mystery with a gothic atmosphere. And a romance with Death?! I’ll take it!
(I should probably question my taste in fictional men but I won’t cause I loved this) The plot was amazing and had so many plot twists, I did however guess one thing that would happen which I can’t say but I screamed “I KNEW IT!!!”
Absolutely amazing, easy read and great mysteries!
Definitely recommend, check TWs!
Happy reading
makredmon's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed it but wanted a bit more from it. Cannot wait for book two.
Merged review:
Enjoyed it but wanted a bit more from it. Cannot wait for book two.
Merged review:
Enjoyed it but wanted a bit more from it. Cannot wait for book two.
whatyoutolkienabout's review against another edition
5.0
As always I want to start by saying that I was given an ARC of this to review. My review is honest and left voluntarily and all thoughts are my own. Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for giving me access to this.
I want to start by saying I adore gothic fiction. Authors such as the Brontë's have always been favourites of mine so when I read the synopsis for Belladonna I was sure I would like it, I just wasn’t aware how much until I started.
Our protagonist is Signa Farrow whom for as long as she has been alive people around her have died. It is not something she can control. Orphaned as a baby the now nineteen-year-old Signa has been passed through a string of guardians all of whom have ended up meeting an untimely end. Her last remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes who may be Signa’s only hope but not all is as it seems at Thorn Grove and before long Signa is thrust into the middle of a budding murder mystery while trying to navigate her own revelations a long the way.
When the book opened with a mass murder in the form of poisoning I was already hooked. Despite the melancholy and gruesome opening it was also beautifully juxtaposed with the infant Signa being the only one left alive. Grace’s writing had already captured that gothic element of combining the strange and the beautiful, interweaving them to create something magical, something Grace manages to continue throughout.
The world building of the novel was beautifully balanced and interwoven in a way that it flowed naturally. A lot of the time we learned new aspects of Signa’s world along with her and I found that refreshing and enjoyable. Signa herself was a brilliant protagonist, although sometimes I became a tad frustrated with her and her way of thinking I found this another testament to Grace’s ability. Signa has spent most of her life being passed from guardian to guardian, most of whom care little for her but rather her inheritance so of course her world view and experience of the world is a little different. Add to this the fact that those around her seem to suddenly die and of course she will not always know the answers or see what is in front of her. To me this made her more human and ultimately made me like her even more.
I particularly loved the ‘Death and the Maiden’ trope of this novel. Anyone who knows me knows romance is not my first genre of choice (nothing against the genre, just not a favourite of mine), but the love story and romance in this novel had me hooked. Again it was the idea of the strange and the beautiful. Grace managed to capture the loneliness and want of Death himself and bring it, for want of a better word, to life. We see Signa slowly begin to embrace her strangeness, her calling and in so doing to accept Death not as something to be truly feared or hated but as something that is inevitable. I am really excited to anxious to see what will come of this relationship in the second book.
Add to all this the elements of good old fashioned murder mystery and the book has nearly everything I could want. As Signa is discovering more about the world she lives in, herself and her desires she is also in a race against time, and a lot of the time Death to find who was responsible for killing the Hawthorne’s patriarch’s wife. Now as you know I don’t like spoiling the book but let me tell you I did not really see the culprit coming! I like to consider myself a bit of an armchair detective thanks to hours spent with my mother watching shows like Midsommer Murders and Miss Maple as well as reading some of Agatha Christie’s work but I confess I was blaming the wrong person all along!
Grace manages to perfectly combine these murder mystery elements within her gothic-infused world and Signa’s coming of age story to create the complete package. I honestly have to say this is likely one of my top ten for 2022. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who enjoys a good gothic tale with mystery, romance, suspense and murder.
I want to start by saying I adore gothic fiction. Authors such as the Brontë's have always been favourites of mine so when I read the synopsis for Belladonna I was sure I would like it, I just wasn’t aware how much until I started.
Our protagonist is Signa Farrow whom for as long as she has been alive people around her have died. It is not something she can control. Orphaned as a baby the now nineteen-year-old Signa has been passed through a string of guardians all of whom have ended up meeting an untimely end. Her last remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes who may be Signa’s only hope but not all is as it seems at Thorn Grove and before long Signa is thrust into the middle of a budding murder mystery while trying to navigate her own revelations a long the way.
When the book opened with a mass murder in the form of poisoning I was already hooked. Despite the melancholy and gruesome opening it was also beautifully juxtaposed with the infant Signa being the only one left alive. Grace’s writing had already captured that gothic element of combining the strange and the beautiful, interweaving them to create something magical, something Grace manages to continue throughout.
The world building of the novel was beautifully balanced and interwoven in a way that it flowed naturally. A lot of the time we learned new aspects of Signa’s world along with her and I found that refreshing and enjoyable. Signa herself was a brilliant protagonist, although sometimes I became a tad frustrated with her and her way of thinking I found this another testament to Grace’s ability. Signa has spent most of her life being passed from guardian to guardian, most of whom care little for her but rather her inheritance so of course her world view and experience of the world is a little different. Add to this the fact that those around her seem to suddenly die and of course she will not always know the answers or see what is in front of her. To me this made her more human and ultimately made me like her even more.
I particularly loved the ‘Death and the Maiden’ trope of this novel. Anyone who knows me knows romance is not my first genre of choice (nothing against the genre, just not a favourite of mine), but the love story and romance in this novel had me hooked. Again it was the idea of the strange and the beautiful. Grace managed to capture the loneliness and want of Death himself and bring it, for want of a better word, to life. We see Signa slowly begin to embrace her strangeness, her calling and in so doing to accept Death not as something to be truly feared or hated but as something that is inevitable. I am really excited to anxious to see what will come of this relationship in the second book.
Add to all this the elements of good old fashioned murder mystery and the book has nearly everything I could want. As Signa is discovering more about the world she lives in, herself and her desires she is also in a race against time, and a lot of the time Death to find who was responsible for killing the Hawthorne’s patriarch’s wife. Now as you know I don’t like spoiling the book but let me tell you I did not really see the culprit coming! I like to consider myself a bit of an armchair detective thanks to hours spent with my mother watching shows like Midsommer Murders and Miss Maple as well as reading some of Agatha Christie’s work but I confess I was blaming the wrong person all along!
Grace manages to perfectly combine these murder mystery elements within her gothic-infused world and Signa’s coming of age story to create the complete package. I honestly have to say this is likely one of my top ten for 2022. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who enjoys a good gothic tale with mystery, romance, suspense and murder.
kaymac_reads's review against another edition
4.0
4.5⭐️
As someone who’s been having withdrawals after finishing Wednesday, this eerily gothic tale gave all the dark vibes I could ask for.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kristin Atherton & it was fabulous, I absolutely flew threw it. My only quarrel is not knowing this was not a standalone bc THAT ENDING OMFGGGGG.
Merged review:
4.5⭐️
As someone who’s been having withdrawals after finishing Wednesday, this eerily gothic tale gave all the dark vibes I could ask for.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kristin Atherton & it was fabulous, I absolutely flew threw it. My only quarrel is not knowing this was not a standalone bc THAT ENDING OMFGGGGG.
As someone who’s been having withdrawals after finishing Wednesday, this eerily gothic tale gave all the dark vibes I could ask for.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kristin Atherton & it was fabulous, I absolutely flew threw it. My only quarrel is not knowing this was not a standalone bc THAT ENDING OMFGGGGG.
Merged review:
4.5⭐️
As someone who’s been having withdrawals after finishing Wednesday, this eerily gothic tale gave all the dark vibes I could ask for.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kristin Atherton & it was fabulous, I absolutely flew threw it. My only quarrel is not knowing this was not a standalone bc THAT ENDING OMFGGGGG.
hekareadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Yep I loved this.
I am a sucker for death and the maiden.
Merged review:
Yep I loved this.
I am a sucker for death and the maiden.
I am a sucker for death and the maiden.
Merged review:
Yep I loved this.
I am a sucker for death and the maiden.
sundaylaughs's review against another edition
4.0
I am so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the reading experience of this. A few things irritated me throughout the story, and as someone who is super focused on writing it's no surprise I fixated on these things so much: 1. Signa was annoyingly horny and talked too much about how hot Sylas was 2. the CONSTANT mentions of that etiquette book, like we get it you read it and you want to be a proper lady, I think my eyes glazed over after its like tenth mention and 3. the amount of times Adalyn Grace wrote about "puzzle pieces/"a puzzle". I love a mystery, but calling important/weird moments in the book as "another puzzle piece I'll save for later" and "I need to remember that as I put together the puzzle" and "I couldn't get all the pieces to fit properly, it felt like I was missing one last piece to the puzzle" felt really heavy-handed and felt like I was being spoon-fed the mystery. Point three was ESPECIALLY grating, and I'm sure if you searched for the word "puzzle" in the manuscript, it would appear a few dozen times in the story. There was a moment, in a conversation between Signa and Blythe that I also caught a weird pronoun/name mistake, and it made the context of the conversation strange, so there were definitely several things throughout the story that I felt could have really used a bit better editing.
Those things are not huge criticisms, because I really enjoyed the experience reading this overall. I loved Signa's fierceness and the connection that Signa and Blythe develop throughout the story. I liked the red herring. Several conversations and small reveals made me gasp and had me exciting to keep going. The final reveal was really great too!! Biggest thing I liked though was Daddy Death-- he was FASCINATING to me and his confession was EVERYTHING I've ever wanted to hear.
Overall the story's probably a 3.5/3.75, but I'll round up because oh do I want to be gifted a beautiful gown and have a masquerade ball thrown in my honor and make out with Death in garden in winter.
Those things are not huge criticisms, because I really enjoyed the experience reading this overall. I loved Signa's fierceness and the connection that Signa and Blythe develop throughout the story. I liked the red herring. Several conversations and small reveals made me gasp and had me exciting to keep going. The final reveal was really great too!! Biggest thing I liked though was Daddy Death-- he was FASCINATING to me and his confession was EVERYTHING I've ever wanted to hear.
Overall the story's probably a 3.5/3.75, but I'll round up because oh do I want to be gifted a beautiful gown and have a masquerade ball thrown in my honor and make out with Death in garden in winter.
blair's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
lunaxo's review against another edition
4.0
I truly enjoyed this book. The only reason I did not give it a 5 star review is because it was a realllly slow start for me that I almost DNF’d the book. However sticking it out did not disappoint at all. I really loved the rest of the book. The mystery of Death, Signa’s power and the murder. I loved it. The character building was great and the writing kept you interested !! I’m excited for the second book to come out and learn more about Fate
Merged review:
I truly enjoyed this book. The only reason I did not give it a 5 star review is because it was a realllly slow start for me that I almost DNF’d the book. However sticking it out did not disappoint at all. I really loved the rest of the book. The mystery of Death, Signa’s power and the murder. I loved it. The character building was great and the writing kept you interested !! I’m excited for the second book to come out and learn more about Fate
Merged review:
I truly enjoyed this book. The only reason I did not give it a 5 star review is because it was a realllly slow start for me that I almost DNF’d the book. However sticking it out did not disappoint at all. I really loved the rest of the book. The mystery of Death, Signa’s power and the murder. I loved it. The character building was great and the writing kept you interested !! I’m excited for the second book to come out and learn more about Fate