Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

15 reviews

mattiedancer's review against another edition

2.25

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

**SPOILERS**

Writing: 3.25⭐️/5 

I think the writing was done well enough. It was a bit more than serviceable and at times bent towards strong. I did actually appreciate that Signa FELT young: she’s only 19 and very naive about the world, so I liked her voice echoing these traits. The repetitive descriptive phrasing was a little irksome, and I do wish the pacing had consolidated into a solid pace instead of bouncing back and forth between everything at once or nothing at all.

Characters: 3.25⭐️/5

I liked Signa, and I liked Death in the first bit (when I was really hoping he was going to be more of a guardian and trainer for Signa). Sylas was a great voice as well and, though several of Signa’s cousins blurred together at times, I did enjoy learning about them. It really fell apart for me in the second half where I felt that several characters were pushed towards development instead of growing there naturally. Plus (BIG SPOILERS) Sylas and Death being the same person was a flop for me, considering they had vastly different voices and personalities. 

Plot: 2⭐️/5 

The concept is good: a girl who can’t die must solve a murder with Death itself. I’d read another book with a similar concept. The largest plot point I took issue with was the fact that Death watched Signa grow up and then made moves on her. I understand that he’s an immortal entity, but it’s a very odd choice in a novel written for young adults. The bones of this story are good; the details and execution were very much not.

Who Should Read This Book? 

Not young adults.

Content Warnings? 

Adult/Minor relationship, murder, death, death of a parent, death of a child, gaslighting, domestic abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, misogyny, sexism, fire, injury/injury detail, suicide, suicide attempts

Post-Reading Rating:  0.5⭐️/5

I don’t like the fact that the main love interest met our MC as A FREAKING BABY and watched her grow up, like some sort of creepy uncle. Not a fan of that, nor do I think it was necessary for a Young Adult novel to include and represent as okay.

Final Rating: 2.25⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

chase0w0's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

tiana_king's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

The falling in love with death trope is done to death as of late but it is a trope I adore 😂 The murder mystery aspect of the story does give a fresh spin on it though. The story is slow to get started but my interest was alway peaked. A nice story that has potential to be expanded on

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

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! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

asipofcozy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

What an absolute page-turner full of horror, murder, dark mystery, Victorian-era setting, and intrigue. 

I have read quite a few YA fantasy murder mysteries, especially from Kerri Mansiscalco; However, if I would have to compare Adalyn Grace's ability to keep me enraptured and guessing over authors, I would choose Grace hands down. 

I picked this book up for three reasons:
1. the main character can see spirits and commune with death
2. the gothic vibes
3. a murder mystery

And it hit all so perfectly. 

Signa is by far a perfect character. In fact, her flaws are what make her so intriguing. You can see how she struggles with wanting to be this perfect Victorian lady. Yet when she gets that opportunity, she struggles with how confining and suffocating it actually is. It's that struggle of following society - especially a society where etiquette is everything - and being her own person. 

More important to me was the murder mystery. The actual murder was on my "list of suspects" but Adalyn Grace does a marvelous job at throwing off the tracks of the murder. You feel like you are constantly second-guessing your choices. That's what a murder mystery should be! 

I cannot wait for Foxglove in August because oh man that ending!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

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!

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Content Warnings

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

novelty_reads's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder