Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

30 reviews

jeanettesreadingcorner's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

lillygabriella's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

If I could rate this zero stars I would. Publishing standards have gone seriously downhill if something like this not only got through but became popular. Somehow. The author knows absolutely nothing about history she didn't pick up third hand filtered through 1950s Hollywood B movies, and didn't bother to do any research at all. There is NO history in this "historical" setting. The author cannot maintain any timeline continuity from one page to the next, has a Hollywood oppression level of knowledge about corsetry, and even less about poisons or how to construct a decent mystery. 

Further ranting on this horrific trash fire of a novel can be found in my Amazon review. I am only glad I was reading it on Kindle Unlimited, if I had paid actual money for this atrocity I would be utterly livid. I only finished from spite and because it was a reading challenge book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

There are so many better books out there, please don't waste your precious time on this.

ladybug12793's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing 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

3.5

Good Halloween read. 


I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and I finished it in less than 24 hours. It’s perfect for the spooky season because it’s fantasy with a little bit of mystery and ghosts. What I didn’t like is that the romance went from 0 to 1000 in about 0.25 seconds. Then, by the end of it, I was genuinely curious what the point of it all was. Also, confused about the murder’s plot. Even with those things, I had fun reading this book. I would recommend this to anyone that wants to read an easy, cozy, slightly spooky romantasy. However, If you are looking for some literary masterpiece, then I wouldn’t recommend this book.

0.5 🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide attempt

skyhazzard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so good! I’m so glad I read it even though it took me awhile (I assume cause I was reading it in multiple formats so it was throwing me off a bit).

As I’ve been in my historical romance era the last two years this felt nice going into as it takes place in the 1800’s so I was here for the vibes. We also have some mystery and intrigue with murder and poisonings. Which leads into the fantasy element because our main character Signa can see ghosts and can communicate with Death himself.

Speaking of, the tension between Signa and Death was so good!! So there is some romance as well. This book had everything it felt like.

I’m really intrigued by where the story is going to go as we do end on a bit of a cliffhanger. But I can’t wait to continue on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity

devinjai6655's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

jordyyy101's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Alcohol

andreapepsii's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

I loved this book, but I wish it were 100 pages more to give some characters the depth they deserved. The ending felt a bit rushed, aside from that great read and will continue the saga in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Terminal illness

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Infidelity

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

kwthor's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity