Honestly, after having adored Adalyn Grace's previous series, this one is a bit of a let down. It feels not as put together and a bit looser when it comes to the story-telling elements. That being said there is another book and I have faith she can pull it back.

Everywhere Signa goes, Death follows.

What if the only way to conquer Death is to confront him?

And what if confronting him isn't as deadly as it may seem?

Belladonna is a captivating, thrilling and chilling read that will leave you wanting more. Not all characters are likable, and that's the point. Some characters don't win. Some do, but shouldn't.

Full of breathtaking imagery, intense action, and unexpected twists at every turn, this book is not what you're expecting - and that's a good thing.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace was a book that I was really looking forward to reading, but unfortunately I found that it just wasn’t holding my interest. I am definitely going to go back and try it again as everyone else seems to haves loved it.

This book was one of the best young adult fantasy books I’ve read in a long time. The concept of Death following Signa Farrow all her life was so interesting to me. It was full of lush writing, dreamy characters, and mystery. Signa Farrow is unable to die. She can resist poison and is followed by Death wherever she goes. When she goes to stay with the Hawthorne family, both Death and a mystery are waiting for her.

I loved the journey she took throughout the course of this book! And I cannot wait for the sequel!

This was the first book I read by Adalyn Grace and it won't be my last, I will definitely pick up her other series very soon. I fell in love with Signa and Death right away and their banter. I love a book with good banter. This wasn’t instant love and wasn’t a slow burn to me. I think the speed they developed the relationship was perfect, it also showed Signa’s apprehension with it. It was the cover and synopsis that drew me in, and this book didn’t disappoint me. The murder mystery had me hooked and kept me entertained. The bam the cliffhanger had me wanting more, now I need the next book ASAP.



Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for letting me read and review this.

I'm a real sucker for gothic stories. Everything is so deliciously grim and atmospheric. I will also admit I am a huge sucker specifically for gothic settings + romance which this book has in spades. Signa and her relationship with Death is absolutely swoon worthy and kept me furiously turning pages until the very end. The voice of the story, the setting, the characters and the plot all meld together into a confection of darkness with just the right touch of hopefulness. There is another book coming but the ending is satisfying on its own without being frustrating while leaving an opening for more stories. I absolutely loved this.

I really enjoyed this book! The mansion was super atmospheric and had me wanting to curl up under a blanket while reading, even though we're going through another heat wave! I was squeeing as the romance developed. Found myself rooting for Signa while she started accepting her power! I also loved Signa learning to care about and fight for her new family members after being alone for so long! The side characters were all relatively well developed and I even found myself caring for some of the mansion's resident spirits! I am excited to see what mystery Signa sets out to solve in future adventures!

Very good book I was hooked instantly and read it all the way through. I love victorian times and high society, I love poisons, and mysteries, I love magical realism, and the supernatural, but I don't love series because I hate waiting for the rest of the story. Luckily for Adalyn Grace I didn't realize this would be a series until the end of the book and I hope I don't have to wait too long for the next one.

"It's said that 5 belladonna berries is all it takes to kill someone."

Oh my goodness this book! The cover is gorgeous and what initially drew me in, but the synopsis was very interesting as well. The story itself was deliciously dark and grim, while also holding onto a distant hopefulness that Signa will find where she belongs.

Signa can see spirits and Death. She believes that Death is the cause of all the misfortunes in her life. She was orphaned as a baby and has been passed around caretakers after her grandmother's death. So many have died from unforeseen circumstances that she's gains a reputation for being a curse or a witch. Which may be true because she is immune to killing power of belladonna. She only has to hold out a few more months until she turns 20 and inherits her family estate and fortune. Because of this, she's grown cold and keeps her distance from people. Her current caregiver, Aunt Margery dies as well and she's off to live with another relation, the Hawthornes.

Once there she learns that Lillian Hawthorne is dead and haunting the family when she sees her ghost in the house. She is told her death was not a natural sickness, but a murder. Signa tries her best to find out what happened to Lillian, why it's also happening to her daughter Blythe, find her place in Thorn Grove, find out who she is, what she wants, and why she has a connection to Death.

We follow Signa through her journey of bonding with a family who learns to accept her, learns their secrets and helps them in return, and who and what Death truly is to her. The combination of Fantasy, Mystery, and a touch of Gothic blended marvelously well in this upper YA novel. I enjoyed Signa as a character and her being 19 made her more mature, but also incredibly sheltered from "proper society" and constantly trying to find where she fits into it all. I thoroughly enjoyed it and CANNOT wait for book 2!!


"Do not change the parts of yourself that you like to make others comfortable. Do not try to mold yourself to fit the standards someone else has set for us." -Blythe Hawthorne

I LOVVVVEEEEED this! OMG, this story was ahhhhhh! I don't have the words. The world building, the MC's, the plot, everything! And I need to rave over the narrator! I started this book out in ebook format, then switched to audiobook at about 20%, and wow! The narrator totally brings Death to life, lol. Her voice for Death gave me goosebumps! His character- just swoon! I thought this was a standalone, and apparently there's a second book out next year, but the ending was nice and clean, so though there's somewhat of a cliffhanger, it's not the kind that makes you want to chuck the book across the room :) I'm totally happy with this story and will be adding to my 'worth reading again' folder :) Also, dyingggg to get the next story, lol.

Words can't express my love for this book. The imagination that was poured into the pages paired with the gothic witchy apothecary vibes was *chef's kiss*. Sometimes with a YA it can be tough to appeal to a broad audience but this story accomplished such a balance with the writing style and complexity that I think most would enjoy it.

We follow Signa Farrow, aka the cursed orphan, as she teams up with Death to save her found family before it's too late. Grace delivers complex characters with epic banter, a gothic mansion complete with ghosts, a killer on the lose, and a mystery that needs solving.

Huge thanks to NetGalley nd Little Brown Books for Young Readers for the review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC of Belladonna.

Belladonna is everything I was hoping it would be. - beautifully gothic paranormal fantasy. I love a Death and Maiden trope. The banter between Signa and Death was everything I hoped for. I cannot wait to read more in this series.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace is so good! Grace does such an amazing job with this book. Death follows Signa Farrow around everywhere. She doesn’t understand why. She just wants to survive and have a family. Then Signa ends up at Thorn Grove where her aunt passed away before she arrived and her cousin is sick. Signa ends up meeting the spirit of Lillian, her late aunt, and she knows something is not right with this mysterious illness that Lillian passed away from and Blythe being sick from the same illness.

I really enjoyed how this mystery played out. Signa is such a delight. I really enjoyed this book. Death being a love interest was so fascinating. I really enjoyed Death’s characters. This is a really great book that is so lyrically written. I really can’t wait for the sequel!

It was a really interesting concept and the writing was really good. There were some things I suspected, but as a whole not entirely predictable. I like how the ending sets up for the next book without being unsatisfying. I do feel like there were relatively few characters and wish there could have been more, but I understand that it worked for the story. I still have some unanswered questions, like what the heck happened at her parents party. Like who poisoned a whole household, party-goers and staff alike, and no one ever mentions it or questions it????? (not a spoiler, happened in the prologue.) I am so curious about that and hope the author will address it in the next book. Also find it a bit creepy that one of her love interests literally has watched her grow up, knew her as a baby, etc. I get the whole YA trope where the guy is always like a thousand years old or whatnot, but I'd personally like to see less of that. Overall a pretty decent book though.

I received an e-arc of Belladonna by Adalyn Grace from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I thought I didn't like gothic stories but Belladonna might be the exception. I was so into this, the atmosphere was amazing and this is definitely a great spooky season read.
I loved the writing and the romance was top-tier. Signa was such an interesting character to follow. And the mystery aspect was fun to play along with too, I thought I knew what happened but wowie I was wrong.
4.5 stars to Belladonna, I loved it. I will definitely pick up the sequel.

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa Farrow has been raised by a string of guardians whom have all died under mysterious circumstances. Her last remaining relatives are the Hawthornes, an eccentric family who live at Thorn Grove.

However, once she arrives, a ghost warns her that its poison, not a natural illness that’s been killing her relatives, so Signa reluctantly teams up with Death to try and solve the murders before anyone else in her family falls prey.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace is a deliciously gothic murder mystery with a splash of romance.

By far, my favorite aspect of this book has to be Death himself since this is a more sympathetic, complex portrait of the Reaper. He’s both snarky and slightly bitter since he’s got a tough job to do, and I also thought his relationship with Signa was well developed.

However, it’s the who-done-it aspect was not as well executed for me. I feel like characters are too quick to trust each other and divulge secrets and personal information—especially since people in the family are mysteriously dying. I would think they’d be much more cautious.

All in all, its mystery elements did not work for me, but it did still very much satisfy my love of the Death and the Maiden trope and I'm excited to see what happens in the sequel.

Wow.

I’m impressed. I’ve previously read Adalyn Grace’s fantasy series, All the Stars and Teeth. It was ok. Belladonna sounded more up my alley, but just how much I enjoyed it still caught me by surprise. It was fantastic.

The book follows Signa, an orphan who has been forced to jump between money-hungry relative that keep dying. After the death of her latest relative she is invited to stay with the widower of her mother’s cousin and his family at their estate. Signa is excited and determined to enter society, but she has a secret. She can’t die. At her home, she learn that not all is well, her guardians new wife might have been poisoned and her daughter (Signa’s cousin) is now suffering from the same symptoms. Now Signa need to team up with Death and a stable boy in order to figure a cure for belladonna posioning and to unmask the poisoner.

The book is just as moody and atmospheric as who would expect based on the cover. The plot is interesting and keep me guessing till the very end. I also loved the characters.

Overall I really enjoyed and would recommend Belladonna. I am also very excited for the sequel.

Thank you to the publisher, Little, Brown for Young Readers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of <i>Belladonna</i> in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


<u>The Gist</u>

I don’t know what to say. I am so done having to deal with this book; I just want to forget about it.

Less than a week ago I made the YouTube book review video for <i>Belladonna</i>, thinking at least that part is out of the way. I thought wrong. It appears my microphone decided to break halfway through the shoot and I had to make the blasted video again two days later.

Now, I’m sitting here having to deal with this written review and I’m getting angrier and grumpier by the minute.

This was the worst story I have read in a while, and I read a lot!

You might have realized by now that this is going to be a very unpopular opinion. Honestly, I have no idea where all these glowing reviews come from. Did we read the same book?

What is going on here?

<u>The Details</u>

I don’t even know where to start with this review, considering I want to spend as little time as possible on it, yet I need to bring my point across.

The protagonist is supposed to be a feisty young woman. Instead she is nothing but a naive girl, who is caught up in some obscure “plot” to best Death.

If you are wondering what’s going on, don’t worry. You are not the only one.

There is this curse, apparently. It’s barely explained, although everything else is repeated add nauseam. This is conveniently brushed to the side, because it does not make any sense in this tangle of convenient and stock-piled mess of plot points.

Death, personified, is nothing more than a creepy old pedophile. Watching his “love interest” grow old enough to finally make a move without seeming too icky. Guess what? It’s still icky.

To make things worse, nothing in this mess of a story appears to have been given at least a little bit of thought. Plot points are thrown against the wall and whatever stuck made it into the story: there is the unlikeable protagonist without any real motivation to beat Death and this random curse; some guy the protagonist has the hots for; some murder mystery that came out of nowhere; and pretty bad writing.

I assume the writing is supposed to mirror that of the classic/Victorian literature era, but this cannot be achieved by throwing a whole bunch of “though” and “upon” into run-sentences. The attempt crashed and burned hard.

Everything is also so on the nose. It got annoying very quickly. I could tell the author thought they were being so clever, but I had things figured out pretty much right away.


<u>The Verdict</u>

Overall, I have to say that <i>Belladonna</i> felt like a scam. It rips off very well-known classic Victorian mystery/Gothic stories and still manages to be a let down.

There is nothing original. The entire thing is badly executed and it contains inappropriate content for the Young Adult genre (pedophilic character).

Don’t waste your money or your time with this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for this eARC for review! All opinions are my own.

Holy CANNOLI, this is one of my top 2 reads of all 2022. 5000/5 stars!

This was so much more than I was expecting! Although Signa's relationship with Death was by far my favorite part, I was definitely not expecting to be so drawn in and enamored by the ongoing mystery surrounding Lady Lillian's death, and Blythe's ongoing similar sickness! The story was so perfectly divided between each aspect of Signa coming into herself and her powers, her growing relationship with Death, Silas, and the rest of the house, as well as her navigating solving the murder and finding her place in society for the upcoming season.

Grace deftly navigated balancing the elegance and excitement of 18th century society and social politics with combating the norm societal ideals for the time, against where we stand as a society now without breaking the feel of the time period within the story itself. She tackled the topics of women's worth and place within the world so perfectly, as well as the issue of "virtue" and the lack of a woman's choice on what to do with her own future. It was also so interesting to see the family known in high status to not start out as perfect, but to actually be in metaphorical (and not so metaphorical) shambles at the beginning of the story, and to see them gradually heal themselves as the story progressed. I had NO idea that some of the specific twists were coming, as Grace expertly wove in critical details for each revelation within the story in a way that you took notice, without actually being able to piece together the bread crumbs entire the desired loaf until she was ready for you too, haha! She wove a beautifully descriptive, lush, and interactive story with a not-average love interest that was never too bogged down with description, but was never so fast paced as to lose the reader's attachment to our characters.

I absolutely cannot wait for Foxglove to release next year!

YA Fantasy lovers prepare to rejoice!

Belladonna by @authoradalyngrace is one of the best YA fantasies I have read in years!

This is a Gothic fantasy filled with darkness, friendships with death, spirits that haunt in the night, and a murder mystery that needs solving.

Signa has had bad luck follow her her entire life, she’s an orphan, death has followed her and taken those who care for her one by one until she ends up at Thorn Grove.

Is death punishing her, or is there something more?

I LOVE this book! I love the gothic vibes, the romance, the murder solving and I just loved every minute that I spent in this world.

The end left me gasping AND this is the start of a series and while some things have been settled in the end… there is clearly much more to come.

I highly suggest this one for fans of fantasy romance and it’s an extra plus if you love dark gothic vibes.

It’s a perfect fall read!

Thank you so much to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.