"You must not allow yourself to be consumed so thoroughly by death. It's not selfish to live."
Ghosts? � Romance? � Murder mystery? � Death god and a
"You must not allow yourself to be consumed so thoroughly by death. It's not selfish to live."
Ghosts? � Romance? � Murder mystery? � Death god and a dark haired LI described like a tree? �
Belladonna really has it all!
Adalyn Grace does not hold back, from page one we are immediately thrust into Signa's story. Signa Farrow has been surrounded by death her entire life, both figuratively and literally. From a young age she learns she (i) cannot die, (ii) she can see spirits, and (iii) every time she's on the brink of death she comes face to face with Death himself.
She is sent to live with at the manor of her distant relative (husband to her recently deceased cousin). However, after only being there for a short time she quickly begins to realize that things aren't quite as they seem, and maybe it wasn't an illness that took her cousin so quickly.
As a young woman, Signa is trying to balance becoming what she thinks society expects of her, her new found desires, solving a murder and trying to save a dying cousin. Signa has to decide whether death is something she should fear and hate, or something worth embracing.
"You are bolder than the sun, Signa Farrow, and it's time that you burn."
This story was so much fun! Filled with likeable characters, paranormal activities, and swoon-worthy love interests, all set against a regency backdrop (did I mention a masquerade ball?), Belladonna is a fun, relatively easy read, that kept me tangled in its gothic web. I was so excited when I got the confirmation for this eARC, and it did not disappoint! I will definitely be buying a physical copy (or two... I love both the US and UK covers) and I can't wait to read more about Signa!
"Glad that if she was to be a monster, at least she could deliver mercy."
July 16 2022 ---- This book was v fun. Excellent combination of paranormal, romance and mystery! Full review to come.
Merged review:
"You must not allow yourself to be consumed so thoroughly by death. It's not selfish to live."
Ghosts? � Romance? � Murder mystery? � Death god and a dark haired LI described like a tree? �
Belladonna really has it all!
Adalyn Grace does not hold back, from page one we are immediately thrust into Signa's story. Signa Farrow has been surrounded by death her entire life, both figuratively and literally. From a young age she learns she (i) cannot die, (ii) she can see spirits, and (iii) every time she's on the brink of death she comes face to face with Death himself.
She is sent to live with at the manor of her distant relative (husband to her recently deceased cousin). However, after only being there for a short time she quickly begins to realize that things aren't quite as they seem, and maybe it wasn't an illness that took her cousin so quickly.
As a young woman, Signa is trying to balance becoming what she thinks society expects of her, her new found desires, solving a murder and trying to save a dying cousin. Signa has to decide whether death is something she should fear and hate, or something worth embracing.
"You are bolder than the sun, Signa Farrow, and it's time that you burn."
This story was so much fun! Filled with likeable characters, paranormal activities, and swoon-worthy love interests, all set against a regency backdrop (did I mention a masquerade ball?), Belladonna is a fun, relatively easy read, that kept me tangled in its gothic web. I was so excited when I got the confirmation for this eARC, and it did not disappoint! I will definitely be buying a physical copy (or two... I love both the US and UK covers) and I can't wait to read more about Signa!
"Glad that if she was to be a monster, at least she could deliver mercy."
July 16 2022 ---- This book was v fun. Excellent combination of paranormal, romance and mystery! Full review to come....more
I’m so behind on my written reviews but I need to say that this was beautiful.
Even if you are not a big literary fiction person, I think you’ll get sI’m so behind on my written reviews but I need to say that this was beautiful.
Even if you are not a big literary fiction person, I think you’ll get something out of this. It touches on so many tough but familiar situations, and resulted in a lot of inner reflection. I can’t imagine reading this and not having at least one line that cut you to your core.
I’ll admit it took me longer than I’d like to finish it, but that’s because I could only read it when I had access to my highlighter as I was frequently reading a line or paragraph and knew I wanted to come back and revisit it.
Full fleshed out review to come (but take this as your sign to read this asap) ...more
full thoughts when it’s not 1 am after a 4 hour drive but this was as good as everyone has said. Listening to the audiobook narrated by Jennette made full thoughts when it’s not 1 am after a 4 hour drive but this was as good as everyone has said. Listening to the audiobook narrated by Jennette made it even more profound....more
This is the first Jasmine Guillory book I've read, why I chose book 6 in this anthology to start with? Unsure. Overall, this wa3.5 to 4 stars for me.
This is the first Jasmine Guillory book I've read, why I chose book 6 in this anthology to start with? Unsure. Overall, this was a fun romance filled with good tropes, spicy scenes (will I ever get used to someone reading those to me via audiobook?), and some good discussions surrounding mental health.
My main take-home was "find someone who worships you the way Ben worships Anna". How could someone *not* fall in love with that man.
Surface level, Ben and Anna are both good characters, but emphasis on *surface* level. I really wanted to know more about each individual character outside of this relationship. More about their jobs, future goals, etc. Ben was very much the "too good to be true" boyfriend, and there were times where I didn't buy into their relationship, or how committed to it Ben was, given some of the stunts Anna pulled. And I don't mean this negatively, do what you have to do for your career and to make you happy Anna.
Honestly, I'm pretty sure I started with this one because I heard this was fake doing trope, one of my faves. However, I started to question whether that was true or if I had made that up about 50% through the book because the trope had yet to surface and it wasn't clear to me that it would. It was a good subversion of it, but I think I would have liked to have spent more time within that section of the story. Additionally, with the subversion of the trope, you lose a lot of that tension that is typically existent in the "fake-dating" trope. The "will-they/wont-they" is more "they did but will it be forever". With an ending that definitely felt rushed and left me with even more questions of how their future would survive.
This has definitely made me want to go back and read some of the others, especially Maddie and Theo's story, so I will likely start going through the back catalogue when I'm looking for a more light-hearted read....more
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