Belladonna by Adalyn Grace // Book Review

Blurb

For as long as Signa Farrow has been alive, the people in her life have fallen like stars…

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being – and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy.

Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger, and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.

Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer, though, is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful – and more irresistible – than she ever dared imagine.

Rating

Review

This started off on such a high, crashed and burned half way through and then somehow, miraculously, still stumbled through the finish line to get a 4 star rating, albeit gasping and bleeding at that point.

The premise is everything I wanted… from Gallant. An unusual, death marked girl finds herself living in an old house surrounded by death and mystery as the previous owner’s wife died under mysterious circumstances, and now his daughter has the same symptoms.

I think with the main character’s inability to die and her obsession with Belladonna, it was both blindingly obvious from the start what was going on with Lillian and her daughter, but also wildly convenient. I also found myself wondering quite often why Belladonna was the only poison Signa experimented with.

I felt the the story became too focused on the love triangle in the middle, and started to feel frustrated and bored, even considering DNFing it a few times. However once I slogged my way through the ending proved worth the wait, with a plot twist I somehow didn’t see coming.

Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments!

Follow me: Twitter / Tumblr / Instagram