Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each one 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.

 

However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer 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.

 

Series: Belladonna #1 | Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company | Genre: Historical Mystery, Fantasy | Source: Purchased | Rating: 4

I’ll admit it, I was swayed by the gorgeous cover and the name of the book. I walked by this book several times before I finally picked this one (and the second) up. They sat in my TBR pile for a minute while I was deciding if I actually wanted to read them but, in the end, the synopsis intrigued me. And while I’m generally not one for this genre, I have to say, I was not disappointed.

Here’s what’s going on: As an infant, Signa survived the murder of her parents and has since been through a string of guardians, each meeting an untimely death. Now living with her last remaining relatives, the Hawthornes, Signa finds herself in the middle of a mystery but to hunt down the killer, she’s going to need help. She finds herself with two unlikely allies: Sylas, the equerry that collected her from her previous home, and Death.

I’ve been wanting something a bit different lately, reading wise, and I think this was just what I needed. It had enough of the familiar (gothic atmosphere, mystery) that made me interested and enough of the different (fantasy) that gave me the sense of reading something new.

Signa’s an interesting character. She’s unable to die although she is able to go into this death-like state where she is able to communicate with Death personified. There’s an interesting dynamic between Signa and Death and it has several layers. She’s the only human that Death is able to communicate with, the only person that his touch won’t kill and it makes for an interesting connection between the two. Death is very captivated by her.

As someone death follows, Signa has a bit of a stigma attached to her, which has made her entrance into society a bit trying. She has also put upon herself a particular way she has to behave due to what she has read in one of her late mother’s books. There’s a lot of things that Signa has to figure out but the most important one is who she is and not who she thinks she has to be to please society. I do feel that we get a good sense of Signa but I think a little more backstory, especially regarding her previous guardians, would have been beneficial. Unfortunately, we don’t get a lot of depth into the character of Death, which was a bit disappointing.

The romance in this one was interesting. There’s an attraction between Signa and Death. I know that this isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea seeing as he basically watched her grow up but I decided to look at it as Death is ageless and treated it as I would with a vampire romance. There’s also some interesting, yet mild, shadowy sex scenes and while it does come off as a bit out there, the author made it and the relationship seem realistic. While it worked, I still would have liked more on-page development and more interaction to see their connection develop. When a book starts with characters already having a history (or having been introduced off the page), I think that authors occasionally forget the readers are just now meeting the characters and have no clue about their past interactions.

I know that this was/is categorized as ‘romantasy’ and we do have a romance of sorts, and a love triangle, in the book but this leans heavily into the mystery. I didn’t mind that seeing as I came into the book expecting a mystery with a side of romance per the synopsis. I think that if you go into the book expecting a heavy side of romance, you’ll be disappointed, which is why this should, in my opinion, be categorized as a ‘fantasy mystery’.  

The mystery was solid and grounded. I do feel that the particulars of the mystery was appropriate for the era (Regency) in which it was set. I feel as though someone sitting down to their morning tea would have read about a mystery of this type in the broadsheets. I did find it rather obvious, both the identity of the person and their motives, even though there were a few red herrings. It came down to connecting characters and paying attention to what they were and weren’t saying.

This book was filled with secondary characters and I found the majority of them to be likable. There were a few characters that I found to be annoying but I feel as though they were representing the new world Signa found herself in. What I liked was the way the Hawthorne family accepted Signa into their family. I also liked that someone from Signa’s past is now amongst her friend group, it allowed more insight to Signa’s life before Thorn Grove.

I’ve seen this book referred to as ‘Gothic’ more times than I can count and, while I’m not disagreeing, I’m not agreeing to the way in which the term ‘Gothic’ is being used. This book is not ‘Gothic’ in theme or tone but it does have a Gothic atmosphere/aesthetic. The horror genre is subjective but, in my opinion, I would not classify this as a ‘horror’ novel. Yes, it does contain some graphic imagery but, again, the tone is not that of a ‘horror’ novel.

With this being a book that features Death personified, it does touch on the subject of death and grief. While the subject of grief isn’t heavily dwelled upon, there were some touching passages and I felt like they gave a realness and depth to the story.

This one does end, not so much on a cliffhanger, but with an event that starts the next book. I was glad I had Foxglove on hand because I was eager to see how things played out.

Overall, while I enjoyed this one, I would have liked a bit more depth in certain aspects: more of Signa’s backstory, a more in-depth look at Death, more development with the relationship. While I wanted more development, I wasn’t expecting it going in as this is more mystery oriented. I feel like I enjoyed the book because I knew this was going to be more historical mystery than romance when I started reading.