REVIEW: Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I have received an Advance Reader’s Copy of this book through the publisher. This has not affected my rating in any way.

Thank you to Little, Brown Books For Young Readers for sending me an Advance Reader’s Copy of Belladonna!

Before I can even get into this review, I have to draw attention to this beautiful cover- if it hasn't swept you away already. Both the US version (shown in the image above) and the UK version are absolutely wonderful, and perfectly capture the aesthetic of this book. Bravo to the cover designers!

Belladonna itself is a novel that is gorgeous as it is gothic. It has the same mysterious and suspenseful feeling of Kerri Maniscalco's Stalking Jack the Ripper series, with a romance that rivals that from Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses, all in the time-period and setting of Bridgerton. Our story follows Signa Farrow, who learns from a young age that she cannot die and has to watch as all of her family are taken from her one by one as she grows older. Upon the death of her aunt, she is taken to Thorn Manor, in which she meets her alcoholic uncle Ethan, her standoffish cousin Percy, and her sickly cousin Blythe. Upon discovering that Blythe isn't sick, but she is being poisoned by belladonna berries, it's up to Signa, Percy, and the mysterious stable boy Sylus to stop Blythe's sickness and find the culprit before all of Thorn Manor goes up in flames.

Needless to say, I was drawn to this book from the very first chapter. I loved Adalyn Grace's writing style, especially how she wrote the relationship between Signa and Sylus/Death, and her powers being controlling her time in Death's world with how many belladonna berries she consumed was so creatively thought-out. The story itself had me hooked from page one, and I ended up reading all of this in one brilliant sitting! And the cliffhanger had my jaw drop, literally. Belladonna is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, and I am physically unable to give this anything below 5 stars. I highly recommend you give this amazing story a try!

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace will be available on August 30th, 2022.

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