I was expecting to write a better review for Belladonna by Adalyn Grace, but sadly this book just did not live up to my high expectations for it.
The synopsis sounds perfect: Nineteen-year-old Signa is unable to die. Instead, she spends her life having close encounters with Death himself every time she befalls an accident that otherwise would have ended her life. Somewhere in between the realms of the living and dead during such moments, she can see him and talk to him as no other mortal can. And he is just as lonely as she is.
Add to this a murder mystery, as well as her ever-increasing desire to figure out why she is the way she is, and you have a recipe for a really intriguing dark fantasy romance book.
Or so I thought.
Belladonna Review: Where It Falls Short
Unfortunately, the execution of the premise just falls short.
This book was hyped up so much that I truly thought it would be amazing and couldn’t wait to read it.
It actually starts out promising and feels a bit intriguing, but it quickly goes downhill from there. The majority of the plot focuses on a murder mystery that was simply just more monotonous than it was exciting, and I didn’t care at all whether Signa solved it. On top of that, it seemed rather obvious from the get-go who the killer was, so the fact that our heroine spends the whole book being unable to figure it out was a little bit frustrating.
In addition to not caring about this direction of the plot, I also couldn’t manage to make myself care about anyone at all. The development of all the characters in the book felt just as dull and shallow, unfortunately.
Death is probably the most interesting character, but even he is just cliche, dull, and boring.
This book reminds me a lot of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, but in the worst way possible because I ACTUALLY REALLY LOVED ADDIE LARUE. I own multiple special editions of Addie, and I really loved all the metaphors in it about life, humanity, and the very human desire to just not want to be forgotten.
In that story, Death actually feels dark and foreboding, as Death should. There’s also a very real feeling of being seduced by him, which is a metaphor itself. Everything is cleverly written to depict and reveal deep things about the human psyche while also keeping the reader entertained with some sexy hot bad guy trope kind of moments. But even those moments give the characters depth and meaning.
THIS book is not that.
It feels like it’s trying to be. But it lacks the depth. It lacks the deep meaning. It lacks the sexual chemistry between characters. It lacks character personalities. It lacks heart and story.
The idea is there, but the execution of it is just lacking. I feel like maybe even the author herself didn’t even know where to go with this story. Because I know she has the skills to write well. The first chapter was written incredibly well. It had me hooked, wanting to know more. But that same level of writing sadly just did not follow throughout the remaining chapters of the book. The plot becomes bland. The characters become bland. I wanted so badly to love this book, but I just can’t. There’s too much lacking.
I might give the sequel a try when it releases in August, and perhaps it will be an improvement, as second books sometimes are. So I haven’t completely given up hope for this series just yet, but this first book was definitely a bit of a disappointment that didn’t live up to all the hype surrounding it.
Belladonna Review Originally Written on April 26, 2023
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