Review Detail

Belladonna is a captivating gothic romantasy with a twist of murder mystery. We start with the tragic demise of Signa’s parents when the entire party they were hosting was poisoned. When death came to reap their souls, he was surprised to find that Signa was impervious to death. I kept thinking that we would find out who did the poisonings and that whoever was behind it would play some additional part in the plot. For now, that seems to be a dropped plot point only there to establish she was vulnerable to abusive and greedy relatives taking her in the hopes of getting her fortune. The part about her life before she goes to the Hawthorne family reminds me a bit of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events.
Signa must stop running from her destiny once she is with the Hawthornes, to save her cousin, Blythe, from the person who is poisoning her. Signa has two love interests and for most of the book, I didn’t know if I wanted her to be with death when Sylas was such an intriguing prospect. However, Sylas was always so mysterious and his truth made for a surprising twist.
I enjoyed the setting of this story. It was a bit dark and foreboding but in a way that made me want to keep turning pages to find out the hidden secrets. The spirits were intriguing but ultimately not nearly as helpful in solving the murder as I thought they might be. Death is dark and mysterious and makes the reader curious to find out the logistics of how loving Signa could work. I was confused by the cooling off of their relationship at the end and wonder what is left for a second book. Even the surprise meeting in the epilogue leaves me unsure what the second book could be about.
Overall, this was a fast paced intriguing read great for fans of Lakesedge by Lyndell Clipstone. I’m glad the trilogy is soon to be completed and we won’t wait long for all the mysteries to be revealed in this haunting tale.