Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

e-Audio, 13:55:32
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
Release Date: August 22, 2023
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: September 6-12, 2023
Belladonna, #2
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Toxic Relationship, Violence, Child Death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Terminal Illness, Vomit, Body Horror, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, YA

     The captivating sequel to the Gothic-infused Belladonna, in which Signa and Death face a supernatural foe determined to tear them apart.
     A duke has been murdered. The lord of Thorn Grove has been framed. And Fate, the elusive brother of Death, has taken up residence in a sumptuous estate nearby. He’s hellbent on revenge after Death took the life of the woman he loved many years ago…and now he’s determined to have Signa for himself, no matter the cost.
     Signa and her cousin Blythe are certain that Fate can save Elijah Hawthorne from prison if they will entertain his presence. But the more time the girls spend with Fate, the more frightening their reality becomes as Signa exhibits dramatic new powers that link her to Fate’s past. With mysteries and danger around every corner, the cousins must decide if they can trust one another as they navigate their futures in high society, unravel the murders that haunt their family, and play Fate’s unexpected games—all with their destinies hanging in the balance.
     Dangerous, suspenseful, and seductive, this sequel to Signa and Death’s story is as utterly romantic as it is perfectly deadly.

*MY THOUGHTS*

This author seems to be hit or miss for me. Their debut I was not a fan of lol (I think I DNFed actually lol) But then for whatever reason I was super into the premise of Belladonna. I had heard that the love interest was Death and I had to see what it was about. And I fell in love! IDK I just think that the idea of a romance with Death was fascinating. And so, here we are with book 2 and Fate is now involved and I am even more invested.

Ok so the first thing I was annoyed at was Signa’s cousin. Like I don’t understand why she couldn’t just trust her? Like this is the perfect example of when they say sometimes blood ain’t thicker than water. Because Lordt knows she only thought about herself the entire book lol I was like yelling at her telling her shut up and just let her do what she’s doing. She’ll understand later. But no she had to be nosey. I wanted to smack her lol

I DO think Signa gave her too many chances tho. She was continuously putting herself first and even though Signa knew it, she STILL let her be and act any type of way she wanted. And I don’t think she deserved that. She should have let her meet her own Fate on her own. And like I really want to know how Fate just decided she was the one? Like are you SURE? Because it seems like you’re just there because your brother is. You wanted it to be her because you wanted to make him sad. It was all just ridiculous. I hated Fate from the moment he showed up.

And then of course there’s Fate. I don’t really know what to say about them. Because they were so sure about everything and they were so intent on making Death the bad person, but they couldn’t even look within. I KNEW where this was going as soon as he showed up I knew Fate was gon be on some bs. And just like when people say, “You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.” And that’s exactly what happened here. Signa was doing all the things she could to make sure she didn’t give in to what he wanted and then here comes her cousin -__-

The romance in this was so sad too. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a good long distance romance, but this was a little more than that lol It was long distance but between death and life lol I KNEW it was real love because she was basically like putting herself on the brink of death so that she could see him again. I don’t know if I have that level of commitment lol But anyway, when they finally got a rhythm together, here comes ol dude with a new set of problems for them smh But the way this ended made me excited yet scared for this next book. Hopefully Signa will get some peace and this will be about someone else lol

And let’s also talk about the murder mystery and the ending. The mystery itself was basic. She was like trying to figure out who was framing her dad and who actually murdered the duke. Did I guess the person who did it? No. But Grace also doesn’t give you all the information you need to be able to do that accurately. As a matter of fact, some of the things that are used to answer the mystery wasn’t introduced until like a few minutes before she tells who it is. Now I could have made a guess, but I knew how it was from last time and didn’t really make a guess. So I just count it as a “loss” because I didn’t really try if that makes sense.

This is a truly unhinged ass review. More like a stream of consciousness for me about this book. Because I went through all the feels reading this. I was swooning, mad, so mad I was clapping at them, so mad I was yelling at them, I’m talking all the things. And I know you will too. If you read this book, let me know what you think about it. I need to make sure I wasn’t by myself in getting so engrossed in this.

Overall, I give this