e-Audio, 04:49:22
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
Release Date: September 30, 2025
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: October 13, 2025
October 13, 2025
Source: Library’s Libby
Content Warning: Injury/Injury Detail, Death, Sexual Content, Confinement, Alcohol
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Fantasy, Holidaze, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, New Adult, Short Stories, NA labeled as YAA mysterious and magical holiday novella set in the romantic, Gothic-infused world of Belladonna, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace.
Something strange is happening at Wisteria Gardens, the manor that Blythe and Aris call home. All they want is a peaceful holiday season with their family, but a group of restless spirits is determined to threaten their festivities. With a new mystery to solve, Signa, Death, Blythe, and Fate must uncover what happened to Wisteria’s ghostly inhabitants and help the spirits move on…before it’s too late.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This is going to be pretty short as this is a novella lol But I did want to talk about some things since they came up in the book. Let me tell you, this book put me through the ringer. So many things I hadn’t been expecting.
That seems weird because it’s a novella, but still. The first thing I hadn’t been expecting, was all of them actually getting along lol They still don’t seem to like each other, but it did seem like they got a long better than in the rest of the series. Maybe because it was the holidays. Or maybe it was because they were relying on the others to help them get rid of the spirits lol IDK but whatever it was, it was nice to see them all again and nice to see them acting like a family.
Another thing I hadn’t been expecting was the jump in smexual language? I didn’t even remember the first book’s smex scene so I must have blocked it out. But this one has language that seems a bit more adult and I remembered in the first one she’s actually 18, so I think it might be time to move these around to adult? I spoke with 5 other librarians who agreed. But here I am, asking formally, publishers………… if there is a book that has a main character 18+ can we just put it in A? Please stop sending them to YA. Or at the very least, bring back or just label something as NA.
The plot itself was fun. I don’t think there was anything that really stood out. I had fun listening and I had fun seeing all the ways they had to come together and help each other to keep up the festivities. It didn’t make a lot of difference to the overall story, but it was still good overall.
This was fun, but I do think I’ll have to read it again. It was good, but it just wasn’t completely memorable like the others. Either that, or I was still really pissed that they waited for the novella after the series to do a smex scene with older language where the characters are 18.
Overall, I give this
Nice review! I still need to read this one. Hopefully soon since we’re nearing the holidays! Lol. My memory’s a little fuzzy on the books too as I binged the last two thinking it was the end, and then she announced the novella a few short months after I was done! But yeah, with you on wanting them to bring NA back as I feel like a lot of the YA is getting spicer or more suited for those 18+, I’ll give you 17 as well. Lol. Glad to hear it was a fun read all the same!