"Belladonna" by Adalyn Grace

 Overall, I loved this book! It gave me Wuthering Heights vibes with an Agatha Christie mystery thrown in. 

Five Stars!

All her life, Death has followed Signa Farrow.

He was there when her parents and all the guests and staff members of Foxglove were mysteriously poisoned and died at a party when Signa was just a baby. 

He was there throughout her childhood as a string of guardians, who were more interested in Signa's money than her welfare, perished within a fews years of accepting Signa into their homes. 

Now, he has followed Signa to Hawthorne Manor. 

Despite their own recent tragedies, the Hawthorne's, a distant relation to Signa's parents, have graciously invited Signa to live with them for the next 6 months until she turns 19 and is able to claim the inheritance that her family left to her upon their deaths. 

Signa discovers that her hope that Death will not follow her to her new home is in vain when she arrives at Hawthorne Manor only to discover that her cousin, Blythe, has contracted a mysterious life-threatening illness. It is the same illness that took Blythe's mother, Lilliana,  just months before. 

Signa can feel death's presence in the cold and unsettling Manor.

But that is not the only presence she senses.

Lilliana's spirit is not at rest, and her ghost haunts to grounds, crying and wailing in the night. The Hawthorne family is plagued by her restless spirit and Blythe's impending death. 

Signa is determined to stop Death from taking anyone else from her and Signa feels like, for once, she might be able to help because she has secrets of her own. 

Signa can see ghosts and she is tied to Death in a way that no other mortal have ever been. 

Signa suspects that Lillian's death wasn't due to an illness at all, and someone is targeting the remaining members of the family. Her best chance to save her new family is to ally herself with Death in order to catch the murderer before they strike again. 

As Signa and Death begin to work side by side to catch the murderer, the connection between them grows, and Signa realizes that there is more to Death than she ever could have imagined. 

This amazing gothic murder mystery has just the right amount of intrigue, suspense, plot twists, and romance to make a great book! I was hooked within the first few pages.  Signa was an intriguing character who really found herself as the story progressed. She was so unsure of who she wanted to be when the story began, but through the trials she experienced, she was able to take hold of her destiny and become who she was meant to be. 

Death was swoon worthy! He was so mysterious in the beginning, and as revelations were made throughout the story, you better understood his role in Signa's life and in her future. 

I am looking forward to starting book two!

"The Prison Healer" by Lynette Noni

 Holy plot twist! I did not see that coming!

I'll admit, I read several reviews before starting "The Prison Healer" and I had seen multiple reviews mentioning a plot twist at the end, but man, I did NOT see that coming.



Kiva has been locked away in a high security prison for the past 10 years of her life, ever since she was seven years old. For the past few years, she has held the title of prison healer, caring for sick and injured inmates and processing new arrivals. She is known as many different things to many different people. Most of them are not flattering.

For the past ten years, Kiva's sole purpose has been to stay alive. She keeps her head down, she listens to the guards, she spies on the other prisoners for the warden, she burns the letter "Z" into the flesh of all the new prisoners, and she does it for one reason.

"Stay alive. We are coming."

Her family is coming for her. Over the past ten years, Kiva's family has been able to smuggle in messages telling her to stay alive and they are coming for her soon. It is the only thing that has kept Kiva going.

However, things start to change with the arrival of two new prisoners. Jaren, the new handsome and strong tunneler, seems to have taken an interest in Kiva. One that she fights against knowing that Jaren likely will not survive his first month in the prison. And Tilda, the very ill rebel queen responsible for the uprising against the ruling family, who arrives shortly after and her presence changes everything.

"Don't let her die. We are coming."

When the rebel queen is sentenced to Trial by Ordeal, her death becomes almost certain. However, Kiva must do everything in her power to keep the rebel queen alive until help can arrive, even if it means taking the queen's place in the trials. Kiva must survive the four elemental ordeals: Ordeal by Air, Ordeal by Fire, Ordeal by Water, Ordeal by Earth. However, if Kiva fails, she dies and the rebel queen will be executed with her.



With their fates now entwined, Kiva is going to need the help of her friends, both new and old, if she ever hopes to get out of the prison alive.

***

This amazing immersive story is a page turner filled with intrigue, prison riots, betrayals, secrets, budding romance and magic. I thoroughly enjoyed the budding romance between Jaren and Kiva, and Tipp is definitely one of my favorite characters.

The description of the Ordeal by Fire and the Ordeal by Water literally had my stomach twisting with anxiety. These scenes were packed with tension and I literally flew threw them.

I hated that we didn't see what happened to the warden towards the end.

That plot twist at the end though... I almost feel like I need to reread the book now and see if there were clues that I missed that pointed towards this revelation, or if it hit all readers the way it did me.

I am excited to see the story continue, but I feel like Kiva has a dark road to travel ahead of her. I think I will wait to read "The Gilded Cage" until "The Blood Traitor" comes out this summer.