The Belladonna Series by Adalyn Grace

The quick cut: A nineteen year old orphaned girl confronts death and her own powers when a relative is poisoned to death.  

A real review: 

  We can't always anticipate when someone close to us dies, but what if it felt like death was stalking you? Would you hunt it down and ask why it continues to follow you? Or ask for its help in finding the truth behind what is happening to you? In Signa's case, the answer is both. 

 Signa was orphaned as a baby when her parents died via poisoning. It's a gruesome reality she may not remember firsthand, but cannot forget as it continues to happen a lot. She's had many guardians throughout her lifetime, all of which stopped being her guardian under unusual circumstances. When her most recent guardian's death leads to her moving in with her last living relatives, the Hawthornes, that death continues to follow. The wife died, the husband is in mourning, the eldest son is trying to hold onto the family reputation, and the sister Blythe is dying from an illness that is suspiciously similar to what her mother experienced before she died. Will solving Blythe's illness lead to the truth behind her dead parents' deaths? Or will it set off a chain of events? 

 I had never read this series, so like the binge reader I am, I finished all three in a row. For me, I liked the first book the best and the strong chemistry between the characters got weaker as the book numbers went up. I might be biased though considering that I really did enjoy the first book the best. The first book in this series sets up the worldbuilding and is narrated by Signa, the second book continues to develop the world while trading off narrating between Signa & Blythe, and the third book is narrated almost solely by Blythe. Between the two, I like Signa the best because she had the more interesting backstory (and also had the far superior romantic chemistry). 

 Signa has the inability to die and it led her to chase death her entire life. Eating belladonna berries allows her to see death for moments at a time, asking death questions before she returns to the normal life she typically is stuck with. When you can't die, but everyone connected to you seems only capable of dying, I imagine it really messes with your mental health. Her way of dealing with it is admittedly twisted, but leads to the primary plot that weaves throughout the entire series. Her search for answers and the unveiling of the mystical elements around her reveal the truth behind who she is. 

 Blythe takes a lot longer to become aware of these mystical elements, but she also gets pulled in nonetheless. Between being ill in the first book, having a family member at risk in the second, and then being tied to a relationship she doesn't want in the third, Blythe consistently gets pulled into the drama. There is a reason why, but that doesn't become known until later in the series. While she eventually grew on me as a character with her determination, she was kind of annoying to me in the first and second book. By the time the character became  interesting to me, the writing style definitely took a turn that didn't work for me. The third book felt off balance to me as a reader, and definitely didn't feel like one cohesive story like the first one. 

 An intriguing series about death, fate, and relationships that tie us up. 

My rating: 3.5 out of 5