Initial Thoughts
Belladonna walked so Foxglove could FLY. I admit it took me a tremendously long time to get back into reading this book because of how much I don’t like the idea of love triangles. (I was also this way with OUABH and look how unhinged I turned out to be regarding that series.) And while here the love triangle idea doesn’t really evolve into its full-blown form, it was still the least interesting thing in the book.
Note: Foxglove is the sequel to Belladonna, so expect some spoilers!
FOXGLOVE
by Adalyn Grace
Hodder & Stoughton, October 2023
YA mystery, paranormal
Rated: 4.5 / 5 cookies
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.
The covers for this book is fairly straightforward, since so far there are only two. Fairyloot’s edition does darken the color of the UK cover (which kind of fits to match its predecessor, Belladonna). Really love both covers, actually, but since I already had the FL edition of Belladonna, there was every reason to get the edition that matched.
Foxglove continues directly after the end of Belladonna, so while many of the characters and their relationships with each other have been established, a new murder has taken place in the middle of a ball. This time, Fate–Death’s brother–has a hand in orchestrating a grand scheme that incriminates Elijah Hawthorne, Signa’s uncle. This does not bode well for Signa, but it is especially damaging to Blythe Hawthorne’s reputation. In order to release Elijah from incarceration, Signa and Blythe undertake the solving of the mysterious poisoning.
The problem is that Fate is out to meddle however he can, and he is not going to make it easy on Signa.
As I mentioned before, I am not a fan of love triangles, and the beginning of this certainly reads “love triangle” in a loose sense. Fate believes that Signa is his long lost love, and his goal is to wrest Death’s hold from Signa in order to claim her as his. The problem is that Signa doesn’t remember anything regarding being Fate’s lover, and she is altogether committed to the established relationship she had with Death. Not to mention that everything Fate does harms Signa’s attempts at learning to work her powers, and the more she uses them, the more dangerous it becomes to her person. Add the mystery death, the dangers of exposing herself, and the questions about Percy Hawthorne’s disappearance, Signa’s work is cut out for her.
“Whatever you are and whatever you can do, you are not who Fate expects you to be. You are still Signa Farrow, and I am not a good enough man to allow my brother to take you from me.”
Thankfully, she has Blythe, who does gain a perspective in this book. I do feel like the addition of Blythe’s POV adds to the overall breadth of the story, and perhaps this was one way to segue into the last book, Wisteria. Plus, I found her interactions with Prince Aris super enjoyable and filled with a tension I can’t wait to be explored in the third book.
“What’s wrong, love? Afraid I’ll ruin you?”
foxglove – adalyn grace
Like damn, Aris. Calm the eff down. (THE TEA SCENE, THOUGH. THE TEA!!)
The book had a bit of a slowdown sometime in the middle, and I will admit it took me a while to finish this because of my reluctance to read about Fate and his shenanigans. It was also particularly difficult because I’m protective of Signa, so it hurt when she got more and more isolated within the book for various reasons. Foxglove felt more like a conclusion to Signa’s story, which made me a bit sad because I would have been fine reading an entire series of just Death and Signa solving murder mysteries as reapers. Was that too much to ask? Probably, yeah.
“I’m tired of feeling like I’m not enough. No matter what I do, I’m disappointing someone. But the one I truly feel most disappointed in is myself, because I hate feeling like this, Death. I thought I was done.”
“If people are afraid,” he said, “then let them be afraid. Your shoulders were not meant to bear the weight of their expectations, Signa. You are not made to please others.”
Ugh, just Death and Signa, man. I need more of them, not less!
It also didn’t help that while Signa’s story wrapped up quite a bit, a lot of the book didn’t really focus on the mysteries in Foxglove Manor, Signa’s familial home. Yes, there was a matter of having to troubleshoot the issues of ghosts in the manor itself, but I don’t think we really found the resolution to the mystery of Signa’s family. It would have made more sense to be explored in this book, though I hope it at least gets touched upon in Wisteria just so that all the loose threads are tied.
That all said, there were certainly highlights, and moments in the beginning and middle had me entertained. The petty croquet scene was a blast to read and I can’t wait for more interactions between Death and Fate. The writing was beautiful and par for course as usual, and I could probably fill an entire page with just quotes from this book. The last third of Foxglove practically decimated my previous complaints about the book, because the amount of times I literally cackled–CACKLED–at how the end turned out has got to be on a level of unhinged I can’t exactly fathom. I cannot WAIT to get into Wisteria, especially with what awaits Blythe and Fate in the next book.
4.5 out of 5 cookies! Did I think Foxglove was far better carved as a story and a way to proceed into–hopefully–the last book of this series than Belladonna was? Yes. But did I love Belladonna more? Also yes. I think I have Shadow Daddy Death to thank for that one, though. Just saying.
(Also, I decided it was time for a change in how I did my Limelight Lady portions. Here’s a new template! We’ll see how long this one lasts.)
Story and Somnomancy 