Reading With Tyler

Name: Wisteria
Series: Belladonna #3
Author: Adalyn Grace
Publisher: Hodderscape
Format: Kindle
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Gothic, Mystery
Noted Tropes: Long Lost Love, Enemies to Lovers, Discovery of Powers
Spice Rating: Glimpses & Kisses 🌶️

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Review:

Wisteria is the final book in the Belladonna trilogy (at least until Holly comes out later in 2025, which I think is a novella?), and so there will likely be spoilers for books 1 and 2 (Belladonna and Foxglove) in the review. As normal, if there are spoilers for Wisteria, they will be hidden.

Well. I can at least say I am glad to have finished this trilogy. However I am gutted that I didn’t enjoy this final book as much as the first two. The first two were brilliant, the vibes were vibin and the plot was interesting. Signa and Death were brilliant as our main characters, and I whilst I didn’t like Fate’s introduction in Foxglove, I did like Blythe’s promotion from sickly side character to established secondary character!

I did not know, however, that Wisteria was going to be almost entirely Blythe and Fate… and as someone who literally just said I didn’t like Fate’s introduction… you can imagine my surprise when I realised that Wisteria was going to have very little of Signa and Death as the main focus was in fact Blythe and Fate after Blythe spilled her blood over his contract instead of getting Signa to do it. THIS is the downside of going into books blind. I am much less likely to be going into a book totally blind if I’m reading the physical book as I can’t help but read the blurb! But when I’m picking up a kindle book, it is very rare that I’ll go and seek out a synopsis from goodreads before starting (especially if it’s a book in a series I’m already enjoying).

That being said – I didn’t hate the mystery element of Wisteria. I was worried it was going to start to feel too ‘samey’ after both Belladonna and Foxglove sort of started with deaths but Wisteria had it’s own mystery that it wanted to play out. And thankfully it wasn’t just about Life and Fate. Things start happening at Thorn Grove and Grey’s after Blythe leaves which has Elijah keeping secrets from Blythe – until of course she finds out anyway. It’s concerning for everyone involved. I felt as though this wasn’t presented as such a big deal in the beginning and I think it could have been played on a bit more than it was.

Instead we have to deal with Blythe and Fate and their ‘relationship’ (or lack thereof) for a lot of the book… I would have liked more of the mystery of what was happening at Thorn Grove. But then again, maybe that was just me still wishing that Fate hadn’t come into things and we could have had Signa and Blythe solving another mystery together? Possibly.

And then just when I thought this couldn’t have gotten worse for me. I ACTUALLY started to like Blythe and Fate. Right at the bloody end of the book!! OF COURSE. I felt like the ending was actually really good, but felt rushed. Both Blythe and Fate, Chaos, the mystery! All felt rushed. And I’m genuinely gutted because I feel like I could have read another 100 pages on the situation if it had been expanded. And that epilogue!!! The epilogue actually left me wanting more Blythe and Fate – which is a shock for me to admit too. So it has left me hoping that Holly is a continuation of that story. Of course I could just look it up… But where is the fun in that.

Overall, I was disappointed by Wisteria which led to a 3 star rating at first. But the ending and the epilogue bumped it just a bit to the 3.5 star rating. Ultimately I am glad I finished this trilogy and I don’t regret reading Wisteria (I know some have skipped it) but it just wasn’t my favourite.

“But that was the thing about lessons: They were always learned too late.”