Wisteria by Adalyn Grace
SYNOPSIS
Blythe Hawthorn has never let anyone tell her what to do… and she’s not about to start now. Headstrong and passionate, she won’t be ruled by society, or by her overprotective father, and certainly not by the man she’s bound herself to, no matter how insufferable he is. She’s determined to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her days, even as he ensues that her life in his palace is anything but the decadent fairytale she imagined. But as Blythe discovers a new side of herself linked to his past, she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to let an unexpected spark ignite… and discover the real truth about who she is inside.
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Wisteria was the long awaited friend that I was scared to engage with (as I knew this would be the last goodbye) while also being such a highly anticipated story. Because of this, I did delay reading it for quite some time after the book release but I finally dove in over the holiday season and I’m so happy I did. This is the third in the Belladonna series by Adalyn Grace and it was a story that was set up so well in the second book of the series that I knew before reading it that it would be my favourite of the three. Wisteria winds together an epic dark fairytale that ties in beautifully to this world already created in Belladonna while becoming something new and entirely its own without completely veering off course.
In this series finale, the main character is no longer our beloved Signa, but her cousin Blythe who, let’s be honest, wasn’t our favourite in book one. So how did the author make this work so seamlessly? She left so many little nuggets of Blythe’s upcoming story in the second book, Foxglove, that I couldn’t help but be curious and want more of Blythe’s story. She also still allowed Signa and her epic love with Death to shine through in this book so we didn’t feel totally bereft of the original story. I very much enjoyed this read and it definitely did some damage to my heart.
We start off with Blythe’s much anticipated, and dreaded, wedding to Fate. Blythe makes it her mission that Fate will never know one moment of peace being married to her and as much gravitas as he seems to have, nothing has prepared him for being married to Blythe Hawthorn. They spend a good half of this book antagonizing each other while grudgingly getting along to dupe everyone in their community, including her father, that they are the perfect royal couple. The slow burn was top tier in this book and the… not-quite-enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-lovers build up was intense. I found myself absolutely flying through this book with the fast-paced witty banter between the two. Grace also has a great way of building lush dreamscapes in our minds with her setting descriptions that made it easy to get lost in the story.
My favourite part of this book was the complete antagonistic dynamic between Blythe and Fate. We know information they don’t, which is that Blythe IS Life, which makes her complete disregard for him and his absolutely unhinged comments about her character all the more enjoyable for us. It’s like we’re in on and inside joke, making their dynamic all the more enjoyable. Even with Blythe eventually learning the truth, she’s still hesitant to let herself be vulnerable with this man she’s claimed to hate.
I expected most of this book to be about Fate and Blythe discovering the truth and wasn’t really expecting any danger… which, given the first two books, was a colossal mistake! With an enhanced dive into this world’s magic due to Fate’s constant spinning of reality, when danger hits, it feels even more significant and terrifying. Meeting other immortals took this series from a gothic mystery/romance into a whimsical fairytale with rotting edges. And it was up to the reader to read the signs on how to keep those edges from contaminating the rest of the tapestry. It was a very fun experience and I finished this book completely devastated to say goodbye.
I will say, when I was completing this book, I wasn’t sure how I felt. I knew I loved it, but I was also mad… The way this story wraps up definitely makes the epilogue a necessary read to understand why the author went in the direction she did with these characters. And although I was heartbroken, I came out of it loving these characters even more. This was the first five star read of the year for me.