I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading Belladonna. It may not be the most historically accurate book, but it's adventurous and fun and a touch dark and with just enough romance to make me happy.

If you like the RPG game 7th Sea, or Pirates of the Caribbean, or anything dashing with a smidge of historical setting... this is the perfect book for you.

I received this book for free through the Goodreads First Reads program. ( )

I don't use star ratings, so please read my review!

(Description nicked from B&N.com.)

“In the second in the stunning Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose—the only evidence that will prove he’s innocent.

So begins her journey to Florence, a city haunted by whispers of vampirism, secret soirees and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose. And home to Falco, who is working for the Order’s eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself.

Can Cass trust her heart to lead her to the truth this time?”

I was surprised to find that the love interest between Falco and Cass was almost non-existent in this second novel of the series. It’s not that I necessarily felt that the characters were being written as being the perfect match for each other, but rather that I got the impression that this story had more to do with forbidden love than otherwise. This novel, however, focuses almost exclusively on the mysteries surrounding Cass’s parents and their involvement in the Order of the Eternal Rose.

When Falco did show up, he was usually gruff and overbearing towards Cass. I got to the point of wishing to see more of Luca, because I liked his character much better. But as I said, there’s not a lot of romance in this installment. Much of the time, Cass is in the company of her lady’s maid or her best friend. The more prominent male character this time around is a doctor who has been hired by the mysterious Belladonna.

What I did like about this novel was the sense of creepy atmosphere that Paul invokes. There are no crypts this time around, but there are hedonistic parties of questionable morality, threats of vampiric activity, and many a midnight skulk in search of information. With much of the story taking place in Florence, the narrative has a different feel—gone are the deep canals of Venice, and instead readers get more of dark alleyways and maze-like streets.

I think that if this novel had actually been able to delve more deeply into the actual activities of the Order, and especially if Cass’s parents involvement had been explored a bit more, I probably would have liked this book more. In Venom, I was interested in the parts of the tale that dealt with what passed for biological research in that time period, and I wish I had seen more of that in Belladonna.

I found that I didn’t like this novel as much as the first one, but it’s still a book that held my attention fairly well. Belladonna should satisfy teen readers looking for something eerie without the supernatural monsters that populate most young adult novels these days.

This review originally appeared on Owlcat Mountain on August 23, 2013.
http://www.owlcatmountain.com/belladonna/

I want to state up-front that Belladonna is probably the most difficult book I've ever tried to review. The truth is that my feelings while reading this book were literally all over the place: I was frustrated, caught up, annoyed, cheering, sad, tense, and anxious pretty much constantly (and my Goodreads Status Updates prove this), which means that, in terms of storytelling, this book excels quite well. But at the same time, I had such a difficult time with aspects of this story, that I came away from it upon its completion completely uncertain what that meant in terms of my overall feelings, and eventual rating. As such, I want to apologize if this is all over the place. Considering that my reactions are all over the board, that would make perfect sense, but having a complete lack of clarity probably doesn't make for the best review. So feel free to take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

First of all, I want to talk about what I liked in Belladonna. Being a sequel, I liked that the mystery and danger were ratcheted up. I liked that we were slowly getting more and more clarity regarding what's going on, but that there are still plenty of questions left to be answered. I liked seeing a bit more of Luca, and the fact that, even without being in the actual story, he was very much present in Cass' mind, which made him very present for the reader. And I liked Cass' determination and stubbornness - at least in regards to most things - even if some of her actions and ways of thinking weren't particularly historically accurate.

But in Cass lies my biggest issue with this book as well. In Venom, she pretty much dove head-first into trouble, following Falco wherever he led her without any regard to her safety or sense of propriety (Falco's not big on propriety, after all). After the dangers she faced - and endured - I was hoping that she would be a bit more, well ... intelligent, I guess. I wanted her to think things through, to realize that she wasn't as invincible as she'd thought, and most of all, I wanted her to use her head a bit more around Falco. She had a very clear goal here - to figure out a way to save Luca from his impending death - and while she mostly kept that thought in the forefront of her mind, I was still extremely concerned with the way she allowed Falco to affect her, to the point that, once again, she ending up making some rather poor decisions. I find it interesting that I went from liking her to being irritated with her and then back to liking her almost constantly; it's enough to make a person dizzy.

I also want to be clear about this next point, because my feelings for this particular character colored a lot of my opinion of this book. I do not like Falco. I do not like him at all. I do not find him to be your typical bad boy with the fake persona who deep down has a heart of gold. Falco is not a good guy. He is sleazy, and he uses Cass' lust for him to his advantage, to the point where he's almost able to control her because of her physical reactions to him. I don't find him funny or suave or likable in the slightest, and the fact that Cass continues to swoon incessantly over him makes me want to strangle her. He said some incredibly awful things in this book, treated Cass terribly on more than one occasion, and - what was worse - she forgave him for it because, in her mind, she made excuses and "understood" why he said what he said. That is not a healthy relationship, no matter how he makes her insides flutter and her knees weak. I just cannot get behind it at all. And, okay, sure, possibly he redeems himself in the final book. I kind of hope he does, simply because I find that to be personally fascinating. But I definitely don't want them together. I actually want Cass to get as far away from him as possible, because anyone who looks down on people for doing what society dictates - in this case, marrying someone of your same class status - and actually ridicules you because of it isn't worth your time, your attention or - most of all - your love. I'm hoping that Cass' revelations about Falco at the end will stick with her and this will be the last time we see this particular aspect of the "love triangle" because, quite honestly, if she ends up with him at the end of this series I may actually dissolve into a pile of rage! (On a lighter note, you can probably tell that this is the strongest I have ever felt about a love interest in my entire life, and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that. I don't know how all of you hardcore shippers out there deal with this!)

All in all, I want to be clear that I did enjoy Belladonna a lot, despite my numerous complaints. The ending left me literally on the edge of my seat, gripping my Kindle tightly in my hands. It also ensured - despite my reservations about Falco which I so nicely outlined above - that I will definitely be reading the final installment. I do think that, in terms of storytelling and pacing and atmosphere that Belladonna is a definite step up from Venom, and I like where the mystery is headed. Considering the situation Cass finds herself in at the end of this book, I look for even more growth from her in Starling, and I shall be eagerly anticipating the trials and tribulations her and the others are going to have to go through to try to set everything to rights.

An e-galley was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Belladonna is the second book in Fiona Paul's Secrets of the Eternal Rose series set in Renaissance Italy. I reviewed the first book, Venom, last year.

I enjoyed Belladonna much more than Venom. I think there are a few key reasons for this. Venom had Cass taking risks for Falco, the class-inappropriate artist who seduced her, and dwelling on him a lot more. In Belladonna, the love triangle between Falco - Cass - Luca is much less important. Cass does start out moping about Falco but as the story progresses and Luca's life is in danger she tends to spend more time worrying about actual important things. She still takes a lot of risks and doesn't seem to have much of a sense of self-preservation, but I'm willing to forgive this as there wouldn't be much story if she always chose to do the safe thing.

The story takes Cass to Florence as she seeks to absolve Luca and find out more about the mysterious Order of the Eternal Rose. I quite enjoyed what came of that storyline, particularly the mix of alchemy and pseudoscience the Order has been investigating. Although everything is mostly realistic, I think that aspect of the plot will appeal to spec fic fans more than the first book which did not have as many speculative elements. There are, for example, accusations of vampirism. And conspiracies. Gotta love a good conspiracy.

I found that, in Belladonna, Paul has come into her own with her writing style. I remember there were bits in Venom that I felt like skimming over, but this was not the case in Belladonna. In particular, the description was more smoothly integrated throughout. Maybe that's partly because a lot of the setting was set up in the first book. Either way, it was appreciated.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I suggest that if you weren't sure after reading Venom, give Belladonna a go. For new readers, I suggest starting with book one, although I don't think it's quite as necessary as with some series. I imagine if you don't there'll be some confusion but overall the book will still make sense. I recommend this series to lovers of historical YA and I expect readers of speculative YA will also enjoy it, so long as they don't object to a lack of magic.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. ( )

In Renaissance Italy, love, lust, intrigue and secret societies converge to stunning results!

In the second in the stunning Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose—the only evidence that will prove he’s innocent.

Love these characters. Interesting concepts, good stories, good character development. I am looking forward to reading the others in this series when they come out. Interesting writing style that I actually really liked. The way she uses words and describes things is magical and extraordinarily beautiful. ( )