Reviewed by Anna Lynn
TITLE: Belladonna
AUTHOR: A.E. Via
PUBLISHER: Via Star Wings
LENGTH: 299 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2025
BLURB:
What began as four short episodes is now a re-edited, revised tale with deeper characters, richer storylines, and 40,000 words of brand-new content, in color, woven into a full-length novel.
A gay romance soap opera of love, resilience, and redemption.
Atropa Belladonna—known as deadly nightshade—is the poison that ended Romeo and Juliet’s story of love and loss.
Thorn Maxwell knows heartbreak. It’s why he built Belladonna—a lavish, by-invitation-only oceanfront sanctuary—where men scarred by love’s cruelty, learn to safely risk their hearts again.
Within the walls of Thorn’s mansion, his gentlemen help restore hope, rekindle trust, and show men the kind of love that heals instead of destroys.
Step inside Belladonna—where hearts bleed and heal, secrets smolder, passions ignite, and every episode unveils an unexpected twist.
This is NOT your average romance novel!
REVIEW:
Belladonna, a very special house where a broken heart can heal. A safe place where those with broken hearts can mend with love and support. But you have to be invited in by the owner, Thorn Blackwell. Thorn delves into the background of every gentleman he invites into his home. Thorn had his heart broken badly by his ex-fiance so he is determined to help those who are heartbroken like he is. Belladonna helps the brokenhearted heal and find their perfect gentleman again.
Thorn’s main responsibility is to take care of the gentlemen who enters Belladonna and help them find what their souls need, their significant other, or someone who would make them heal, whether a partner or someone else that they could help too, while they themselves are healing.
When Thorn was asked by a former client to come and see another candidate for Belladonna, he agreed to observe and take notes. And from what he has learned from his client, this person can be a perfect candidate for Lincoln, one of his gentlemen. He observed the man from a few tables in a bar. His name is Lucas Brewer, who owns a successful Investment firm. He was married but just finalized his divorce from his husband who was in it just for the money and who he caught sleeping with another man in their bed. He was so engrossed in his observing that he was unawares when his ex-fiance sat on his table and began harassing him.
Lucas tried to save Thorn from what his ex-fiance was doing to him, and after the incident, he escorted Thorn to his car. For Thorn, he was attracted to this man’s pain. The way Lucas carries it, strong on the outside, bleeding on the inside. He realizes that he is attracted to Lucas and that he would want to be Lucas’ healer as well as be healed by Lucas from his own pain too.
Casey, one of Lucas’s gentlemen, has been waiting for his “Sir” for quite some time, and Thorn found a perfect candidate for him but he is still considering the offer by Belladonna. But because Casey could not wait for his “Sir” to decide, he took it upon himself to show his “Sir” the kind of Sub he is by going to the same BDSM club that he frequents. Unbeknownst to Galan, the Sub he was attracted to while he was in the club was Casey.
An unfortunate incident brought two detectives into Belladonna, as Thorn got investigated for the disappearance of his ex-fiance after their altercation at the bar. One of the detectives, Channing Sharpe keeps getting on Lincoln’s bad side, and the few chances they met, Lincoln can’t help but provoke the detective.
Axel was saved by Thorn from a life on the streets, and as a token of gratitude, Axel has been coming back to Skid Row to pay forward the kindness that Thorn has given him. He brings food, blankets, medicine and clothes and tries to distribute it to those who need it. One night when he was bringing food for his old friend at Skid Row, he found Waylan instead. He got intrigued by the man.
These men have been hurt and are healing, but along the road towards healing, they encounter people who are also brokenhearted and hopeless like they used to feel themselves.
This Soap Opera type of novel is new and interesting, first of its kind for me, and it is beautiful. I love the characters created by Ms. A.E. Via, they are not perfect and they are beautiful and so human.
Congratulations Ms. Via, I truly hope that this is the beginning of this type of setting and that we will be able to read more like this from you.
RATING: 
BUY LINK:
i love this series of tenderness,poignancy and hope that touches the heart.ms via writes with heart,so different from her god series.so much love.tough love,gentle love,passionate love.i read it in one sitting.i dearly hope for more in this series.thanks ms via.