Serena ♡'s Reviews > Nightshade Academy

The behind-the-book on her website is ADORABLE!

“Mel Torrefranca started writing The Sky Weeps With Us when she was ten years old. Although she eventually abandoned the novel, the characters never stopped haunting her.

Nearly a decade later, with a few published books to her name, Mel decided to rewrite The Sky Weeps With Us as a dark fantasy trilogy called Belladonna. She was struggling to choose a travel destination at the time, but the elements of Filipino culture her ten-year-old self had weaved into the original book sparked an interest in Southeast Asia.

Shortly after moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand in late 2021, Mel sent an early draft of Nightshade Academy (Belladonna, Book 1) to a group of beta readers to gather constructive criticism. A common complaint was that her fight scenes were unrealistic, which made her think, “If my fight scenes are out of sync with reality, surely training in real life would help with that, right?””

And so she did. What a badass.

I really enjoy Mel Torrefranca’s work. I can’t wait to start this.

Especially since I saw they made the book into an audio drama!!?!?!