I was very late to read this. But, I thought this was a good read! I would recommend this to friends.

DNF at 20%

I really wanted to enjoy this book, everything about it sounded like something I'd love; unfortunately, this book was not for me. The best part of the book was the prologue. The characters sounded too similar, and I had trouble distinguishing whose POV the chapter was in. I was also not very intrigued by the drama between the girls. I am sure this book will find its audience, it just is not me.

This was an extremely creepy and intriguing read. The kind that grabs hold of you, messes with your head, and keeps you up late reading. I greatly enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this story, particularly how human and flawed each of the characters were. No one acted virtuous all of the time, everyone made mistakes. But at the bottom of it all was a deep love for one another that was really touching. I didn’t feel that the content was too triggering or gory, it found a way to be intense without being needlessly descriptive about violence - which I feel is really important for a YA novel. I found a little bit of my teenage self in each of the characters: Bo’s anger, Whitney’s grief, Delilah’s protectiveness, and Jude’s desire to be seen. Overall a really great story!

I also really enjoyed the idea of the town suffocating all of these women as a metaphor for… the world at large right now. I wish there had been a little more backstory into the villains, how things all started, etc. though.

Thanks to NetGalley, Andrea Hannah, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

For some reason I thought this was more of a thriller and less of a fantasy/dystopian book when I requested it from Netgalley, so that’s on me since this isn’t my normal cup of tea. I could have gotten by that because I liked the idea and I think the book had promise but there were a few issues for me that kept me from really enjoying it and I ended up skipping a lot of pages just to get to the end. The multiple POV was confusing as there were too many girls to keep track of. I couldn’t remember who was sisters and whose mom was whose. It often felt like the story was all over the place and that honestly might have been because there were a lot of locations, but there was just a lot going on here between the girls’ relationships and their relationships with each other. It was too much to sort out and keep track of. I received and ARC, so hopefully the published version is cleaned up and addresses some of these issues.

⁉️Did you ever watch Pretty Little Liars?
I 💯 was sucked into the first three seasons, and then it all sort of went downhill, like this book.

BOOK REVIEW
Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah
Published: Feb 21, 2023 (out now 🍃)
320 pages
@wednesdaybooks

This started out really eerie, atmospheric, promising for YA horror, for sure. I could feel the feminist vibes coming, and I was here for it.

Then about a third of the way in it started giving Pretty Little Liars, but if the land was hungry for their blood. You know what I mean if you got into PLL. It sucked you in like a tilt-a-whirl. You think you’re enjoying it until you realize you’re just going around and around and around until you want to hurl. I got swept up by this beautiful cover. And this, friends, is why you don’t judge books by their covers.

All of the villains in this story were predictable and easy to identify really early on. That didn’t even bother me. What bothered me most was how the girls should’ve died a million times and managed not only to survive some pretty gnarly bats to the head, etc., but the proceeding to trek through town. Also, how were all of the men in this town just cool with keeping the secrets of the ones feeding the land the women’s’ bodies? And don’t get me started on the moms . . .

That said, IF you enjoyed PLL in its entirety, you’ll like this. Also, I think it’s fair to mention that some other booksta friends of mine had much more positive reviews for this, both giving 4 stars.

I’d consider rounding to three just because the author didn’t take one of the romantic interests in the direction I thought they might for a minute.

⭐️⭐️✨

Thanks @netgalley @wednesdaybooks for the gifted e-book

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Here we have another creepy-ass book, but this time, it's the whole town that's messed up! The town of Bloom is a bit of a mystery. Women and girls go missing on the regular, but the most that the town's Powers That Be do is throw up a statue and move on. And even that is rare, frankly. But when three women go missing at once, their daughters have to band together to survive in this weird place.

I suppose you have to suspend some disbelief that this town can exist like it does in modern day society, but once you get past that, it is certainly an entertaining story, full of secrets and mysteries. Each young woman who lives in the house, Delilah, Jude, Bo, and Whitney, all have their own stories and their own buried secrets to content with, along with the pain of their missing mothers. While the girls used to be inseparable, things have been tense, and rifts are very clearly happening.

We get the points of view of each of these characters, which generally works well since it enables us to get to know each of them, though doesn't make any one particularly stick out. But it does certainly make you feel for each of the girls, and make you realize that this town treats women as disposable, whether they're missing or not. The book is also extremely atmospheric- I certainly felt the isolation and, for lack of a better word, "wrongness" of the town and its inhabitants.

The book was entertaining throughout, as I was definitely invested in finding out answers to the secrets and mysteries. I was certainly invested enough in the characters and their relationships to be desperate to see how it all played out for them. I was also really pleased with the ending, it worked really well with the story and I was satisfied.

Bottom Line: Overall, a solid mystery with a lot of likable characters and a definitely messed up town with an equally messed up past.

Talk about a book that grabs you by the throat right from the get, drags you right into its pages, and never lets you go. My issue? It should’ve let us readers go a little earlier.

I know, I know! I’m always complaining books are too long. So sue me. Or that books have too many epilogues when just one would suffice, thank you very much. This books suffers from that rare combination I call “The Return of the King Syndrome” (for those who have seen Peter Jackson’s “LOTR: The Return of the King”): Too many chapters at the end that read like epilogues so you think this chapter must be the ending, but then there’s another chapter that makes you think the same way, but then there’s another chapter that would’ve sufficed as a perfectly good ending as well. This goes on for several chapters. I would’ve nixed all but maybe two or three of them.

But the ending? *chef’s kiss*

This book feels a little like The Village, a little like Midsommar, a little like Hannah Whitten’s Wilderwood, and there’s a touch of The Handmaid’s Tale in there too. Even as I write this list of cultish/occult/horror/ and speculative fiction influences that I felt traces of in the framework of this novel (and, for some reason, there’s an episode of Criminal Minds that involves someone running through a sunflower field to hide from an unsub, I think), I know I can’t write this list down without acknowledging the other half of this book, which involves women working the soil, spilling their blood, sweat, and tears into it to bring forth crops mostly for the menfolk to eat before they do and flowers to bring beauty to the world.

If you pay attention to the narration clearly in the very beginning of the chapter you can tell it’s the time of the Dust Bowl Migration, and the town of Bishop is established when the land there calls to one particular migrant from the eastern seaboard, who had restlessly been searching for a place to establish his own town. We don’t find out until later that the place where the town founder has picked to become Bishop, the town where the events of our book take place, is in Kansas, which suffered the most drought and agricultural damage of any state during the Dust Bowl period. It was a truly damaged land, deprived of life. It called to this restless soul searching for a place all his own, and it spoke to him. And he paid the price many times over to establish Bishop, a town that was his, and his alone.

By the time the story of our four friends starts in earnest, it’s much further into the future. Twins Whitney and Jude, angry Bo, and lost Delilah. All four live together in Deliliah’s house, since their mothers collectively disappeared one day two years ago and haven’t been seen since. Was it murder? Did they just decide to leave their daughters and run away? No one knows. But the answers to what happened that day have haunted all four girls every moment since, and they still long for closure. For answers. Each of them have their own theories and opinions they don’t tend to share with the others. All four of them have secrets, some of them painful. And all four of them know something is wrong with the town of Bishop, but none of them are able to put their finger on it.

Andrea Hannah writes in her acknowledgements, “This is the first book I’ve written in a long time that feels like me.” Well, I applaud you, Ms. Hannah, for getting your literary groove back, because the juxtaposition between these large flowers blooming in the sunshine and yet knowing somehow that becoming sunflowers would both give the men reason to not cut them down but also would give the women of Bishop some protection if they needed it with their sheer height was a stroke of genius. You gave the men the wind and the earth, but you gave the women the flowers and the water. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the dead women of Bishop used what was once theirs to invent a way to fight against the patriarchy that ruled their town until the day would come when the town could be freed.

There’s not a lot of world building to do in this book, and there’s not a magic system, per se. This book is almost entirely driven by the characters and their emotions. I’d actually wager this book would be nothing without emotion. They flow, fly, simmer, and rage through every character, sometimes to the point where it almost feels palpable. I love a book where I can almost taste a character’s feelings in my mouth, like the saltiness of tears or the sourness of disappointment. Keeping this book small in geographic scope fit Ms. Hannah’s writing style so well I kind-of hope she doesn’t stray to anything in the epic/high fantasy genre, where characters are far-flung around another world, where time will be taken away from intense and passionate characters.

This book could’ve been rated 5 stars, if it weren’t for the awkward and stuttered denouement.

I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, views, and opinions contained therein are mine and mine alone and are given of my free will. Thank you.

File Under: Coming of Age/YA Fiction/YA Horror/Cult Horror/Ghost Story/Horror/Mystery/Occult Horror/Speculative Fiction/Psychological Thriller/Thriller/That is Effed Up/YA Mystery/YA Thriller

Where Darkness Blooms is the story of four girls: Delilah, Whitney and her sister Jude, and Bo. Their mothers disappeared but the girls don't think they're dead. In fact they're convinced that their sunflower-laden, blood-hungry, obscenely windy town, Bishop, has something to do with their disappearance.

I think I've found that YA horror just isn't my thing. I've given you several tries YA horror, but I just don't seem to enjoy it. Despite the fact that there are four main characters, I just couldn't connect with any of them. Jude is the literal worst pining for her friend's boyfriend after hooking up with him (once?). Whitney spends the majority of the book grieving for her dead girlfriend despite finding another girl way hot. Not sure what Delilah and Bo did in this story. Maybe mourn her missing artist mother while being unable to touch her boyfriend (Delilah) and be angry at everyone always (Bo)? At least I think. I had a hard time caring about any of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the story or the characters.

"There are a lot of strange things in this town. It's best to keep the strangest one close to be safe."

I was excited to read this one because I enjoy a good YA Horror, I love the cover, and the idea of "the flowers are always watching" intrigued me to my core.

In short, I liked this story.

The prologue really pulled me in, and I found myself hungry to know more of the story. There is definitely some time that passes between the prologue and the actual story, but there is a sense of foreboding the whole way through. This town almost feels like a cult, not only with the endless sunflower fields that never die, but also with the fact that nobody ever enters or leaves the town. The sunflowers and wind prevent that from happening. Plus, there is a lot of stormy weather in this book, so the atmosphere is all around top notch.

Then you have the characters, four girls bonded together through childhood and stuck together through the same sense of loss. They each lost their mothers, and stuck together ever since. The girls all grieve in different ways throughout the course of the book, especially when they pass the two year mark of their disappearances, but there is also a lot of fear for the other girls and hope that they don't have to experience that sense of loss a second time.

There is also the charismatic town mayor who definitely does not have any bad qualities or creepy feelings around him, and a couple other characters that get mentions but don't really serve as a main part of the story. The cast of characters is big, but they are all easy to keep track of and are all different in their own ways.

I kind of guessed the "bad guy" of the story early on, but there are hints here and there so it was not hard to figure out. No spoilers here! The prologue kind of laid out the main problem that the story would have too though, so I never truly found myself surprised by the events of this book. Still, the atmosphere was well written and I liked the characters.

Overall, the story feels unique and it is one I will think about for some time to come, even if it was a bit predictable and not super surprising. I still absolutely love the cover, and the stormy summer atmosphere was top notch! I appreciate that the author included some content warnings at the start of the book (at least in my digital ARC), and I would definitely be open to reading some other books by this author.

[Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an e-arc of this book, all opinions are my own.]

Content warnings: blood, death, abandonment, violence, gun violence, infidelity, rape, body horror, racism, sexism

This YA book was just ok for me. There are multiple POV’s so you get to know each of the four girls. Although it was creepy at times I found myself bored most of the time.

Three women go missing in the town of Bishop. Their daughters come together to figure out what to do. They eventually discover the dark secrets the town’s male residents are keeping.

Where Darkness Blooms is available now.

Thank you stmartinspress and netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this creepy story!

I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into with this because it jumped right in to a complicated world where 4 teenage girls are living together because their moms all disappeared a few years earlier. The girls seem to spend zero time together and honestly to dislike each other—though the distance and animosity gets explained later. The strange events surrounding their town (and the not-at-all-hidden misogyny) were frustrating because it seemed so obvious that things were seriously wrong, but no one was bothered by it. Even the girls pretended that things were fine while they internally crumbled and dealt with traumatic events that the others weren’t necessarily aware of.

The first half of this story was pretty slow for me with a lot of “I can’t believe you still don’t think this is bad!” from me directed at the characters. It wasn’t until people start sharing info that it really picked up and the ending was quite satisfying. The explanation for the mothers’ disappearance was frustrating and did not endear them to me, but it could have been worse.

I was also surprised by some of the content and had to take a few breaks from the text so here’s some content warnings: sexual assault—not graphic and a flashback/recounting but still disturbing, murder, blood, violence, violence against women, misogyny, sexism, kidnapping, non-consensual/manipulated-into-it sexual activity (still sexual assault, but a specific type), abandonment, loss of a loved one, police brutality, and probably more? This was a lot.

Where darkness Blooms was a very strange read in a good way. Totally different type of story seems like an old curse land story in a very modern time. I would’ve bought this based off the cover and the description

This was such a fascinating book. It's modern, but with a tinge of dystopia. But not in the "end of the world" way, but more isolated community.

I was worried that trying to keep track of so many characters would be difficult. Although the girls are all pretty similar and there isn't much to distinguish them, it wasn't that hard to keep track of who was who.

The beginning of the book was a lot stronger and more mysterious than the last 30% or so. There's something incredibly eerie about sentient flowers that kept me turning the pages, though. I was eager to learn the mystery behind the town of Bishop, why women disappeared / died so frequently and without much fanfare into their deaths, and what the four main characters of the book had to do with it all.

The book really reflected on the curse of being a woman, how important we are to sustaining life, and how necessary it is to fight against the patriarchy.

You definitely have to suspend your belief a little bit, as there is some sort of magical element to the town / people / sunflowers. While it isn't explained all that well, it is introduced in a way and at a point that, as a reader, you've already had a taste of supernatural elements, so it wasn't super jarring. I would have liked more explanation though, but I didn't feel lost without it.

Where Darkness Blooms is a supernatural thriller about an eerie town where the sunflowers whisper secrets and the land hungers for blood.
This is a book that I requested purely because I loved the eerie cover and who wouldn't want to read about killer plants and flowers?! Where Darkness Blooms reminded me so much of The Ruins and The Children of the corn with the isolated small town setting and killer flora that craves humans. WDB is atmospheric, horrifying and makes you think twice before approaching an unidentified flora. But its also emotionally refreshing with young female characters in survival mode! Only thing that would have been more advantageous for the readers was a character chart or some sort of list to keep up with all the characters in the story. Otherwise, a perfectly written creepy and suspenseful ya thriller. I will gladly read weakness to strengths story over rags to riches any day and I enjoyed listening to this well narrated page turner.

Thank you Wednesday books for the ebook!

I was totally drawn in by the delightfully spooky cover (I am here for the girl + plant + body horror cover vibes, okay?) but honestly if this had been a little less boy drama, a little more action/conspiracy/ride-or-die friendships - especially in the beginning - I would have liked it a lot more.

It took a long time to really take off, trying to establish all four of the girls’ characters and give us backstory. But honestly nothing particularly interesting happened until the 25% mark. The same can kind of be said for the end, with the climax hitting in the 85% range, leaving a huge chunk of book left to die a slow death…

I think the meat of the story was just spread too thin. Once each character hit their stride in the middle section of the book, once they were working together and when the real conspiracy started coming into play, it WORKED. But I think it would have benefited from having one or even two less POV characters.

Actually 3 1/2 stars.

Delilah, Whitney and Jude (twins), plus Bo, had their mothers disappear one stormy night. A year later, the town of Bishop holds a memorial for them. Had their mothers vanished like many women have in the past? Why does the wind get violent only here? What is up with those sunflowers that the girls think are watching them?

The book starts off slow and keeps that pace until close to the end. The creep factor begins to slip in, but the pacing could have been a little faster. It starts off with a man and his wife settling there; something in the earth makes a bargain with him so he kills his wife and founds a town. Then it goes to the present, where we meet Delilah, Bo, and the twins, Whitney and Jude, all living in the same house as their three mothers. But their mothers all vanished one night and all the girls wondered if they had died or just left them. This novel has both horror and romance (But does the guy care or just want a sacrifice?). The storyline is good, but the pacing could have been faster, instead, the reader gets a slow burn, making one anxious to get to the meat of the story.

Where Darkness Blooms is one of the best books I have read this year.
The town of Bishop is known for exactly three things: recurring windstorms, endless fields of sunflowers, and missing women. Two years ago, three more women disappeared and only the women’s daughters took it seriously. Even then some of them want to move on but the four girls all realize they can’t when the wind kicks up a terrible secret at their mothers’ much-delayed memorial. These girls each want real lives, but they have lost so much. But the town wants more—it wants their blood.
This book is dark. It deals with all the ways women can be hurt all the way from cheating boyfriends to rape. In fact, in Bishop women aren’t even humans, just mice you would feed to a snake. But you can’t turn away. Women will identify with at least one of the girls and the desire for that character’s survival is visceral. The book is written from each girl’s perspective allowing readers to see what is really in each one’s head and behavior.
Andrea Hannah writes the girls beautifully. They all have hopes and dreams but also their own secrets. Hannah unfolds those secrets slowly leaving each character section with a cliffhanger keeping you reading. While the secrets come slowly, the plot continues to move; important plot points happen in each chapter.
Hannah also blends the supernatural easily into the story. From the first moment of the prologue, it is easy to suspend disbelief. Never once does Hannah push things too far like some authors are want to do. Instead, the supernatural is both a dark part but also a beautiful part of the book.
YA can be dark and still be beautiful. And that is how I will see sunflowers from now on.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I am a sucker for covers with creepy plants. This book had me from the start. I love the atmospheric beginning with the history of the town. Who thought sunflowers could be so sinister! The girls felt extremely believable as characters, which I don't find to be the case with a lot of YA.

I was drawn to the cover of Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah and pulled in by the synopsis. Welcome to the town of Bishop known for endless fields of sunflowers, recurring wind storms and missing women. You’ll want to get cozy for this dark tale as sisters not of blood but shared loss fight for their lives and others.

The story opens with a prologue, and we learn how the town was founded. Fast forward and we are in the dilapidated farmhouse where Delilah, Jude, Whitney and Bo live. They’ve been alone since their mothers disappeared two years ago. Delilah is mourning not just the loss of her mother, but Eleanor, the girl that made her stomach flip-flop. Elenor dropped dead in her front yard, just another unexplained female death in this town’s history. Bo is angry, so furious. Jude likes to pretend all is well and Whitney is dating the boy Delilah shared an evening with… the very night their mothers went missing.

Strange, unexplained wind storms, voices carried on the wind, and sunflowers that are always watching, waiting, and listening.

When the town builds a memorial to the girls’ mothers, things come to a head. Eleanor is speaking to Delilah, Whitney is looking for answers, and Bo has found a knife. The tale that unfolds pulled me in as we received perspectives of the girls and the wind kicked up. This town holds a dark secret, one that affects the woman and it’s hungry. Starving.

I thought Hannah did a good job of laying down the history and building the suspense. I’ve always been creeped out by tall fields of vegetation thanks to King and Hill. The tale was dark and atmospheric, with supernatural elements. The ending left me satisfied, but I won’t be visiting any rural towns called Bishop.