Where Darkness Blooms is an absolute triumph of a novel. Part Wilder Girls, part Wink Poppy Midnight, and part Sadie, the story is a stunning tale of patriarchial violence enacted against generation after generation of women, told in the form of a horrific fairytale. While there were a few plot holes and leftover questions, these pitfalls were quickly overshadowed by Hannah's stunning prose and the four complex girls at the heart of the story. One of the strongest aspects of this book was the use of multiple protagonists, each with their own POV. Just as the girls were trapped by the sunflowers, I found myself unable to escape the twisted town of Bishop until the story was over—and even then, I still couldn't shake the lasting effects of the novel.

The premise of the book is good and it does have some creepy vibes but a large part of the mystery of what is going on happens right in the prologue. So that leaves the reader just trying to figure out who (which seems kind of obvious) and if the girls will get out of town or die trying. I would have liked a lot more creepy stuff going on slowly and build up to something bigger than to get most of the information up front.

The town of Bishop has a sordid history of women going missing, never to return. No one bats an eye when three more women go missing, leaving their daughters behind in a shared house full of memories. But secrets come unburied, and soon the girls will find answers to their town's blood-soaked history.

There's some beautifully gruesome evocative imagery in this book, and it's a solid entry into "girls getting revenge on the patriarchy" subgenre of YA/horror.

In the eerie town of Bishop the sunflowers whisper. From its founding to the present Bishop is a place people don't leave. They disappear. Women specifically. Amidst wind storms four teenagers are on their own as they search for the truth behind the disappearances.

The story gets off to a creepy start in the prologue. The first chapter though slowly creeps along as the characters are introduced. We get a chapter for each of them and this takes up a good amount of time. Because they are all in the same situation the characters and their chapters feel repetitive.

The eerie setting is described well but the story is more mystery than horror. Overall there are things that are not fully explained or believable. There is a message in the story that doesn't quite work for me. It might for others.

Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah was a suspenseful rollercoaster ride that I didn't want to get off of. This book grabs your your attention from the beginning and never let's go. Each of the characters were so unique and well-written, and I found myself feeling mixed emotions for each of them. The concept of this book was so interesting when unique--women being sacrificed to the land by male descendants to keep the town in their control and protected from being destroyed by the land. It is a different concept for a monster story happening in a small, isolated town. In addition to sacrifice and murder, the story includes rape and physical assaults which can be triggering for some. Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to Netgwlley and the publisher for letting me read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel had a prologue that hooked me immediately. The story itself was overall enjoyable but I did feel like a lot was unexplained and the story would’ve benefited from more history on the how and why. The characters were interesting but I found Jude to be aggravating and Bennett to be downright inexplicable. The characterization of the men in this novel would’ve benefitted from a more thorough history as their motivation of “appease the town” just isn’t enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, overall this book took me a little to get in to and left me wanting a tad more from the story - it was a decent read overall. What worked for me was the setting - I thought the author introduced the setting and the creepy vibes started right away. Loved the storms and the sunflowers and the vibes.
What I struggled with was having four girls and four POVS - I thought it took me a really long time to distinguish who they were and the amount of characters we needed to follow and keep track of. I had to go back and figure out who was who a few times until I got used to them.

Hmm, this was a really interesting concept, but sadly, just wasn't for me. The prologue was very creepy, and I was hoping the rest of the book would have a similar feel but it unfortunately didn't.

I think there were too many POV characters for me personally to get invested in each of all of the characters. I did appreciate that it was written 3rd person instead of 1st person though- it made it a bit easier to keep track of what was going on.

I think people will like this, but I personally just never got invested.

3.5 Stars-

It was a book I wanted to love so much but it was very slow moving at times for my personal taste. Additionally there was a lot of POV's and I personally don't like jumping around a bunch like that.

The storyline itself was rather intriguing as the monster is not quite what you'd expect. It's a very well written story with spooky vibes that fell too flat because of the changing perspectives.

I've read some other reviews that were absolutely floored by how amazing this book is so if this book sounds like it's your cup of tea- pick it up! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. All views reflected are my own.

3.5 stars. This was very interesting as the monster in this novel was an entire town. Bishop, KS is only really hospitable to men. The land has been gorging on the blood of its women for generations. Bo, Jude, Whitney and Delilah seemed to have lost their mothers to this curse. It has been 2 years since they disappeared and no one knows what really happened. Or more like they're definitely not saying. The sunflowers whisper and the wind devastates. Secrets are everywhere and until they're uncovered, no female is safe.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this e-arc.*

The twist and turns in this book were wild. If you enjoy mysteries and strange sentient sunflowers you will enjoy this one. Really reminded me of Rory Powers books with similar vibes. Also don't trust men, that's it. That's all I can really say without spoiling any of the really good twists. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this one early.

I so want to love this book.
In the end I had suspense, danger, on the edge of my seat action.
The beginning could have had more though. The worldbuilding was about confusing, but I got the hang of it.
If the introduction chapter was not in the book, I think the book would have had more suspense. Or they included it later in the book.
I still really liked it, and the cover was brilliant. It was the main reason I requested this book. If you are going to pick this up, stick around till the end. The ending is so worth it.

Where Darkness Blooms pairs eerie atmosphere with coming of age teenage angst creating a tale that is enjoyable but a bit drawn out for my liking.

There's something strange about the town of Bishop. Amongst the endless fields of sunflowers the community endures extreme weather and a proclivity for missing women. The story follows four girls who's mothers are among the missing. While they are all roommates and sisters ( some literal some proverbial) the sinister town and its inhabitants have slowly created fissures in their union. We watch as each girl seeks answers in their own way wondering if it will pull them further apart or reunite them.

This story grabbed me immediately. As a self proclaimed atmosphere junkie, I found the storm imagery spectacular. Hannah surely has a way with bringing words to life. I also found the characters to be complex and likeable. Unfortunately around the fifty percent mark, I think, most readers will have a clear grasp of whats what. This makes the back half of the book feel a smidge redundant and boring. Knowing whats happening ahead of a character can be used brilliantly to add suspense and true moments of glee when the character do eventually catch on. I dont think that was achieved here.

I think this lands at a 3.5 for me. It was successful enough that I hope to read the authors future works but all in all this one will land in my forgettable pile.

The cover is beautiful which is why I requested it. The story is an interesting concept but I'm... not quite sure about so many things. There were quite a number of plot holes that didn't make me confused, but also made me stop.

The four povs were also a bit much - they all felt very similar (except Bo stood out) and at times I confused them. 

I dunno! It was a lovely written book but I would put it down and do something else instead of reading, which says a lot to me about a book.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a chance to read and review.

Title: Where Darkness Blooms
Author: Andrea Hannah
Genre: YA, fantasy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The town of Bishop is known for exactly two things: recurring windstorms and an endless field of sunflowers that stretches farther than the eye can see. And women—missing women. So when three more women disappear one stormy night, no one in Bishop is surprised. The case is closed and their daughters are left in their dusty shared house with the shattered pieces of their lives. Until the wind kicks up a terrible secret at their mothers’ much-delayed memorial.

With secrets come the lies each of the girls is forced to confront. After caring for the other girls, Delilah would like to move on with her boyfriend, Bennett, but she can’t bear his touch. Whitney has already lost both her mother and her girlfriend, Eleanor, and now her only solace is an old weathervane that seems to whisper to her. Jude, Whitney's twin sister, would rather ignore it all, but the wind kicks up her secret too: the summer fling she had with Delilah's boyfriend. And more than anything, Bo wants answers and she wants them now. Something happened to their mothers and the townsfolk know what it was. She’s sure of it.

Bishop has always been a strange town. But what the girls don’t know is that Bishop was founded on blood—and now it craves theirs.

This was a very strange novel. Very atmospheric and evocative, but strange. The sunflowers creeped me out tremendously—like the corn field in The Stand—and even when I got an explanation for them, that didn’t make them any less creepy. The relationship between the four girls was realistic, with their fighting and arguing and defending each other, but I didn’t really care for them. This was a very dark and bloody story, and I didn’t find much hope in it.

Andrea Hannah is an award-winning author. Where Darkness Blooms is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

This book appealed greatly to me. it is right up my alley, from the cover to the description to the tone. unfortunately it fell a bit flat to me — i think the author was a bit too ambitious having so many perspectives. they got a bit confusing and weren’t as distinct as i would have liked.

i would recommend it to someone new to thrillers/horror but don’t think it’s one that will stick too closely with me.

Andrea Hannah’s Where Darkness Blooms was a slow brooding atmospheric blend of supernatural thriller and intense family drama. The setting was outstanding, an isolated Kansas town eerie oozing with secrets (but no answers) where there are frequent weird goings on with very localised vicious storms and sunflowers which seem to be both alive and threatening. The supernatural element simmers in the background and it was interesting to see where it fitted into the main story of four teenage girls trying (and failing) to get over the disappearance of their three mothers (two of the girls are twins) two years earlier.

Where Darkness Blooms focusses on the wreckage of how the teens deal with their loss and never give up their painful search. We have Delilah, who is dating Bennett, but there are intimacy issues, and the fact that one of the other girls, Jude, had an earlier summer fling with Bennett to complicate things. There is a very good LGBT+ storyline with Whitney both trying to recover from the death of her girlfriend six months earlier, whilst also attempting to move forward with somebody new. Finally, there is Bo who is desperate for answers and is sure the town locals are hiding something. Even though this was a thoughtful book, all the men and boys in it were painted too negatively, making it easy to see where it was heading (just blame the guys). AGE RANGE 13+

I wanted to like this book but I think it’s just not for me. I liked the actual writing but I felt like I didn’t have enough time to get to know all of the characters. Having four povs was too much for the amount of pages that were in this book. The story itself was compelling though but i’m still wondering what my thoughts on bennett are supposed to be. I don’t like him but the end of the book makes it seem like i’m supposed to.

I received an arc through netgalley.

This was a good example of intriguing concept, poor execution. Where Darkness Blooms has been on my radar since the cover reveal—because, seriously, how haunting is that cover? The premise (queer girls investigating missing women in their rural town) sounded promising; I was thrilled to receive an ARC.

I’d seen a few people with ARCs posting about how much they loved the prologue, which made me all the more excited to read it. But the voice really fell flat for me. It lacked clear and unique emotion, which I think is ultimately this book’s downfall.

Other reviewers have pointed this out, but there isn’t much at all to distinguish between the four narrators—Delilah, Whitney, Jude, and Bo. They seem to be the same character copied and pasted over and over again. The voice remains the same, the emotions are vague and expected. There’s nothing to draw the reader in and make us root for these characters, nothing in this book that makes me feel what the characters were feeling.

In addition, there are so many characters, and it’s difficult to keep them straight. I think this book needed to cut two of the main characters and their subplots in order to really work.

The plot was interesting, but not enough to really save the story. It focuses on four girls who’ve lost their mothers—and are trying to understand why all the women in their town die or go missing. It was easy enough to get through. The last half was much more gripping than the first half.

This book wasn’t for me, and that’s okay. I think there will be a lot of people who do enjoy it; I’m just not one of them.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. All views reflected are my own.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm a sucker for a beautiful book cover. It's what initially drew me in to this novel but I stayed for the twisty, bizarre adventure. I can't say I was particularly fond of any of the characters but the plot had me, I needed to know what happened. Yes, there were quite a few holes but if you sort of put reality aside you can enjoy the journey. This was fun and creepy.