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

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Delilah, Jude, Whitney and Bo are teenage girls who live together and are desperately trying to find their mothers who went missing. The town seems overall disinterested in solving the mystery. Bishop is a creepy town encompassed by sunflowers where the wind is treacherous and no one ever leaves... except for women who go missing with no explanation. Can the girls find out what is happening to the women before one of them is next?

This one melds supernatural creepy with real world creepy. There are natural elements but also people being awful to one another. Generally YA has very flat teen characters but I thought the author did a good job at giving us girls with different personalities, motivations and reactions. We do get an explanation about the underlying darkness but I wanted maybe a little more about its genesis and the bonds with which it operated. Either way this was definitely one of the more original YA fantasies I've read in a long time. 

Read this one if you liked Erin A Craig's Small Favors.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for gifted access to this novel via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

This is an interesting and somewhat confusing novel that deals with themes of male privilege and inherent female danger. The characters are not very developed as it appears each is given their principal trait and that is what leads them throughout the story. The premise is quite fascinating but the execution of the story, in my opinion, was not completed to its best possibility. Even so, the book is intense and disturbing in a way that made me want to keep reading.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me at about the halfway point. This was a good idea that failed to come together for me. There were too many perspectives and characters that didn’t feel all that different. Add in the flashbacks mid page that we’re not well differentiated from the current timeline, and it was a disjointed reading experience. I wasn’t able to fully connect with the story in any meaningful way. There was so much going on with not much explanation and I was not captivated enough to read on and find out.

Thank you for the opportunity to read, this one was just not for me.

The town of Bishop is practically famous. People know it for its windstorms, its sunflowers and its missing women. When three more women disappear in one night, no one is surprised. Two years later, the daughters of these women hold a memorial where disaster strikes. The wind kicks up a terrible secret, and soon the girls begin questioning everything they thought they knew about themselves and their home.

As soon as I saw the cover, I knew Where Darkness Blooms would easily make it to my most anticipated young adult books of 2023 list. The spooky atmosphere and messy real characters make for a great read.

I do think this storyline had so much potential. I think it could have been very moving and joined the ranks of dystopian classics had it been a little bit more developed. However, the multiple POVs got lost in the similarity of each main character. Those characters were also often very unlikable. Maybe it's because there wasn't really any world-building before the main "action" of the story was introduced so we didn't really have an understanding of who the girls were outside of minimal flashbacks and their current actions. Or maybe it's because two of them spent the better part of the book pining after a boy who was so obviously the bad guy. And don't get me started on the actual antagonists of the story. There was almost no character development of them. William made random appearances and then was revealed as the ring leader of everything bad happening.

My biggest problem though, is that these four girls lost their mothers TWO YEARS AGO. Meaning that they were approximately fifteen at the time. And the town just let them live alone together in that house? They didn't investigate the disappearance for two whole years? No one else in the town was suspicious of how many women were missing or turning up dead? It's just so unbelievable that it takes away from the actual supernatural parts of the story.

This one just really fell short for me.

Where Darkness Blooms is a small town YA horror novel where women are going missing, and the sunflowers are creepy.

Unfortunately, it’s a DNF @ 30%.

Normally, I love me some YA horror but this just missed the mark. It’s slow, and I can’t really tell any of the four girls apart. There’s nothing distinct enough to make me want to continue reading to find out where their mothers have disappeared to.

Delilah seems to be the only character with an interesting aspect so far, and by that I just mean she can’t stand the physical touch of boys. She experiences pain which is interesting but again, not interesting enough for me to continue reading.

I absolutely loved it. The prose was rich and lush without being overwrought or distracting. The characters--especially Bo--were distinct with their own goals, struggles, and outlooks on the events of the story. Though we know exactly where it's going with the land that hungers for blood, the sentient sunflowers were a delightful twist as was the source of Delilah's discomfort around her then-boyfriend Bennett. I was a little unsure how I felt about the ending, the epilogue with the mother's, but even that was well written and with nuance so I can't complain. Excited to see what Andrea does next.

Not judging a book by its cover is a great practice in theory, but let’s be honest, a pretty or interesting cover is 90% of the reason many of us pick up a book. While not my only reason for requesting this arc—the description also sounded right up my alley—it did play a big part in it. I mean come on, the cover is amazing! But I digress, on to the story itself.
Where Darkness Blooms is what I term “feminist horror.” I am not sure if that is a proper genre or something I just made up, but it is apt. Basically a horror narrative that centres specifically around loss of autonomy and gaslighting, as opposed to jumpscares and physical harm. I find that I have been super into these types of horror stories lately, and Where Darkness Blooms was no different. Yet, while I enjoyed the book, I am a little disappointed that the conclusion took the direction it did. Originally I thought that the conclusion to the book felt rushed, but upon reflection, I don’t think that that is necessarily the case at all. While the initial setup of the novel was a little vague in terms of how big a part the supernatural element would play, as the story progressed and certain character dynamics and events were revealed I started believing that the final conflict would end up being more organic. Person versus person, as opposed to person versus the paranormal. It wasn’t, and as a result the conclusion came together too neatly thereby making it feel condensed.
While Where Darkness Blooms is a good book, and I would still definitely recommend it for how creepy and atmospheric it is, it does feel like the ends tied together a little too neatly for the type of narrative it is.

In a small town where women go missing or die with a startling frequency and the land itself won't let you leave. It watches and it knows, it will do anything to get what it wants, and it wants more. More what? you ask. Well, you'll have to read on to find out.

Four girls whose mothers all went missing at the same time come together to figure out what is happening with the town they live in. When Bo finds some evidence that helps point the girls in a direction to look, they find more than they've bargained for about the town, and about themselves. I loved their relationship with each other, no matter how much they fight or bicker, they always have each other's backs.

This book was deliciously creepy, it is twisty and dark, It sucked me in from the first page and after finishing I will never look at Sunflowers the same!. This is one I'll definitely be adding to my collection.

Where Darkness Blooms is a young adult thriller/horror story set in the bizarre mid-western town of Bishop - an eerie place with a reputation for devastating wind storms, endless fields of anomalous sunflowers . . . and a long history of women mysteriously disappearing without a trace. The story follows the lives of four unique girls (two are twins) who've all lost their mothers to a mysterious phenomenon.

Bo, Whitney, Jude and Delilah lived together with their mothers on the outskirts of town until the day their mothers vanished. Now, two years later, the girls gather to honor their mothers' memories at a memorial when disaster strikes. Long buried secrets blowing on the wind escape leaving the girls questioning everything they thought they knew about this creepy, supernatural town with sunflower fields that appear to be threatening. It's soon apparent that each girl has her own buried demons and secrets that threaten to destroy them all. However, it's what the girls don't know that has the most power over them.

Where Darkness Blooms is a supernatural horror story that gives off vibes of The Handmaid's Tales as well as Children of the Corn. Readers are immediately drawn in by the super creepy prologue and then thrust full force forward into an unearthly tale of corruption, murder and patriarchy. The author's expertise at creating an immersive setting through her descriptive prose is nothing short of brilliant. The town's buildings and surrounding land and plants take on a menacing, blood thirsty life of their own. I swear the hair on my neck stood up as I raced through some of the scenes, losing myself in this strange little town alongside the characters. The imagery evoked transports readers to a mysterious, magical place where all is not as it seems. The characters are well fleshed out and authentic. I found the girls' relationship with each other to be a strength that garnishes empathy for their collective struggles as they investigate the murders of their mothers. Readers are privy to their dark secrets even as each one is forced to face some terrifying truths.

Where Darkness Blooms is a dark, twisted, eerie paranormal thriller that fans of the genre will devour. Hannah's control of setting, plot and characters is highly impressive as is her descriptive prose. I have to say that I'll be keeping a wary eye on my own garden of sunflowers this summer. While their heads may follow the sun, I'm now aware they're also watching me! Highly recommended to fans of young adult fantasy and horror.

Beautiful writing. I loved how the author wove the 4 characters together. It was emotional and each chapter left me wanting more.

This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts in this review are my own.

I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. Between a cover that you can drool over and a promise of mystery in the description I was hooked from the start.

Unfortunately, this one didn't take long to fall flat for me. I found it to be missing excitement and suspense which made the entire book drag. There were no characters who stood out for me and nothing that happened really grabbed my attention. This is just one of those books I most likely won't remember in a week.

Content Warning: rape, violence

I wanted to read something creepy and look at this cover – it’s totally creepy. This is what I thought of the story:

+ I like the four different main characters. Four girls, who’s mothers are gone/missing or dead – the town assumes they are dead. So these four girls: Bo, Whitney, Jude and Delilah all live together and basically are trying to move on with their lives. They had distinct personalities and their lives are intertwined with certain events that culminated at a bon fire party. There is a big mystery in this story and these girls are the ones trying to figure out what is going on. I like the feminism theme in the story

+ The town of Bishop is strange. Women and girls go missing or end up dead every few months – but why? There is no “hospital” even though one of the girls had to be brought to one. There are the Harding boys who seem like they are the popular boys in school who can get whatever they want, but what they is to mess with these girls. There are these random storms or tornados but they are in a small town so that doesn’t seem totally mysterious…or is it? And what’s with the sunflowers?

~ A few things didn’t work for me – I was thrown into the story and left to figure things out. And it took me awhile to care about what was going on in this town. All I knew was that the boys were awful and two of the girls were in love with one of these awful boys, and that sucked. I knew right away this town was killing it’s women, but why? And why didn’t anyone else in town care about missing women?

~ I’ve read a few books similar to this but I don’t think I enjoyed the execution of this one. Everything is a big mystery but it didn’t creep me out as much as I wanted it to and it had all the potential to do so. I didn’t know what the connection was to the tornados, sunflowers and missing women and when the mystery is revealed I wasn’t super surprised. I wanted to know more about the town and get a better feel for the people, even the villains. I just wanted more from the story and I wanted to be spooked. Sunflower fields and a strange, small town with missing women has such a big potential to scare me, but this didn’t.

Why you should read it:
*you like lite-horror and magical realism
*the feminism message in the story

Why you might not want to read it:
*didn’t scare me enough
*slow start

My Thoughts:

This one didn’t work for me. I liked the concept and I like the creepy town, and the sunflowers fields, but it wasn’t as scary as I was expecting. I also feel like the story just didn’t flow easily. The bright spot for me in the story is the one about the girls working together to figure out why the women were going missing. The girls survive what is coming for them together, which is awesome, especially because it is such a dark story.

How was it possible that 4 teens were living alone, and where had their mothers disappeared to, two years ago? In the grand scheme of the book, that should have been the least of my worries. But, wow, talk about a story that draws you in from the very start. There is something incredibly creepy and bizarre happening, but you don’t know what. The story leisurely unfolds, and with each new piece of information, an eerie feeling creeps up your spine, and it settles there, blooming, much like the sunflowers in the novel.

I enjoyed the alternating perspectives with this one. I liked that I had no clue what was going on and that Hannah wasn’t going to give up the plot easily. This is an incredibly atmospheric novel that has you distrusting everyone. Things go spectacularly awry in a way that keeps you riveted to the book, willing you to keep reading long after bedtime. This was such a fun read. Thank you, St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books, for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book overall. I had a hard time keeping it all straight at times but it finished strong. I love the plot. It was so well done and feels ancient yet modern. I haven't read anything like this in a long time and I'll be recommending it for sure.

This was enjoyable overall but I didn’t really connect with it. I didn’t care for some of the main characters and found the side characters to be very flat.

I liked the creepy stuff and the lore behind the town. I didn’t love the ending of this and it felt like a bit of a cop out.

Loved how things turned out for Bo though. Bo and Delilah were much more entertaining than Whitney and Jude.

i was initially drawn to this book because of the cover, and then the synopsis sounded interesting as well. the prologue is a nice interesting hook into the story but at the same time gives away the entire mystery surrounding the town and disappearing girls?

i didn't really feel connected to any of the characters, i liked Bo the most but other than that didn't feel very strongly about anyone lol.

i get what this book was trying to do but i'm not sure how well it was actually executed. idk i wish more developed other than just the girls figuring out the "mystery" which wasn't much of a mystery to us as readers.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing this ARC.
Where Darkness Blooms is a great novel for fans of Rory Power's 'Wilder Girls' or anyone who loves a good small town mystery. Over all I really enjoyed this novel and it's depiction of sisterhood; Hannah creates the feeling of being trapped in the town of Bishop feel truly unnerving to the reader. The only part I struggled with the step up for POV as the third person limited can be difficult when the character that is being narrated for is not listed. Over all this is a good read for storm season in the mid west.
P.S be careful of the sunflowers.

What an inventive new spin on the patriarchy and how it comes to its demise. The characters interaction created great dynamics for the intensity of the outcome. Watch out for the sunflowers blowing in the wind! Highly recommend reading Where Darkness Blooms.

I was drawn to this book by its horrifyingly beautiful cover first and sold by its summary. I'll admit that the story was okay but the plot could have been expanded upon further. I did enjoy the characters!