3.5* rounded down

This was a thriller with a mystery and I thought I’d enjoy it a lot. The biggest problem was that it felt like the author gave the entire story away in the prologue. I went into the story assuming I’d learn something different. While we did learn mostly backstory, it felt like the main twist was missing. As a thriller or a mystery, I expect a twist, even if I’ve guessed it along the way.

Despite the above, the story was interesting. The “sisters” didn’t feel two dimensional. There was conflict there, but not a ton of change. There was growth and communication. Their relationships kept me reading. The town and the wind felt very alive. The villains were awful people but too obvious, not just in who they were but in their motivations. If the author was trying to parallel patriarchy and how it holds women captive, she did so. I think it could have been handled more delicately and elegantly.

All in all a nice read with a unique plot. Definitely would have gotten a higher rating from me if the prologue had been moved into the story.

A startling debut full of dark magic and spiraling twists. Perfect for fans of Alexis Schaitken's "Elsewhere!"

This was an amazing book that kept my attention to the very end. The realness of the characters is astounding.

This was a very interesting premise for a book. Very atmospheric and mysterious. The use of the flowers was very original and kept my attention. The characters were very well developed and you definitely cared where the story went for them.

Bishop is your typical small, flyover mid-western town and the author's description of the wind and the ever watching flowers really sells this. They're description are tense and creepy in a way that kept me invested once the story got going. Unfortunately, getting there was painful. We spend a lot of time switching between 4 POVS of grief stricken girls who's mothers have gone missing without much fuss from their neighbors. It also didn't help that these POVs all sounded the same. I also think that the inclusion of the prologue was a mistake since after that you basically know why everything is happening and it takes the suspense out of what is otherwise a solid mystery.

This YA Dark Fantasy novel had such a beautiful cover, and the story sounded so interesting. I was hooked by the first 5 chapters, but it didn’t keep my attention long. The middle was paced strangely, with a lot of “then” and “now” parts that weren’t really separated and it made it hard to keep track. Also, the POV of the 4 girls were very similar, so it was hard to follow there. The ending picked back up, and overall I enjoyed the book. But I think the pacing could use some work. Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah is a mystery horror YA book with some fantastical elements. The town of Bishop is known for two things: huge sunflower fields and women disappearing so when four girls lose their mothers unexpectedly, no one really thinks much of it. But there are secrets in the wind and when things start unraveling, the girls find themselves right in the middle of a town that wants their blood.

I’m not gonna lie, this is a book I was very interested in because of the cover and when I read the synopsis, I thought it would be the perfect book for me. Unfortunately, it was not the case. I was not a fan of all the points of view thrown at you right at the beginning of the book. It made it very hard to differentiate between the four girls and their moms. After finishing the book, I’m still not 100 percent sure I kept every character right in my head. I think this is more to do with the style that this book was written in so I know some people won’t have an issue with it.

I also feel like the pacing was very fast. As soon as something was revealed, we would move onto the next thing without really any time to think about that the reveal meant. There were also a lot of characters that made really silly decisions that just felt like ways to move the plot forward as opposed to the way the characters would actually behave. A lot of the characters felt very bland to me because we didn’t really get the time at the beginning to learn more about each character.

I wish that this book would have taken the time to really set the world up but unfortunately, this was a miss for me. It seems like I am in the minority as a lot of other people are really enjoying this book so that’s good to see. I just wanted something a little more atmospheric and creepy.

I received this book from NetGalley as an eARC in exchange for a review.

This was a super solid read. The only reason I didn’t give it a full five stars is because the starting was too slow of a burn for me and I almost DNF’d. That being said, once you’re into the meat or the book you won’t want to put it down.
The characters don’t necessarily stand out from each other but that’s ok for me on this one.
Story was definitely spooky and would make a good fall read.

Thanks to NetGalley & Wednesday Books for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This mystery is set in a small midwestern town focusing on four girls who are struggling with the loss of their mothers they discover a sordid mystery that will haunt them all until they solve it together.

It was a pretty entertaining story from start to finish, though I kept struggling with the 4 POVs. Their voices all sounded the same and it was hard for me to keep track who was who again. Bo was the only one I enjoyed the most and was able to tell her apart easier from the others.

I was really grossed out by the one main guy in the book and I didn't get why we were supposed to have sympathy for him, he isn't really being forced into a repeating cycle of murder, his father literally walked out of it, so why couldn't he? So, I found his stuff very whiney and annoying for that reason. I also hated how 2/4 of the girls were in love with him. Whyyyy!

It's annoying because there were a lot of good ideas in this book but it wasn't always executed well, but I think this book would work really well as a Netflix mystery mini-series. Maybe that's what it was designed for, ha.

MY REVIEW: 3 Stars

The beautiful cover is what lured me to this book and of course it sounded good.

The prologue was really interesting and disturbing, but the story jumped ahead. I thought it was okay. I liked most of the characters. I just wish there was a bit more to the story.

Overall, I would recommend it.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a digital copy of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for my arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

"Where Darkness Blooms" by Andrea Hannah takes us to a dusty town in the middle of Tornado Alley where there are plenty of sunflowers and missing women. The story follows four teen girls still reeling with the sudden disappearances of their mothers years earlier. Delilah, Bo, and twins Whitney and Jude live together in the same house that they and their mothers lived in together before everything. As they deal with the loss, they must also contend with their town's bloody and supernatural history.

I honestly thought the summary/set-up was pretty interesting and with this being a YA-aimed horror/thriller, I think Hannah did a great job of setting the vignetted and creepy tone. This novel does deal with pretty heavy and real topics like rape and class differences/preferential treatment due to class but Hannah does a good job of utilizing those topics in a way that doesn't feel exploitative and instead, it helps to ground the story in reality in spite of the magical realism. I thought the curse of the town and the sunflowers' connection to blood was pretty cool and well done. The tool of blood as water for plants is one that I like, especially when it's done well...like here.

I will say that while I liked the characters of Whitney and Bo, I had issues with the way the four main girls were written. While we would get alternating perspectives of each girl, they fell pretty flat to me as characters. Amidst everything happening, I thought that the girls needed to be fleshed out beyond their one signifiers (Whitney: queer, Bo: temper, Delilah: type A, and Jude: quiet). While everything that happens in the novel to the girls and to the women, it just didn't quite HIT because of how shallow the four girls were. That made it difficult for me to really connect with any of them. I will say that towards the end, I did find myself really loving Bo. Overall however, the girls just didn't feel realistic to me. I felt like Hannah gave us peeks into more fleshed out versions of them but for whatever reason, they'd just revert back to that one signifying personality trait and that was it.

"Where Darkness Blooms" is overall an enjoyable book with great spooks and a fun premise. While it falls short of its main characters, it almost makes up for it in atmosphere, lore, and story.

A great feminist thriller. The characters were well fleshed out and the pacing of the story was spot-on. I liked the unique premise used a vessel to carry the message home.

I quite enjoy the concept of a piece of town having consciousness, for good or for evil. Each of the girls had their own perspective on the happenings of the town and they were all done very well.

Atmospheric, tense, and mysterious, this book reeled me in and didn't let go. While I think the large cast of characters did make it difficult for any major character growth/distinctions to be possible, I really enjoyed the characters as they were. Relationships between characters change quite frequently throughout the book, and I think that aspect was handled in a much better way. I completely enjoyed the eerie, cut off town setting, and loved the way the sunflowers changed as a symbol, and almost character themselves, over the course of the book.

This book was way out of my comfort zone. But I really liked this book. I feel like there were some parts that were a little out there for me. But I enjoyed the over all story and i wanted to keep reading. This cover is gorgeous! I would suggest this one.

This was so beautiful I thought I would explode. This is my first read of 2023 and I honestly don't think it can be topped. The girls were so tough and so vulnerable, the town was delightfully creepy, and the story was enthralling.
I love sunflowers so picturing a dusty town surrounded by them was just amazing.
The ending was perfection.

I’m sitting down to write this review about two weeks after having finished reading it…
It is still with me.
The vivid imagery and eerie atmosphere has followed me like the sunflowers that Hannah has imbued with sentience. The winds and storms leave you feeling as equally creeped out, reminding you that something is rotten at the core of Bishop. Women are going missing at an increasing rate, but how and why? The mystery is quite intriguing and kept me turning the pages.
At first, I was not a huge fan of the characters, but as the story progresses, they grew on me. Delilah was overbearing, but well intentioned. Bennett seems too good to be true - maybe he is, but we do get to see another side to him at the end 😉. Jude is selfish and she really got on my nerves, but she probably shows the most character growth at the end of the story - and maybe I don’t dislike her as much as I started off. Whitney is stuck in a state of grief, but gets another chance at love. Bo is probably my favorite. She’s tough on the outside, but internalizes her pain. While I would have liked even more for her, it is due to her sacrifices that the other girls are free.
Thank you to Wednesday Books for inviting me to preview an early copy of this book. The thoughts that I have expressed above are my own honest opinions.

I was immediately drawn to this book because of the cover, but after reading the first chapter I was intrigued. If you like thrillers/mysteries, then this book is for you!

I loved the vibes of this book and the great descriptions of everything! If you like strangeness and great writing you should give it a try!

this cover had me very intrigued, and the plot and entire energy of the book matched the atmosphere i was imagining based on the cover just perfectly.

the pacing of this book was very gripping, and that along with the plot really drawing you in made for SUCH a page turner.

the downside for me was that the characters felt extremely flat. we follow four different point of views which makes it even more important to be able to distinguish between each of these. but because the characters felt flat and static, and didn’t have any character defining traits, i had a hard time differentiating between each of them.

though if you do enjoy a spooky mystery book this is a great quick read.

the publisher kindly provided this arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.