Disclaimer: I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Did not gel with this book. I was drawn to the summary, cover, title, and mention of LGBT characters. This felt like a debut novel. I didn't enjoy the numerous point of views. I couldn't tell who was who or what the point was. It dragged too much and the writing wasn't my style. Overall, the book spent way too much time setting up and it did not deliver.

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Say something, I'm giving up on you.

No, for real, how much anticipation does a reader need? The book was constantly leading up to something big. After a while, I quit caring due to the lack of interesting details and horrible pacing.

We don't need that many characters if none of them are going to be fleshed out or distinctive. I was expecting captivating writing. It came off more like a mystery instead of a horror book with LGBT characters.

Can't say I'm impressed with the last chapter. The cover and title are intriguing, though. All-in-all, I just couldn't get into this book.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the eBook arc!

I was so excited for this book! The plot sounded so creepy and weird and that is my jam!
However, it never really got creepy or weird. I was quickly let down by how just ok this book was.

I can’t even begin to describe how amazing this book is! I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and I am honestly so blown away
This book was so beautiful, so heart breaking, and so complex. It was an amazing concept that actually wrapped up really well. It had diverse characters and so many twists and turns!
Can not recommend it enough, I’ve already gotten me friend to preorder it.
It was a truly breathtaking piece of art that I hope becomes as modern day classic
I hope the author is very proud of herself and this book

This was…. Not my cup of tea for some reason. It was well written and interesting, but also get bland to me. I couldn’t tell the characters apart. I’m sure some people will love it but it wasn’t for me.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this arc to read.

This book follows 4 girls and a gingham picnic blanket in the small town of Bishop, Kansas where there is a curse upon the land. Sunflowers are overpopulating the town and the wind is scary. Bo, Delilah, Jude, Whitney, and the blanket all experience turmoil as they try to figure out what the heck is going on in this town and why are all the women dying? Each of the girls mothers have skipped town and they don't know why. DUN DUN DUNNNNN

Where do I start? Should I start with the fact that it took 8 chapters to even get to the point of the book? the fact that there are FOUR POVs which to be honest, are way too many. It was super annoying to be left on a cliff hanger and completely change the POV and then to stop caring and wanting to continue the new line of thought only to be dragged back again to another new line of thinking. It was confusing and aggravating. I just stopped caring.

My favorite character was the gingham picnic blanket. It saw so much action. Literally it got brought up in almost every chapter. I could not stand any of the characters. They were all white and privileged and they only thought about themselves. They literally cried over every little inconvenience. They figured out this whole curse situation and instead of warning people about it, they did nothing. They didn't do a single thing to help anyone but themselves. I could not support a single one.

Delilah: hopelessly in love with Bennett Harding. Even though her intuition is screaming at her to stay away from him. She physically gets hurt every time he touches her. LIKE PHYSICALLY BABES! If a man is hurting you, PHYSICALLY, why are you staying with him FOR TWO YEARS??????

Bo: So angry. I honestly don't remember anything about her character expect that she was assaulted by this guy in the book and that is suppose to explain her less than stellar behaviour. Honestly, I feel for her, I do, but you don't get to treat everyone around you with emotional and mental abuse just because you have trauma. You need to sort your life out.

Whitney: *insert eye roll here* she's a lesbian. That's basically all she brings to the table. She has relations with women who move the story along. all the excitement.

Jude: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Jude Jude Jude... what to say about Jude... She was seeing Bennett before Delilah and is very much in love with him. She just "allows" Delilah to be happy with Bennett and never tells her that they were together before them. It felt like the other girls would constantly pick on Jude for no reason. Like they were always on her about something. It was super annoying and unneccessary. They never even gave her a chance.

Gingham Picnic Blanket: The best character of them all. This blanket saw all the action. It even did stuff to help. Like it was used as a blanket for teenage couples to have intercourse on AS WELL AS it was used as a tourniquet in order to stop bleeding. This blanket is way more important than any of the other characters. I wish it had more screen time.

Let's talk about the love interests. Like I get Whitney was only with Eleanor for a brief time before she kicked the bucket and became one with the dust, but like.... there didn't seem to be much chemistry beyond "She's cute, I wanna kiss her" and then there was Alma. She literally sees her at a nursing home and is just like, "Oh yeah, I'm in love" like excuse me?

Then there is Bennett. I do not understand the appeal. This man was trash. He literally did nothing special. It's not like he was super considerate or came around with groceries or helped around the house. Like he did nothing. NOTHING. He just made two women insecure. Like he isn't even described as attractive! Can someone please explain to me what the appeal was?

The mothers disappearance gets explained at the end of the book and I was so mad about it. Like, THEY LEFT THEIR KIDS. I'm sorry, but no. I don't have kids (yet) but if I did I WOULD NOT LEAVE THEM IN A TOWN THAT IS MURDERING THEM. We all leave or no one leaves! "But babes, the sunflowers wouldn't let them go back and get their kids" BRUH THEN YOU CUT THEM ALL DOWN THEY ARE SUNFLOWERS!!!!! Get some shears. Do SOMETHING!

The author made all the main characters white and then splashed in some "politically correct" characters in order to stay "woke". It was obnoxious and felt like she was using minorities in order to get ahead. I wish she just left them all out and it just wasn't a thing. Also, the curse made no sense. Why would they kill all the YOUNG women? Why young? Why wouldn't they go for women who are older and cannot have kids? Because if you kill a woman every six months, eventually you are going to run out of women and if you run out of women.... who's going to make more kids for you to slaughter? Like, maybe don't get rid of them all? Also, they didn't even biologically need to be women apparently so why not men too? It made no sense. You're over running the town with men. How are they suppose to get married and reproduce? If I lived in that town, I would never get married. It's like 7 men to 1 female! GIRL GET THOSE DATES!

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely not. If the author could actually just delete this and write it in the perspective of the gingham blanket, maybe then. Otherwise.... Just pass up on this one.

I was hooked on this book from the very beginning!

Going into it, I was expecting the writing of the whole novel to reflect that of the prologue- beautiful, lyrical, artistic, and a pleasure to read. However, once we start the present-time story, this style of writing falls away to a much more modern style. Don't get me wrong, I still loved the writing of this book and I found it very enjoyable, but I would have loved to see more of the prologue-style writing. Overall, the story really delivered for me, which was hard considering half of the mystery was revealed in the prologue. I was still hooked through the chapters.

If you know me, then you will know that I love multi-pov stories. I am very much a character-driven person, I can forgive a lot if I like the characters. A Lot. So to find out that this book shares the story from the perspective of the four different girls made me very happy, and I was immediately even more excited. Each girl felt distinct, with her own personality and thought process. They each had one or two major things about them to help you remember as well. I loved seeing how each story was interwoven, being able to see what was happening all around the town and finding out answers to questions from other parts of the story.

I will say, there were a few times when I got confused about where the scene was taking place or where the girl or girls were in the space. I would have to reread sections over again to really have it make sense, and sometimes I gave up. This could also be reader error, but I tried my best in these times to understand what was happening.

All in all, this was the perfect read for spooky season and I'm so glad I was able to read this.

I received this arc from NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book as an ARC. Thank you, by the way, for the privilege of getting a copy to review. I know not everyone loves the cover, but I think it resonates well with the overall theme of the book. When I first say it, it gave me this very sinister vibe like the sunflowers were the killers, and I just knew I needed to read it. I definitely will have to grab a copy on release day!
This book captivated me by the first chapter. I was horrified and awestruck. This feeling did not dissipate. I was about 80% done and still losing my mind over the revelations. I think the author did a great job at detailing her story. I found how she let the story unfold about the sisters at the beginning fulfilling. Any questions I had at first as I read the first POV got answered within just a handful of pages which I like a lot. There are a lot of POVs in this book. It helped add suspense because Hannah would stop right at the big revelation and switch to a different sister.
I do have some negatives though, but they’re just personal taste. The ending!!! I swear if Jude makes one more stupid mistake over a boy, I’m gonna lose it. He is unredeemable. ⚠️I don’t care if he denounced the curse he’s a POS and I want revenge!



⚠️spoiler ⚠️
I did not like the lack of detail in the field death scene. After all Caleb did to Bo, I wanted the details of his death. I wanted the confirmation that there was no more Harding evilness (minus Ben). I wanted the “she looked up at me, blood dripping from her nose, eyes blank as William took his final breath. His hand stretching towards his son as the sunflowers claimed their revenge”. But NO. All we got was thwunk thwunk thwunk and the little “CALEB!” from William. Unsatisfied

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5076043849

This story was kind of predictable because of the prologue but I still loved how it ended. I loved that the sunflowers had so much meaning to the women of Bishop. The wind was so eerie and intense the entire book! Definitely read the trigger warnings before you read this book! I really loved how each girl in this friend group loved and care for each other. They really bonded over their missing mothers. The men of this town can literally ROT, especially Caleb… Bo deserved better. I’m so glad Bo did what she had to do. She was by far my favorite character. She was the person I was rooting the most for this entire book. Jude & Delilah were very much blinded by love so they made me so mad sometimes but ultimately they both came through at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for approving me to read this ARC of Where Darkness Blooms! This novel is being released on February 21, 2023, and this is my honest review for it. This novel is a supernatural thriller which follows four main teen females named: Delilah, Bo, Whitney, and Jude who have all lost their mothers in a town where sunflowers and storms are endless. This follows each of their journeys from each characters perspective. Now. I gave this book 3 ⭐. I loved the creepy origin story, loved the chills and thrills, but the beginning was slow and confused me for at least a couple of chapters. I also didn't understand most of the characters decisions in certain serious moments. Including love interests that made me want to scream. Bo was my favorite character by far and I loved her role in this tale I just wish I was given a bit more detail from the beginning and that some characters were a bit more focused on the task because it seemed to draw away from the plot.

Wow. This is a dark story with well developed characters. You suffer with them, through every struggle and heartache and pain. But in the end, this is a beautiful story of friendship, forgiveness, love, family, resilience and hope.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

First of all this cover is gorgeous and drew me in instantly. After finishing this book I was not disappointed. I love a good mystery especially when elements of magic are intertwined. The characters were fleshed out and easy to connect with. The magical realism was done phenomenally and I just couldn't turn the pages quick enough. Well done!

I really enjoyed reading "Where Darkness Blooms" by Andrea Hannah. The town of Bishop, where women tend to go missing regularly and the abundance of sunflowers growing around it, really gave a creepy, unsettling vibe to the story. I requested the book, because the story sounded like it would be different from the many other thrillers I've read. This is a unique novel with relatable characters and some great twists and turns. I really liked the writing and look forward to seeing other novels by this author.

This was a great YA book. It was creepy, without being scary. I connected with the characters and was on pins and needles the entire time!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this most interesting and unique book.

Whitney, her twin, June, along with Bo and Delilah, live together in a house on Old Fairview Lane. Their mothers used to live there, too, before they disappeared, all on the same day, and whether they consciously admit it or not, all the girls know there is something wrong with Bishop, Kansas. The wind is constantly battering houses, making them board up windows or hide in storm cellars. And the town is fenced in by a perimeter of sunflowers.

Whitney's girlfriend, Eleanor, died under mysterious circumstances. They said she had a heart attack ten feet from her house where she lived with her grandmother.

And two years after their mothers disappeared, the town is erecting statues of them in the clearing, where the teens go to party, drink, and have bonfires. But on the day of the unveiling, the wind knocks the statues down and things start to make their way to the surface of the clearing, where they had apparently been buried.

After finding Whitney's girlfriend's acorn charm bracelet, Bo begins to dig deeper, and finds that Eleanor is not the only young, healthy female to have died of a heart attack. So many missing women. So many silent townspeople.

And there are whispers on the wind. Are they the sunflowers? The wind itself? The ghosts of those who died? Do the girls even want to dig that deep?

Meanwhile, rift is growing between Delilah and Jude. Jude used to 'date' Delilah's boyfriend, Bennett, but when Bennett fell in love with Delilah, Jude silently bowed out of the equation. But a storm is brewing between Jude and Bennett, and the fallout will change everyone's lives.

I requested this title from NetGalley because it sounded interesting and different. I wasn't wrong, but it was so much better than I was expecting. It was a subtle, quiet horror that wriggles under your skin unbeknownst to the reader until later, like a splinter. The author does an excellent job unraveling the night of the disappearance, as well as creating relationships between the girls.

When I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about the book. I found it to be a most unusual brand of terror and paranoia.

Some super cool things going on here. In terms of considering new social developments and how art should respect consumers: ex., the blanket trigger warning at the beginning of the book, the capitalization of Black, inclusion of genocide against Indigenous communities, acknowledgement and celebration of trans women and gender identification,

Overall my favorite part of this novel is how well developed, morally grey, independent, and unique each woman is. Each of the main 4 (Bo, Jude, Delilah, Whitney) each have a 'fatal flaw' per se, and their mothers also have beautifully written relationships. Hannah makes it clear that there are many nuances in how these women (the teens and the moms) know and relate to each other. There are several gay characters and relationships in the book and they are treated as part of the landscape. Hannah also acknowledges that Black characters are in far more danger from the authorities than others. The racial diversity of the main cast is very satisfying and Hannah goes out of her way to make sure this is clear. The book in general is very reminiscent of August Osage County in terms of geographic setting and character interplay.

There are some copyediting discrepancies, and occasional lack of clarity as to whether a scene is in the past or present but I do think the weakest part of the book is its romances. The love triangles are too present, the connections between even teens seem rushed and because of this the (otherwise beautiful) dialogue seems overdone at times.

Hannah's prose is very vivid yet concise and communicative--it reminds me of "Book of Night" by Holly Black. The personification of Bishop is eerie and even more so when you realize why the first and last chapters of Where Darkness Blooms are from the town's perspective! The time period is established nicely through subtle dots of vernacular language and presence of technology. The chapters and paragraphs are both fairly short throughout which sometimes can be disruptive but in this case, I think the structure contributes to the flow of dialogue and to entice the reader to continue.

This, overall, is a powerful story about violence against women and parsing out the inner workings of systemic gender oppression. Strongest quote throughout: "It was the kind of rage that men kept nestled deep in their ribs, the kind that rose between the bones whenever someone didn't automatically hang on their words like laundry drying on the line." The issue of consent is a huge deal in this book, particularly including Bo and Whitney. The book takes a small town Midwestern approach with a bit of creepy, and then about 1/2 or 2/3 the way through, the tone switches to grimdark pretty quickly which I enjoy, and I think it's done well. However, a couple things just seem to be *too* convenient, like how 1 character towards the end can somehow walk for miles after sustaining a near-fatal neck injury, or how ~the knife~ is constantly found everywhere (the sunflower mythology explains this...somewhat).

The reunion of all the characters at the end of the book is so gratifying and relieving. The loredumps about Bishop and the sunflowers are riveting, as is the sense of urging the women on, away from the Harding family. Hannah was so good at changing up her pacing of the novel and I would totally read it again--it's a great contribution to the paranormal genre in many diverse and contemporary ways.

Where the Darkness Blooms is a small town mystery. There is a history of disappearances, but is it really more than in other small towns? The characters know more than they are sharing and when it all spills, it gets crazy! The sunflowers that surround the town are involved, but are they helping or hindering the town?
It's an interesting story that is very unique! For the YA audience, I think this is great. As an adult, there are some logic traps that really tugged at me. Overall, I liked it.

*Thank you to Netgalley & publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I was so excited when I snatched this book. First of all, the cover alone is stunning. I have never read anything by this author before, but this certainly left me wanting more from her.

This was so beautifully written and is lead by an all strong female cast. I loved the magical aspects and honestly wanted more of a background on not only the magic, but the whole town itself. What happened between the beginning and now, how everyone came be there. (*politely requests the author write a prequel* haha!)

The one thing I struggled with is how many different characters there are. I had such trouble keeping track of the names and what characteristic belonged to whom. But, I also have A.D.D... so what do I know? 🤣

Beautiful book, thank you!
[Review to be posted on Instagram tomorrow]

This book was really interesting! It started off just a bit slow at the beginning, but once it picked up it was really good.

I picked this title as an October read based on it's eerie plot and absolutely stunning cover and was not disappointed! Where Darkness Blooms is a hauntingly dark tale of women dying and disappearing from a small town in Kansas leaving behind great mystery and curious, heartbroken daughters, lovers and friends. The plot weaves the reader through the absolute claustrophobia of a town surrounded by sunflowers, storms and men behaving more and more strangely by the day. The girls peel back the mystery and unravel the pattern of what is occuring putting themselves at great risk. Can they find out what happened to the women of Bishop? Can they prevent what will happen to them?

This story was so spectacularly sensory and atmospheric. It certainly sets you on edge, but in a way that is all encompassing, not simply one unexpected threat, but all. Fans of The Wilder Girls (and not just due to the covers!) by Rory Power, Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand, some aspects of Annihilation and Hummingbird Salamander, both by Jeff VanDermeer or even films by M. Night Shyamalan would probably enjoy this title.

I was provided with an electronic ARC of Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah through Netgalley in return for an honest review. I appreciate the opportunity to read, enjoy and review this title and won't be going near any sunflower fields any time soon!