This was definitely a spooky read, perfect for gloomy days and stormy nights! Just make sure to beware the flowers. They have a mind of their own.

What a remarkable book. This was absolutely haunting and gorgeous. These four flawed and strong heroines captured my heart, every single one of them. Jude, heartbroken by the boy who suddenly dropped her for her friend Delilah. Whitney, Jude's twin who lost the love of her young life to a seemingly random tragedy. Bo, deeply traumatized by a boy and trying to navigate her rage to find herself again. Delilah, trying to discover why her mother suddenly disappeared two years ago. These four beautiful girls lost their mothers on one night two years ago and they'll do everything they can to figure out what happened. This was just so wonderful, every piece of it. The beauty of female friendship, the harm men do to women, and how we can harness everything within ourselves to not only survive, but to thrive.

Where Darkness Blooms, by Andrea Hannah was a book that I could not put down. Literally could not. From the moment I saw the cover debut, I knew it was a book I wanted to read. The cover is gorgeous.

One thing I like most about books are characters. Especially well developed characters that I could relate to. Throughout the book, I heavily related to both Bo and Delilah. Those two are a perfect mesh of who I am to my core. Jude made me so mad throughout the book. I think it’s because I was friends with a Jude in high school and it brought back all of the memories.

I did suspect a few things along the way and ended up being correct, which I love. However, it wasn’t so predictable that it annoyed me. There were several moments that I had to fight the urge to message Andrea Hannah on Instagram because I was shocked at a scene.

Last, but certainly not least, if you like a book that can paint a picture in your head, as if you are watching a movie, then you will love the exquisite use of imagery with this writing!

Long standing curses, power, nature magic, and the ultimate strength of friendship and belief in each other. Strong characters facing strong evil and intertwining threads that weave a tapestry of evil, loss, and ultimate redemption and finding home. A must read!

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I did thoroughly enjoy Andrea Hannah’s writing style. The book had a great pace to keep the readers going. The story was intriguing from the beginning. Jude, Delilah, Whitney and Bo all live together. Their mother’s have gone missing like many others in the town of Bishop, Kansas windstorms and endless sunflowers are a normal occurrence. I enjoyed the book had multiple POVs and how each character stated picking up on the small things about the town. Overall it was a great read and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

This book had a great concept, and I thought the prologue and narrative were very interesting, but it honestly ruined the twists of the story for me. I did still enjoy it, just not like I thought I would!

Such a different type of story but one I could not put down. A town plagued by lies, deceit, and mysteries. Where do all the women go? Follow a group of girls that are left to fend for themselves after their mothers mysteriously disappear from a town that won't let anyone leave.

Ultimately, this fell flat for me, but I really loved the concept and wanted so badly to enjoy it more. It's so frustrating when you can see the potential but it's just not hitting any of the marks for you.

The first thing I have to say and what really is still baffling for me is that the entire plot and twist of the book is given away in the prologue I am honestly at a loss for words why the author would do this, and the only thing I can think of is that she thought the book would focus more on the characters and so it would be okay that there was no element of surprise. But the characters were all extremely flat, to the point I got all of the girls mixed up because their voices all sounded the same and they didn't have unique enough personalities to distinguish them.

And even if the prologue hadn't given away the narrative and story, I had to keep putting this book down out of sheer frustration due to how predictable every single little thing in this book is. I can only have so much patience for main characters that are willfully obtuse, or characters that refuse to see and understand things for the sake of propelling the 'mystery' forward. Knowing which characters were bad and what was happening so long before the main characters got on board made for an unenjoyable reading time. There was also a random love triangle thrown in right away that I felt was unnecessary and took up too much time in the plot.

It really felt like the author wanted this to be more character-driven than it ended up being. Besides the characters being one and the same and flat, there was a lot of exposition that was either never explained or explained too late and so I was very confused the first 25% of the book (which is how long it takes until the actual plot starts btw). The writing felt like it was trying too hard to be introspective and deep, and its floweriness was underwhelming. And I like more detailed writing. But it just lacked any emotion behind the words and so it didn't work for me. I need to also emphasize how repetitive much of the writing was. I had to read the author describe something as 'feral' wayyy too many times. Using that word unironically and repeatedly in general was mind-boggling. Also, the villain 'chuckles' way too many times as well. It just felt overdone to me.

Overall, between the plot that's literally spelled out for you before you begin the book, the incredibly boring and similar characters, overly cartoonish villains, and a too-easily wrapped up ending, this book did not accomplish for me what I think it set out to do. But as I said at the beginning of my review, I wanted to like it. I love this new push for the spooky/gothic Midwest that so many books are doing. I just feel like this one could have been so much more.

What is going on in the small town of Bishop!?

When their mothers each go missing, four young women are thrown together in a ramshackle house and form an unlikely glued together sort of family. They each feel differently about the circumstances that led them together: some want answers; others want to move on with their lives.

Told in alternating POV, Where Darkness Blooms is a slow-to-build story of grief, love, and perseverance all steeped in an unusual mystery.

With great atmosphere and some gorgeous prose, this book will appeal to readers to YA coming of age stories, magical realism, and those who like an offbeat mystery.

The story does have some pacing issues and some may find the climax with some things to be desired, but overall the story is a unique and strange tale.

3.5 stars rounded up for that gorgeous cover!

An intriquing read though I had difficulty continuing on. It seemed that the book was drawn out at times. Not a bad read, but not one of my favorites. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

First off the cover of this book is beautiful and so was the story. I loved the creepy vibes and fantastic mystery. The pacing I thought was perfect but the world building was a wee bit lack luster. Overall so good and felt like horrid vibes.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Where Darkness Blooms in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Trigger Warning: mention and referral to sexual assault/rape.

The Gist
I started reading Where Darkness Blooms at the beginning of my vacation and then wasn’t able to read anymore until I was on the plane back home. So, there was a good week and a half during which the book stayed unopened.

I don’t like taking big breaks while reading a book. It takes me out of the story and makes it difficult for me to form a consistent opinion, since I almost feel stressed when I don’t read and then relieved when I do.

But, is that feeling of relief just because I’m finally reading at all? Or because I’m reading this specific book?

I’m not sure. I do know that my opinion of this story changed at around the halfway point.

Let me explain.

The Details
Firstly, the reader is sort of thrown into the story when all the actions starts. There is no real set up or explanation of what’s going on or how things became this way.

It’s this typical attitude of storytelling where the reader just has to figure things out along the way. Okay, sure.

There is one problem, though. If the story drags like molasses, nothing much can be figured out.

There are four major characters, all of them pretty much sound the same. There isn’t really any clear distinction in their personalities that would set them apart. So, regardless of what chapter one reads and from what character’s perspective this chapter is supposed to be, it’s all the same.

Almost every scene is told from all four characters’ perspectives as well, so there isn’t a whole lot of progression in the story. At the same time, it skips over parts that should deserve more attention.

The plot is very intriguing. I mean, there is a town, with creepy sunflowers, women keep going missing or dying and no-one will admit to what’s really going on. There are shifty secondary characters that I just love to hate and want to see get their comeuppance. It just all takes way too long and I lost interest.

I’m really not sure about the writing. Some parts are written quite well and others feel like the author tried too hard.

For example, there is no need for all these metaphors and similes to describe something. It really threw me out of the story every time the author had to include phrases like “the realisation settled like glitter in a snow globe”.

I dare you not to think of a snow globe right now.

Other parts were only vaguely described, like this weird town they all live in. It felt very obscure and made it difficult for me to imagine certain scenes.

The Verdict
Overall, this could have been so eerie and creepy, but it got lost along the way. I’m a little disappointed and feel let down.

Where Darkness Blooms has such a great premise and I am so ready for moody, Fall stories.

I guess I have to keep looking. It’s a no from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I couldn’t get into this book. I tried on several occasions and stopped at about 50 pages. I didn’t don’t the writing compelling and the characters were so vague i their development and description that I didn’t care about what what happened next.

The premise is exciting and the cover is well done. I am sorry the writing didn’t captivate me.

The cover to Where Darkness Blooms and the start of the summary " 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." madde me realize i HAD to read this book. I'm a sucker for people on covers with plants and mysterys dealing with small towns.
The four main characters, Delilah, Jude, Whitney and Bo all have mothers who have gone missing and for some reason no one in the town is suprised. This sets the story up perfectly because why isn't the town suprised? Why was the case shut so easily, it really gets you thinking in the beginning. The characters had good development and honestly, i was excited to see how they would change throughout the story. The horror elements to this story were executed perfectly and i loved every bit of it. For once I wasn't expecting the plot twist towards the end of the story and I'm glad that I didn't because it really added to the story for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for providing an e-arc for an honest review!

Two years after their mothers disappeared, Delilah, Whitney, Jude, and Bo are still struggling to find their way back to each other. The grief has fractured them-- and they should be used to it, being from Bishop, town where women dying is a common occurrence. But their mothers were different: their bodies were never found. And as the girls start looking deeper into why, they uncover some disturbing truths about their town, and one of the families within it.
The four girls are so perfectly balanced, between Bo's anger, Delilah's mothering, Jude's fear, and Whitney's brashness, that at times it felt like they were part of one being-- and in a way, being girls in Bishop, they kind of were.
This book struck a beautiful chord between horror and hope, between grief and promise. It's gripping, unsettling, and definitely a book I know I'll read over and over again.

Where Darkness Blooms is one of the most achingly beautiful books I've ever read. It's one of those books that sits with you long after you're done-- much like the town of Bishop-- and I'm grateful I get to carry it with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I’m really saddened to give this book such a low rating. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didn’t, so I’m not comfortable rating this any higher than 1 star. The novel just didn’t work for me in so many ways. I will try to write a constructive review, though, explaining what I did not enjoy and how I think the book might be improved.

Where Darkness Blooms has such an intriguing premise, along with a gorgeous cover. Four girls in their late teens have lived together for years with their single mothers in the small Kansas town of Bishop, surrounded by sunflowers and riddled with frequent storms. Two years ago, their mothers disappeared without a trace. Women frequently go missing or die at young ages in Bishop, but no one seems to question it. When the townspeople eventually create a memorial for their mothers, the girls start uncovering long-hidden secrets. What exactly is going on in Bishop, and what really happened to their mothers? I love a good, spooky read about land taking on its own personality, so I was excited to read this novel.

I would argue there are a few big issues that made the story difficult for me to enjoy, so I’ll try to explain them.

First, the decision to set the novel two years after the mothers’ disappearance didn’t make sense to me. The first 20% of the book consists of the characters slowly revealing the circumstances around the disappearance, their relationships with their mothers, and other important backstories. That significantly slowed down the pace. It also was hard for me to believe that the daughters didn’t investigate the disappearance for two years straight. Surely, at least one of them would have tried to understand what happened. Some of the clues they find throughout the story are easy to uncover (I’ll talk more about that in a bit); if they had even somewhat attempted to dig deeper into the mystery earlier, they would have made so much more progress. The novel would have been better if it were set before the mothers disappeared, so the reader could get a glimpse of their relationships and the group’s dynamic. If the author truly wanted to set the novel after the disappearance, then maybe six months later would have been more logical.

I also had trouble getting a grasp on the town and the characters’ daily lives. The story starts right before the mothers’ memorial, which kicks off the girls’ investigation. This novel actually helped me articulate a common problem I have with thrillers— sometimes they try to get to the action too quickly without letting the reader learn about the characters and the setting. I wasn’t sure why this bothered me until I read Where Darkness Blooms, which does very little setting up of the town. Since I was thrown into the action with no worldbuilding, I never got a clear image of Bishop and how it functioned on a day-to-day basis. Similarly, I never got to see the characters’ relationships with one another before they were stressed by the plot. Therefore, I had trouble understanding the setting, and I found so many plot points didn’t make sense because of it (why are no townspeople suspicious of the deaths? Does no one ever go to the hospital? What is “normal” to this group of people, and is it the same normal as our current society? Those are just a few questions I had). Reading the novel felt like staring at an unfinished painting: the main focus was clear, but everything in the background was clouded and underdeveloped.

I am a very character-driven reader, and there were far too many characters for this short of a book. The four main women had similar voices, so when the chapters shifted in focus between them, I frequently had a hard time telling who was speaking and remembering their backstories. On top of that, there were three mothers, and it was difficult to track each mother’s personality and their relationship with their daughter(s), particularly because we only saw the mothers in flashbacks. I didn’t find any of the characters likable, because none of them were developed past their initial archetypes. Whitney and Bo could have been the same character without affecting the plot much, and the mothers could have been combined, as well. Additionally, all of the male side characters were bad people. The author probably did that intentionally to further her themes, but reading about two of the women constantly longing for them got so old so quickly.

The writing in the novel is decent. I appreciated how the author tried to instill heavy themes about intergenerational trauma and the harms of societal expectations. The imagery is strong, which is nice. However, sometimes I found the writing to be a little overdramatic (there were a handful of one-liners that made me roll my eyes). There is also quite a bit of repetition, especially in descriptions. Repeated imagery as a theme is fine, but the adjectives and words themselves could have been more varied.

The story’s pacing went between too slow and too quick. There was so much that could have been cut from the middle and the end. There was too much time spent with the characters running inside from a storm and going out to the clearing to investigate something. It was as if the author had a few set places she wanted the novel to take place, and she only used those locations (which again, didn’t make the world feel developed). It also felt like the plot was reaching its climax from about the 40% point onward. The characters kept uncovering new things and making new revelations. There was little time to absorb one discovery before another was made. This could be improved by adding chapters between the discoveries making each individual breakthrough more challenging to obtain. It was too convenient that they just so happened to continually find groundbreaking evidence with little effort.

There were many smaller details that bothered me while reading. Most of them likely could have been prevented with better editing. For example, many problems could have been solved by texting or calling another character. We do see the characters occasionally text, so I knew they had working phones. The women also never seemed to communicate with one another at all about important topics. I know that’s a common theme in fiction, but there were some things they just should have noticed after living together for so long. The small town setting didn’t always make sense with the characters’ actions (like Bennett apparently had never met Delilah until two years prior— I don't believe they're the same exact age, but they likely ran in similar circles and would have encountered each other before then). Some scenarios were repeated too often, such as bonfires. There were two bonfires that were important to the plot, and I kept getting them confused. An editor could have suggested that one of them be a different activity (high schoolers in a small town have to do SOMETHING ELSE, right?). I could keep going on, but you get the point.

I won’t even get into the ending, but it seemed wildly unrealistic and created a bunch of plot holes.

This novel had a great deal of potential, but it fell flat for me. With more editing and some revisions, I think this could be a really strong story. The themes and allegory were interesting, and I appreciated how naturally some of the LGBTQ+ characters were represented. Even if a novel has an important message, it should still be an enjoyable read, though. This one was not fun for me, but I may be in the minority.

1 out of 5 stars.

TW: sexual assault, rape, abuse, underage drinking

Beautifully descriptive and heartbreaking, I was transported to Bishop where the sunflowers grow and I’ve never thought I would find them as unnerving as I do now.
I appreciated the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, although the book itself did not have graphic scenes, it was referenced.

This is definitely an edge of your seat, stay up all night reading kind of book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC eBook in exchange for my honest review.

The small, rural town of Bishop, Kansas has a dark history. Women go missing or die, and the land is always thirsty for more blood. Now four girls, made family by loss, must face the evils that have haunted the town since its founding.
Creepy and atmospheric, Where Darkness Blooms explores what women must do to survive in a highly misogynistic society and how the bonds they create are their greatest strength in the fight. Andrea Hannah does a wonderful job establishing tone and a steadily building sense of dread and malice. The characters we're well developed and the final resolution delivers on it's promise. A creepy read full of righteous anger that I highly recommend to any folk horror fan.

This cover is gorgeous and one of the reasons I requested this book was the cover. The premise of the book sounded intriguing, but I found this book to be slow moving, and the payoff did not exceed the expectations of the journey. Whitney and Bo were definitely characters I gravitated and were likable, but i just feel like I needed more out of it than what I got.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books & Netgally for calling me to read and review this digital ARC

I LOVED THIS!!!! It was just the right mix of creepy and mysterious. I loved getting to know the characters and the town. I wasn't expecting how much I would care about the four friends. Overall a super fun book and I'd love to see more from this author.