Although fast moving, well written and unique, the story did not keep my attention. Keep in mind I am not the intended audience and I believe they will enjoy it.
I'm giving it 4 stars because the only thing wrong with this book is my reading tastes and the author has no control over that.

When I saw that cover, I was imediatly drawn to this book. The premise looked very good too with some eerie vibe and the creepy town trope! I wish I liked it better than I did though.

The pacing at the beginning was very slow, and it didnt help that it was from 4 POV. The characters felt a bit flat to me and it could have been easily only one or two characters. There was a couple of times when something would happen and I did not understand why or when because it was a memory. Otherwise the plot was really good and I liked the intrigue! The vibes were really creepy and weird, which I absolutely adore.

The ending felt a bit rushed but I also couldn't stop reading it and wanted to know how it ends!
I would definetly recommend this book to people that loves creepy town with weird plant and ghostly apparitions!!
Check trigger warnings before reading.

Thanks NetGalley for a eARC of this book!

Phenomenal, dark and suspenseful book about four young women exposing their towns lies and solving the disappearance of their mothers from two years ago. I found this book deeply cathartic and will never look at sunflowers the same way again.

I really liked the premise of this book, a spooky town, enclosed by sinister sunflower fields, where women are consistently going missing. Unfortunately, it missed the mark in a few ways for me. The book is from the point of view of 4 young women whose mothers have all disappeared. My issue with this, was that there wasn’t enough character building to keep the characters separate. I kept confusing the girls with each other. The ending was also a bit anticlimactic. I wanted more and felt like many questions were left unanswered. The cover of this book is stunning and the atmosphere building was fantastic but overall, it just didn’t work for me.

In a strange city, four girls go through life after their mothers disappearance. Delilah is the mom of the group, calm and reserved, Bo is the spontaneous one, Whitney longs for her lost girlfriend, and Jude is the shy and big hearted one. Together, they decide to investigate to have a better understanding of their moms’ disappearance while uncovering the town’ secrets.

I have to start this review by mentioning how stunning this book’s cover is. The sunflowers actually look intimidating, and the plants growing from the girl’s face are made so beautifully. Every single detail refers to something mentioned in the novel, and is done perfectly.

As for the story, I was quickly immersed in Andrea Hannah’s world and could not stop reading. The writing was well done, the story was captivating, and the characters were developed.

I loved how each girl had a goal and how they were all intertwined. I loved how each of them had a distinct personality and how easy it was to differentiate them. I loved the mystery aspects of the book, especially the one surrounding the sunflowers.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who likes YA thriller with a touch of supernatural.

I wanted to love Where Darkness Blooms, but unfortunately, its one of those books where the sum of all the fantastic parts is greater than the whole when put together.

As a premise, so many of the tropes, ideas, and imagery that Andrea Hannah has in this book are absolute catnip for me: Midwest (if you consider Kansas the Midwest which...we can argue about that in a different thread) gothic; feminist themes; teenagers figuring themselves out; teenage girls solving mysteries; light fantasy-horror elements. I read the synopsis and was fist pumping.

And let me be clear, Where Darkness Blooms is not, by any stretch, a BAD book. Hannah has a good eye for literary devices, making her writing sharp and interesting. She creates interesting characters. Bo, Whitney, Jude, and Delilah were all flawed, complex people and believable teenagers (!) which is, in and of itself, a feat. I did finish the book, too, which I wasn't sure I would. So the fact that I did stick it out, I think is a point in its favor as well.

<spoiler>But I think what let me down was the plot. It was oddly paced...what felt like the third act was only about 50-60% of the book when I checked my Kindle, meaning the last third felt very stretched out. But even still, so many events felt superfluous and fuzzy. I cannot tell you how many times the girls ran from town to the house, from the house to town, and on and on and on. It really felt like it needed tightening up because half the time things were happening and I...just had to sigh and get on with it.

I also feel as though the fantasy/fantastical elements were really poorly explained. I feel like every review of mine harps on worldbuilding, but for me, it has to make sense. And Where Darkness Blooms didn't make sense for most of the book; I get the author not wanting to do an info dump or have characters figure things out too quickly, but honestly? I kind of wanted that, after few too many convenient plot things happening because of said fantastical elements that felt like...it kinda came out of nowhere. I don't mind being confused if its intentionally done. I mind being confused because it wasn't explained well. </spoiler>

I think fans of other YA gothic novels will appreciate Hannah's unique setting and and atmosphere, especially readers who lean toward strong characters. I can admit that this one wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday books for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

When I say this is one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time, it is so masterfully done and this story and these character will haunt me for a long time

This story follows four girls turned family by a series of unfortunate events. Two years ago, their mothers fled, leaving them alone in their small, dusty town. The girls have no idea why they left, but they're determined to find out. As they search for answers, they discover that something is seriously wrong with their town. Women have been disappearing and dying at a worrying rate. Left with no answers, they work together to put an end to the terrible things that have been happening.

I really enjoyed reading this! At the beginning, the pace was quite slow. It was hard to get into, but around the 40% mark, the plot picked up and I couldn't put it down. When I was reading, the atmosphere was perfect. It was a little creepy, forboding, and dark.

I can't give too much information, as it's great to know very little when going into this book! There was a lot of sharp turns in the plot, and you couldn't know which way it would go next.

On critique I have, is that the characters were super flat. All four sisters read like the exact same person, and sometimes I didn't know who I was reading for a few moments. There's nothing different about each POV and I had a hard time following along.

Bishop is known for two things: sunflowers and missing women...

I love weird books, so I was so excited when the publisher reached out to me offering me an ARC of Where Darkness Blooms. From the prologue I was hooked. The way Hannah writes is so beautiful with prose that I was swept away instantly. But unfortunately I also think this was the books biggest downfall. Too much of the story was over written and made the plot drag. I would find myself skimming paragraphs because I was so hooked by the action, and then I would get 5-10 sentences of exposition (beautifully written, but dragging).

Also, there are four main POV that we are following, and it felt like three of them got more love than the last one. I understand the authors need to have four girls, but one fell short of the rest and I caught myself not wanting to read her chapters when I got to them. Having four POVs also meant that it slowed down the plot, because something would happen to one of our girls and then we would have to wait three more chapters to get back to it.

Overall I had a fun time reading this book, but it wasn't a new favorite of this genre.

Some Similar Vibes Books:
Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Thanks to netgalley and Wednesday books for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good! Loved this dark and twisted feminist thriller! Can’t wait for more books from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a Midwest Gothic YA about some murdered girls in a small town? Do you not mind reading about high schoolers facing adult situations without any of the necessary consequences or darkness that that should entail?

Pre-reading:
Everything crime adjacent I've read lately has been shit. Let's learn nothing and read yet another book in this genre.

Thick of it:
OK while I appreciate a trigger warning, spoilers!

Oh god, an artsy fartsy irresponsible mother is one of my least favorite character tropes.

Creepy sunflowers. I dig it.

Oh good so early on with the child rape. 🙃

No no, we are not calling anything a love knot. Do not give that term to the children for their anxiety. They will google and find horrors.

Listen, I get it-book about flowers, but you gotta be real careful about your verb choices because it’ll veer into smut book territory so fast, and it is not meant to be that.

Bennett’s an ass. Delilah’s an ass. You don’t fuck the guy your pseudo sister is in love with-what?

Oh my god, men shouldn’t hurt you. I’m digging the is it ghosts or is it mental illness. (This doesn’t last, unfortunately. It’s ghosts. I don’t want ghosts.)

I’m invested in this book. Good chapter endings. They make you turn pages.

I wish the chapters had the characters’ names that we were focusing on rather than numbers. I want to know which voice I should be preparing to hear.

It’s a little romanticized to be realistic, but I don’t mind it. It’s giving 300 Fox Way vibes.

Who’s paying for the house and electric though? They’re all high school girls. And it’s Kansas. I can’t imagine there being much money.

I really hope I’m wrong and these two girls aren’t lusting after their not-sister’s rapists. But like that’s what it’s coming across as, and I’m deeply uncomfortable.

Yeah, that’s a big fuck, Delilah.

I don’t understand these girls. Don’t hang out with rapists? Maybe tell your sister ‘hey, you’re dating a rapist.’ Wtf.

How could they not have been searching this whole time? You don’t move on from being abandoned or thinking your mom got murdered like that. You go find answers. I don’t understand.

They must be able to Google the phone number or like look it up in a phone book at the library.

While we love some diversity, it is also a teeny tiny town in Kansas, and I don’t know how many people there’d be like that. Also if it would be accepted. Kinda not cool to just gloss over that.

Hold on. 2003 is not ancient. Stop this fucked with me so much. One, I was like how is that 20 years ago, and then two, I was like book pages wouldn’t yellow that fast. Apparently, it only takes 5 to 6 years to noticeably yellow. Wild.

Would this be Midwest Gothic? If it is, the book is doing it well. It’s not Southern Gothic. It’s not New England Gothic, so it must be like Midwest Gothic-just making the mundane terrifying.

So if it’s rented land is that why they don’t have a mortgage? I don’t know how property works.

OK, that line’s a little too PC. It took me out of the book.

Oh, I like that they aren’t dumb, but at the same time, they’re so fucking dumb. Why aren’t they communicating with each other? I’m getting frustrated with that.

I’m still not over the ‘we didn’t take my sister with a broken collarbone to a hospital we just kind of like went to a sunflower field.’ What the fuck? Which also like, hello, where is the hospital bill or the insurance?

That’s twice now that hair has been compared to a soufflé. You can use other words.

Everyone’s very tolerant for Kansas. Where’re all the Bible thumpers?

All these clues, but I’m like ladies, it’s been two years. How did you let two years go by without asking questions? I don’t understand

I’m so invested in all these broken little girls, fuck.

This book is very visual. It could easily be a mini-series. But like more Netflix, not HBO.

Saying it wasn’t OK, but then at the very beginning of the book, you talked about how she wanted it and was a good time.

I keep losing track of which of the three boys are related to each other and how and their ages.

Yeah OK, I fully flipped back to make sure I wasn’t insane for my first impression of Mr. Evan, and he literally starts the fight with Bo, touches her without her consent, and tells her that she wanted to be raped. I don’t want to hear any of his nonsense to Delilah. Immediately no on this man. And it’s shitty because it genuinely feels like the book is trying to make you sympathetic to him. Zero sympathies for rapists, go rot.

Delilah stop kissing shitty men, c’mon.

But like DNA testing?

I’m like very afraid of tornados, so this book does Midwest horror real well. Deserted nursing home and tornado sirens? Bye.

Never understood how towheaded somehow means blonde. I googled. Apparently, it comes from spinning flax.

Again we love representation, but this many in a small Kansas Bible thumper town? Seems unlikely.

I don’t understand why this is some big reveal or why we took chapters to get to it. I think it was pretty obvious from the get-go that the Hardings would be the descendants. And even just like operate under the assumption that they’re related. Come on girls, little quicker on the pickup.

These little girls fall in love so fast. I don’t like it.

Another thing, this is Kansas. Where are all the guns?

But then you would’ve seen disturbed dirt.

Why do we have a villain exposé? He’s a dude. He’s got four girls trapped at knifepoint or gunpoint because it’s Kansas-they should just be dead.

OK cool, but mamas aren’t gonna leave their kids in a murder town. What the fuck?

But like why is that car the only option? Break into a neighbor’s house and steal their car keys.

Two cops with guns aren’t going to be intimidated by three little girls that are seriously injured.

How has no one called an ambulance or the police on these children?

An abandoned town makes no sense. You had people with businesses. There are politics and news stations. Like people wouldn’t just accept that an entire town up and vanished.

I’m sorry, how are you gonna go to college with no school transcripts or birth certificate or tax information or parents with jobs? I’m so confused. This book has gone off the rails to the point it no longer makes sense. I was so on board for the first half, and then they just lost me.

Also unacceptable behavior from the mothers. Even if you had to leave the town and you’re claiming that the town’s ghosty sunflowers wouldn’t let you back, maybe call an outside police department that isn’t corrupt then, or department of child services, or there’s like so many options to get your kid back if you genuinely think they’re going to be murdered. Also just realistically how do you get a job without your ID, without all these basic elements of society?

Post-reading:
I don’t know if this is supposed to be a YA book and that the genre ruined it because it couldn’t go dark enough or if the author completely lost the plot while writing this. Because for the first bit of the book where the concept and characters and setting were being introduced, I was so on board. Like yes, give me this Midwest Gothic. There were creepy visuals. I was into the dynamic and drama of the girls. It was juicy. And then around midway through it asked you to suspend disbelief way too much and completely fell apart. I don’t know if this was a world-building issue or a genre-busting issue, but basic realism got thrown out the window. The book takes place in Kansas. Where is the religion? Where are the guns? Where’s the racism? Where is the property tax or jobs or grocery shopping that these girls would have to do on their own? Where’s DCF? This book should be so much darker. This book should have some true-crime elements to it. Instead, the villains are evil because they’re the villains. They have no motivations. And along that line, the rape in this book has no purpose. And yet there are so many pages spent alluding to it, and there’s no payoff. There’s a lot of that in this book-of just preachy repetition that all should’ve been cut out. And yet I still kind of like the book? I think I just dug the initial concept so much that I’m not willing to write off the ending because I just want it to be an entirely different book than it is. And it’s very frustrating because it could’ve been very good. It would make a good start for a mini-series. But like just think? Make it more realistic?

Who should read this:
YA horror/thriller fans
Midwest Gothic fans

Do I want to reread this:
No

Similar books:
* The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater-kooky women-only households and found family confronting the supernatural
* Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke-twisty, love triangle, multiple perspectives, aesthetic
* Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt-found family messing with the supernatural, prosaic
* The Sun Down Motel-ghosts and murder
* Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison-virtue signaling, annoying protagonist, revenge murders

Did not finish at 90%—I just couldn’t force myself to keep reading.
I was really excited for this one, but it missed the mark for me. The four POV characters were so interchangeable that I had a hard time remembering who was who. I didn’t connect with any of them. I really questioned why the author felt four POVs was necessary.
It was slow and there was nothing that made me care about what happened to the characters.

The cover is gorgeous and the book itself was interesting definitely kept me on my toes and I’ll be recommending it for Halloween season to people. Gotta love a book that’s just shrouded in mystery

Absolute banger of a book. Fierce, unflinching, and unapologetically awesome characters that blew me away with their portrayal of... fantasy?..with realistic teenage characters full of flaws and imperfections you just can't help but be enamored with or relate to. The storyline is very interesting as well, but I feel like there's potential for a sequel? Maybe? Or that could just be wishful thinking on my part. I need a prequel AND a sequel, thanks!

Thoroughly enjoyed this unique story about this small town in Kansas that has a layers and layers that I throughly enjoyed uncovering as I read.

I look forward to recommending this to my students who enjoy mysteries and some darkness. I think they’ll enjoy putting all the the pieces together like I did as this novel perfectly paced then all out.

This review will contain spoilers!*

Firstly, I just want to say that this book has some beautiful prose and some really poignant parts. The girls deal with some really tough issues and the author has a knack for describing their inner turmoil. I connected with some of the characters on a personal level. That alone kept me reading. Also, the cover is to die for! I’m a sucker for a pretty book!

I didn’t really start to enjoy it until it became more of a mystery/ thriller and maybe that’s just personal preference but it really took a long time to take off. I was often confused about which girl was which and I frequently questioned the need for so many main characters. At times I felt like Bo and Whitney’s characters could have just been melded into one for the sake of the story.

I also still really question the fact that the mothers were alive the whole time (2 years?!) and never came back for them. As a mother, I do not buy this. Ok, the sunflowers stopped them but this is a functioning town that must receive good and supplies from an accessible road? Are there no phones? Why not just make it a couple of months that they’re gone where they’re gathering resources and maybe enlisting the help of local authories? Maybe it was just me but it seemed that the mothers were living just down the road, close enough for the girls to get there on foot in under a day, so how is it possible that they didn’t find a way in 2 years?

I think this story is largely an allegory for oppression and violence against women. It reads like a very personal account on the author’s part but some good editing and tweaking of things could make it great. I am glad I saw it through to the end, regardless.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an open and honest review!

This was a scattered book..is it a thriller, a sci-fi, a romance? What exactly is going on in this town? Curses, missing women, first and twisted love, abuse. Not sure who the intended target audience this is for.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, but it was also bloated and tedious at times. For a book focusing on four girls whose mothers disappeared, presumed dead, I expected more introspection on female friendship and mother daughter relationships. There was some there, but very surface level. This book is very much plot focused, while intend to prefer character focused. And that’s fine! That’s just a me thing! But the bloat and the dragging on of the plot and peripherals and repetition at time of descriptions of important events or settings was just tedious and detracted from my enjoyment.

I did like that the characters all felt distinct— but I felt that they suffered from being too… cast in their specific roles. They lacked complexity, for the most part. There were aspects I wanted more developed and explored (like Delilah’s skin reaction to the Hardings and how it disappeared— a really interesting bit that just was there and gone. And the end is very deus ex machina, deliberately. And the whole fact that like… we live in a modern society, these girls had modern phones, how the fuck is anything getting into this sleepy small town if they can’t even leave to go to a neighboring mall? How are they going to establish lives on the outside without any documentation? How could Harding NOT FIND THE MOMS if they were literally down the street? The sherif is in on it! He’d be able to find out where they were! The world building and logic just sucked. And that detracted a lot from my ability to feel satisfied with the book.

I love an atmospheric book. This story was all chilling atmosphere and I ate it up. Where Darkness Blooms left goosebumps on my skin from the establishment of the eerie setting to the end of the book. The cover is gorgeous and fits the vibe of the book so well. If you’re a fan of stories that will keep you guessing, distrust the people around you, and make you wary of the plants outside your window, you should absolutely pick up Where Darkness Blooms.

2/5 stars. To be released February 2023.

Where Darkness Blooms had a promising and creepy plot, but unfortunately did not live up to the hype. The ending was very anticlimactic and honestly disappointing. The town and story was creepy and disturbing but ultimately frustrating that no one else in the book realized something was going on. The ending was also frustrating for that reason as well. I usually really enjoy books with a plot like this, but this one missed the mark and it was hard to keep my attention for the last 25% of the book.