Thrilling and creepy! Such Pretty Flowers was an addictive read, I couldn’t put it down. It’s a bit odd and a bit dark but it’s an exciting read.

Releasing next month, Such Pretty Flowers was a solid thriller (with some horror elements) that moves along steadily as we follow Holly in the search for the truth about her brother's death. Holly becomes obsessed with the enigmatic Maura, who her brother Dane was newly engaged to. This was a quick read -- I devoured it in just two days. My only qualms were that I found myself bored at parts and that some of Holly's actions seemed a little absurd to me. I know characters often make ridiculous decisions in thrillers but I was often internally screaming at Holly as she continued to fall in deeper and deeper. I definitely recommend this to thriller fans, especially those with an interest in botany.

I recently came across this title but I'm so glad I did because it was different from what I usually read and I was so surprised by it. I enjoyed this one and I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it! It was so interesting and I think most people will enjoy it as well if they give it a shot. I enjoyed the characters and enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it!

A dark Southern gothic tale full of foreboding and atmosphere. Holly is determine to figure out how her brother Dane died and is suspicious of his fiance Maura, yet gets sucked into the enigmatic Maura's allure. Would read more from this author.

Such Pretty Flowers by K.L. Cerra had such high potential in the description and blurb – a queer, supernatural, horror story? That’s a ‘yes’ every time from me. But this… this was not that. This felt like an eerie story of grief and loss, with a main character that is a struggle to get behind.

The writing is lovely, I enjoyed the way the words flowed, and the visuals came to life. The constant bad-decision making from Holly and the inexplicable pull to Maura was just too much to explain away and by the time I had answers, it felt flat.

I do think if I had gone into this expecting a supernatural grief story, I would have enjoyed it more. Going in with a Southern Gothic LGBTQ+ horror expectation set it up for a let-down.

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam, and NetGalley for the chance to read an advanced copy. Even though this wasn’t a great fit for me, I am always incredibly grateful for the opportunity to read and review books.

Content warnings: death, self-harm, body horror

A promising premise that doesn’t quite reach its potential.

Based on the eerie description, I expected a horror novel, or at the least, suspense. Instead, much of the story is about Holly’s grief and quest to understand why her brother took his own life. Her brother’s girlfriend, Maura, is supposed to be an irresistible femme fatale, but her appeal never really makes sense. At the same time, Holly is a difficult heroine to root for. She doesn’t trust her gut instincts or the mounting evidence right before her eyes. Each time the mystery is about to amp up, it falls flat. She’s met with not red herrings but real warnings she consistently ignores. The overall effect is slow pacing and a lot of false starts. By the end, the climax is rather anticlimactic and not at all surprising.

I enjoyed the writing itself. On a line level, it is evocative and lovely. Overall, this was a decent read but left something to be desired.

Thanks to Random House-Ballantine and Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

I mostly loved everything about this. Maura reminded me of Hannah McKay mixed with Lila from Dexter (the show): Dangerous yet mesmerizing. Maura's character was so intriguing and well done. Then there was Holly, whose brother Dane had died and was the entire reason Holly was even in the same vicinity as Maura. She irritated me because she seemed to be so weak but, in the end, she wasn't at all. She definitely grew throughout the story which I enjoyed. My only issues with this were the unanswered questions about Maura and her plants. How could a plant survive in a person? If it's by using the person as a host, how would it be killed? Maura insinuated it couldn't be killed but then Holly said it stopped growing after moving out... Besides that, the story built steadily throughout and was a really good, dark, southern gothic novel. It was definitely farfetched but in a really cool way. If KL Cerra would have been like "and then everyone realized, they were vampires!" at the end it wouldn't have been out of place at all.
I loved the prose and the descriptions of Maura, her house, her plants. The way the story was done/ described/told, everything seemed kind of drab in comparison to Maura and it was absolute perfection for this story.

Holly receives a text from her brother Dane stating "Get it out of me" and that is the last that she hears from him. He was found cleaved open in his fiancees townhouse and police ruled it a suicide but Holly believes that there is way more to the story than they have uncovered. Dane mentioned that he was playing a game with Maura, his fiancee, and Holly is determined to figure out what actually happened that night that Dane died. She begins by getting close to Maura and not everything that she is being told is adding up. She is quickly caught up in high society with dark secrets and black roses.

This horror book's atmosphere really reminded me of Wilder Girls by Rory Power and House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland. It was like those two books had a baby. I enjoyed the atmosphere and trying to figure out what actually happened to Dane and how far Holly could get figuring it out. Unfortunately I felt that the writing was pretty simple and was missing something. I was hoping for something darker for the ending based on how the book was going but it just didn't go there and I think if it did, it would have raised the rating for this book. Overall if you are new to horror and want something that isn't too creepy or too dark, this is the book for you.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.**

Such Pretty Flowers by K. L. Cerra is a southern gothic horror that takes place in Savannah, Georgia. We follow Holly in the wake of her brother’s suicide as she finds herself gravitating towards Maura, her brother’s mysterious girlfriend. Weird occurrences start to follow Holly as she investigates her brother’s death and everything seems to be linked back to Maura. Full of gothic imagery and carnivorous plants, this book will take you on a journey through one character’s psyche as her world is turned upside down.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. My biggest critique is that while it is fully an adult book, the characters feel very young and it reads as a young adult book through a lot of the story. I wanted more about the plants and the gothic atmosphere. The mystery felt very surface level and seemed to only creep into the narrative when the story needed to move forward.

But this was also a very easy book to get caught up in. The writing style is pretty plain for the most part which makes it a pretty quick read. I just wanted it to be a little more lush and atmospheric but it is still a solid 3.5 star book for me and I will continue to read books by this author!

I'm disappointed I didn't absolutely love this. I think the writing style ultimately is what just didn't work for me. I never felt like I knew our character very well, even though we were constantly in her head. I also thought she kept making stupid decisions which is what led to the climax of the novel. Of course it had to happen but I wish we'd just gotten there in a different way. I enjoyed the last 15% and the first 20% but the middle just dragged on and on. The setting also wasn't as rich as I'd hoped. They're in historic Savannah but I never truly felt like I was surrounded by that history. I'd recommend this to people who like slow moving horror who don't need a strong MC to guide the story forward.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!!

This was one of those weird, creepy thrillers, and I loved every second! Give me the weird and strange with a Savannah setting and goth goth gothic style, and I am happy!!

Holly recently lost her brother to suicide and she has been picking apart the possibilities, the reasons why, nonstop. When she begins thinking of Dane's girlfriend that he moved in with right before the tragedy, she feels not only suspicion but an attachment to this girl, Maura.

Holly soon finds herself interacting with Maura, trying to parcel together clues for her brothers sudden decline. However, when she decides to move in with her to further along her chances of figuring this out, everything seems to start slipping sideways. Maura seems to all at once to be in and out of control while Holly realizes she has stumbled into something beyond her understanding. Something so strange and unthinkable that she may follow the same path as her brother.

This was so fun! The author didn't hide that Maura was a suspect, so I really felt like I was being led into the finale very purposefully. But, the finale itself!!! I am so glad I got to dip into this author's creative and creepy mind! And, I'm looking forward to their next book!

Out February 7, 2023!

Intriguing, but ultimately a bummer of an ending.

I wanted more freaky flower facts and less running around being scared of feeling things.

Such Pretty Flowers was such a unique story. A bit odd, very dark, and with a gothic setting like Savannah, it proved to add to the overall eerie feeling of the whole book. With a cover that drew me in and a description that was a bit twisted, I was ready to see what this debut book had to offer.

The story starts with the suicide of Holly's brother, Dane. These two were very close, but over the course of the last couple of years, something changed in her brother and they kind of grew apart. Even with what their relationship was, Holly was concerned that Dane's death was not all that they were saying. And I agreed with her. Especially with how he died. It just didn't add up. She had to get to the bottom of it and the answers she was seeking seemed to fall in the lap of her brother's girlfriend, Maura.

This story was a trip. It was like nothing I expected and gave such a unique perspective to the setting and how a piece of nature could change who someone was. I don't want to say too much, but it is original and the cast of characters that surrounded Holly and Maura were definitely interesting. We never really get to understand who Holly was, but she did have some sort of unhealthy infatuation with Maura which made me nervous for her. I liked how their relationship slowly progressed, but I really wanted someone to come forward and give us some clues as to who Maura was and what her intentions were. We do get that, but later than I would've preferred.

This story will be for the readers that enjoyed Mexican Gothic. The atmospheric and eccentric storyline will definitely appeal to them, but I think the characters could've been fleshed out a little more in order to feel connected to them. Overall, I enjoyed the dark story, but still wanted more. 3.5-3.75 stars

Such Pretty Flowers is a spooky, eerie novel that takes place in Savannah, Georgia. The main character is Holly, who is trying to solve the mystery of why her brother committed suicide. She decides to move in with her brother's girlfriend, Maura, to find out what happened the night he died. I love horror novels, so the creepiness was a plus for me, but this is not one for the faint of heart. I enjoyed it though. It kept me guessing until the end and would recommend for those who love dark novels. The cover art is also stunning. Thank you to Bantam and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is an eerie and gothic book that involves a suicide that wasn't accepted by Danes sister. When she moves in with Danes girlfriend to snoop around there are many things that she may not want to know

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

TW: Sibling loss, suicide. This was a fast read, much more so that I was expecting. I liked the eerie, Gothic atmosphere of this writing, too. I think having Savannah, GA as the setting was also a good choice. My family is from around there and having grown up nearby I can confirm there are a lot of spooky, Gothic stories that float around. This book is definitely a bit weird, but I still enjoyed it. If you're looking for a fast, Gothic read following amateur detective Holly as she pieces together her brother's life and tries to figure out what happened at the end of his life, then look no further. I do think that the categorization of this book is a bit off, though--this work is advertised as a mystery/thriller, but honestly I think it should be considered horror as it leans that way a bit more with the gory details and ending.

Creepy atmosphere, realistic characters, and just overall eerie vibes! I thoroughly loved reading this one. The author's writing was enjoyable and made it an easy and fast read. The characters were perfectly flawed and relatable. I liked the creepy southern, gothic style and setting. There were a couple times I felt extremely unsettled and might even go as far as to say I felt scared. I personally felt like it was easy to predict where this was going and I was able to easily pick up clues and know how they would be important later. This did not take away from the overall enjoyment while reading though. I think if you liked 'Mexican Gothic' and/or 'House of Hollow' you may want to pick this one up. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Holly is shocked when she is told that her brother committed suicide. She is both shocked and surprised. She thinks that his girlfriend knows more than she is saying. This book kept me interested from the start.

3.5

The ideas are there and are well-intended. If only the execution was just a bit better. Overall, I was satisfied in the end, and that counts for something.