Such Pretty Flowers is a Gothic horror set in Georgia. It certainly has the haunted southern vibes down! Very creepy and atmospheric.

We are following our main character Holly after the death of her brother Dane. He had just graduated college and moved in with his mysterious girlfriend Maura, when he commits suicide. In the months prior, he had been having delusions and was very paranoid. He had told Holly that something was growing inside of him and that he was scared of Maura. She and her family can't believe he would commit such an act, as he was going to therapy, on meds, and had shown no indication of hurting himself.

Holly is determined to understand more about her brother in the months between his mental decline and his death. She feels the easiest way to do so would be getting close to his girlfriend Maura. This is where things get dangerous.

I went into this book not knowing much about it at all, and so should you! It was fun watching everything play out how it did and all the twist and turns and character developments. It was a fun and creepy read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Such Pretty Flowers is a southern gothic horror novel which follows main character Holly as she works to unravel the mystery behind her younger brother's death.

Dark, unsettling, and twisty, Such Pretty Flowers is a quick and engaging read that fans of gothic horror will probably love. My favorite aspect of the book was its gothic atmosphere, which it absolutely nailed. I did think the characters were a little lacking in terms of development, but that was easy to get over thanks to the engaging plot and creepy resolution to the mystery Holly is trying to solve.

Such Pretty Flowers, by K L Cerra

Short Take: A strong swing, but still a miss.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Hello my beloved nerdlings! I’m running a bit behind at the moment due to real-life Big Stuff, so I’m just going to dive right in, mmmmk?

In Such Pretty Flowers, Holly is at a crossroads in life. Her twin brother, Dane, committed suicide in an incredibly gruesome way, and her best friend-slash-roommate is planning to get married, meaning that Holly will have to find somewhere else to live.

She fixates on the idea that Dane’s fiance, Maura, had something to do with her brother’s suicide, despite the authorities’ ruling that he was suffering from psychosis at the time. Because the night Dane died, he sent Holly a cryptic message about a “game” that Maura wanted to play, and his final message to her read simply “Get it out of me”.

Holly ends up moving into Maura’s luxurious townhouse, despite her misgivings, and of course, Secrets Are Revealed, and darkly seductive Maura is More Than She Seems, leading to a Climactic Confrontation.

Duckies…. I wanted to love this book. I really did, and I really tried. But although the story itself is compelling and original, I was just so frustrated with Holly - her choices were designed to move the plot along, but would be incredibly stupid in the real world. I also felt like many of the twists and reveals were obviously telegraphed (if not explicitly spelled out by the book description).

Although Ms. Cerra has some great ideas, there are only so many sins that can be covered in lush language and a new kind of supernatural beastie.

The Nerd’s Rating: THREE HAPPY NEURONS (and a cup of tea, I’ll stick with good old Lipton, thanks.)

I was expecting way more Southern Gothic vibes, because after all, it is set in Savannah one of the most haunted places in America, but there was no reason for it to be set in Savannah, There were no ghosts, and it seemed like the only reason that was the setting was to have gothic architecture, so it really didn’t need to be in Savannah. I also really didn’t like Holly and found her decision making to be all over the place and had no consistency. The plot felt kind of nonexistent and really nothing much happened until the end where the books finally decided what it wanted to focus on. I was really pulled in at the beginning, especially with how Dane’s body was described but as soon as Holly moved in with Maura I quickly lost interest. I’m a big fan of body horror and weird messed up books, but this just felt flat for me.

3.5 stars. When Holly's brother Dane dies in a shockingly violent way, the police rule his death a suicide brought on by psychosis. And while Holly knows that Dane was ill in the months leading up to his death, she's convinced there is more than just his mental health issues at the root of his suicide. After all, there was that strange text Dane sent her shortly before his death, indicating that his fiancée Maura wanted to play a "weird-ass game." As Holly searches for the truth of what really happened to Dane, she finds herself drawn into Maura's world, one of carnivorous plants and strange elixirs and surreal, slightly sinister high society parties. Soon Holly is fighting a powerful attraction to Maura...and fighting to avoid Dane's fate for herself.

Such Pretty Flowers is an impressive debut novel that subverts expectations in favor of some sinister, macabre narrative choices. Setting her novel in Savannah, GA -- widely known as one of the America's most haunted cities -- would probably have allowed K.L. Cerra to tell a pretty solid ghost story, but she went in a much weirder, disquieting direction -- and it really worked for me. Such Pretty Flowers is steeped in the Southern Gothic tradition, but definitely leaning more towards the horror side of things. Cerra's writing is laced with vivid, creepy imagery, and there are several scenes in this book that are truly disturbing. Her ideas feel original, and she handles her more sensitive topics (mental health issues, sexuality) with thoughtfulness.

I did struggle with the pacing of the novel, which felt uneven -- almost languid to start, and then a super fast-paced conclusion that was awesomely out there, but which was over too quickly. I was left wanting so much more out of the ideas Cerra brought in to the book. The character of Holly, too, was frustrating -- she was very inconsistent and didn't have much of a backbone or, really, much of a personality. Overall, though, I was impressed with Cerra's creativity and am eager to see what she writes next. Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam Books for the advanced reading opportunity.

What in the world did I just read?! Such Pretty Flowers is so dark, so gothic, and so creepy. I'm not one to get creeped out very easily, but there were points in this that were simply haunting. The story follows Holly, who recently lost her brother Dane after receiving an eerie text from him. She's convinced it wasn't suicide and something else must have been going on, so she begins to stalk his girlfriend, Maura, a black-eyed florist.

This would be a very easy book to spoil, but I'll just say it was definitely a pageturner, and the ending was unexpected. Definitely worth the read if you're looking for a haunting read.

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

At the 50,000 feet level, this was a great book! Holly gets a cryptic message from her brother right before he supposedly kills himself. In her quest to uncover what happened, she becomes entwined with his girlfriend, Maura. Obviously Maura had something to do with Dane's mental health decline and his ultimate death, but what? All this really works for me. What didn't work was how unnuanced Holly's character was. After she moves out of her best friend's apartment, we don't hear anything about the best friend until the end of the book, 3 months later. Also, Holly makes some incredibly simplistic errors, like accepting drinks from a person she knows or suspects uses poisons and herbal drugs on people and not making very basic connections between events. I recognize that I am reading a book and know there are going to be bad things happening and Holly is fictionally living the story, but if she were so suspicious, why be so trusting? That connect never made it for me. But otherwise, this was a scary and inventive story and a good read if you can ignore the big ol' red flags like Holly did!

Thanks to Random House for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

I don’t read much horror, but I loved Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, and I got similar vibes from the description of this book, set in Savannah, Georgia. This is not a story for the squeamish, faint of heart, or easily offended, but if you’re looking for something original and deeply disturbing, check it out.

I loved the creepy atmosphere of this Southern Gothic thriller. The story grabbed my attention and would not let go. I enjoyed the author’s writing style, which is vividly sensual—sometimes beautiful and sometimes nauseatingly repulsive. Even though there were lots of hints about what was happening, it felt suspenseful and I couldn’t look away.

Although I appreciated the originality of the story and will likely find it memorable, I’m not sure I actually like it. I prefer books about characters I can relate to and cheer on, and I really didn’t like our main character, Holly, or any of the other characters. Holly is incredibly self-centered, jealous, and wracked by guilt that never seems to motivate her to improve her behavior. I really didn’t enjoy being in her head. I was also disappointed in the epilogue, which felt a little too tidy and at the same time left me feeling like I didn’t really understand. Or, perhaps it’s just that my understanding of the story feels so unbelievable.

Note that the book contains violence, death, and body horror, as well as swearing.

Thanks to Random House for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley, which I volunteered to review.

This was an up and down ride. Holly is such a fighter. I can’t put my thoughts together. I thought the author was really going in one direction saying it was this person and it was actually someone else!

Holly Chambers is grappling with the loss of her brother Dane. Dane committed suicide after experiencing severe neurological and psychological symptoms. But Holly isn’t sure that Dane’s death is a suicide given that his last text indicated that his girlfriend Maura wanted to play a strange game on the night he died. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Holly sees a potential opening when her roommate Rachel begins talking with her fiance about buying a condo. Searching for accommodations on her meager salary, Holly reconnects with Maura and decides to move in. After all, it’s easier to investigate when she is living in Maura’s space. But Holly quickly learns that things aren’t as they seem. As a florist, Maura’s townhouse is filled with strange plants and the library contains odd books. But Holly also finds herself strangely attracted to Maura. Will she be able to solve the mystery of her brother’s death or will she be claimed as well?

Well, that was a wild ride. This novel has a lot working in its favor. Set in Savannah, Georgia, it successfully leans on the Southern gothic genre. There’s a great deal of atmosphere that pushes the novel forward. The plot builds until the final quarter of the book, where the audience will struggle to find a place to stop reading. At that point, everything is in motion and the intensity level is high.

It’s worthwhile talking about Holly. As a main character, she makes significant sacrifices to try and discover the truth about Dane. However, she doesn’t always make the best decisions when she finds herself in trouble. Several times I found myself wondering why she continued to stay in a toxic situation when the danger was very clear. Though I have to admire her persistence, she really needed to get the heck out!

Overall, this was a quick and intense read. However, this was a weird novel. It’s clear from the beginning that Maura’s plants aren’t right and she knows how to wield them for good or ill. The best comparison to Such Pretty Flowers is Mexican Gothic, and readers who enjoyed Mexican Gothic may enjoy the bizarre ride.

3.5 stars for the atmospheric tension and strange plot regarding flowers. This novel could have gone further into exploring the use of creepy flowers and the ghost history of Savannah. And the ending- no explanation as to how Holly fared (which is all I'm going to say to not ruin the plot). Maura is an interesting character, but more of an enigma than fully fleshed out. Holly is desparate to figure out why her brother committed suicide, but it leads to some questionable choices.

“'Get it out of me.'

It was the last message Holly received from her brother, Dane, before he was found cleaved open in his fiancée’s lavish Savannah townhouse. Police ruled his death a suicide sparked by psychosis, but Holly can’t shake the idea that something else must have happened... Something involving another message he sent that night, the one that mentioned a “game” his fiancée, Maura, wanted to play…

Determined to discover the truth, Holly begins to stalk Maura—a magnetic, black-eyed florist with a penchant for carnivorous plants. But what begins as an investigation quickly veers into a darker fixation, one that lures Holly into the depths of Maura’s world: Savannah high society, eerie black roses, and a whisper of something more sinister. Soon, Holly is feeling a dark attraction to the one woman she shouldn’t trust. As Holly falls deeper for Maura and her secrets, she’s left with only one choice: find out what happened to Dane... before she meets the same fate."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Thank you K.L. Cerra, Netgalley & the Publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for an Arc in exchange for honest feedback.

Release Date February 7th, 2023

I absolutely loved this debut! If you enjoy gothic horror this is a must read! I can't wait for more books from this author. This is one of my top 5 reads for 2023.

The book felt that is was fairly slow paced until the end when things all started to really click together. It was a strange and suspenseful book with dark undertones. The author clearly spent a lot of time researching flowers and plants and really dove in with this book - I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect! A special thanks to NetGalley and K.L. Cerra for allowing me the opportunity to read this book prior to the official release date!

After her brother allegedly committed suicide following a period of psychosis, Holly is plagued by the feeling of there being something more to the story. The night of his death, Dane sent a message that mentioned a game him and Maura, his fiancée, were going to play. Holly befriends Maura and moves into her luxurious townhouse in order to find answers. However, what she finds is much darker than she expected.

I was at the edge of my seat throughout the entirety of the book and did not expect the ending. It is definitely an eerie tale and I do suggest looking at trigger warnings. Some parts were also, to put it simply, odd. They dynamic between Maura and Holly turned weird very fast as Holly fell for Maura while suspecting that she did something to Dane. This book is definitely an emotional rollercoaster. Although I don't think that dynamic will make this book for everyone, I definitely felt it was well written.

I would like to thank Netgalley for the E-ARC of this story.

What a dark and twisty tale this was. The story is set in Savannah and follows Holly who is looking for answers regarding her brother’s death. When Holly moves in with her brother’s girlfriend to find answers, things take a turn and Holly gets more than she bargained for. It was a slow burn for me, and I found Holly to be irritating at times. The ending was also kind eh for me; the cover is stunning though!

Reeling from her brother's suicide, Holly can't shake the feeling that his girlfriend may have had something to do with it and is determined to investigate. To avoid spoilers, I will just say that the plot takes some surprising turns from there, with Holly questioning her own actions as she seems to fall under the girlfriend's spell herself. Gothic thriller isn't a usual genre for me and I often find myself feeling pretty dubious, but this one was pretty well done. Aptly set in Savannah, a city of gothic architecture and ghosts, And since the author even kindly explained some of the main character's "unreasonable" behavior at the end, I am rounding my 3.5 stars up to 4.

I'm trying to be nice because the writing was beautiful and descriptive. The plot got away from me though and tried to hide behind the flowery writing.
I couldn't get behind any of the characters and I keep forgetting our mc name but she was so bland and boring.
Just not the right book for me but I thank the emailed recommendation.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy.

Honestly it pains me to write this review because a) I'm clearly in the minority here and b) it had SO much potential. Such pretty flowers is a queer gothic thriller filled with lush atmosphere, and said atmosphere is the only reason I raised my rating to 2 stars. I didn't like the way mental health was portrayed in this book. It was something that was only mentioned whenever it benefitted the plot and quickly dismissed after. The plot made absolutely no sense either; it's all over the place with no clear path or destination. I also didn't like the characters at all, particularly Maura. I understand that she was written to be unlikeable, but her development was all over the place.

I loved the townhouse and the meaning behind the flowers, but other than that I didn't really enjoy this book.

A grieving sister tries to prove her brother's girlfriend murdered him in this deep-seared thriller. She soon discovers she's way in over her head when she agrees to become the girlfriend's roommate. What seems like the job of a well respected florist is so much more. What an emotional thrill ride this was! I finished within a few days.

Following the very well-trodden path of gothic horror that came before, this book fails to add much to the genre. The interpersonal relationships are the most interesting aspects, but they are inadequately developed. There was an added layer to the body horror with the use of medical illustration, but again, it wasn’t utilized as it could have been.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.