A novel in which town elders do some messed up shit to get their crops to become miracles and profitable, and then must face the consequences of their actions. A tale that’s been told before, but not quite like this.

What We Harvest is a spectacular debut horror novel from Ann Fraistat, about the town of Hollow’s End— once a thriving farm community with miracle crops, until the quicksilver blight started rotting the crops, the animals… and the people. Reading this novel felt like a cross between Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and episode 1x11 (“Scarecrow”) of Supernatural. Definitely a ton of vibes from that Supernatural episode going on here.

Normally, I stay far, far away from any books that have any zombie-like aspect to them, as zombie anything freaks me out, but I am so glad I gave What We Harvest a try. I was pulled in from the first chapter and the story hooked me, made me want to keep reading. I did have to designate this as a “daytime only” book, meaning if I read it at night I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep, and it made me wish I had more time in my day/days were longer so that I had more time to keep reading this book before the sun went down (kind of like how the characters needed more time before the sun went down because that’s when the blighted creatures came out to “play”).

Fraistat does a great job of creating memorable, realistic characters that aren’t all bravado and fearlessness, but are actually scared of the monsters in the book but still brave enough to know they have no other choice. The protagonist, Wren, kept the reader engaged as the book went along, especially as she possibly became less reliable as a narrator. But to have a heroine that is so kind, strong-willed, and smart as they face insurmountable odds gave What We Harvest its edge. Not to mention a great cast of supporting characters— an ex-boyfriend who’s also the ex-best friend and ex-soulmate, his badass sister who will cut you, the sister’s girlfriend who is literal sunshine, parental figures that make questionable moral choices, and the two best animals, Buckwheat the horse and Teddy the dog.

For those that love horror novels, especially ones that have to do with dark secrets and backwoods settings, pick this book up immediately. For those that don’t really go for horror novels so much, like me, pick this book up anyway, because you’ll want to keep reading it no matter how scared you get. It’s that good.

This was a very impressive debut! There were scenes that I cringed through because of the body horror, and even one that made me well up. I think if anything, maybe the solution was a little too overworked? But honestly, I was impressed, it was scary and gross and interesting!

5 STARS

Hollow's End is losing its battle with the blight.

For five months, the blight has trekked across town, turning miracle crops into silvery death traps. What only claimed plants at first has spread now to the livestock and wild animals of the town, and even worse, the neighbors. Quarantined in town by a barricade at the only bridge, Wren Warren is one of the last locals who still remains untouched by the blight.

Except now it's come after her farm.

With no left to help but Derek, her ex, Wren must search for a way to cure the blight, something five months of searching hasn't done. If she doesn't succeed, everything she loves about Hollow's End will be swallowed by the quicksilver. 

There are no more second chances for Hollow's End and its miracle crops. There is only payment due, and Wren is one of the last still standing to pay it.


If you want horror in the corn, What We Harvest has it.

Well, minus the corn. Will you accept horror in the wheat instead? Not as catchy, but far more accurate to this book. Wren's farm is renowned for the wheat that grows in a literal rainbow of colors, a wheat rumored to have all manner of curative properties. Before the blight, when the family farm was still doing well, people came from all over to purchase bread made from wheat grown in the Warren Rainbow Fields.

Now, though, the blight is creeping into the wheat, Hollow's End's last standing major crop, and with it come the blighted. They only emerge at night, with eyes filmed over in white and quicksilver beading up across their rotting bodies. As time goes on, they become stronger, faster, more rotten through their terrible cores.

And the people of Hollow's End are among them. A disappearance one day becomes a hollowed out monster the next. Jaws dangle, limbs flail, and bodies rot.

Really, it's gruesome in a way that really, deeply unnerves. Paranormal horror is the variety that creeps me out the most usually, but I'm so glad I didn't read What We Harvest late at night, or I wouldn't have gotten much sleep. The atmosphere is positively outstanding, and it's only aided by the time constraints Wren and Derek are under.


"What good is a legacy if it's always been a lie?"

More importantly than the atmosphere, though, is What We Harvest's commitment to Midwest gothic. Sure, if you boil it down to a simple use of "eyes in the crops," you've kind of got it nailed on the basic level. But this is more intricate than that. It's not just the sense of wrong where everything should be brisk and breezy on the farm. It's the exploration of legacy and greed that really drives it home.

See, I fully believe a good, truly gothic book is going to sink its teeth into issues that have gone so far back they seem to be impossible to uproot. It should tackle some flavor of "we've always done it this way" or " this is how it has to be done." And boy, What We Harvest does this in spades. Wren may start the book ignorant of the true scope of the blight, but what she learns is earth-shattering. It's also a clear portrait into human greed and desperation, and it's also an opportunity to change.

Maybe things don't have to stay the same. Maybe it's time to plant the seeds of a new legacy instead of reaping the rotten rewards of an old one.

Wren just has to survive long enough to figure out how first.


What We Harvest should be on your list if you've got any taste for horror at all.


Brisk and chilling, steeped in the uncanny side of the Midwest, it's a brilliant debut novel. I loved every bit of it, even if there will probably be white-eyed jawless bears prowling around my nightmares for a while, because it cuts so sharp and deep and brutal. And at risk of repeating myself, the atmosphere is a work of art, swirling around all the things that go bump in the night so that they might frighten you even more.

If What We Harvest sounds like the book for you, good news! It can terrify you as soon as today, depending on whether or not you can get to the store/your library has a copy already/you can purchase an ebook. It's out on shelves as of March 15th, ready and waiting to call you out past the final boundary of the wheat. 


CW: child death, loss of a loved one, violence (including gun violence), animal death, gore, body horror, smoking, underage drinking

[This review will go live on Hail & Well Read at 12pm EST on 3/24/22.]

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Random House Children's and Delacorte Press for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Wren lives and thrives in her hometown, Hollow's End, a picture- perfect slice of America where tourists travel to see the marvels like their miracle crops, like the shimmering wheat of her family's farm. Until everything changed five months ago. A Quicksilver blight surfaced, poisoning the farms, a sludge from the earth that consumed them and then the animals, livestocks, changing them into wild creatures who leer from the forest's trees. Then the blight starts to infect and kill the neighbours. One of the few left standing, Wren is forced to ask Derek, her ex, for help, because she's not willing to lose her hometown and everything she's ever know. So they start to investigate the miracles and what exactly is happening to them all, between ancient debts and payments.

What we harvest was one of the most brilliant and creepy debut I've read this year. It's well written, with intense and well rounded characters and with truths and nightmares ready to conquer the reader since the very beginning.
The story is amazing, set in an, apparently, idyllic small town, where everything is turned upside down by a plague and where two people are ready to do anything to discover the truth and save them all.
I love Wren and Derek and their relationship and how stubbornly investigate to protect their hometown and this story is wonderfully creepy, so good to read and savour!

"My whole life, the wheat had soothed me to sleep through my bedroom window with its rustling whispers, sweeter than any lullaby, or at least any my mom knew. My whole life, until now. When I realized even rainbows could rot."

What a beautiful yet horrifying little novel. The cover is by far one of the most gorgeous I've laid eyes on this year, but I was unprepared by how much of a punch this book could pack in just over 300 pages. Zombie novels have been done thousands of times over, but this one was clever, blending fantasy and science fiction in a digestible manner that a wide age range can enjoy. Yes, there are quite a bit of gross descriptions due to the blight, but I felt they were tastefully done in conjunction with the flow of the novel instead of for shock factor. However, if you don't have the stomach for anything remotely grotesque, this is your warning.

Wren's family is one of the founding farming communities in Hollow's End, a small town that produces unique crops. When a blight hits the town and not only are the crops destroyed, but the people who become sick start acting strangely, it's up to Wren and her ex-boyfriend Derek (from another founding family) to try and unravel the secrets of the town while also holding their own close. Will they rekindle their relationship during these tough times? Will they find out just who and what are responsible for the blight while also being able to reverse the effects thus far? I guess you'll have to read the book to find out. 😏

I ended up listening to the audiobook of this title and it was great, but you may have to adjust the volume during the exciting, action-packed scenes, as Lauren Ezzo tends to get very excitable during those moments. Otherwise, would highly recommend that format. My only complaint is that the ending felt a little too wrapped up in a neat bow for my taste, but that's just personal preference. Overall, an enjoyable read that I binged in a single day that made chores and laundry much more tolerable.

This was just a little too weird for me, but I do think readers who have enjoyed Rory Powers' work would enjoy this as well!

What We Harvest tells the story of 16 year old Wren Warren who is desperately fighting to keep the Quicksilver Blight from completely destroying her family farm, Rainbow Fields. The Warren family farm is special because the wheat grows in beautiful rainbow colored hues. But, Rainbow Fields farm isn’t the only miracle farm in the town of Hollow’s End. The town also contains the Pewter-Flores farm famous for ghost melons, the Murphy farm famous for gorgeous golden yams, and the Harris farm famous for beautiful auburn colored horses and dogs. These farms have made the small town something special and tourists flock to the town for carnivals and festivals.
But this is all in the past because the blight is killing all of the crops while people and animals are getting badly sick. As a matter of fact, the town is quarantined. As Wren fights to save her farm, she discovers the secret to just how these miracles occurred. Will she be able to save the farm or will the entire town and all of its inhabitants fall victim to the blight.

Wow! This was a truly creep story. The blight and how it effected literally everything was pretty terrifying. I liked the secret to how the families were able to get their farms to produce such miracles. To me, this story was an environmental horror because the very soil of the farmland was poisoned which led to the blight. This was like nature fighting back against what people have done to it over the years.
I liked Wren as a character and she fought hard in a nearly impossible situation.
This is an excellent debut book and I look forward to reading more from Ann Fraistat.

I read this ARC via Netgalley.

In Wren's town, it's all about the harvest. Her family and four others have special crops that draw in tourists and have made them wealthy - only now a blight has come over town that turns the crops silver and infects people and animals with a strange, zombie-like plague. Wren's family's farm, where they grow rainbow wheat, is the last hit, and on the day Wren discovers the blight and infects herself, her parents don't come home. She calls Derek, her ex-boyfriend, for help finding them, trying to hide the infection that is beginning in her body... but what they will uncover is the real secret to these special crops and what their ancestors did to make them prosper...

The only reason this took so long for me to read was the format (and because the Netgalley app doesn't sync between my phone & e-reader). But for the short minutes I was able to steal to read a book on my phone, I was pulled in and I didn't lose anything despite there sometimes being days before I could pick up the story again. I loved the combination of creepy farm horror with zombie horror. I totally got vibes of [book:Dark Harvest|1201724] and [book:Blood and Salt|23845997] - that feeling of a town where they almost worship the crops but at what cost? Derek and Wren's relationship was great because they had the chemistry and the reason they broke up made sense, and yet they are still drawn to each other. There was plenty of action and not-quite-gore, where the silver blight is oozing and creepy but not necessarily bloody, just gross. The plague element was a little close with COVID still lingering but since it became more zombie-like that feeling went away. And the blighted animals were so creepy! It's a fun read for horror fans and would make a great movie.

4.5 stars

“What good is a legacy when it’s always been a lie?”

Wren is the latest Warren in a long line of farmers. The Warrens are one of four founding families of miracle farms in Hollow’s End. Between rainbow wheat and glowing melons, visitors flock to the town for the sparkling fruits with the mysterious health benefits.

That is, until a quicksilver blight puts the entire town into quarantine. It’s taken over not only their farms, but their livestock, and even their people. They change. They turn into zombies intent on only feeding the blight.

Wren teams up with ex-boyfriend Derek to figure out all the secrets of the farm in order to save their lives.

I’m a big fan of cult stories, small towns, and secrets. What We Harvest had all three. There were even a few bonuses: the horror was much more than what I expected from a young adult book.

I loved watching the entire story of the farms unfold. Unfortunately for me, I had figured out the end of the story and the twists pretty early. I’m not all that mad about it though—I enjoyed it! I can’t wait to see what else Ann Fraistat has to offer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this advanced review copy! What We Harvest releases on March 22nd.

CW: animal death, blood and gore

Wowowowowowowowowow!

<i>WOW.</I> This book blew me away! The prose is beautiful and lyrical and gruesome and magnetic. It sucked me in immediately and it didn't let me go, to the point that I sat up reading this well past my bedtime last night. I even had some fleeting nightmares of zombie bears and a sense of no escape. I keep a collection of beautiful sentences that really strike me when I'm reading a book, and I knew this one would be a winner when I'd already saved two and I wasn't even halfway done. I'm really struggling to find anything I disliked about the book. The characters were all likable and three dimensional, beautifully and wonderfully flawed. Especially the adults. The dialogue was so well written that I could easily picture myself and my own family in the scene with Derek, his sister and their mother arguing amongst themselves. This might make it into the list of my favorite reads of 2022. Go read it! Order it! Borrow it from your local library! Why are you still here? Go now!

Super duper huge shoutout to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with an arc for my honest review. I'm honored to have been able to read this book!

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

What We Harvest follows Wren, heir to the centuries-old, super famous Rainbow Fields wheat farm in the historic town of Hollow's End. Once perfect, idyllic, Hollow's End has now spent months dealing with the quicksilver mercury blight, which has decimated not just crops, but also animals and people. When Wren's parents, out helping a neighboring farm, stop answering her calls, Wren enlists the help of her ex boyfriend, Derek. Together, they search for her parents, and start to unravel the mystery behind the deadly blight.

I'm not always a fan of horror, but I am 100% always a fan of zombies, and this book did not disappoint! The plot is imaginative and enticing, the writing has just the right amounts of creepiness and quiet, character-driven moments. It was absolutely unputdownable.

I would call this a not-quite-even-but-close-enough 50/50 split romance and zombie novel, with the romance and overall interpersonal relationships between characters ultimately being much more entertaining and compelling than the zombie plot. I wasn't unhappy with this, but it is something for readers who are more into zombies and less into romance to keep in mind.

Overall, this was a super fun, kind of spooky, a little bit mind-boggling, definitely entertaining, and ultimately sweet and surprisingly heartwarming debut. I'll certainly be looking forward to what the author produces in the future!

So creepy, the body horror was utilized in such an excellent way to really amp up the pressure and keep you on edge. The plot was well done I particularly enjoyed the way the information about the the blight was revealed, it was so satisfying how the different bits of information fit together. It's a really cool magic system and I thought it was really well explained through out the story. The Characters are well written and it was interesting how they handled such a crazy situation and I appreciated that it felt like a realistic response to such an unreal situation. All around the book was hard to put down and well written.

What We Harvest follows Wren, a farmer's daughter in the quaint American town of Hollow's End. Their farm, in particular, is known for their beautiful rainbow wheat. But deep in the soil, blight is ruining the town's picture perfect crops. After that it, starts affecting animals and soon humans until the town is under quarantine.

First of all, I loved the premise of this story. It's unique and interesting. The story is what really kept me reading. Plus, Fraistat is a great writer. There was just something about Wren that had me not connecting with her. I think it was all the talk about starting a family. I know that some sixteen-year-olds think about that, but I kind of wanted her to have other goals too. I can see how some young adults might relate to her. Teddy was fantastic, best character in this whole story. The thing that was off-putting for me was that this book relies heavily on gross-out horror, which is my least favorite kind of horror. Some may enjoy it, but I definitely didn't.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This book was an amazing debut.

I was hooked from the first line, and the pacing and heart-pounding thrills didn’t stop until the final page. I loved the secrets bubbling to the surface of this town, and how we jumped right in, to the middle of this plague. The characters—and the antagonist, too, honestly—were so likable. Wren is a relatable narrator, and her growth over the course of this terrifying adventure was moving.


Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel. Opinions are my own.

“So it had finally come to kill us. The sickest part was, I’d started to believe we were invincible- that somehow the miracle of our farm might protect us”

Wren lives in a small town called Hollow’s End; known for their famous bountiful crops of blue melons and rainbow hued wheat. Hollow’s End is successful and tourists travel far and wide to visit the farms up until a blight slowly takes over the farms. Each farm becomes poisoned by the quicksilver mercury blight, including the animals and then coming for the humans soon after. Those infected are gone in the forest during the day but come out at night, looking like a rotting corpse with white eyes. No one knows what they do or what they are doing till then.

Wren is one of the last ones standing but knows that she doesn’t have much time left. Her parents have disappeared with one of their neighbors and she’s left alone at home. With the help of her neighbor and ex-boyfriend Derek, they work together with his family to try to figure out a way of stopping the blight before it’s too late. They unlock many secrets that lead to the town's past and learn that not everything about their family and ancestors is not as innocent as it appears.

The book is fast paced and wraps up together in an expected ending. In between chapters we get to see an insight of Wren’s past and how life was before it had all changed from the blight. The writing itself is lovely and easy to read at the same time. There is also an eerie sense of unease throughout reading and you can feel that something evil is lurking from beyond the trees and may attack at any moment. The book definitely made me feel transported right into it. Fraistat’s young adult debut is one to check out if you’re interested in small town secrets and plagues. I’m curious to see what she will come up with next! Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's for the ARC of this!

With such a stunning cover, this immediately piqued my interest and when I saw that it included a zombie-like blight eating through crops before turning for animals and people, I knew I had to read it. This was perfectly fast-paced and easy to read, I read it in one sitting and couldn't put it down. The characters were believable, even with the horror filled fictional world, and I was rooting for Wren throughout the whole thing. She was complicated, but also a teenager driven by her emotional side. Plus, there was a zombie dog that never really gave up it's love for it's owner. Very fun read, perfect for fans of The Bone Houses, A House of Salt and Sorrows, and creepy, atmospheric YA.

From the synopsis, you can tell that this is a zombie story. That’s usually not my thing but this book seemed like it was going to provide an interesting spin on the typical living dead trope. I do think it accomplishes that but for a much younger age range.

The writing isn’t bad but this book gives STRONG Goosebumps by R.L. Stine vibes. Don’t get me wrong, I love Goosebumps. I completely credit my interest in the supernatural and spooky things to those books. However, when I hear YA dark fantasy, I do not think of scary children’s books. I don’t want to spoil the ending or the major events that happen throughout but if you’re familiar with the pacing and endings of the Goosebumps books, you’ll be able to figure out where What We Harvest is going within the first few chapters.

Also, while the writing isn’t bad, it’s pretty bland. None of the characters really stood out to me and despite them fighting literal zombies, there never seemed to be any real consequences or high stakes. There was a romantic sub-plot but it read very young, like everything else in this book. Overall, this is the kind of story that I would have really enjoyed when I was around the ages of thirteen to fifteen; not as an adult.

I hate to rate this book so low because I don’t think it’s awful; I simply think it’s being marketed toward the wrong demographic. I didn’t personally find it to be a really fun or memorable read but other readers might feel differently.

What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat just made it to my top YA horror reads. I loved that this book covered the zombie horror genre but it was done in such a unique way! There’s a unique blend of genres in this book aside from the zombie horror that I really liked

I whipped through this in a day - mostly because of the characters – zombie dog Teddy <3 - but also because of the twisty plot that has revelations at every turn. The concept is so unusual and so well done, it really kept my attention.

This is a great book for anyone who enjoys YA horror with a sprinkling of romance, SF and thriller vibes!

My thanks to Delacorte press for this DRC.

It’s rare that a book scares me the way What We Harvest did and I loved every minute of it. This book takes a new approach to the zombie genre. The Quicksilver Blight that has eaten through the magical farms in Hollow’s End, and has begun to infect animals, and now humans. As people begin disappearing into the woods surrounding the town only to emerge at night with filmy white eyes and hunger for all living things, Wren must find out how to stop it before the infection takes control of her as well. I really enjoyed being in Wren’s head. She generally thought things through and each of her choices felt like a logical step for her character despite them not always being right. We follow her and childhood best friend, turned boyfriend, turned ex-boyfriend Derek as they work to uncover the secrets that have been buried in Hollow’s End to put an end to the blight. The relationship between the two is written sincerely and without some of the secondhand embarrassment that comes with writing a teenage relationship. This book was fast paced and addicting. A strong debut for Ann Fristat, I will definitely be picking up this book for my classroom library and any future novels from her. Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Teen Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hollow’s End was once known for its miracle crops that drew tourists to the small town from far and wide. But when the blight, a quicksilver, mercury like substance appeared, it first poisoned and destroyed the farms, then the animals, and finally the people, who it turned into zombie-like creatures. Among the last locals still surviving, Wren knows time is running short when she finds that the blight has at last, made its way onto her family’s prized, multi-colored and shimmering wheat farm. When her parents fail to return to their home one evening before curfew, the only person she can turn to is her ex, Derek, and though they haven’t been on speaking terms in months, together, they set out to seek a cure that could save Hollow’s End. But the town has many secrets buried in its past, and the miracle crops come with a cost that it is finally time to pay.

What We Harvest was a rather creepy read that I was surprised to find myself enjoying, and a very well written one too. The scare factor wasn’t particularly bad in my opinion, which is saying a lot considering it includes some pretty vivid imagery. The plot was amazing – between the mystery of where the blight came from, and the continually mounting tension with the time remaining to find a cure running out fast, it was the type of book I just couldn’t put down because I was so intrigued to know what would happen next. It initially seemed like a zombie story, but as the story went on, it became something quite different, between alchemy and a dark history history behind the town’s founders that the families have long kept secret. This was engaging and easy to read, and I especially liked that this was a standalone novel that wrapped up things neatly by the end.

Wren was a strong protagonist despite her making some incredibly stupid decisions. She was a determined and relatable character and it made it easy to root for her. Zombie fiction isn’t really new, but what made this one unique was seeing it through Wren’s eyes, as she herself is infected and fights throughout the book to hold on to her humanity. There was a romance subplot between Wren and Derek, but it was very much sidelined as the main plot of Wren’s quest to find a cure for the blight clearly took center stage.

The ending was a bit more fantastical than I expected, considering that the rest of the book was generally darker themed, but apart from a change in the mood, it didn’t detract too much from the story apart from wrapping up things a little too fast. Despite this not being my usual genre, I really liked this book and it would certainly be a great choice for an October TBR! If this genre appeals to you, I would highly recommend What We Harvest!