Horror fans will probably appreciate Where Darkness Blooms. Hannah’s masterful creation of atmosphere and the classic cursed land story will go down well. But others might not care for this tale very much. Between the muddy timelines and the “Lord of the Flies” way the teens seem to run the town, it might be a bit much for some readers. Overall, a solid horror story with a few real-world kinks and a disappointing ending.

Full review at thecosmiccircus.com

First of all, this cover. THIS COVER.
I am absolutely loving plant horror right now. I’m making it a genre now.

I could not put this down.
This is told in the four POV’s of cousins whose mothers have disappeared. Bo and Whitney were my favorite characters but I could resonate with something in all of the girls.

The dry Kansas backdrop of a creepy town that quite literally needs blood was very atmospheric and unsettling.

Thank you NetGalley for the earc!

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me an E-ARC in return for an honest review.

From the first page of the book to the last one I could feel chills down my spine as we are delved into a town that has a sinister history. Disappearing women, deaths that can't be explained, sunflowers that seem to have a mind of their own, and a wind that howls so loud it destroys everything in its path. I loved each of the four different girls and the chance we get to read their perspectives and also the life they live as they struggle to come to terms with the disappearance of their moms.

The mystery behind the town drew me further and further into the story, I wanted to learn more of the town and its dark secrets.

The only thing I wish that had been delved a bit more on is that I felt many things were not further explained as needed, and just in general I felt there was something missing from the story.

I read Andrea Hannah's "Where Darkness Blooms" on NetGalley. This book is about 4 girls in a small town that has untold horrors occurring. Delilah, Bo, Jude & Whitney live together in the town of Bishop. Their mothers disappeared a couple of years ago, but the townspeople hardly blink an eye because the town has always had women suddenly die or disappear. The girls decide they want answers and start digging. I was intrigued by this story and was very satisfied with the ending.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start off by saying that this is an incredibly easy read. I finished it in less than a day.

The book cover and description are what initially pulled me in to being interested in this story, but it did not live up to it. I began enjoying the beginning of the book starting with the prologue and opening chapters where the story, plot, and characters are introduced, but as it progressed I was wondering what would surprise me or if it would end differently than I was predicting it to. The story felt so rushed. One moment, the main characters are distraught and wondering what happened to their mothers two years ago, and the next they already have ideas about what is going on with the town.

I did enjoy the sunflowers being the helping force for trying to save people from the town curse.

Everything felt wrapped up too nicely? I didn't feel like this was a YA supernatural thriller but should possibly be categorized as a children's book, if the characters were younger and certain content warnings were not involved. The storyline of Bo being sexually assaulted by Caleb seemed so random and in no way helpful to the storyline? After she tells her friends the truth, it's never spoken of again, and it doesn't appear to be an issue at the end of the book. I felt like if this extremely traumatic event occurred for Bo, then it should've been discussed in her character ARC or the storyline of Caleb Harding/the Hardings being able to sway women into doing what they wanted. When the girls find their mothers, the immediate forgiveness was so odd to me... the mothers ran and abandoned their children for two years, and now we're having a nice meal together? I would've liked to see more emotion from the mothers in reuniting with their daughters. And the ending with Bennet lifting the curse on the town of Bishop didn't feel like this revelatory ending to me. Granted, I could be overly analytical with this entire review, but I did not feel like the overall story made the reader interested enough in the story or characters.

I would have loved to see this as a short story, without unnecessary exposition and spoon fed plot revelations.
A tight thriller about sisters trying to survive a town that hungers for their blood? Sounds amazing. So how did it end up so boring?

The town of Bishop has a problem, women go missing on a regular basis. When three go missing in one night no one is shocked. The women left daughters behind along with a dark secret. Each girl has to take on the lies that were told to them head on. They know something happened to their moms and the town seems to be hiding its own secrets. Each wants to figure out just what is happening and why they are a part of it. Follow along as each girl tries to confront the lies they were told and solve the mystery of just what happened to their moms. Are they safe or is something sinister waiting for them?

First off thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for this gifted arc! This story was so strange, but in a House of Hollow type of way. The imagery was beautifully written! I loved the mystery concept of the story. I just wish it was faster paced. The storyline was great but I felt as if 70% of the book was mainly just the backstories for each character. And then the action was during the last 20% of the book. The last 10% felt like a ton of unneeded fluff. ⁣⁣
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I absolutely loved getting the different perspectives of the four girls, but I wonder if things would have moved faster if the author didn’t focus so much on their backstories. I think if we just had the perspectives of Delilah and Whitney the story would have been perfect. Bo and Jude’s perspectives didn’t add much to the story. It actually felt very repetitive. The parts that were important I think could have been see from Delilah or Whitney’s POV. When things finally picked up I was so enthralled in the story. ⁣⁣
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Then we have the ending… it was… too stretched for me. There was too much summarizing. I kind of wish things ended at the porch (I don’t wanna say too much about the ending because spoilers, but once you read it you’ll know what I mean).

I wanted to like this story more than I did- female centered small town horror with a sacrifice demanding entity sounds right up my alley. But, unfortunately, that wound up being the problem, because I've read enough of these types of books to know this one was trying hard to be like the mre successful ones- Wilder Girls, Sawkill Girls- without really understanding what they did well. So instead this book feels mostly just flat.

What I did like boils down to this- the sunflower chorus was interesting, and the found family semi-dysfunction of sister-adjacent girls living together and also going through grief and panic together. I liked that these characters were practically sisters before any of this, and remained at way even through the hardest of things.

But this book just felt watered down. The reason for the sacrifices and the "plot twist" of them felt uninspired and made no real impact. And, worse, due to the decision to let us in on the secret before the story even starts made that reveal and the dragging out towards said reveal absolutely pointless. It steals any wind in the sales, and takes away any real reaction you could've had. And so this book has very, very little discovery, beyond watching these girls totter around and past clues and danger.

The romantic drama was also very, very odd. It didn't balance well with the attempts at horror, and somehow felt even more like it was clashing with the sexual assault storyline. And even that aside, the blatant need to couple everyone up in the middle of investigations and murder felt lazy and did nothing for the characters.

Honestly, this book was simply too slow and the actual plot/obstacles too easy. There is very little to figure out for the readers or for the characters- we are handed everything, the characters stumble into everything.

This may be a good first horror-lite typ book for a teen, but with the too surface level plot and characters and the pacing, it wasn't one I really enjoyed reading.

2/5 stars

I love the cover of this book and I loved the premise. Bishop is a windy town with cursed soil that requires the blood of women to satiate its hunger. Four teen girls are left behind when their mothers suddenly disappear from Bishop, but with the continuing occurrence of untimely deaths among the girls and women of the town, the teens become suspicious. The four begin to dig deeper to get at the root of what is really happening in Bishop.

My main takeaway from this novel and the real reason for my 2/5 rating is that it is simply too unrealistic. In a town of "four square miles," there are teens in the same school as Delilah, Bo, Whitney, and Jude who don't know each other? With the assumption that nobody else has noticed women dropping dead left and right, the girls' mothers discover the horrific truth only to flee town and leave their four daughters behind? And why have no authorities from outside of Bishop come to investigate the alarmingly similar profiles of the town's victims? These are only a few questions out of many to which I found myself raising my eyebrows in disbelief.

I understand that this is a YA horror novel set around the premise of cursed land, a largely unrealistic setting, but certain logistics of the book are still too unrealistic for me to really settle into the story. In addition, I didn't really like any of the four main characters and they just tended to annoy me, quite frankly.

I did appreciate the (albeit not so subtle) parallels to A Handmaid's Tale and the discussion of what women experience so that men can prosper. I think that the author did a good job of contextualizing these issues in a way that will be both clear and meaningful to teens. However, despite the last chapter, I am left wondering what happened to several women side characters during the fire and felt as though the ending happened very quickly with not enough explanation. Will the remaining women in the town of Bishop have justice?

Overall, I think the book could have been so much more than what it turned out to be. The unique story was there and the setup was alluring, but the book ultimately fell flat.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I never expect for YA horror to get me as much as adult horror and books like this keep proving me wrong. I loved the various character POVs and the plot was really really suspenseful and riveting. I feel like there were some aspects that were rushed or not fleshed out but overall I really enjoyed this one!

A BREATHTAKING 5 STARS!


WHERE DARKNESS BLOOMS is a haunting, atmospheric, captivating story of generational curses in a town that comes alive!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Where blood had been spilled, sunflowers grew over the unmarked graves.”

The town of Bishop, Kansas yearns for blood and the women of Bishop, Kansas have been going missing for generations. WHERE DARKNESS BLOOMS follow four girls – Bo, Delilah, Whitney, and Jude as they work to uncover secrets about the town before it comes for them. They soon discover that some secrets are closer to home than they thought, and they’ll have to listen to their hearts to make it out alive.

What I Loved:
✅ rich, captivating prose
✅ vivid landscape and setting, a town that TRULY comes to life and immerses the reader
✅ coming of age – these girls are trying to save themselves but are also dealing with life’s daily moments of crushes, sibling drama, secrets, and parties
✅ trans inclusive language and experiences
✅ righteous feminine anger and rage
✅ honestly, everything about this book


The four main characters create a reading experience that helps include all readers.
“Gorgeous” Whitney, who has been to her share of parties and comes alive in every storm.
“Brave” Bo, who is filled with so much anger it falls off the page and into the reader.
“Smart” Delilah, who leads the group even when they push back, and keeps it together for everyone else
“Soft” Jude, who leads with her heart and trusts so freely.

Watching them come together, overcoming their differences and challenges that hit them at every turn, is almost like a love letter to the friendships in life that are everlasting and so, so healing.

The men of Bishop fill their role, the ever-lingering mistrust and skepticism of their role in the town’s violence keeps readers on the edge of their seats anytime one appears.

The town itself is alive, in so many ways, and the intertwined history of the people and the place makes every detail feel like a key to unlocking the mystery.

Andrea Hannah has masterfully woven a story about the dangers of men, the strength of women, the haunting of generational violence and secrets, and the allure of a magical town and its inhabitants into one fast-paced, angst-filled novel that will break your heart apart and help you mend each piece back together again.

I found this too slow and unbelievable for my taste. What mothers would leave their girls??? And the men? And NO ONE knew about the hospital?

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Blurb: 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. So when three more women disappear one stormy night, no one in Bishop is surprised. The case is closed and their daughters are left in their dusty shared house with the shattered pieces of their lives. Until the wind kicks up a terrible secret at their mothers’ much-delayed memorial...Bishop has always been a strange town. But what the girls don’t know is that Bishop was founded on blood—and now it craves theirs.

This is one of the best books I have read this year. The characters are well developed, the narration flows, the plot is clear and believable. I was creeped out and intrigued to keep reading in the best way.
I couldn't put this one down from the opening intro about Bishop through to the final pages. The flowers, the weathervane, the secrets the girls all harbor...everything was just very well done.

I was very late to read this. But, I thought this was a good read! I would recommend this to friends.

DNF at 20%

I really wanted to enjoy this book, everything about it sounded like something I'd love; unfortunately, this book was not for me. The best part of the book was the prologue. The characters sounded too similar, and I had trouble distinguishing whose POV the chapter was in. I was also not very intrigued by the drama between the girls. I am sure this book will find its audience, it just is not me.

This was an extremely creepy and intriguing read. The kind that grabs hold of you, messes with your head, and keeps you up late reading. I greatly enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this story, particularly how human and flawed each of the characters were. No one acted virtuous all of the time, everyone made mistakes. But at the bottom of it all was a deep love for one another that was really touching. I didn’t feel that the content was too triggering or gory, it found a way to be intense without being needlessly descriptive about violence - which I feel is really important for a YA novel. I found a little bit of my teenage self in each of the characters: Bo’s anger, Whitney’s grief, Delilah’s protectiveness, and Jude’s desire to be seen. Overall a really great story!

I also really enjoyed the idea of the town suffocating all of these women as a metaphor for… the world at large right now. I wish there had been a little more backstory into the villains, how things all started, etc. though.

Thanks to NetGalley, Andrea Hannah, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

For some reason I thought this was more of a thriller and less of a fantasy/dystopian book when I requested it from Netgalley, so that’s on me since this isn’t my normal cup of tea. I could have gotten by that because I liked the idea and I think the book had promise but there were a few issues for me that kept me from really enjoying it and I ended up skipping a lot of pages just to get to the end. The multiple POV was confusing as there were too many girls to keep track of. I couldn’t remember who was sisters and whose mom was whose. It often felt like the story was all over the place and that honestly might have been because there were a lot of locations, but there was just a lot going on here between the girls’ relationships and their relationships with each other. It was too much to sort out and keep track of. I received and ARC, so hopefully the published version is cleaned up and addresses some of these issues.

⁉️Did you ever watch Pretty Little Liars?
I 💯 was sucked into the first three seasons, and then it all sort of went downhill, like this book.

BOOK REVIEW
Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah
Published: Feb 21, 2023 (out now 🍃)
320 pages
@wednesdaybooks

This started out really eerie, atmospheric, promising for YA horror, for sure. I could feel the feminist vibes coming, and I was here for it.

Then about a third of the way in it started giving Pretty Little Liars, but if the land was hungry for their blood. You know what I mean if you got into PLL. It sucked you in like a tilt-a-whirl. You think you’re enjoying it until you realize you’re just going around and around and around until you want to hurl. I got swept up by this beautiful cover. And this, friends, is why you don’t judge books by their covers.

All of the villains in this story were predictable and easy to identify really early on. That didn’t even bother me. What bothered me most was how the girls should’ve died a million times and managed not only to survive some pretty gnarly bats to the head, etc., but the proceeding to trek through town. Also, how were all of the men in this town just cool with keeping the secrets of the ones feeding the land the women’s’ bodies? And don’t get me started on the moms . . .

That said, IF you enjoyed PLL in its entirety, you’ll like this. Also, I think it’s fair to mention that some other booksta friends of mine had much more positive reviews for this, both giving 4 stars.

I’d consider rounding to three just because the author didn’t take one of the romantic interests in the direction I thought they might for a minute.

⭐️⭐️✨

Thanks @netgalley @wednesdaybooks for the gifted e-book

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