Scratching my head over this one as it was kind of bizarre. Is eco-horror a thing? Lol. Like seriously, the ground was evil in this book. It was kind of The Handsmaid Tale meets The Grace Year meets Little Shop of Horrors meets Children of the Corn. Thriller/Horror/anti patriarchy themed.

I guess it was an interesting story idea/plot. A town that needs blood to survive and that blood seems to come in the form of a sacrifice of women.

My issues were the characters. Four teenage girls living in a house together after their mothers abandoned them in a town prone to crazy wind storms and sunflowers that never die. The four girls all seemed similar, none of them having a distinct voice so I found it difficult to keep them separate. Add to that the stories of their mothers who seemed equally indistinct before their disapparance and I found my attention waning in the first third.

Once the "action" hits and we start to see the true colors of the men of the town I couldn't help but wonder who was the ultimate monster? The land, the wind, this weird magic some of the men seemed to possess (almost like a glamour,) the men themselves, the sunflowers? I felt like the story was drawn out a bit by being repetitive (voices constantly giving vague direction, "look" "Bo" etc) and more character development could have helped with this. It does have a HEA but it was just really kind of weird. Great creepy cover though!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eArc. TW for readers (included in the book) for off-page sexual assault.

3.5, rounded up mostly for the concepts.

"Where Darkness Blooms" is, at its core, a story about female rage, about patriarchy, about escaping confines both within and without. It's creepy and atmospheric, following the perspective of four girls two years after their mothers mysteriously disappeared. The small town of Bishop holds many secrets and a wind the girls hear whispering to them. You'll probably like this book if you like "Wilder Girls" and "Burn Our Bodies Down" by Rory Power or "Wake the Bones" by Elizabeth Kilcoyne. Overall, it's a fairly enjoyable read, I like the concept a lot, and much of the actual writing it quality.

Now, here come the spoilers - things I thought the book could have done better, or things that generally bothered me. You've been warned.

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First and foremost, I thought the pacing was a bit odd, and some of that may have come from having four different POVs. The prologue was fantastic, then the beginning is decently paced, then it slows down - a lot - and including the third act, then things happen very quickly. I think it would've been a smoother read focusing on two girls, max.

I mostly liked the prose... but I won't lie, it got REAL flowery for no reason sometimes.

And finally, the ending just feels... unclear. IS this revenge fiction? What broke the curse? IS it broken? Why didn't the moms just... take their girls with them? I'm all for an open-ended ending but we need more conclusion than we got. I think the novel lost its narrative towards the end.

But again, overall, it's a good, quick read and I would recommend it.

The theme of this book was interesting. You have a strange and isolated town where the weather is dangerous and unpredictable. They have windstorms that seem to come and go on a whim but can be devastating. Women and girls seem to randomly disappear without anyone thinking strangely of it. Yet no men or boys ever go missing. What's with that?

You get the history of Bishop in the beginning. It's founded by blood. A man traveling through heard the call of the earth beckoning for blood and answered it with that of his wife and that was the beginning of the offerings that would come for years to come.

This haunting book touches on many messed up social issues. Not only is the patriarchy quite controlling in this small town, but there are curses and almost hypnotic brainwashing going on. And that's mild because there is abuse and lack of consent and more. These people are truly evil.

The four girls that are the main characters are living on their own after the disappearance of their mothers over a year ago. They are good friends just like their moms were. It should also be noted that two of them are actually twin sisters. As the story is progressing, not only is the town coming apart at the seams, so are the relationships between these four young women. They have withheld secrets from each other and they are all getting ready to come to light and leave their own devastation in their wake. They will discover that the only way they can survive is to find a sense of peace and bond together to fight their common enemy.

This story was creepy, frustrating and heartbreaking at times. The sunflowers that would thrive when blood offerings were made truly made me extra grossed out but then at times it seemed like they were trying to send warnings to the girls so I couldn't truly figure out their role. It was all confusing. I still have to say it was a clever storyline.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration was done well. I thought it lent itself to the story and made it even more enjoyable. The audio version definitely makes the book feel more like a production. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC and early listening copy. I chose to read and listen to both of these and review them and the opinions contained within are my own.

DNF at 35%
Honestly my decision to DNF Where Darkness Blooms has more to do about my massive reading slump than the actual book itself. I just could not get into it at all and it was a struggle to even read a couple sentences. That being said out of what I did read the plot was really intriguing and I loved the queer rep!

*Rating based on what I did read*

The town of Bishop is officially known for its windstorms and endless fields of sunflowers, but women go missing there all the time. When three more women go missing, their daughters are left alone until secrets are revealed at their memorial. Delilah wants to move on and live with her boyfriend even though she can't stand his touch. Whitney lost her mother and girlfriend, so she clings to a weathervane. Whitney's twin Jude would rather forget everything, but her fling with Delilah's boyfriend is revealed. Bo just wants the truth about what happened to their mothers. Bishop is a quiet little town founded on blood, and now it wants theirs.

The opening is told from Bishop's POV, so we know there's a creepy, bloody history from the time of its founding. We also get a warning from the author regarding allusions to trauma and underage drinking, so there's an additional edge of foreboding in the early chapters. The girls are all teens, with Delilah as the oldest and their nominal guardian because their fathers all abandoned them years before their mothers disappeared on the same day as a bonfire all four had attended. As with many small-town stories, everyone knows everyone else, even the secrets that good ol' boys want to keep. It can be as relatively innocent as Delilah's boyfriend sleeping with Jude before he ditched her for Delilah, or Whitney and Eleanor kissing before Eleanor died. There's also Bo's trauma, heavily hinted at, as well as the bloody knife and charm found at the memorial site which starts the search for the truth two years after the mothers had disappeared.

Bishop is a town that prevents the women from leaving, and the wind whispers. As the girls try to figure out what that means, the windstorms and police circle them. The men all know more than they were telling, eager to protect the secret of the town's survival. They're the only ones who generally grow old in town; the women are cut down in their youth to feed the hunger and create the sunflowers that surround the town. This is an eerie and dark tale, where anger can give strength and survival depends on working together. At the same time, this isn't wholly a horror story. Aside from the wind speaking or the ghosts, the true monsters are the human ones that assault and kill. It's a compelling and tense story, one that I had to stay up late to finish.

The Town of Bishop has a dark secret. The women there go missing or seemly healthy women suddenly die.

This book is from four point of views of the daughters of three friends that have gone missing. They’re trying to find answers about what happened to their moms. The four girls are very different but share the same pain. This book is about found family and the different struggles women face. This is supernatural thriller that brings the creepy vibes.

Blown away by this amazing read. The cover was the reason I wanted it but now I know this is a story That will stick with me for a long time.

A story of female friendship. It's upset and downs and what the power of love and strength can do. The writing flowed smoothly and I finished in a couple of sittings. The atmosphere was creepy, sith a Gothic whimsical feel. I was heavily invested in their journey and was anxious towards the ending. I don't normally do young adult books, but it was strongly written and gave me hours of enjoyment. #NETGALLEY #andreahannah #wheredarknessblooms

Watchful sunflowers, missing mothers, and a land that craves blood. Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah is just the right balance of creepy suspense and page-turning action.

The story centers on the friendship of four teenage girls who live like sisters. They have been caring for each other and their home, alone, for two years since their mothers disappeared.

The girls know that there is something dangerously wrong with the town of Bishop, KS. As their suspicions grow, and they investigate the many deaths and disappearances of the women in town, Bishop’s dark mysteries slowly come to light.

The fierce loyalty of these four abandoned girls gives this book its heart. When we are first introduced to Delilah, Bo, Jude, and Whitney, they are living very separate lives under one roof. But when one of them is injured, their secrets are shared, and they bond together as they had been before their mothers vanished.

I had some difficulty sorting out all the characters and past events at the start of the book. I felt like I needed a chart matching the girls to their mothers and a detailed timeline of the past two years. But once I settled in, the different personalities and experiences of each character became clear. Yet taking a few notes when reading the first chapters might be helpful.

Once the truth about Bishop is revealed, the action moves at a fast pace to the end. Readers of YA horror and suspense won’t be disappointed by this supernatural tale with its strong and determined characters.

tw: rape

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review.

It’s a spooky story that will have you questioning each character. Each character was unique and the story built slowly, increasing the mystery.
It wasn’t the book for me because I’m slowly learning I don’t appreciate paranormal aspects in a modern world. However, many will love this one!
Thank you Wednesday Books for the gifted copy!

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

I love these gothic, Midwest YA books that keep cropping up and the darkness that they carry. I think that they are diving into what it means to be a teenage girl and what happens to you when the world is against you. I think that there were too many girls in this book for me, too many narrations. But I did like that they each brought something to the narrative. I think that the story involving their mothers was a little flimsy and I don't believe that they would have left anyway, but whatever.

It was darker than I thought but I don't know that the supernatural element of it landed as hard as it should have.

3 stars.

This is a YA supernatural thriller about an eerie town where the sunflowers whisper secrets and the land hungers for blood.

I just about binged Where Darkness Blooms in a day. It was such a gripping novel about this creepy town where missing women is common, and no one thinks twice about it… except for the group of girls/sisters who’s mother’s disappeared two year ago. The girls (Delilah, Bo, and twins Whitney & Jude) refuse to believe their mothers just up and left them, but finding out the truth of it all might be the most dangerous thing they’ve ever done. Are they willing to risk it all??

You’ll love this book is you like….

- Vengeful land
- Found family
- Little town secrets
- Strong female characters
- A little bit of queer love

I give this book 4 stars, as it was emotional and gritty with a touch of the spooky paranormal that I love so much!

I'm a sucker for a supernatural thriller, especially ones featuring dramatic irony so heavily. As the reader, we know EXACTLY what's going on in the town of Bishop. At times I found myself yelling "DON'T GO IN THERE!", because god damn. In a town where so many women go missing or die of strange circumstances, we follow a found family of 4 teenagers. Alternating between their perspectives, we unravel the secrets of Bishop and find the truth about what really happened to their mothers. I loved the use of the wind as a supernatural entity and how the land truly felt like a character. Will I ever look at a sunflower in the same way? Hell no. But this is a really quick and enjoyable supernatural thriller with some heavy themes.

*Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

4.25/5⭐️

The cover drew me in and the storyline made me stay. This was such an intriguing book with such an interesting plot that I couldn’t get myself to really stop reading! It kind of reminds me of some other horror book i read once but I can’t remember what it was. All I know is that this was really good and I LOVED the multiple POVs!! I think this was done so well and was just phenomenal!

The town of Bishop is known for two things: raging windstorms and fields of sunflowers—but it is also known for women going missing so frequently that no one really bats an eye or looks into it. The cover and this description is what initially drew me to Where Darkness Blooms, but the overall execution fell flat.

I love novels where violence against women is explored, but for such a nuanced topic this book felt like it was doing too much too quickly to really explore the cusp of femicide that fuels the town. The land will feed on any blood, but at some point, it ‘chose’ specific women who could feel the town’s curse, which I felt could’ve been an excellent jumping point to explore the roles of women in relation to men and power, something the author was only kind of doing. In the end, the men’s role was reduced to being subservient to the curse. The curse was tied to this male family line (I guess? They never mentioned their mothers), and there was something almost magical about the Hardings and their ability to charm (?) women, so it almost takes away some of the blame from them, Bennet especially. Again, it was a missed opportunity to explore the dynamic of power between men and women.

The most important themes just weren’t explored well enough. I wish there was more time spent on showing the relationship between the four girls. This book is supposed to center on women and their breaking out of their chains, which only half succeeds in doing. But even at the halfway point, I didn’t feel like the characters were being fleshed out, just more of the same. It was jarring to see Delilah see her boyfriend kiss Jude, while at the same being subconsciously aware there’s something between them—but only knowing this through Bo’s perspective, and then cut to her kissing Evan. I had a hard time believing in what the author was trying to accomplish since the four girls were such bad friends to each other.

I thought the ending chapter was by far my favorite (cursed land hello!) but it left me with a few questions, like: How was Bo killing Caleb and William ending the curse if it was still feeding after the girls had left Bishop? Or did it stop when Bennett went into the sunflower field? If so, did he die then?

Andrea Hannah does create a wonderfully eerie atmosphere that pulled me into the story and had my blood pumping—land hungry for land and sentient sunflowers? that was SO cool! The beginning was really slow, but I loved the ending! I think this book could’ve been stronger had Bo been the sole protagonist. A lot of character traits and development got lost in the four different perspectives, so there was a lot to be desired.

This book is a 3.5 for me. I was very excited to start this because the summary looked interesting and that cover!!! When I started this, prologue gave me chills which made me think that this was going to be good. Unfortunately, I didn't like the characters much and and I also didn't like the love triangle whatever that was going on. To be honest, it's not a bad book, I kind of enjoyed uncovering the dark mysteries behind Bishop.

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

*I want to thank NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this Advanced Reader Copy. “

“The land had always been parched but its thirst for blood was learned.”
With this first sentence I knew this was going to be a great book. The author did a great job at creating atmosphere. I felt a constant sense of dread and claustrophobia from the author’s description of Bishop and the surrounding sunflowers: “..Bo stood surrounded by yellow in every direction, the whispers swelled. The flowers bent their heads, their petals stretching to her like wiggling fingers. Their voices—they each had a distinct voice—begged to be heard.”
I found this to be a very well written story. And it is easily one of my favorites of the year .

This book promises so much due to its strong beginning, author Andrea Hannah brilliantly setting up the atmosphere of a Midwest American storm as we are introduced to each of our main leads through their own POV chapters. They are each distinct, their voice carrying different notes and having their own conflicts they need to resolve alongside their shared plot thread: their missing mothers. While sometimes the metaphors used within descriptions falls flat, Hannah knows how to provide imagery that leaves you frozen within a moment.

Unfortunately, though, that is not enough for this book to engross you. The downfalls of this story are soon found as the plot is repeated several times within the first six chapters, the time jumping between past and present so frequently and it being vaguely noted to the point it is difficult to keep track of where you are with characters. It feels like exposition dump as you are reminded over and over again what happened two years ago, and how each girl feels about it. Above all, this really drags the book down, making the slow-burn feel like a crawl through the mud.

Although the mystery of what happened to these girls' mothers intrigues the reader, it is hard to want to follow along as the plot barely unfolds as time goes by. The ending isn't satisfying, either; rather, it makes all that time feel wasted as you realize the truth of all that happened is both predictable and contrived. Hannah writes the resolution to be one that is happy, but it doesn't feel earned--especially as it is hard to feel that certain characters even deserve such a thing. The lack of nuance all throughout, also, makes the theme feel like a blatant message rather than a real world moral giving the reader something to ponder.

While Hannah can weave beautiful words together and set you in an otherworldly setting, the logistics of the characters and plot fall apart at the seams.

I was provided both the print and audio arc via Netgalley, as always all opinions are my own. Thank you to OrangeSky Audio and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for providing me the opportunity to read this early. I spent most of my time listening to the audiobook, though I feel either choice would work well for this story.

Check the trigger warnings before reading this one, as there are some heavy topics in this book. There is a trigger warning page in the book, the following are mentioned as well as some I've added: underage drinking, physical violence, death (some gore), sexual assault, and teen sex.

This follows 4 teen girls trying to survive after the disappearance of their mothers. They live in the creepy town of Bishop that is surrounded by sunflowers and has constant windstorms, oh and women seem to disappear or drop dead without much concern. Each of the girls is coping with the loss of her mother in a different way, but they each have secrets surrounding the night their mothers went missing. When the town decides to honor the missing women with statues, the girls are prompted to look more closely into the history of the town the trail of missing women that the town has left in its wake. I don't want to say too much about the plot and spoil it.

I really enjoyed this. This is like if Children of the Corn met The Handmaid's Tale and mixed together into one horror novel. I would say it is meant for a more mature YA audience given some of the content and themes. I've read several books this last week about female empowerment and this is the one that sticks out to me the most. Hannah did a good job making the town of Bishop have the creepy and atmospheric vibe that you need to drive a horror novel. I'm not sure I can look at sunflowers the same way ever again. Each of the girls is on her own journey of self discovery to break free from the terrible things that happen in the town and break the cycle going forward.

If you are looking for an interesting YA horror book to pick up this spring I recommend this one!

Delilah, Whitney, Jo and Jude all have had mother’s disappear in the town of Bishop....creepy.
The deaths of women have been going on for years and years and no one knows why.
There are many supernatural aspects to this one. I enjoyed the atmosphere and suspense it gave. This was a quick and creepy, fun read. . I’ll never look at sunflower’s the same way again, thats for sure.