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

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a Midwest Gothic YA about some murdered girls in a small town? Do you not mind reading about high schoolers facing adult situations without any of the necessary consequences or darkness that that should entail?

Pre-reading:
Everything crime adjacent I've read lately has been shit. Let's learn nothing and read yet another book in this genre.

Thick of it:
OK while I appreciate a trigger warning, spoilers!

Oh god, an artsy fartsy irresponsible mother is one of my least favorite character tropes.

Creepy sunflowers. I dig it.

Oh good so early on with the child rape. 🙃

No no, we are not calling anything a love knot. Do not give that term to the children for their anxiety. They will google and find horrors.

Listen, I get it-book about flowers, but you gotta be real careful about your verb choices because it’ll veer into smut book territory so fast, and it is not meant to be that.

Bennett’s an ass. Delilah’s an ass. You don’t fuck the guy your pseudo sister is in love with-what?

Oh my god, men shouldn’t hurt you. I’m digging the is it ghosts or is it mental illness. (This doesn’t last, unfortunately. It’s ghosts. I don’t want ghosts.)

I’m invested in this book. Good chapter endings. They make you turn pages.

I wish the chapters had the characters’ names that we were focusing on rather than numbers. I want to know which voice I should be preparing to hear.

It’s a little romanticized to be realistic, but I don’t mind it. It’s giving 300 Fox Way vibes.

Who’s paying for the house and electric though? They’re all high school girls. And it’s Kansas. I can’t imagine there being much money.

I really hope I’m wrong and these two girls aren’t lusting after their not-sister’s rapists. But like that’s what it’s coming across as, and I’m deeply uncomfortable.

Yeah, that’s a big fuck, Delilah.

I don’t understand these girls. Don’t hang out with rapists? Maybe tell your sister ‘hey, you’re dating a rapist.’ Wtf.

How could they not have been searching this whole time? You don’t move on from being abandoned or thinking your mom got murdered like that. You go find answers. I don’t understand.

They must be able to Google the phone number or like look it up in a phone book at the library.

While we love some diversity, it is also a teeny tiny town in Kansas, and I don’t know how many people there’d be like that. Also if it would be accepted. Kinda not cool to just gloss over that.

Hold on. 2003 is not ancient. Stop this fucked with me so much. One, I was like how is that 20 years ago, and then two, I was like book pages wouldn’t yellow that fast. Apparently, it only takes 5 to 6 years to noticeably yellow. Wild.

Would this be Midwest Gothic? If it is, the book is doing it well. It’s not Southern Gothic. It’s not New England Gothic, so it must be like Midwest Gothic-just making the mundane terrifying.

So if it’s rented land is that why they don’t have a mortgage? I don’t know how property works.

OK, that line’s a little too PC. It took me out of the book.

Oh, I like that they aren’t dumb, but at the same time, they’re so fucking dumb. Why aren’t they communicating with each other? I’m getting frustrated with that.

I’m still not over the ‘we didn’t take my sister with a broken collarbone to a hospital we just kind of like went to a sunflower field.’ What the fuck? Which also like, hello, where is the hospital bill or the insurance?

That’s twice now that hair has been compared to a soufflé. You can use other words.

Everyone’s very tolerant for Kansas. Where’re all the Bible thumpers?

All these clues, but I’m like ladies, it’s been two years. How did you let two years go by without asking questions? I don’t understand

I’m so invested in all these broken little girls, fuck.

This book is very visual. It could easily be a mini-series. But like more Netflix, not HBO.

Saying it wasn’t OK, but then at the very beginning of the book, you talked about how she wanted it and was a good time.

I keep losing track of which of the three boys are related to each other and how and their ages.

Yeah OK, I fully flipped back to make sure I wasn’t insane for my first impression of Mr. Evan, and he literally starts the fight with Bo, touches her without her consent, and tells her that she wanted to be raped. I don’t want to hear any of his nonsense to Delilah. Immediately no on this man. And it’s shitty because it genuinely feels like the book is trying to make you sympathetic to him. Zero sympathies for rapists, go rot.

Delilah stop kissing shitty men, c’mon.

But like DNA testing?

I’m like very afraid of tornados, so this book does Midwest horror real well. Deserted nursing home and tornado sirens? Bye.

Never understood how towheaded somehow means blonde. I googled. Apparently, it comes from spinning flax.

Again we love representation, but this many in a small Kansas Bible thumper town? Seems unlikely.

I don’t understand why this is some big reveal or why we took chapters to get to it. I think it was pretty obvious from the get-go that the Hardings would be the descendants. And even just like operate under the assumption that they’re related. Come on girls, little quicker on the pickup.

These little girls fall in love so fast. I don’t like it.

Another thing, this is Kansas. Where are all the guns?

But then you would’ve seen disturbed dirt.

Why do we have a villain exposé? He’s a dude. He’s got four girls trapped at knifepoint or gunpoint because it’s Kansas-they should just be dead.

OK cool, but mamas aren’t gonna leave their kids in a murder town. What the fuck?

But like why is that car the only option? Break into a neighbor’s house and steal their car keys.

Two cops with guns aren’t going to be intimidated by three little girls that are seriously injured.

How has no one called an ambulance or the police on these children?

An abandoned town makes no sense. You had people with businesses. There are politics and news stations. Like people wouldn’t just accept that an entire town up and vanished.

I’m sorry, how are you gonna go to college with no school transcripts or birth certificate or tax information or parents with jobs? I’m so confused. This book has gone off the rails to the point it no longer makes sense. I was so on board for the first half, and then they just lost me.

Also unacceptable behavior from the mothers. Even if you had to leave the town and you’re claiming that the town’s ghosty sunflowers wouldn’t let you back, maybe call an outside police department that isn’t corrupt then, or department of child services, or there’s like so many options to get your kid back if you genuinely think they’re going to be murdered. Also just realistically how do you get a job without your ID, without all these basic elements of society?

Post-reading:
I don’t know if this is supposed to be a YA book and that the genre ruined it because it couldn’t go dark enough or if the author completely lost the plot while writing this. Because for the first bit of the book where the concept and characters and setting were being introduced, I was so on board. Like yes, give me this Midwest Gothic. There were creepy visuals. I was into the dynamic and drama of the girls. It was juicy. And then around midway through it asked you to suspend disbelief way too much and completely fell apart. I don’t know if this was a world-building issue or a genre-busting issue, but basic realism got thrown out the window. The book takes place in Kansas. Where is the religion? Where are the guns? Where’s the racism? Where is the property tax or jobs or grocery shopping that these girls would have to do on their own? Where’s DCF? This book should be so much darker. This book should have some true-crime elements to it. Instead, the villains are evil because they’re the villains. They have no motivations. And along that line, the rape in this book has no purpose. And yet there are so many pages spent alluding to it, and there’s no payoff. There’s a lot of that in this book-of just preachy repetition that all should’ve been cut out. And yet I still kind of like the book? I think I just dug the initial concept so much that I’m not willing to write off the ending because I just want it to be an entirely different book than it is. And it’s very frustrating because it could’ve been very good. It would make a good start for a mini-series. But like just think? Make it more realistic?

Who should read this:
YA horror/thriller fans
Midwest Gothic fans

Do I want to reread this:
No

Similar books:
* The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater-kooky women-only households and found family confronting the supernatural
* Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke-twisty, love triangle, multiple perspectives, aesthetic
* Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt-found family messing with the supernatural, prosaic
* The Sun Down Motel-ghosts and murder
* Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison-virtue signaling, annoying protagonist, revenge murders

Did not finish at 90%—I just couldn’t force myself to keep reading.
I was really excited for this one, but it missed the mark for me. The four POV characters were so interchangeable that I had a hard time remembering who was who. I didn’t connect with any of them. I really questioned why the author felt four POVs was necessary.
It was slow and there was nothing that made me care about what happened to the characters.

The cover is gorgeous and the book itself was interesting definitely kept me on my toes and I’ll be recommending it for Halloween season to people. Gotta love a book that’s just shrouded in mystery

Absolute banger of a book. Fierce, unflinching, and unapologetically awesome characters that blew me away with their portrayal of... fantasy?..with realistic teenage characters full of flaws and imperfections you just can't help but be enamored with or relate to. The storyline is very interesting as well, but I feel like there's potential for a sequel? Maybe? Or that could just be wishful thinking on my part. I need a prequel AND a sequel, thanks!

Thoroughly enjoyed this unique story about this small town in Kansas that has a layers and layers that I throughly enjoyed uncovering as I read.

I look forward to recommending this to my students who enjoy mysteries and some darkness. I think they’ll enjoy putting all the the pieces together like I did as this novel perfectly paced then all out.

This review will contain spoilers!*

Firstly, I just want to say that this book has some beautiful prose and some really poignant parts. The girls deal with some really tough issues and the author has a knack for describing their inner turmoil. I connected with some of the characters on a personal level. That alone kept me reading. Also, the cover is to die for! I’m a sucker for a pretty book!

I didn’t really start to enjoy it until it became more of a mystery/ thriller and maybe that’s just personal preference but it really took a long time to take off. I was often confused about which girl was which and I frequently questioned the need for so many main characters. At times I felt like Bo and Whitney’s characters could have just been melded into one for the sake of the story.

I also still really question the fact that the mothers were alive the whole time (2 years?!) and never came back for them. As a mother, I do not buy this. Ok, the sunflowers stopped them but this is a functioning town that must receive good and supplies from an accessible road? Are there no phones? Why not just make it a couple of months that they’re gone where they’re gathering resources and maybe enlisting the help of local authories? Maybe it was just me but it seemed that the mothers were living just down the road, close enough for the girls to get there on foot in under a day, so how is it possible that they didn’t find a way in 2 years?

I think this story is largely an allegory for oppression and violence against women. It reads like a very personal account on the author’s part but some good editing and tweaking of things could make it great. I am glad I saw it through to the end, regardless.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an open and honest review!

This was a scattered book..is it a thriller, a sci-fi, a romance? What exactly is going on in this town? Curses, missing women, first and twisted love, abuse. Not sure who the intended target audience this is for.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, but it was also bloated and tedious at times. For a book focusing on four girls whose mothers disappeared, presumed dead, I expected more introspection on female friendship and mother daughter relationships. There was some there, but very surface level. This book is very much plot focused, while intend to prefer character focused. And that’s fine! That’s just a me thing! But the bloat and the dragging on of the plot and peripherals and repetition at time of descriptions of important events or settings was just tedious and detracted from my enjoyment.

I did like that the characters all felt distinct— but I felt that they suffered from being too… cast in their specific roles. They lacked complexity, for the most part. There were aspects I wanted more developed and explored (like Delilah’s skin reaction to the Hardings and how it disappeared— a really interesting bit that just was there and gone. And the end is very deus ex machina, deliberately. And the whole fact that like… we live in a modern society, these girls had modern phones, how the fuck is anything getting into this sleepy small town if they can’t even leave to go to a neighboring mall? How are they going to establish lives on the outside without any documentation? How could Harding NOT FIND THE MOMS if they were literally down the street? The sherif is in on it! He’d be able to find out where they were! The world building and logic just sucked. And that detracted a lot from my ability to feel satisfied with the book.

I love an atmospheric book. This story was all chilling atmosphere and I ate it up. Where Darkness Blooms left goosebumps on my skin from the establishment of the eerie setting to the end of the book. The cover is gorgeous and fits the vibe of the book so well. If you’re a fan of stories that will keep you guessing, distrust the people around you, and make you wary of the plants outside your window, you should absolutely pick up Where Darkness Blooms.

2/5 stars. To be released February 2023.

Where Darkness Blooms had a promising and creepy plot, but unfortunately did not live up to the hype. The ending was very anticlimactic and honestly disappointing. The town and story was creepy and disturbing but ultimately frustrating that no one else in the book realized something was going on. The ending was also frustrating for that reason as well. I usually really enjoy books with a plot like this, but this one missed the mark and it was hard to keep my attention for the last 25% of the book.

First and foremost, I'd like to say that I adored the vibes of this book. As a southern girl, I'm a sucker for any sort of southern gothic/southern horror/southern [insert anything freaky]. The tone of the writing absolutely nails the creepy, disturbing vibe that the cover promises. If you're a vibe reader, you're probably going to enjoy this story.

However, I'd have to say that from a structural standpoint, my biggest complaint lies with the prologue. Unfortunately, I think this story's tension would benefit from cutting the prologue entirely, or shifting it to later in the book. A lot of the narrative tension between the four girls revolves around understanding what is happening with the town, especially the darker parts. The prologue, while beautifully written, gives away too much of what makes the town itself function. The girls hear the windmill whispering for more, and they have to figure out what that means. Unfortunately, after the prologue, we as the reader know what the windmill and the town wants. If this was an attempt at dramatic irony, it fails because it kills the narrative tension driving the mystery for the first half of the book. If this was an attempt at hooking readers with a beautifully written folktale, it needs to be cut. The first chapter stands well enough on its own, and manages to catch attention without cutting into the narrative tension.

I've seen a few reviews saying that it's difficult to differentiate between the narrative voices. I would disagree with that note. I think the four characters voices are distinct enough that it's no problem to follow who is speaking.

There are some... concerning elements that other people have noted. Definitely check the trigger warnings before reading. (Note: thanks to the author for including that. It's very much appreciated, especially with the specific triggers involved).

Personally, while I didn't enjoy the romantic web in the story, I have to admit that it was enticing enough to see why others may enjoy it. I think this was just a case of "not my cup of tea". It's good tea, just not to my taste.

I did love the themes of intergenerational trauma and loss. They could've been better developed, but given that we're shifting between four character POVs, I'm not mad at the dev level we got.

TL;DR - If you're someone who reads books purely for vibes, you'll probably enjoy this. If you're someone who prefers plot or characters, this isn't going to be for you. The structure of the story needs some more polishing to truly reach it's full potential. Still, the vibe of the book is unmatched, and I appreciated the creepy, off-putting air enough to give it 3 stars.

Oh my gosh, what a book! I really didn't know what I was in for, but the story blew me away. The writing and scenery were stellar and I can't stop thinking about this book! I will definitely purchasing for our collection as we have patrons who will devour Where Darkness Blooms.

What an incredible book. I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style, and stayed for the girls finding their way to their own power and freeing themselves from the curse of the men around them.

Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah is creepy, suspenseful, and good horror fiction. Trigger warning for violence against women. What happens when the first settlers in this Kansas town of Bishop hear a message on the wind, "More."? What happens when a husband realizes the land wants a blood sacrifice and later the land wants more?

**For fans of Sawkill Girls**

An eerie town surrounded in sunflowers has a problem. Women go missing. The earth is thirsty for more. You follow along with the daughters left behind.

Check the trigger warnings on this. They are clearly stated on the first pages in the book. Sexual assault being the main one, imho.

It is a slow build to the action. We learn about each of the girls and their missing mothers. A lot of ground work is laid first so we understand their motivations. All the while, the creepiness of the town and surroundings is hammered in.

I absolutely love the cover. I’d not heard of this book at all but requested the arc solely for the cover! The plot was a bit slow for me. I enjoyed the Bo character. My heart went out to her. For me, this was a 3 star read. It was okay but it was a little too slow if a build for me and it was a bit more tell than show. However, books hit different for everyone so if you enjoyed The Sawkill Girls, this another book you’ll probably love as well. Similar vibes. Creepy stuff, isolated town, complex girls with sharp edges.

I really liked the premise of this, which was why I requested this in the first place. But what I was immediately disappointed by was that the twist was immediately revealed at the beginning. So for the rest of the novel I was frustratingly waiting for all the main characters to figure it out, too, which was over halfway into the story. This was especially annoying because two of them were heavily involved with one of the perpetrators, The twist should have been built up to so I would have gasped and be in shock-horror along with the rest of the girls.

Otherwise, I though this was good. The writing, though repetitive at times, really set the tone of the spooky town of Bishop and the eventual horrors that happen later on in the book. Even though the plot was predictable, it still was executed well enough to depict the themes it was aiming for . I didn't have too much trouble differentiating between the four POVs, but their voices do sound similar for the most part.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I probably would recommend this to a younger audience, but mindfully because there are depictions of sexual assault.

First of all this cover is EVERYTHING. I don't know what it is about creepy girls with plants/flowers growing on their faces that always seems to draw me in!

There were trigger warnings included at the beginning of the book, but the work itself did not contain any graphic scenes, though it did reference violence, rape, and abuse.

Bishop is a small town in central Kansas haunted by misfortune – it’s common for women of all ages to go missing. Bo, Whitney, Jude, and Delilah live together on the outskirts of this town with their mothers, until their mothers disappear one day and don’t come back. Two years later, a memorial is held to honor their mothers at Bo’s insistence. Disaster strikes at the memorial, unearthing secrets and causing the girls to begin questioning everything they thought they knew about themselves and their town.
I was blown away by this work of magical realism. The author excelled at creating an immersive setting through her descriptions, making it come alive in an engaging and immersive way. I was able to lose myself completely in the book and felt like I was in Bishop with the girls. Similarly, tension was built slowly and incorporated well throughout the work. I never thought I would find sunflowers creepy until I started reading this!
Despite following four girls of similar ages, it was easy to keep the characters separate. Their personalities, including strengths and flaws, were unique from each other and incorporated well to create realistic characters.

Where Darkness Blooms
Andrea Hannah
The town is Bishop, Kansas, a small, isolated town with a terrifying secret. Bishop raises field after field of beautiful, bright colored sunflowers, they have windstorms and women go missing. The ground demands to be fed and women must pay the price. Windstorms sound the gong of the time to feed the ground.
Delilah, Whitney, Jude, Bo and their mothers live in a small house on the outskirts of the town until their mothers disappeared. It is common for women to go missing so the case is closed. The girls inherit the old house. The girls continued living there. Delilah and her boyfriend, Bennett have taken care of the girls since their mothers disappeared. Whitney lost her mother and her girlfriend Eleanor. Jude, Whitney’s twin sister has a secret. Bo wants to know what happened to her mother and suspects the town’s people know what happened.
From page one the reader can feel the eerie tone of this tale. Author Andrea Hannah is a master at establishing a comprehensive backdrop through her narratives, making it come to life in a captivating and meticulous way. Author Andrea Hannah uses descriptions to create the ambience that will enthrall the readers. She also creates characters with distinctive personalities. Each of the girls had their own traits. The girls worked well together as they attempt to discover the secrets of Bishop. I will never look at sunflowers the same again! This is creepy horror book perfect for October.

Bishop is a town with unusual wind storms, strange sunflowers as far as the eye and can see, and where women go missing. So when Delilah, Bo, Jude and her twin sister Whitney's mothers disappear nobody searches for them except the daughters they left behind. At the memorial service, the winds stir up something strange and the girls begin questioning everything they know about their town, it's residents, and what's really happening to its women.

Where Darkness Blooms is a dark feminist YA horror/mystery which follows four young women, who were "abandoned" by their mothers. They share a house as they try to pick up the pieces of their shattered life and try to navigate some tricky life situations. Delilah begins to feel pain whenever her boyfriend Bennett tries to touch her, Bo is hiding a terrible secret, Whitney who also lost her girlfriend, Eleanor, has been speaking to her from an old weathervane in the field, and her twin sister Jude is trying to ignore everything but she also has a secret. The gorgeous cover art is one of the things that drew me in but the plot sounded really intriguing as well. This novel has a nice little touch of magic, a cursed town, a series of mysterious disappearances/deaths (only women), and seemingly sentient sunflowers and wind storms. As much as I enjoyed this one the characters felt a little flat to me but otherwise this was a unique and interesting read. I will say that this covers some topics that might be triggering for some readers including: sexual assault, implied sex, murder, and alcohol use. If you are looking for something a bit different, with a touch of magic, and a town with a dark past then this one might be a good fit for you.

The weird. The darkness. The secrets. Im all for it i was on the edge of my seat reading this. It reminds of sawkill girls. I much appreciated the darkness in this YA. I feel like a lot of novels dont go to dark. The writing was insanely good cant wait to own in paperback