Definitely 100% YA. The right reader will give this an easy four stars. I am not the right reader. :-)

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

The small town of Bishop has a history of disappearing women, so when three more go missing one night, few people raise a fuss. The only ones concerned are their four daughters: Delilah, Bo, Whitney, and Jude. Delilah is trying to hold things together for her family, Bo is battling a dark secret, Jude is secretly in love with Delilah’s boyfriend, and Whitney can’t get past the unexplained death of her girlfriend. When the secrets buried in Bishop start to surface, they realize something terrible may have happened to their mothers, and they might be its next target. I received an invitation to read a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books. Trigger warnings: death (on-page), rape, abduction, captivity, severe injury, blood, stitches, sexism.

This was one of my most anticipated releases this year, but it fell short of expectation. It’s possible I was hoping for too much out of it, but the whole thing just left me lukewarm. I think the biggest letdown was the lack of horror, and there’s very little development on whatever is cursing the town. That’s not to say all books need extensive world-building, or that there’s something wrong with leaving the supernatural parts vague–sometimes answers are much less interesting than questions–but it didn’t really work for me here. On their own, wind and sunflowers just aren’t that frightening.

The real horror of the book, of course, is the rampant sexism and the way the men of the town are completely fine with sacrificing women for personal gain. It’s a message I can get behind, and the human villains are definitely worse than the supernatural ones. It handles a number of important issues, including rape, with sensitivity. Unfortunately, a lot of the plot is sidelined in favor of petty high school dramas and uncomfortable romances, which are probably better suited to its target audience than adults venturing into YA. Sometimes it’s really clear to me that I’ve aged out of YA, however much I still enjoy it.

I didn’t have a problem with any of the main characters, but they all ended up sounding very similar. It could be hard to distinguish whose chapter we were in, and the differences between the four main girls are already starting to run together on me, with the exception of Bo–love a smol, angry queen. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it, but it’s probably not something that will stay with me.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

A fun, creepy YA book that asks a lot of questions. Some of the answers are confusing, but the overall vibes of this mysterious town is worth the price of admission.

Great idea but was somehow lacking in execution. There was a creepy atmosphere and characters were just okay. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

This book absolutely blew me away, I'm not even sure where to start with this review. I'm glad I got to read this in October because this book is immaculate for reading during spooky season. I'm not usually one for "horror"; though this is a YA book so it's not over-the-top in terms of disgusting things. So, if you're like me and get scared more easily, this is the perfect supernatural book for you.

Out of the four main characters - Delilah, Jude, Whitney, and Bo - I loved all of them, but Bo especially. I loved that they all had such unique voices in their chapters. When books have big casts, sometimes I think it's easy to fall into a lull of "I forget who's speaking right now, who's chapter is this again?" But you won't find that here.

Each character has their own wants and needs that take shape early on, and all of them are fulfilled by the end. You start to get a sense of what's going on right before the 50% mark of the book, though you'll still be guessing right up until the end.

I loved the plot. This book is definitely one you can binge over a few days. I had certain hopes for the ending (especially relating to Bo) and I'm glad to see my predictions came true. The ending was satisfying in itself. Overall, one of my favorite reads this year, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Where Darkness Blooms is a creepy and thrilling tale about a town in rural Kansas where women die frequently and the cursed land requires blood. The supernatural components in this book were great and I appreciate the ominous feeling the land provides. At times, I thought the storyline felt repetitive but overall I appreciated the tale. If you’re into spooky reads, I would recommend checking this out.

Good book about a forest that craves blood and multi POV. The writing wasn't really my style, but I think this will find its audience for sure.

What a delightfully creepy little story! I was expecting a mystery, but what I got was a strangely awesome combination of gothic horror, magical realism, thriller, whodunnit and of course, a brand-new fear of sunflowers. Thanks a lot. The four main character POVs were hard to follow at the beginning as they all sound the same, but as I got into the story, it became easier to determine who was doing what.

Before starting this one, budget a couple of solid hours to do nothing but read. You will not be able to put it down before you get answers!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A really great book with supernatural elements that were "out there" but not so much that you questioned reality. I really enjoyed this book.

Bishop is a town that is known for windstorms, sunflowers and missing women. Three women disappear and no one bats an eye. The daughters of the missing women start to question what had happened, but the cases are closed. Delilah, Bo, twins Whitney and Jude deal with the loss of their mothers differently. Bo has a feeling that the locals are holding on to some deep rooted secrets and wants answers. Will this town hold on to the long held secrets? Or will it claim more victims. A riveting thriller with breathtaking twists and turns.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Where Darkness Blooms is part magical realism, part coming-of-age story, part mystery, and all gorgeously written. The creepiness of the town of Bishop is just *chef's kiss*. The main characters are flawed and brush aside red flags and rationalize their situations for far too long, and honestly I LOVE that. How often do we rationalize weird stuff to ourselves in our own lives, especially if "that's the way it's always been" or if there are outside forces influencing us?

For me, the prologue did take just about all of the mystery out of what could have been the "big reveal", but that put more focus on the moment-to-moment crises the fearsome foursome were having, which was an interesting change of pace from a lot of thrillers/mysteries. I am not a writer, but I can't help but wonder how the experience would have been different if the prologue had been an epilogue instead?

Overall, I absolutely loved the spooky small town vibes of this book. I never thought sunflower fields could be scary, but I guess you learn something new every day!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing a digital copy of Where Darkness Blooms in exchange for an honest review! Where Darkness Blooms will be available February 21, 2023.

So I love going to the sunflower festivals annually...take a bunch of pictures....yeah not anymore. No thank you.

Why did they have to take sunflowers and make them so creepy? But, really this was full of twists and turns and I wanted to know all of the answers as soon as possible. This is one you want to finish in 1-2 sittings max because you need to know the truth.

I will say some of the POVs [there are 4] confused me because the tone or language in a couple were very similar. It might have actually been more effective or enjoyable with 2 POV in order to be more concise. However, loved the mystery and the spookiness!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishing team for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In the town of Bishop it is known for two things: the recurring windstorms and the endless fields of sunflowers that stretch far and wide...... and the one other thing.... all the missing women. When three women disappear on one stormy night, no one really questions it except for their daughters: Delilah, Bo, Jude and Whitney. Now they all live together, each of them trying to survive and figure out what happened to their mothers. Delilah has been looking after the girls but she’s also been hiding a secret: the touch of her boyfriend is painful to her, she can’t bear it, but she pretends that everything is fine. She thinks she is suppose to love her boyfriend Bennett but every time he touches her, her skin feels like its being painfully zapped. Bo can’t bear the touch of people... not after the night in the cellar... not after what he did to her... what he took from her... now she is rage personified, she can’t feel safe anywhere, and she is determined to find out what happened to her mother. Whitney has just lost both her mother and her girlfriend Eleanor. Eleanor was found mysterious murdered and Whitney needs to know what happened to her. Jude, Whitney’s twin sister, has had a secret fling with Bennett, Delilah’s boyfriend, and she is still in love with him. Each of these girls will be forced to confront the secrets they each hold while also discovering just how sinister and dark their town actually is... and who is responsible for the murders of all these women and the fact that they might be next. This story for me felt underwhelming and frustrating, it has all the things to be a fantastic read and definitely sounded like it was up my alley but it just didnt meet expectations and just fell flat for me. The relationship between the girls weren’t well fleshed out and some of their actions and thought processes were so juvenile that it had me pulling my hair out. Also the fact that one of them was sexually assaulted but no one really brings it up or discusses or does anything to really talk to the girl who was?? seriously??? The only character I actually liked was Bo, she was the most fleshed out and empathetic character out of all of them. The final battle/ confrontation was underwhelming after the set up of the story and I just felt like there was something missing. Overall, this one was a miss for me but definitely check it out if you are looking for a cursed small town story with multiple protagonists and be sure to read the trigger warnings before going into it.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Andrea Hannah's Where Darkness Blooms is a supernatural thriller about an eerie town where the sunflowers whisper secrets and the land hungers for blood.

What is not to love about this!
My favorite things were
-magical realism
-mystery in a small town
Could use a little work on character development and the multiple pov was hard to keep track of at times.
Definitely will check out more by the author

I just want to say thank you for allowing me to be an arc reader and all thoughts are my own. That being said; I’m disappointed that my favorite part of this book is the actual cover. I truly thought it was going to be a bit more in the darker side, something I find intriguing however; I was let down with that. It could of been so much more.

I wanted this to be dark, gloomy, and creepy, but something about Where It Blooms was a bit off for me. I don’t know if it’s the writing style—it’s just weird (I really don’t know how to describe it any other way than that 🤣), or if it’s the pacing and repetitiveness throughout the storyline.

Bummed it didn’t hook me in the way I had hoped it would!

Delilah, Whitney, Jo and Jude all have had mother’s disappear in the creepy town of Bishop.
Deaths of women have been going on for years.
There are many supernatural aspects to this town. This was a good thrilling read that creeped me out. I’ll never look at sunflower’s the same way again. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC!

In Where Darkness Blooms, a town named Bishop isn’t your normal town. The windstorms that sweep over the town are increasing. The town is surrounded by oppressive fields of sunflowers. And women are going missing.

After the mothers of Delilah, Whitney, Jude, and Bo go missing, the girls move into one house together to look after each other. And now, they want to solve the mystery of what happened to their mothers.

I loved the eerie atmosphere of this book. The ever-listening sunflowers and the whispering wind really brought the Kansas setting to life.

The biggest con of this book is that the prologue reveals what’s really going on with the land. I never felt the suspense that a thriller should have because I already knew what the mystery was that the girls were trying to solve, and it wasn’t hard to guess some other plot points surrounding the mystery.

It was also really hard for me to differentiate between the POVs. The girls were all too similar, and I couldn’t keep track of who was who and whose mother was whose. I think four POVs were too many for the story, and only having two would’ve served the story better. That being said, Whitney, who was grieving her ex-girlfriend, Eleanor, was my favorite character. She stood out to me the most, and I wish she’d gotten more page time.

That being said, there were a lot of scenes I really enjoyed, especially when the girls came together to help each other out. And the creepy setting and sunflowers and the atmosphere worked well for me.

To be honest, I requested this book based only on the cover and the fact the town was called Bishop. I grew up in a town called Bishop so I was instantly intrigued. And this book was amazing!! The perfect amount of weird and creepy.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is a 2.5 star book rounded up to 3.

While I thought this book had both a beautiful cover and a very interesting storyline, I felt like the execution fell just a bit short for me. I was immediately hooked by the prologue. I found it captivating and brilliantly written. It definitely made me want to keep reading, and made me think that this would be a great book. There were, in my opinion, too many point's of view. It did create some confusion over what perspective I was in because not only did it change just about every chapter, if not every chapter, but there were also time jumps. One character would experience, say, two hours in their chapter. The next chapter would rewind as it were, and we readers then had way more information than the new character.

I also felt like the pacing could have done with some work. Because of the time jumps, many parts felt rather repetitive and created a slow read. While the actual plot was incredibly interesting, it was hard to get invested because of the pacing/POV issues. I did enjoy the dark, gloomy magic that was present. I don't think it was explored nearly enough and once we readers finally found out what was happening, it felt glossed over with way more focus on a romantic subplot than actual worldbuilding. It didn't give me the creepy vibe that the cover and synopsis promised. Overall, not a terrible book, but it did seem under edited.