Holly Chambers is grappling with the loss of her brother Dane. Dane committed suicide after experiencing severe neurological and psychological symptoms. But Holly isn’t sure that Dane’s death is a suicide given that his last text indicated that his girlfriend Maura wanted to play a strange game on the night he died. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Holly sees a potential opening when her roommate Rachel begins talking with her fiance about buying a condo. Searching for accommodations on her meager salary, Holly reconnects with Maura and decides to move in. After all, it’s easier to investigate when she is living in Maura’s space. But Holly quickly learns that things aren’t as they seem. As a florist, Maura’s townhouse is filled with strange plants and the library contains odd books. But Holly also finds herself strangely attracted to Maura. Will she be able to solve the mystery of her brother’s death or will she be claimed as well?

Well, that was a wild ride. This novel has a lot working in its favor. Set in Savannah, Georgia, it successfully leans on the Southern gothic genre. There’s a great deal of atmosphere that pushes the novel forward. The plot builds until the final quarter of the book, where the audience will struggle to find a place to stop reading. At that point, everything is in motion and the intensity level is high.

It’s worthwhile talking about Holly. As a main character, she makes significant sacrifices to try and discover the truth about Dane. However, she doesn’t always make the best decisions when she finds herself in trouble. Several times I found myself wondering why she continued to stay in a toxic situation when the danger was very clear. Though I have to admire her persistence, she really needed to get the heck out!

Overall, this was a quick and intense read. However, this was a weird novel. It’s clear from the beginning that Maura’s plants aren’t right and she knows how to wield them for good or ill. The best comparison to Such Pretty Flowers is Mexican Gothic, and readers who enjoyed Mexican Gothic may enjoy the bizarre ride.

3.5 stars for the atmospheric tension and strange plot regarding flowers. This novel could have gone further into exploring the use of creepy flowers and the ghost history of Savannah. And the ending- no explanation as to how Holly fared (which is all I'm going to say to not ruin the plot). Maura is an interesting character, but more of an enigma than fully fleshed out. Holly is desparate to figure out why her brother committed suicide, but it leads to some questionable choices.

“'Get it out of me.'

It was the last message Holly received from her brother, Dane, before he was found cleaved open in his fiancée’s lavish Savannah townhouse. Police ruled his death a suicide sparked by psychosis, but Holly can’t shake the idea that something else must have happened... Something involving another message he sent that night, the one that mentioned a “game” his fiancée, Maura, wanted to play…

Determined to discover the truth, Holly begins to stalk Maura—a magnetic, black-eyed florist with a penchant for carnivorous plants. But what begins as an investigation quickly veers into a darker fixation, one that lures Holly into the depths of Maura’s world: Savannah high society, eerie black roses, and a whisper of something more sinister. Soon, Holly is feeling a dark attraction to the one woman she shouldn’t trust. As Holly falls deeper for Maura and her secrets, she’s left with only one choice: find out what happened to Dane... before she meets the same fate."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Thank you K.L. Cerra, Netgalley & the Publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for an Arc in exchange for honest feedback.

Release Date February 7th, 2023

I absolutely loved this debut! If you enjoy gothic horror this is a must read! I can't wait for more books from this author. This is one of my top 5 reads for 2023.

The book felt that is was fairly slow paced until the end when things all started to really click together. It was a strange and suspenseful book with dark undertones. The author clearly spent a lot of time researching flowers and plants and really dove in with this book - I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect! A special thanks to NetGalley and K.L. Cerra for allowing me the opportunity to read this book prior to the official release date!

After her brother allegedly committed suicide following a period of psychosis, Holly is plagued by the feeling of there being something more to the story. The night of his death, Dane sent a message that mentioned a game him and Maura, his fiancée, were going to play. Holly befriends Maura and moves into her luxurious townhouse in order to find answers. However, what she finds is much darker than she expected.

I was at the edge of my seat throughout the entirety of the book and did not expect the ending. It is definitely an eerie tale and I do suggest looking at trigger warnings. Some parts were also, to put it simply, odd. They dynamic between Maura and Holly turned weird very fast as Holly fell for Maura while suspecting that she did something to Dane. This book is definitely an emotional rollercoaster. Although I don't think that dynamic will make this book for everyone, I definitely felt it was well written.

I would like to thank Netgalley for the E-ARC of this story.

What a dark and twisty tale this was. The story is set in Savannah and follows Holly who is looking for answers regarding her brother’s death. When Holly moves in with her brother’s girlfriend to find answers, things take a turn and Holly gets more than she bargained for. It was a slow burn for me, and I found Holly to be irritating at times. The ending was also kind eh for me; the cover is stunning though!

Reeling from her brother's suicide, Holly can't shake the feeling that his girlfriend may have had something to do with it and is determined to investigate. To avoid spoilers, I will just say that the plot takes some surprising turns from there, with Holly questioning her own actions as she seems to fall under the girlfriend's spell herself. Gothic thriller isn't a usual genre for me and I often find myself feeling pretty dubious, but this one was pretty well done. Aptly set in Savannah, a city of gothic architecture and ghosts, And since the author even kindly explained some of the main character's "unreasonable" behavior at the end, I am rounding my 3.5 stars up to 4.

I'm trying to be nice because the writing was beautiful and descriptive. The plot got away from me though and tried to hide behind the flowery writing.
I couldn't get behind any of the characters and I keep forgetting our mc name but she was so bland and boring.
Just not the right book for me but I thank the emailed recommendation.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy.

Honestly it pains me to write this review because a) I'm clearly in the minority here and b) it had SO much potential. Such pretty flowers is a queer gothic thriller filled with lush atmosphere, and said atmosphere is the only reason I raised my rating to 2 stars. I didn't like the way mental health was portrayed in this book. It was something that was only mentioned whenever it benefitted the plot and quickly dismissed after. The plot made absolutely no sense either; it's all over the place with no clear path or destination. I also didn't like the characters at all, particularly Maura. I understand that she was written to be unlikeable, but her development was all over the place.

I loved the townhouse and the meaning behind the flowers, but other than that I didn't really enjoy this book.

A grieving sister tries to prove her brother's girlfriend murdered him in this deep-seared thriller. She soon discovers she's way in over her head when she agrees to become the girlfriend's roommate. What seems like the job of a well respected florist is so much more. What an emotional thrill ride this was! I finished within a few days.

This book took a different turn than I originally anticipated. It was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed the characters, and the plot development. Full review to come.

Following the very well-trodden path of gothic horror that came before, this book fails to add much to the genre. The interpersonal relationships are the most interesting aspects, but they are inadequately developed. There was an added layer to the body horror with the use of medical illustration, but again, it wasn’t utilized as it could have been.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

Plagued with guilt about avoiding her brother's last few text messages and horrified by the details of his grisly suicide, Holly goes looking for explanations. Was her brother's enigmatic girlfriend somehow involved or had Dane experienced a psychotic break? Holly scrolls endlessly through Dane's messages and considers every detail of their last encounters, trying to figure out what actually happened. Maura is welcoming and supportive and almost before Holly realizes what's happening, she's moved into the gorgeous woman's apartment. The horror is absolutely claustrophobic and the author has a way of making things that don't seem like they should be scary work. The protagonist suffers from trypophobia, an aversion to clusters of small holes. When she first explains it and uses strawberries as an example of a sight that makes her uncomfortable, it seems silly. By the end of the book, descriptions had me squirming.

cw: suicide

What a wild tale! I was hooked from the moment I opened the book! It was a dark, eerie, mysterious, intense, and thrilling tale. I had no idea at any point where this story was going or how it was going to end.

Holly is a great protagonist character. We follow her on a journey to try and figure out just why her brother, Dane, committed suicide. Holly has a lot of self doubt and blames herself for what happened to Dane.

Maura is quite a character. She reminded me of one of those secretly crazy woman you’d see in a Lifetime movie… and yeah she was just that and even crazier. I knew she definitely had something to do with Dane’s death, but I could not figure out exactly how.

When everything unravels and we get the truth, I was jaw dropped at exactly had been going on. The plot of the flowers and what Maura had been doing with them was crazy. I could not believe what she was up to.

🥀🥀🥀 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I will preface this rating/review by saying that you might have a different reading experience than I did, so I don’t discourage anyone from reading this.

This was a quick read for me, as I flew through it. I was hooked from the start and became invested in the story because I had no idea what to expect, so I definitely wanted to stick around to discover how it would all play out. The writing was great, and the set up for a dark and disturbing Southern gothic thriller was definitely present. While this one had so much potential, I felt there were some elements missing or only briefly touched on. I think that if the author had taken the ending in a different direction, included more likable and prominent side characters, and delved into and incorporated more of the haunting history of Savannah, GA, I would’ve thoroughly enjoyed this one. I will mention that I was initially captivated by the beautiful cover but skeptical because I’ve noticed the overuse of this design, which often confuses readers when it has nothing to do with the book. However, flowers play a major role in this one, so the cover makes total sense—and I’d recommend this one if you’ve been on the hunt for a thriller involving poisonous plants.

“Get it out of me.”

This is the last message Holly receives from her brother, Dane. But what does it mean? Savannah can be a spooky place. Kind of Gothic in areas. But who saw this crazy stuff happening there?

Dane’s apparent suicide has rocked their family. All of them suffer from the horror of it all. They all seem shell-shocked at the funeral, where Dane’s supposed girlfriend speaks and Holly has an awful feeling that she had something to do with Dane’s death.

Holly is going to find out or die trying. Literally.

Maura on the surface seems to be a wealthy woman with some weird ideas about plants and life. She is also very charismatic. She apparently talked Dane into some game that also ended his life. But Holly will need proof of that.

What should she do? Stalking Maura seemed the best way. But stalking her turns into an obsession with her. An attraction she doesn’t want. And in the end, it may be the last thing she does.


NetGalley/February 7, 2023 RHPG-Ballentine

Holly and her brother Dane were always close. Dane got a girlfriend and moved in with her when he became ill and drifted apart with Holly. Dane ended up passing away and Holly feels really guilty. She befriends his gf Maura and eventually moves in determined to find answers and peace for Dane. Holly realizes some things just aren’t right the longer she’s at Maura’s and is determined to find the answers.
I thought that this book was really well written, it kept my interest the entire time, and I couldn’t put it down until I knew what really happened. This isn’t a book I typically would have went for but I really enjoyed it. Thank you to the Netgalley and to the publisher for an arc for this book!

2.25/5 stars! The setup for this book was promising but the payoff was lacking. I was excited to read dark horror with LGBTQ+ representation and hopefully a stunning twist. What I ended up reading was a plotless story with no direction. It got a star back from me due to how beautiful the cover is.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Where to start with this? The premise sounded SUPER interesting, however it was such a slow burn.
It took some time to actually get to the climax and the ending was a little lackluster.
I enjoyed seeing the relationship between Maura and Holly, but Holly was a bit gullible to me. I also enjoyed the somewhat supernatural element but I wish there was more.. It was so much more the author could've written about Maura, her "craft", how she was "helping people" and what the flowers actually really did.
Overall it wasn't terrible but it wasn't the greatest either. It was an easy read that builds you up and just kind of deflates.

When Holly receives a text from her brother, Dane, about a weird game his fiancée, Maura, wants to play, she doesn’t pay it a lot of mind. She doesn’t see his next text until morning: Get it out of me. By then, Dane is already dead, cleaved open in what’s ruled a suicide, but Holly isn’t convinced. Dane had been struggling with mental illness, but he’d never been suicidal. Holly decides to get closer to Maura in her search for answers. She’s a lovely, enigmatic florist with high society connections and money to burn, and soon Holly finds herself irresistibly attracted to the one person she shouldn’t trust. Can Holly find out what happened to Dane before the same thing happens to her? I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Random House/Bantam. Trigger warnings: character death, child/sibling death, animal death, suicide, abusive relationships, body horror, gore, captivity, poisoning, fire, violence, severe illness, paralysis, seizures, mental illness/depression, vomiting, manipulation/gaslighting, guilt, grief.

This is a short, atmospheric little book, and I blew through it in about a day because I was dying to know what had happened to Dane. Cerra sets up such a gruesome mystery right in the first chapters, and I enjoyed riding along with Holly while she uncovered each piece of the mystery. While there’s plenty there to keep readers guessing, it isn’t terribly plot-heavy. The novel is more about character and atmosphere, and it does both fairly well. In the center of her grief over her brother, Holly is a little messy and self-pitying, and the novel wouldn’t work if she wasn’t constantly making bad choices. Maura is suitably alluring and mysterious, always with an edge of danger, and I enjoyed their weird, dysfunctional relationship. The book is full of lush descriptions of plants, food, and décor, and I often felt like I was lounging on a settee in Maura’s townhouse while I was reading.

Unfortunately, the ending is a little weaker than the beginning, with most of the horror edging out of the potentially supernatural and into Misery territory. It’s fine and it does it well enough, but I was hoping for more out of the reveal. If you give your villain a monologue speech to explain everything, the explanation should be really good, and I don’t think Cerra went as hard as she could have on it. The problem with mysteries is that they’re usually more interesting than answers, and I just didn’t find the answers all that compelling. The end also handwaves a rather important issue in the interest of wrapping things up neatly. Still, it’s fun and unusual, and it will appeal to readers looking for something a bit different in their horror.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.