Such Pretty Flowers by K. L. Cerra had an exciting premise horror thriller focusing on botanical elements. In ways, that book lived up to this, but it also didn’t quite do it for me. Continue reading to get my fuller take on this new release.

Characters
Honestly, I did not like any of the characters in Such Pretty Flowers. Holly, the main character, made so many bad decisions that it was unbelievable to a certain point. And Maura just felt like such an obvious villain. Granted, her motives were not actually all that obvious until later revealed, but I was pretty over the sexy irresistible villain thing mid-way through. Other minor characters seemed to appear and disappear. These characters just slipped through my fingers and I could not tell whether or not they added to the overall book. I would have liked these characters to either be more fully situated in the narrative or removed/combined with others. Unfortunately, the characters were too one-dimensional to be interesting to me as a reader.

Plot, Pacing, Themes
I thought the overall plot was pretty compelling. I love plants, I love some gothic horror, what is not to love from the summary? When reading Such Pretty Flowers it was up and down with the pace, starting slowly. As a result, it was difficult for me to be immersed from the beginning. Putting pacing issues aside, Cerra has good bones for a creepy psychological thriller. Unfortunately, the follow-through was not there. If there was less focus on the ill-begotten romance between Holly and Maura, there would have been more time to fully delve into the southern gothic horror that seemed to be the draw for many readers. There were some, what I would describe as side-quests, that Holly used to investigate her brother’s death; these were not explored enough to be actually helpful for the plot and seemed tangential. Again, decrease the repetitive description of how Holly doesn’t trust Maura, but still gets sexually involved, and increase aspects of the novel that actually build up the plot.

Overall
I’m always here for a good gothic horror novel with Sapphic romance. Such Pretty Flowers does not hit that mark very well. The romance is obviously wrong as Holly doesn’t trust Maura since she thinks she was involved with her brother’s death. The execution of the plot did not lend itself well to being gothic horror or psychological thriller as much as it could have. Granted, I’m hoping that Cerra releases more as their career continues!

Southern gothic? High society? Deaths? Sounds like a perfect recipe for a great novel. Between the queer elements, the darkness, and weirdness of this book, it was an all around win for me.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝕊𝕦𝕔𝕙 ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕪 𝔽𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕤
𝐊.𝐋. 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚
Psychological Thriller
336 pages

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs

After Holly’s brother commits suicide, she wonders what led him down that path. She plans on finding out by befriending his girlfriend. After moving in with her, she learns more than she bargained for.

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs

Psychological thrillers are my favorite genre, and this one is top-notch!
The story revolves around the strange relationship between Holly and Maura. Maura’s moods swing quickly and wildly making life difficult for Holly as she tries to learn more about Dane’s life before his suicide.

The characters make the story, but I can’t say I liked them. Their personalities fit the plot, but I had a hard time knowing Maura is only 22 years old. She is the younger of the two, yet seems like she has much more knowledge and personal property than possible, even for a child of rich parents.

Using plants as an integral part of the story brought something different. There is mention of several plants and what they represent. I found that interesting. The atmosphere was eerie, and somehow the plants brought much of that creepiness. Such Pretty Flowers is dark, with a bit of the paranormal thrown in. It is such a unique take on death, with Dane’s suicide being caused by something that no one would think of.

Such Pretty Flowers flows well, keeps you engaged, and is a unique read. If you like psychological thrillers, you can’t go wrong with this one.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

Interesting premise but I’m having a really hard time getting into this because of the writing style. For example, the descriptions are just plain weird, including: “asparagus-shaped shadows cast by my bedposts”, “eyes vacant as empty nighttime homes”, and the use of “little red sun” to describe a text notification.

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

This was a lush and wonderful queer novel. I loved this book and was in awe of it.

Let me start by saying I wanted to love this book, the premise hooked me from the second line.

The visual storytelling is stunning with imagery to rival some of the best that I've read, with a dark, creepy, downright horrifying story it has moments that are heartstopping and breathtaking.

Our characters are complex and feel like people, the pain I felt for Holly when Dane died was palpable and raw, and Holly's confliction for how she felt about Maura just made her that much more complex.

All of that being said as much as I enjoyed parts of this book some things just seemed rushed at the end and for me that took away from the overall reading experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, Bantam for providing a copy of this ebook, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars--

As a main character, I found Holly very relatable. When her brother, Dane, dies, she's a twenty-something college grad who without direction--she moves back to her hometown, works a pretty low-skill library job with thoughts of grad school if she could afford it, and her best friend is planning on getting married and buying a house with her fiance, leaving Holly behind.

After her bother's rather gruesome suicide, Holly becomes fixated on her deceased brother's girlfriend, Maura. She finds herself moving into Maura's suspiciously fancy townhouse (how does a florist afford this..) where her brother died. Ostensibly, Maura is there to find out what ~really~ happened to her brother and if Maura was involved in his death. Holly continues to tell herself as things get weirder. And weirder. And weirder. And as her fixation on Maura grows into obsession, lust, and fear.

There was a ton to enjoy about Such Pretty Flowers--the atmospheric use of historic and ghost-storied Savannah. The mystery surrounding Maura's relationship with Holly's brother, business, inner circle, etc. Holly and Maura's relationship. The escalating creepiness as the mystery unfolded.

That said, there were so many little pieces and clues that I wanted some more resolution. One in particular was a desire for more backstory on how Maura and Dane's art school friend, Laura, had connected the couple, and whether there was malice or intentionality there. I also struggled with some of Maura and Holly's behaviors and motivations. By the end of the story, Maura exhibits a strong philosophical stance about suffering and sacrifice for beauty. And I feel like that should have been present in some way throughout the story. In a way that made her eventual actions feel a bit out of place for me.

My only other pet peeve was about the larger message of the book, which felt somewhat like an allegory aimed to show readers that intense emotions like grief, shame, fear. etc. are part of being human and a small price to pay for being alive. To me, this felt a bit dismissive of mental illness and the complex causes of suicidal ideation. For people struggling, you can't just decide to be happy and value your life.

2 stars for the first 75% of the book.
4 stars for the remainder of the book.

The first 75% of the book is so not what I was thinking I was getting myself into. This segment had some of the good elements of mystery and horror, but it was mostly Holly grieving over her brother Dane’s suicide. Then it got really bizarre when Holly moved in with Dane’s fiancé and then they started to sleeping together. I just couldn’t connect with the book since it felt like it was all over the place.

The last segment was really good. It became an entertaining freaky horrific nightmare. I couldn’t put the book down at this point. I really wish the whole book was like this part.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

This one is creepy and has more violence than I typically care to read in a mystery, but still had engaging characters and a unique storyline!

Holly received strange messages from her brother Dane prior to his death, which police have called a suicide due to psychosis. She goes to Savannah and meets his girlfriend Maura, a florist involved in the city's high society. In following her and trying to learn more about Dane's death, Holly is drawn to Maura and the dark allure the woman has. As she gets closer to Maura, Holly risks finding out exactly what happened to Dane the hard way.

Holly and her parents are grieving after Dane's violent apparent suicide following an intense but short bout of psychosis. She initially finds Maura off and a bit creepy, but still moves in with her quickly when her roommate's fiance wants to get a separate condo for the two of them. The two quickly glom onto each other, and it's only partially due to Holly wanting to know more about Dane's final moments. Because Holly doesn't always delve into her own motives for doing anything, we feel her confusion keenly. The repetition of flowers and its images throughout the text adds a dreamy quality to the story, pulling you in just as Maura draws Holly's attention.

The creepy vibe and floral aesthetic if this book is ultimately chilling once we find out what's going on. The final third of the book had me racing through it to find out what happened next. The flowers, tea, and ghostly, haunted atmosphere helped sell the body horror elements that became more prominent at the very end. I don't know what I feel about Maura, but she's compelling and complicated, and I couldn't look away from this book.

Maybe thrillers just aren't for me? Maybe I just have high expectations? I felt like suspense was building the whole time, I was just waiting for something to happen. But when it finally did it felt like a let down. I wanted to be like scared to turn the lights off. Mostly I just felt a little bit creeped out.
I think its a really interesting concept and the quality of the writing was good. It had a clear plot line it followed. But emotionally it didn't conjure the feelings that I wanted. I guess it kind of felt like there wasn't a twist. It seemed kind of obvious to me what was happening as I read it, so when it got to the end, where things started happening, it really only clicked the pieces I had into place. It didn't really add an element of surprise for me.
More of a 3.5 rounded up.

When Holly's brother, Dane commits suicide, she finds it suspicious. Determined to discover more about what happened to lead up to his brutal death, she befriends his girlfriend, Maura. Except, it doesn't end there. In order to find out more, she decides she should move into Maura's house which is convenient since her roommate is getting married soon and is looking to get a place with her fiance. So, let's just recap this once more... When Holly suspects that her brother's girlfriend may have had some involvement with her brother's death, she decides a smart idea is to move in with her to see what she can discover. This naturally puts her at potential risk....so that makes sense, right?

This book was a bit of a mind twister. Just when you think you have it pegged, things seem to change. When it seems clear that something is a certain way, you just can't be sure. It almost seems too easy. is it or isn't it? Overall, it's a tricky read. It's a bit creepy and quite clever.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This book started off really well for me, then got really weird. It wasn't a bad weird, but not at all what I was expecting. I went from 65% to done in one night because I couldn't leave it where it was. Simply put, I had to know what the heck was going on. It was so freaking strange. Trigger warning: this book does include lots of talk about mental health issues and suicide so if that's a trigger for you, this is not a good book for you to pick up. There are also lots of discussions about drinking and drug use, so be aware of those triggers as well. Overall, this was a good read though. Kept me reading which is the point of the book!

3.5

Oddly enough, I read this along with another book that ventured into the occult and both were very creepy. I don't read too many books in this genre (mostly because I can only handle so much gruesomeness), so it was a coincidence that both books read concurrently could be classified as gothic horror. However, this one was written by an American author, and the other by an Argentinian author and translated from Spanish and the atmosphere was very different.

This was dark, eerie, mysterious, and queer, and it felt more like witchcraft of sorts (humans messing with the power of botanicals) than demonic powers/outside influences as in the other book. Holly, the main character, is reeling from the loss of her younger brother, who apparently committed suicide, and while he showed signs of a mental breakdown near the time of his death, a message he sent to her just before it happened makes her suspect that there was more to it than a simple suicide. This leads her to make some questionable decisions (in a movie, these things would make you yell, "Don't do it!") but something drives her, a mixture of guilt and a magnetism her brother's girlfriend possesses.

I found the story to be disturbing, yet compelling and even though I would yell at her to leave or whatever, I wanted to find out what she wanted to know. The story reminds me (in an atmospheric sense) of Mexican Gothic, and I think people who enjoyed that book would like this as well. I enjoyed the writing and found it engrossing, even if I had to occasionally put it down because of the images conjured.

I believe this is a debut book for the author and I congratulate her on it. I look forward to reading future books by her.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for feedback. Recommend for fans of Mexican Gothic

“Such Pretty Flowers” is K.L Cerra’s debut novel. The story focuses on Holly and her brother Dane. Two siblings who were incredibly close until they inevitably grew apart. When Dane commits suicide, Holly is devastated. But as she starts to talk to Dane’s girlfriend and the other people around him, she realizes that there’s more to the story, and she is determined to find out the truth.

I would say this story is for anyone who loves ‘southern gothic’ or ‘southern noir’ type books. This is a fast read and it does have some weird aspects to it, but I personally found them entertaining. If you’re into trying horror books that are a little out there, this is definitely worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group (Bantam) for the ARC of this novel.

Unfortunately, the vibes for what this promised and what it delivered did not match and not as ghosty as you would expect with such a premise.

Thank you, Netgalley and Batam Books, for providing me an ARC copy of "Such Pretty Flowers" by K.L. Cerra. This is a southern gothic thriller with an addictive narrative voice and intriguing, mysterious plot. Well written and easy to read, you follow along the narrative of a woman who is reeling at the lost of her younger brother to suicide. With the tragic loss of her brother, she becomes increasingly suspicious of his stranger girlfriend and the odd occurrences leading up to his death. Could not put this down! Would recommend for anyone who enjoys modern gothic thrillers with a dash of horror.

Was really looking forward to this one but could never fully connect to it. It’s described as being a Gothic Horror story but I never felt like it was dark enough to ever have Gothic vibes. I feel like there was too much going on for there to be enough depth, whether with the characters, the setting, or the horror elements. On top of that Holly was such an unlikeable character I could not get myself interested in the mystery.

A southern horror story set in the most haunted, eerie city in the world, Savannah. Holly's brother has tragically passed away, leaving her with only one message "Get it out of me" His cryptic text sends Holly on a wild chase involving his former fiancée, Maura.

This bizarre story fails to fully bloom, yet it is original. Holly is an incredibly frustrating character as she kept putting herself in situations she should know better, but does it anyway. This novel was also not very atmospheric considering its setting and label of southern gothic.

I also found the romantic storyline between Holly and Maura ill-placed, and felt it like a grab to be more titillating for the reader. It had potential to be something mind-bending and terrifying but it didn't root itself to be a good story.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the complimentary copy.