Everything this book attempted failed spectacularly:

The lines that were supposed to drop as a bomb whimpered.

Making the setting a character? It was just... no.

Girl power? Maybe if the above worked but they didn't so no. Plus they were stereotypical (I expect tropes and stereotypes to a point but the execution, much?) as hell.

Mystery wasn't a mystery.

It just pales in comparison to other YA books in this vein. It's a shame. I was so looking forward to it.

I’m not sure why it took so long for people to start questioning the deaths and disappearances of women from one small town, but this book has all the creepy vibes in a YA gothic mystery. Fair warning that there’s some disturbing triggers, though. There are four POVs and the writing jumps a bit when the POV is switched, so it can be a bit confusing. Once I mentally mapped out the four girls and their different personalities, I was deep into this creepy little town. The writing is haunting and thrilling — there was a turning point in the book where it just switched, and I HAD to know what was going to happen next. I couldn’t put the book down after that. And the beautiful cover art done by artist Marcela Bolivar got the concept down perfectly.

This book was not for me. I found it to be trying to be too much, yet also not very interesting. Each character didn't feel like they had a distinct voice, and I found it hard to keep everyone straight. I also wasn't a fan of the premise, and the ending reveal did not leave me satisfied. I wish there had been so many more feelings and tension present. I hope this finds the right readers.
The four narrators did a great job with their parts, I just feel like it wasn't the best story.

The narrator for the audiobook version did a wonderful job, I just struggle with multiple POVs in this format, so that's on me. Overall, I enjoyed this creepy story about girls trying to escape their murderous town! There are quite a few subtly romantic elements, such as sentient flowers, complicated female friendships, and sapphic love interests that combined with the building horror made this a standout YA read for me. The prologue does a lot in giving away the plot twist however, I kind of wish I'd skipped it and gone in blind to get a more striking reveal.

Hannah sets up the atmosphere in this book really well. The characters were crafted well, but I just couldn't connect with them. Overall it was a decent read, but it didn't hit quite as well for me since I didn't find myself drawn to any of the main characters. The book does touch on some heavy topics (sexism, racism, sexual assault), and I think she did an excellent job weaving these into the story in a meaningful way. For fans of atmospheric/creepy horror, I would recommend checking it out since I did like everything but the characters.

I'm glad I ended up listening to the audiobook! I loved the different narrators for the different POVs. I especially loved the found family essence of this, and the spooky town. Gorgeous and well written with a delightfully perfect cover to match it!

I wanted to enjoy this but overall found the story, characters, and plot to be something not what I was longing for or one that I would pick back up.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook and reader copy of Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah in exchange for an honest review. I really liked this story of sacrifice, love, oppression and hope. I thought it was wonderfully written and it was nice getting the different viewpoints of different characters. I felt like the reader was able to better understand, sympathize and forgive the girls more by switching narratives.

I appreciated the trigger warnings that are at the start of the story. I think this should be a more common place thing with novels. The narrator of the audiobook did a wonderful job with that they were given.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Now…
What did I just read? I was honestly waiting for the land to say “feed me Seymour.” I know what the author thought they were doing with this story but they fell SHORT. Magic making women backstab each other? Nah. Magic making men be rapist dirt bags? Nah. I can’t with this story. Using some sort of mystical energy or magic as some weird excuse for doing horrible things is weird and icky. People do these things everyday without magic being the reason why. Why couldn’t the villains and just be villains because they were bad people? It wouldn’t have changed the ‘feed me Seymour’ land and flowers part of the book….

I think you could skip this one if you have it in YA TBR.

The novel Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah is the story of four teenage girls left to fend for themselves after their mothers all disappeared on the same day. The town the girls reside in, Bishop, holds terrible secrets that the townspeople seem to ignore except for Delilah, Whitney, Jude, and Bo. After their mother’s disappearances, the girls must try and pick up the pieces while still navigating life as teenagers. Delilah takes on the role of caregiver of her friends yet would rather spend time with her boyfriend, Bennett. Whitney desperately misses her girlfriend, Eleanor, who became another unfortunate victim of Bishop. Jude, Whitney’s twin sister, longs for Bennett but knows he belongs to Delilah, even though he has made it known he would rather be with Jude. Bo is the most angry and vengeful out of the group due to a horrible secret she holds within.

As the story progresses, the girls are left trying to unravel the mysteries of Bishop thanks to the clues their mothers seemed to have left for them to follow. What the girls do not know is the exposition given by the author before their story starts. The town of Bishop was created due to a curse; the land would be prosperous if the founding family gave the land female blood sacrifices of the land’s choosing. As time goes on, the ritualistic practice is passed down through the generations and more and more female “disappearances” and sudden deaths begin to pile up. Unfortunately for the girls, the knock-on deaths door is far too close for comfort. Time is of the essence to figure out what happened to the missing women and how to stop it from happening again. All four girls know their connection to Bishop is stronger than most others as they can hear the wind whisper secrets around them. Can they use the wind and the millions of sunflowers that seem to watch their every move help them figure out the mystery and escape before it is too late?

The end of the book leaves the reader wanting to believe everything has been settled and happiness is possible, but something still does not seem right. The last chapter is left open ended and makes the reader question if Bishop will finally shrivel up and die or if the wind will continue to seek blood from different sources.

Toto, I've a feeling we're still in Kansas.

Women have been disappearing from the town of Bishop for years. But almost no one ever leaves. Something about the mysterious whispering land with its thousands and thousands of swaying sunflowers seem to trap everyone like a tightly bound bouquet. And then a group of girls band together after their moms disappear to try and find answers and leave the town and it's terrible secrets behind for good.

I'm not sure what to think about Where Darkness Blooms. It's not my usual type of read. It starts out with a creepy spooky vibes prologue that draws you in immediately. But after the prologue, things seem to fizzle. The povs aren't always distinct. Nothing really ever happens except a lot of situationship square dancing. I still have no idea who the actual couples were supposed to be. Everybody was in love with someone who was in love with someone else who *shocker* was in love with someone else. In the end, the conclusion didn't make me feel satisfied. What happens if someone starts the (fingerquote)thing(fingerquote) all over again? Not much is made clear.

I read Where Darkness Blooms on audio and really enjoyed the narrators. They were probably the biggest reason I finished the book. And it was something to listen to on my work commutes.


***Thank you to Netgalley, Wednesday Books, and OrangeSky Audio for providing me with a review copy.

Rep: lesbian mc, sapphic Black sc, sapphic trans woman sc,

This is an interesting book. It starts off where four girl’s are still grieving the disappearance of their mothers. The town seems to have just accepted their disappearance, and the fact that women often go missing or die. The main girls aren’t satisfied, so they start digging into the town history and talking to anyone who can help them find clues to this mystery.

It starts off slow, but slowly it starts to pick up and you start seeing hints and clues of things that are off and what might be going on. At the halfway mark until the end is when things are really happening. The reveal wasn't really all that surprising, I think it was kinda obvious. With all the clues, it wasn’t too hard to piece things together. Some side plots were not very surprising as well. Though I still wanted to see how everything played out and how it would end. It did have a nice creepiness to it.

The book has multiple povs. It was a bit confusing at the beginning. There’s the 4 main girls and their moms that are missing, then all their friends/partners. I found it a bit hard to remember how each were connected and their story. But I’m usually slow at keeping track when there’s multiple povs, so maybe this is just a me thing. As the story went on it got a bit easier.

Some of the girl’s actions seemed odd or unbelievable. They would go along with things that just.. had a lot of red flags. As if they didn’t have any conscious telling them not to, or they just ignored it. One other thing that was odd was the hospital? I’m trying to be vague here, but I didn’t really get how that worked, and how no one in the town knew about it?

I did enjoy the friendships and how the girls all came together to support one another. I was a bit surprised that they all lived together without a guardian for 2 years, seeing as they’re minors. But it was still nice to see them all band together after they all lost their moms. Also, now that I'm thinking of it, I don't even remember any of their dads or what happened to them?? I'm not sure if it mentioned it and I forget or if they just didn't talk about it at all.

I wanted to know more about the family’s magic, if we can call it that. Some things happened and I genuinely don't know if it was magic or drugs or something else entirely.

SPOILERS: (TW: mentions of rape)
We learn that the founding family has some kind of magical powers to lure women into liking them, then they kill them to appease the land. That is pretty concerning and falls into noncon. There’s also mentions of past rape from one of the boys. They were so suspicious and I hated them all and what they did to women.

We saw Bennett the most out of the brothers, and it was almost like we were meant to empathize with him. Or maybe it was just to show how his character is? But either way, him and his family were doing very terrible things, nothing he did or said could redeem that. Anyway, it was once again men prying on women. So I was not a big fan of these points, which are pretty central to the story.

And yes they get away in the end, but its more of an open ending. We don’t fully know what happens to the land and all the women still there. And one of the founding family member's still lives?? I think?? I didn't fully understand the ending.
End spoilers

Look up trigger warnings before picking up this book. There are a few to look out for.

I love the cover. That’s probably what got me interested. The narrators did a good job

Overall, this was a decent book. Nothing stellar but still enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

The narration was fantastic in this book, kept me invested when the story started out a little slow. It did pick up and with four girls to follow you, as they try to live their lives after their moms disappear. They have no idea what happened to them but the town kind of just accepts that women go missing here. The paced picked up about midway all the way to the end, I loved that the signs were small at first and then then starting seeing them everywhere. I did have some problem with the believability of some of things that happen, not the magic part of it but choices that are made or things believed. The audio was what kept me going on this one.

Thank you to OrangeSky Audio, Wednesday books and Netgalley for my advanced copy.

The women in Bishop are going missing — most are found dead, but Delilah, Jude, Whitney and Bo's mothers seem to have just disappeared. In a search for answers, the girls discover secrets about their town and the people who control it.

Where Darkness Blooms is a horror/fantasy mystery that kept me hooked. I can see this book being a great autumn/spooky season read.

Just average, unfocused and even bland at times. The writing didn't move me and while the story itself was interesting enough for me to finish the book, I didn't care about some of the plot progressions. The cover is beautiful, though. I hope this book finds its audience.

I get what this book was trying to do, but I don't know how successful the execution was. It is riddled with plot holes and motivations that don't make sense. It is clearly trying to evoke similar themes to The Handmaids Tale (the book is explicitly referenced in the text if it wasn't obvious) but I ultimately felt very meh about it. The prologue is great, creepy and very intriguing. But then it went sideways.

Where Darkness Blooms is a YA horror novel set in a mid-western small town with a long history of women disappearing and creepy sunflowers that want blood. It follows four girls who are kind of like sisters (two of them are actually twins) who live together after their mothers disappeared two years ago. It's a novel trying to tackle murdered and missing women, rape culture, and patriarchy writ large albeit through unexplained supernatural means.

Some of the problems with this book are more general. These include the fact that the four perspective characters are not very distinct (this might have done better with just one or two perspectives) but I'm not sure how to really talk about this without being spoilery, so here is your spoiler warning...



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Here are some of the things I had issues with:

- The fact that ALL THREE of their mothers left their kids behind knowing how dangerous it was was just not believable. And then the fact that they are easily forgiven and we get this female utopia ending is is even less believable.

- The fact that the men at the center of this had some kind of magical attraction capability really muddies the waters. It is an attempt to make the women less culpable for things like cheating with a sisters boyfriend, and explain how it went on for so long. But it never really made sense and sexual assault or violence against women don't require this kind of magic.

- Really? No one in the town figured out there wasn't a hospital? Stuff like that is strange and unexplained.

- I can't tell if the ending was breaking the curse by killing the villainous men (hmm, interesting choice for a YA novel) or the one surviving boy spilling some of his own blood to the flowers (also doesn't make a lot of sense?). It's unclear, which is part of the problem. If this is going to be a revenge story, at least be decisive about it.

- Why do the flowers crave the blood of women? We don't know. Does this make the men less culpable for their own choices? What about the ones who knew about it and supported it? Is this actually justice? I don't think so but I'm left with a lot of questions.

- What happened to all the other people in town??? What about justice for everyone else? I hate novels like this that are pseudo-feminist but end up with these very individualistic endings. Technically there's a small group of survivors in this case, but the point stands. I don't think this book is actually doing what it thinks it's doing.

I see what the intended project of this book was, but ultimately it kind of failed in execution. The prose itself is reasonably good and there are definitely some creepy or interesting moments, but overall it was disappointing and just okay. The audio narration is done well though. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[1 Star]

if only this book had been as amazing as its cover

Pros:
- the cover is gorgeous

Cons:
- everything else

no seriously

- all 4 POV's that we follow sound exactly the same. I thought the audiobook would help since there are separate narrators for each POV, but it didn't. The characters just lacked any sense of voice or distinction from each other.
- the plot was so predictable. I guessed everything that would happen within the first couple chapters. This made all the 'reveals' incredibly lackluster and even the process of getting to said reveals was boring.
- there were so many illogical (or straight-up impossible) events. And I know there's a certain amount of magical realism in this, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about things like how there were 4 minors who were allowed to just live in a house by themselves for 2 YEARS after their mothers disappeared. No one in the town thought "hey, maybe someone should watch over them"? How did they even provide for themselves? For the sake of avoiding spoilers I won't give more examples, but I really found a lot of events in this book to be frankly absurd in a way that detracted from my overall enjoyment.
- instalove exists


Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. While my review is honest, I apologize for it not being very positive.

My Review
My Rank: 3 stars

What drew me into this book initially was the cover. That cover is creepily beautiful! So having the cover and adding the description I was all on board. When I received a digital audio copy from Netgalley I was ready to dive in. The Prologue about the start of the creepy town hooked me! It was eerie and attention-grabbing. The imagery in the story was great. The pacing was done well. The one thing I was not a fan of was how many POV there was. It was a lot to follow. I also did not like the narration. It was very slow and monotone. I had to set the speed to 2.0. Once the speed was turned up. It made it much better. I also didn’t feel like the characters were that likable. Overall, I thought the book was ok. I would still recommend the book to others. Maybe not the audible version but the book itself most definitely.