Reviews with content warning for Death - Where Darkness Blooms

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah

9 reviews

cryptofauna's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i definitely liked it! it was a little hard to keep the characters straight sometimes but i was very into the mystery and the messages. super unique plot and ideas and it felt very well written. all read in one day

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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

3.0

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patricktreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Where Darkness Blooms is a dark fiction story based in the town of Bishop. It is surrounded in mystery and turmoil. Every few years women go missing or turn up dead. Now the younger women are left, and they are starting to go missing, and they are the final generation.

I didn't realize going into this exactly how dark it would end up being. I knew it would be semi dark, but it ended up being way more intense. However, it did truly keep me on the edge of my seat. I would absolutely recommend this to those interested in dark thrillers, but please absolutely check the trigger warnings. I kind of wish content warnings were given at the beginning. I feel it would help more readers be more away going in to make the reading experience easier.

My arc (courtesy of NetGalley/Wednesday Books) was an audio, and I greatly enjoyed consuming the work in that way. In regards to the audio portion, I only really had one critique. I wish that at the beginning of the new chapters the character POV name would be given to help with keeping track of the character switches.

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chymerra's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Bishop is a town haunted by sunflowers, windstorms, and missing/murdered women. The most recently missing women, a trio of best friends, left behind four daughters: Delilah, Whitney, Jude, and Bo. They are surviving the best they can, but they all want answers to two crucial questions: Where are their mothers, and why are so many women being killed? As they dig into Bishop’s history, they realize something isn’t right with the town. The closer they get to the truth about Bishop, the more danger they are in. What is Bishop’s secret? Why are women getting killed and going missing? Will the girls find out the truth, and at what cost?

I admit it; I mainly accepted the publisher’s invitation because of the cover. I usually don’t get books purely based on their covers, and this was a rare expectation to that rule. I am glad I did because this book was one of the creepier ones I have read this year. It was sufficiently scary and made me want to know why the author made sunflowers so evil.

Where Darkness Blooms storyline centers around the town of Bishop and four abandoned girls: Delilah, Whitney, Jude, and Bo. It explores the aftereffects of child abandonment and trauma gritty and raw way. But this book also showed that most people rise under extraordinary circumstances (in this case, the town and a madman out for their blood). I was equally saddened and amazed at what these girls could do while their mothers were gone.

The town of Bishop was creepy. It was blocked off from the rest of Kansas by unending fields of sunflowers. Those sunflowers always seemed to be watching the town. The fields were where the murdered women were found and where the girls’ had a memorial to their mothers. Bishop started getting weirder and weirder as the book went on. Even though it was fictional, the wind started driving me nuts. I couldn’t figure out how the wind and the sunflowers were connected until the end of the book. Everything (and I mean everything) was explained at the end of the book.

I liked Delilah. She came across as the group’s mother hen and was determined to look after the other girls. Her relationship with Bennett was different. I don’t know if I could stand to be with someone whose touch hurt me. But, somehow, she managed, even though she liked someone else. I felt terrible for her because while she missed her mother, she figured her mother had voluntarily left her. She was so sad, yet so strong.

Whitney was a huge factor in determining why their mothers left. But, when things started coming to light, Whitney was the one who did the leg work. She went and interviewed her ex-girlfriend’s grandmother in the nursing home. She was also the one that put two and two together about the town founder. All while fighting an attraction to a nurse’s aide who helped her and running from the bad guy.

Jude is Whitney’s fraternal twin. I didn’t have an opinion of her until her past with Bennett was discussed. Then I had an “oh crap” moment when I realized it was Delilah’s Bennett. I found Jude a little mopey and somewhat obsessive over Bennett. But she could do what she had to when push came to shove.

I wasn’t a fan of Bo. She was so angry and self-destructive for almost the entire book. It was hard to imagine her as happy in any form. I got at least some of her anger. I would have been pissed, too, if my mother had just disappeared. But, it was clear from the beginning that her anger was more than that. I would love to say she was helpful, but I felt she hindered more than helped. Her temper gets her into some trouble towards the end of the book.

I was shocked at who the villains turned out to be. Well, one of them, I was surprised at who it was. The other two, I had a feeling they were bad news. Coupled with what they could do with the wind, I wasn’t surprised that they played with the girls as long as they did. Of course, why they did it was also explained, and it made me so mad!!

The end of Where Darkness Blooms wasn’t what I expected. I can’t get much into it, but I wasn’t very excited when certain things happened. I was expecting one thing, and the complete opposite happened. But it was that last chapter that made the book for me. I was pleasantly surprised by what the author revealed and then by what the author had that character do.

I would recommend Where Darkness Blooms to anyone over 21. There are language, violence, and sexual situations. See also the trigger warning section at the top of the review.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, NetGalley, and Andrea Hannah for allowing me to read and review Where Darkness Blooms. All opinions stated in this review are mine

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arthur_ant18's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

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enchantressreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Where Darkness Blooms was definitely me scrolling through NetGalley and seeing a beautiful cover and requesting without reading the synopsis. Sometimes you DO judge a book by its cover, and in this case, I was not disappointed.

Bishop, Kansas is a small town that was founded on blood, and ever since, they’ve been plagued by horrible storms. While they are indeed in tornado alley, these storms feel different… sentient, even.

This book has SO many things I love in a story:
-a small town
-a cult
-a mystery
-a group of girls solving a mystery
-secrets on secrets
-normalizing queer relationships 🖤

It is a young adult story, so the story is based on younger main characters, but they do have to grow up pretty fast since all of their mothers have gone missing. It’s a horror book with thrilling parts and a sad underlying story. What most people love.

The only problem I had with this story is that it was slow at first, then moved way too quickly. Just a bit of a pacing issue, but it didn’t take much joy out of the story. I also was confused between the timelines.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this advanced review copy. When Darkness Blooms releases on February 21st.

CW for blood, death, murder, grief, injury, sexual assault, rape (not on page), gaslighting, and police brutality

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dogearedqueer's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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noellelovesbooks's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

***I received an ARC, ahead of the February 23rd [2023] release, through Netgalley. All thoughts are my own.***

Content Warnings: Blood, death, violence, gun violence, toxic relationships, abandonment, misogyny, grief, fire/fire injury, bullying, police brutality, confinement, and rape [off-page but it is mentioned a few times with some detail].

Being a teen is hard enough but being a teen in Bishop? Well, that's a whole other level. Bo, Delilah, Jude, and Whitney grew up together as their mothers were all best friends. Two years ago on one fateful night, all their mothers disappeared and so they've taken it upon themselves to watch out for and care for each other. But being a teen is hard and you never want to share all your thoughts, feelings, or relationships.

The night their mothers disappeared deeply affected each of the girls and forced them to each hide some of their thoughts and feelings from the others. As some of their secrets are brought to light all of the girls will have to decide how to move forward...or if they even can.

Although the beginning felt like a bit of a slow start...once I hit that 40% mark I couldn't put the book down until I found out how it all ended. This was a story of friendship, shared trauma, and taking back the life others have tried to take from you.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and the journey it took us on...although I do wish we'd gotten a little more history on the town, the residents we meet, and the girls themselves. There were just some aspects that I felt could have been fleshed out a bit more to enrich the story and allow us to feel more connected to everything that happens.

I wish this was getting released sooner as it was a perfect eerie read for this spooky season but you'll just have to wait until its February release.

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hollyk's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Where Darkness Blooms focuses on four girls--Delilah, Bo, Whitney, and Jude, trying to figure out what happened to their mothers, who disappeared 2 years earlier. In doing so, they discover that women mysteriously go missing in Bishop and the girls take it upon themselves to find out the truth.
I wanted to love this book. I truly did. I love a creepy small town vibe with paranormal elements. But this book had so many flaws and inconsistencies that it wasn't enjoyable.

There's a fair amount of diversity--a Latina main character, lesbian MC, two sapphic LIs, and diverse side characters/townspeople. I also enjoyed the girls' friendships, although we don't see how exactly these bonds were forged beyond living together, and the strife within their friend group doesn't make sense at the beginning.

All four girls' POVs read the same way, and the only way to differentiate them was to remember the chapter number (the book cycled through the four in the same order, no complaint there) or the general plotline of each girl. Personality-wise, they all seemed the same because their personalities felt underdeveloped.

In terms of plot, the underlying plot of a curse in a small town was really interesting, but all of the moving parts solely created confusion and did not enhance the plot. A list of examples:

-Timeline: When everything happened is confusing--That Night seems to refer to several nights which defeats the purpose of there being "That Night." Unless I'm missing something, which is fully possible because of the lack of clarity.

-Lack of exposition. Normally this isn't a huge problem, in media res is a thing, but since the plot goes from 0 to 60 at the 60% mark, at that point, the reader still doesn't have a baseline or enough information to piece together the underlying story before being thrown into the action despite ample time to do so.

-Inconsistencies: When Whitney and Eleanor started dating is very confusing--it sounds like they met the night of the bonfire, but Whitney's mom was aware of Eleanor and wanted to meet her?

And then immediately after the bonfire Eleanor dies?

It was very unclear how their relationship developed and there was no reason to be emotionally invested in them beyond a surface level.

-Psychic powers?? Suddenly the girls seem to have psychic powers?

Delilah is a Bloom, whatever that means, but it isn't ever explained beyond one sentence by the villain. Bo can talk to sunflowers or communicate through them? But it's really the telephone of the afterlife? And she also apparently can't die?? I couldn't tell what was metaphor and what was reality. Whitney doesn't seem to have much in terms of power except maybe communicating with the wind like her twin. And Jude can talk to the wind? Which is just an extension of the villain? If these powers were more fleshed out and utilized more, especially Delilah's identity as a Bloom, it would be more compelling and less confusing. Perhaps a plot point could be figuring out which one was a Bloom.

-Mother Abandonment:

At the end, it's revealed that Indigo, Ava, and Cori (the girls' moms) escaped the town because they realized that one of them would be next and that the villains realized that they figured out what was happening. However, this doesn't make any sense, as these mothers (with the slight exception of Indigo) are incredibly dedicated to their daughters--why wouldn't they take their daughters with them? Instead they abandon them in a town that will inevitably target them with no information to help the girls. Even if they knew the girls were supposed to be the ones to break the curse (which makes no sense-this idea doesn't come up until the girls are forced to confront the villains), it's hard to believe these moms, who gave their all to their daughters, would simply abandon them and hope for the best. For 2 years. They knew another girl/woman was taken and sacrificed every six months--that's enough time for all of their daughters to be sacrificed. And only Cori half heartedly tried to get back to her daughter? Terrible mother awards all around.

-Medical inconsistencies:

Whitney passes out, but then in the next chapter Jude says she can tell Whitney is conscious. Even if this was a twin telepathy sort of thing, Jude emphasizes that they don't have that multiple times throughout the story. At the end of the story, Jude is shot in the leg--why didn't the sunflowers save her like they did Delilah? Even if it was because she was too far away, how come she never goes to a hospital once she escapes? At the end, Jude's bullet wound never makes a reappearance after its removal and (likely unsterile) suturing up by Alma.

-Deeper subjects relegated to surface-level: SA and police brutality as plot points.

-The SA of Bo seemed like a way to differentiate her from the others. It did not add anything to the story other than bringing up that Caleb would never face consequences because of who his dad is. It's also unclear why Bo was targeted? Again, this just felt like the author wanted to make an important point but just skimmed the surface of the complexities of SA. I did appreciate the trigger warnings for this at the beginning of the book.

-Police brutality: Alma is taken by the police for Whitney resisting arrest? And Whitney is concerned about Alma being beaten and harmed because she's Black, but then when Whitney goes to bust her out, Alma is just sitting in a chair perfectly fine? This felt completely unnecessary--while it's important to acknowledge police brutality, Whitney does nothing to try to help her crush and just says that she's worried because of police brutality. It seemed very performative and was brought up for no real reason other than to bring it up?

-The curse

was broken so easily by the semi-not bad guy bad guy, which begs the question, if he knew how to break the curse and was so against getting involved with it, why didn't he break it in the first place? He also got off scot-free as far as I could tell, but his ending is ambiguous. It was an anti-climactic ending that let a man break the curse that was harming women instead of the girls who actually did the heavy lifting and killed the men responsible (except aforementioned semi bad guy bad guy). If this book was meant to be feminist, it failed on that front.

I don't think this is the worst book ever, I will reiterate that I enjoyed the underlying plot, but there were a lot of moving parts that took away from the potential of this book.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review:)

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