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.
The town of Bishop is known for exactly two things: recurring windstorms and an endless field of sunflowers that stretches farther than the eye can see. And women—missing women. So when three more women disappear one stormy night, no one in Bishop is surprised. The case is closed and their daughters are left in their dusty shared house with the shattered pieces of their lives. Until the wind kicks up a terrible secret at their mothers’ much-delayed memorial.
With secrets come the lies each of the girls is forced to confront. After caring for the other girls, Delilah would like to move on with her boyfriend, Bennett, but she can’t bear his touch. Whitney has already lost both her mother and her girlfriend, Eleanor, and now her only solace is an old weathervane that seems to whisper to her. Jude, Whitney’s twin sister, would rather ignore it all, but the wind kicks up her secret too: the summer fling she had with Delilah’s boyfriend. And more than anything, Bo wants answers and she wants them now. Something happened to their mothers and the townsfolk know what it was. She’s sure of it.
Bishop has always been a strange town. But what the girls don’t know iIs that Bishop was founded on blood—and now it craves theirs.
I’m all for settings with small towns harboring secrets and curses, and this eerie cover is perfect for the story.
To think I only considered sunflowers good for their seeds and looking pretty. After reading this novel, I’ll never look at them in the same way again. In a mid west town where the land thirsts for blood, sunflowers bloom where blood has been spilled. Let’s just say there are fields of sunflowers in the town of Bishop. The four MCs and POVs are Delilah, Bo, and twins Jude and Whitney. Their three mothers (who were best friends) disappeared two years ago and are presumed dead. The four teens still reside in the house they all lived in as a family. Their mothers’ disappearances don’t sit well with the girls and after clues and discrepancies come to light, they’re determined to uncover the truth. I admired their tenacity and perseverance – but wondered why it took them two years to begin their search. The novel certainly isn’t lacking in atmosphere (those sunflowers are freaky) or characters you love to hate.
I was curious about several things such as how the men benefited from feeding the land, why other citizens didn’t question why so many women went missing/died/ran away, why there was no hospital in town (and no one thought that was strange), and why there was apparently no outside communication with other cities or people. Part of the ending was what I’d hoped, but I was also confused about the other half. I’m still not sure what happened.
While this is a creepy, atmospheric read, I’d hoped several questions would be answered before the conclusion. Reviews are split, so if you don’t dig too deeply, this might be a suspenseful read you’d enjoy.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Books and Such 
Lies and secrets and curses are a great combo for a plot. Good review, Teri!
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They sure are, and this town is full of them, Priscilla. Seems like small towns always harbor the most.
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Sounds atmospheric but looks like one has to suspend belief. I wouldn’t like it if there is half or no answer to some questions. Great review!
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You’re right about the atmosphere, Yesha, but it does also require some suspension of disbelief. It’s still a very enjoyable read.
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This one fell flat for me. I felt like the author tried too hard to accomplish certain ideas. The execution just wasn’t there. Great review!
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I can’t say this was one of my favorite reads of the year so far, but parts of it I enjoyed. Especially the atmosphere. Sorry it didn’t work for you!
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Sounds like a Stephen King-type plot that didn’t get carried out fully. Thanks for sharing this one, Teri!
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It did leave me with several questions, Jan. Overall, it was still an eerie read that moves at a pretty good pace.
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Thanks for your review, Teri. Not a fan of missing stuff in a story, but could overlook it I suppose.
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Neither am I, John, but plenty of other reviewers had no problems with it. It was still an enjoyable read with some super creepy scenes.
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At least it wasn’t a waste of time.
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I think I can understand why the protagonists would wait months or years to pursue what happened. It could be really hard to push back against the whole town telling them to just let it go. Especially if they were younger. They would have to mature enough to stand up for themselves.
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That’s a good point, Deby. They’re teens really only have each other for support. The rest of the town are kind of – disturbing, lol.
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It sounds gruesome. I actually decided not to read this one because it sounded like too much for me. Excellent review!
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Parts of it aren’t pretty for sure. There’s also a rape that takes place off page. I think it might have contained trigger warnings?
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I wouldn’t look at the sunflower the same either Teri! LOL
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Right? They’re so pretty, but represent something totally different in this book.
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I love creepy towns, I’ll give it a try.
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This one would win a creepy town award if such a thing existed, Traci, lol. Hope you enjoy it!
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Hi Teri, I like the sound of this book as the plot is intriguing, but your comments about unresolved threads doesn’t please me.
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It was more of questions about the plot rather than dangling plot threads at the end. No explanation was provided for some of them, and it left plot holes. I might have missed something, but other reviewers had also mentioned similar things.
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Even worse …
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