Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's Reviews > What We Harvest
What We Harvest
by
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This is one of my favorite YA titles I've read this year. I actually don't really like horror that much, but apparently I do like horror as long as it's folk horror and the dog doesn't die. WHAT WE HARVEST is a gorgeous, lyrical novel about four magical founding farming families: one of them raises red horses and dogs, one ghost melons that glow in the dark, one glittering golden yams, and the last, a field of rainbow wheat that each has its own distinct flavor.
For years, they've been the toast of the farming community, world-renowned and celebrated, but Hollow's End holds a dark secret. A mysterious quicksilver blight has overtaken the crops and whatever it touches doesn't come back the same. Strange animals watch from the woods with glowing white eyes, tinged by rot. If Wren and her family can't figure out how to hold the blight at bay, their farm and their loved ones will all fall into corrupt and blackened ruin.
I loved this book so much. There were things about it that pushed my suspension of disbelief a little, but the story was so good that I didn't care. It has all the elements I love: magic-realism, dark family secrets, childhood friends to lovers, angst, sinister rituals, and high stakes danger. Some YA feels like it's pandering to the parents, rather than its teen readers, but this book was beautifully teen, whether it was the wistful longings for adulthood, or the mistakes we make while impetuously trying to be adults.
I can't wait to read more from this author. This was an INCREDIBLE debut.
4.5 stars
by
![2190064](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1656046803p2/2190064.jpg)
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's review
bookshelves: ya-ya-land, pretty-cover-sparklies, horror, best-young-adult-books, magic-and-sparkles-and-shit, best-scifi-fantasy
Dec 31, 2023
bookshelves: ya-ya-land, pretty-cover-sparklies, horror, best-young-adult-books, magic-and-sparkles-and-shit, best-scifi-fantasy
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1459070464i/18565492.jpg)
Instagram || Threads || Facebook || Amazon || TikTok
This is one of my favorite YA titles I've read this year. I actually don't really like horror that much, but apparently I do like horror as long as it's folk horror and the dog doesn't die. WHAT WE HARVEST is a gorgeous, lyrical novel about four magical founding farming families: one of them raises red horses and dogs, one ghost melons that glow in the dark, one glittering golden yams, and the last, a field of rainbow wheat that each has its own distinct flavor.
For years, they've been the toast of the farming community, world-renowned and celebrated, but Hollow's End holds a dark secret. A mysterious quicksilver blight has overtaken the crops and whatever it touches doesn't come back the same. Strange animals watch from the woods with glowing white eyes, tinged by rot. If Wren and her family can't figure out how to hold the blight at bay, their farm and their loved ones will all fall into corrupt and blackened ruin.
I loved this book so much. There were things about it that pushed my suspension of disbelief a little, but the story was so good that I didn't care. It has all the elements I love: magic-realism, dark family secrets, childhood friends to lovers, angst, sinister rituals, and high stakes danger. Some YA feels like it's pandering to the parents, rather than its teen readers, but this book was beautifully teen, whether it was the wistful longings for adulthood, or the mistakes we make while impetuously trying to be adults.
I can't wait to read more from this author. This was an INCREDIBLE debut.
4.5 stars
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Reading Progress
December 27, 2023
–
Started Reading
December 27, 2023
– Shelved
December 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
ya-ya-land
December 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
pretty-cover-sparklies
December 27, 2023
–
2.0%
"My whole life, the wheat had soothed me to sleep through my bedroom window with its rustling whispers, sweeter than any lullaby, or at least any my mom knew.
My whole life, until now. When I realized even rainbows could rot."
My whole life, until now. When I realized even rainbows could rot."
December 27, 2023
–
5.0%
"No matter how much his body changed—his chest widening, voice deepening—that scar never did. I loved how it proved he was, without question, still the same boy I’d grown up with, hand in hand."
December 27, 2023
–
13.0%
"THIS IS SO FUCKING CREEPY OH MY GOD
Why did I read this before bed? I am such a dummy"
Why did I read this before bed? I am such a dummy"
December 27, 2023
–
20.0%
"Ever since, it was all I could think of when I saw the ghost melon fields and their twinkling blue blossoms: a sea of fallen stars.
There were fewer than I remembered.
But if rainbows could rot, stars could, too."
There were fewer than I remembered.
But if rainbows could rot, stars could, too."
December 27, 2023
–
24.0%
"Do I want to stay up all night reading this and having nightmares or do I want to take a break and spare myself while imagining the worst"
December 28, 2023
–
32.0%
"Our relationship was poisoned. I’d hurt him. He’d hurt me. All that pain would fester under the surface. Incurable."
December 31, 2023
–
41.0%
"Broken things didn’t get all the way better. They just got a little bit worse, or a hell of a lot worse, and you had to make do. Until you couldn’t anymore."
December 31, 2023
–
47.0%
"When I got a little older, I finally did ask, “What is this? Some kind of grave?”
Mom pursed her red lips real tight. “There’s no body under there.”"
Mom pursed her red lips real tight. “There’s no body under there.”"
December 31, 2023
– Shelved as:
horror
December 31, 2023
–
90.0%
"Deep down, the fertile soil had always been stained. Poisoned. By us. It was just that our sins were only now oozing to the surface."
December 31, 2023
– Shelved as:
best-young-adult-books
December 31, 2023
–
Finished Reading
January 13, 2024
– Shelved as:
magic-and-sparkles-and-shit
January 13, 2024
– Shelved as:
best-scifi-fantasy
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megs_bookrack
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rated it 4 stars
Dec 31, 2023 07:38PM
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![Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1656046803p1/2190064.jpg)
Happy New Year, Meg!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it too 😄