Thank you Macmillan Audio for my gifted ALC! And thank you, Tor, for my gifted copy!

Eat the Ones You Love was … strange. It was truly unsettling. So unsettling that I’m left feeling unsure of what even happened. I think this is a good thing? lol. Because I read this in one day. A few hours. It kept me wondering what the hell was going on. I needed to know where this insanity and discomfort was going.

The entire time, I was envisioning Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy from Batman & Robin. She was one of my favorite childhood antiheroes, so this makes me think that I might have enjoyed this bizarre book.

I’m serious. This was out there. Not a ton of huge twists and turns. Just a plant with a voice and agenda of its own. Suspend your disbelief for this one.

Little Shop of Horrors but as a LGBTQIA+ horror story? I'm curious, I'll bite.

Eat the Ones You Love is about Shell Pine, recently broken-up with unemployed women. She takes a job at flower shop run by Neve. Neve just so happens to be keeping a secret within the flower shop. A secret in the shape of an orchid called Baby, who may be sentient and is obsessed with consuming Neve.

This was unsettling, weird, fever dream of a book is definitely preps you for a wild ride starting from page one. I mean most of the book is told through the perspective of the plant, who's watching our characters with obsession and hunger. I really enjoyed the themes of tight-knit friendship and the examination of toxicity in unhealthy relationships--the way it consumes you from the inside in a way that others can't see.

The botanical imagery was beautiful, Baby was a fascinating narrator, and the horror was top-notch scary. It's so unsettling and dreadful in a way that creeps up on you, as you start to realize the extent of Baby's plans and the reach of it's power. The gore was also done perfectly in a way that kept it scary without making it wacky like another man-eating sentient plant named Audrey 2. I honestly think too much gore towards the end would have ruined the somber, more serious, vibe the book was going for, so I applaud that the author held back a bit and gave us a more reflective ending.

If you're like me and in your weird girl lit era, then this is the book for you! This book follows Shell and Neve who work at a florist in a dilapidated mall in Ireland. There isn't a ton of say, but this is heavily narrated by Baby a carnivorous plant who loves to eat people, is obsessed with Neve and is determined to eat her one day. If Baby touches you he becomes a part of you and you start to hear him in your thoughts. This was a quick unique read. I was gifted the audiobook for review. I really enjoyed the narrators in this book and felt like it was done well. I really liked Baby's narration! I would say that this is not really scary "horror" at all. So if you're worried about that - don't let it deter you. I would recommend this for anyone who wants something super unique. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC.

I don’t often listen to audio books because I don’t love the narrators/narration style. This was unfortunately the case for this book. I didn’t love that the narration at all. I felt at times like there were too many voices, and at other times I felt that there weren’t enough.

The voice of the main character was absolutely perfect, and I wish we had more of her throughout. There were some large sections where she just wasn’t there, which I didn’t love.

My favorite thing about this book was the plot. I’ve been obsessed with Little Shop of Horrors my entire life, and this gave me exactly what I needed! I always wondered what would happen if the genders were swapped and we were in a different setting. This book absolutely made my dreams come true.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this book. Loved it! All opinions are my own and are not influenced by the manner in which I received it.

This book was interesting, and had all the elements to be a stellar novel, it just didn't work in a way that I felt fully worked. The horror is fantastic and had me on my seat.. It just felt like the book took way too long to get to the point. I did like the sapphic elements.. I just kinda have mixed feelings about it.

There was also some issues that I had with telling who was talking during narration, as at times it would get muddled and difficult.

This was by far such a unique and interesting book it truly enticed me from the beginning. The book was told on a dual POV and it follows the story of baby, a blood thirsty and sadistic orchid plant that wants nothing more than to feast on Neve, the flower shop owner. Never has kept baby a secret and has endured pain and torture by the vines of this orchid but now Shell, a down on her luck woman seeking employment, has joined the flower shop. Baby had by far the best POV chapters and although we do get POV chapters from other characters I enjoyed Baby chapters the most! This was a well written and a fun read and I loved the narrators for this audiobook! The narrators did a phenomenal job and made this book really come alive. I especially enjoyed the synchronized narration we get towards the end of the novel.
This book was a bit nostalgic in my opinion it was giving me little shop of horror vibes and I was all here for it! If you enjoy a fun horror book with a fun mix of blood gore and humor I think you will enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for advance readers copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 stars

As others have pointed out, this feels like a sapphic, Irish version of Little Shop of Horrors. Shell is an unemployed woman who finds herself drawn to the florist Neve, who is harboring a human-devouring plant named Baby.

I liked Baby and his obsessive fascination with and desire to eat Neve. He was the star of this book and I would have loved to see him in action more. Overall I was a bit let down by this book and did not care much for the human characters. I was entertained, however, and thought the audiobook was fantastic. Both narrators did a great job bringing the story to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook. All opinions are my own

EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE follows michelle "shell" pine who—fresh off a divorce from her fiancé, the loss of her job, and the inevitable move back home with her parents—seeks a much-needed change of pace by asking after work at the woodbine crown mall's thriving florist shop. it belongs to neve, whose beautiful looks and commanding personality spark an immediate crush in shell, but neve belongs to something else in the mall: an unassuming orchid growing in the atrium at the heart of the mall. baby is young, starving, and has grown his roots all through the building. nothing—and no one—he eats can satisfy him as much as eating neve, and he will have her no matter the cost.

with her gorgeous prose and masterful characterization, sarah maria griffin explores the world of retail through a monstrous lens, following a closely knit group of friends who work in the woodbine crown's surviving shops and the ways they interact with one another—both in public and in secret—and wrestle with the rumors of the mall closure, which threatens to put a stop to the beating heart of their community and the lives they've built around it. as they nurse friendships, develop crushes, and begin workplace affairs, baby threads his way into their lives, determined to take everything he can get before it's too late.

EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE is a slow and relentless fever dream of insidious unravelings you won't be able to look away from. it shines with the peculiar sheen of the desirous and hungry, strikes with the fury of a person possessed, and blossoms as only the most beautiful of flowers can. it is a story about finding yourself, and finding your chosen family, even in the worst of times. the woodbine friend group at its heart is one of the most memorable and arresting casts i've read about in a long while, and i saw parts of myself in each of them, rooting for them all even as the world around them grew into a lush and verdant hell.

a horrifying journey that will leave you reeling all the way into its pitch perfect ending, sarah maria griffin's adult debut is an eerie and unforgettable triumph. the audiobook narrators are absolutely stellar and the production on this audiobook was perfection! whether you read the book or listen to it, you're in for a wicked and magnificent experience.

didn't really know what i was getting into when i picked this one up, but i knew it was queer and i loved the title so offfff we go. i figured we'd get some cannibals, some arm-gnawing, some soylent green is people. imagine my absolute delight when i realized we have been given a book that invokes LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. you gotta be kidding me.

shell's back in town and strolling through the mall, trying to take her mind off the fact she's had to move back home and she's recently become single. when she walks into a florist shop in one of those decaying malls of yore and is offered a job by neve, who is absolutely hot and could maybe heal her. the tea? neve's got a sentient orchid in the back named baby and maybe, just maybe, he's got a taste for human flesh.

this book was bananas. it's not often you get to read from the perspective of a carnivorous plant. but don't get it twisted - as insidious as it was, it was also pretty freaking funny. i was having the most fun when we were hearing from baby's perspective, so much so that the chemistry between shell and neve was a bit of a non-starter for me personally. also, i do genuinely love that this is another book to add to the sapphic books about consumption zeitgeist. super fun read.

ALSO, the dual narrators, especially when their voices were synchronized? incredible.

Sarah Maria Griffin’s Eat the Ones You Love is a darkly whimsical and emotionally resonant novel that intertwines horror, humor, and heartfelt introspection. Set against the backdrop of a decaying Irish strip mall, the story follows Shell, a woman grappling with personal upheaval, who finds employment at a flower shop harboring a sentient, flesh-eating orchid named Baby. Griffin masterfully blends themes of millennial disillusionment, queer romance, and the grotesque, crafting a narrative that is both unsettling and deeply human. The novel’s unique perspective, including chapters from Baby’s point of view, adds a layer of eerie intimacy, while its exploration of desire, identity, and the search for connection resonates powerfully. With its lyrical prose and inventive storytelling, Eat the Ones You Love stands out as a compelling addition to contemporary horror literature.