Eat the Ones You Love definitely pays homage to Little Shop of Horrors with its quirky, macabre charm and over-the-top premise. Unfortunately, the first 50% of the book really drags. The buildup feels unnecessarily slow, and just when things finally start to pick up, the ending rushes in so quickly that it leaves me feeling unsatisfied. Pushing through the slower parts felt like a chore, only to have the payoff cut short.

I would’ve enjoyed it more if the pacing had been more balanced throughout, gradually building tension instead of stalling and sprinting to the finish. That said, I can still see this becoming a new cult favorite for readers who enjoy offbeat horror with a campy edge. Thank you Macmillan Audio!

Michelle "Shell" has moved back to her parents' in the Dublin suburbs, having left her fiance and lost her job in the pandemic. Wandering the mostly abandoned mall of her childhood, she spies a sign that says "Help Needed" in a floral shop, where she meets Neve, the captivating woman who runs it. Neve hires Shell (whose background in graphic design isn't related, but at this point, even minimum wage is ok....) and invites her into the orbit of her life. What Shell doesn't know, and what Neve is barely controlling, is that the orchid that lives in the back of the shop is sentient: his name is Baby, and he has an insatiable hunger for everyone around him, Neve most especially.

I rarely pick up horror, but this weird sort of Little Shop of Horrors adaptation about love and identity and possession sounded super interesting. Baby is the primary narrator, and he knows and sees all, because his tendrils are everywhere. I found his POV clever and creepy, and kind of loved him, even as he infiltrates the minds of Neve's friends. Neve has to forbid him from eating her friends, and he only reluctantly agrees. The story verges on the absurd, in a speculative fiction sort of way; it never strays to the intense or scary, which I appreciated.

I enjoyed the audiobook, since Baby has his own narrator and the rest of the POVs share another narrator, which heightens Baby's omniscient and creepy perspective.

4.25/5 Stars

Eat the Ones You Love is an eerie, atmospheric experience that kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning to the end. The audiobook specifically was masterfully done, the rotating of narrators and the voice that is given to the "Baby" (the carnivorous plant hoping to devour people) was so well done I was blown away. If you decide to pick this up (you def should if you like horror) I would highly recommend the audiobook version. It added a layer of depth and created that oh so wonderful tension. 

So now that I've waxed poetic about the feeling of this book, let's talk about the story. Shell has just moved home after ending a long term relationship and losing her job. She is down on her luck and feeling pretty woe is me. She passes by a local flower shop with a "help needed" sign on it and our story takes off. Shell is quickly taken with Neve, our beautiful abet mysterious flower shop owner and becomes slightly obsessed with her and this new life. But it's not just Neve and Shell in this duo, Baby lingers in the background with a plan all his own. 

The prose in the novel is gorgeous and creates such a powerful atmosphere.  I adored the tension between Neve and Shell and seeing them through "baby's" eyes was such a unique experience. It added another level of texture to the story and character development. We got to see some characters through their own eyes and then through baby's eyes. It was an experience. 

Highly recommend this audio experience. The unique story, the prose, the tension, are immaculate. Thank you to the publisher for providing an ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Eat the Ones You Love is a weird, messy little book that I mostly enjoyed. It’s set in a dying Irish mall and follows Shell, a directionless thirty-something who ends up tangled in a love triangle with Neve (mysterious florist) and Baby (a sentient, carnivorous orchid who is deeply obsessed with Neve in a “I want to eat you and be with you forever” kind of way).

The premise is super fun and the writing is sharp. There’s some great commentary on burnout, retail life, and the strange intimacy of dead malls. I especially liked how unhinged Baby is and how genuinely creepy his love for Neve gets. Shell’s chaotic spiral is also fascinating to watch.

That said, the story loses steam in places, and I wanted more of the horror and less of the wandering side plots. Still, it’s unique, it’s queer, and it’s got a killer plant. Overall, recommend!

This book is like if you combined little shop of horrors and Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval and the outcome is somthing I am absolutely obsessed with! The perspective switching and the slow prgression of the plot that builds up to a nail biting ending make this book a must read in my opinion.

Botanical horror?!
YES PLEASE.

One of the main povs of this book is a blood hungry plant. Um so. Duh I loved it.

Other things to peak your interest if that wasn’t enough.
-sapphic
-a lil gruesome
-multipov (multi narrators on the audio)
- dry humor

Huge fan.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc

For lovers of The Little Shop of Horrors, Eat the Ones You Love is a fantastic listen with the story being told by Baby, the carnivorous eldritch plant monster who runs the show.

This was creepy and disturbing, and just everything I hoped it would be!

5 Stars! Lush, evocative creepy gothic tale with sharp commentary on the modern life.
So, I'm going to gush a bit. Lets start with the beautiful cover. This is a must have for your shelf. Every time i look at the cover, I see something new in the art, amazing.

Of course that's only the cover!
In short-
Shell's down on her luck, she's just left a long relationship and been made redundant at her job and she's had to move back in with her parents. She's muddling along when she sees a help wanted sign in a flower shop. She likes the flowers, and also the florist- Neve. Inside the flower shop- deep in the heart of a floundering shopping center is a orchid named Baby. Baby is hungry, and will stop at nothing to consume the things he loves.
I was expecting a bit of a campy kind of tongue in cheek satire about shop girls at the mall. Instead I got a much more solid "book meal" if you will- a Gothic Horror novel set in a ultra modern setting, showing via dark humor and price prose- our current human condition. I loved it.

Listening on Audio, I enjoyed the narration. Barry McStay and Lauren O'Leary do a great job bringing the story to life, and also sort of being un-noticeable, neither narrator overshadows the narrative and they both just sort of settle right into your listening brain- kind of , sort of, like maybe how Baby will settle into your brain and thoughts! It's a great thing when the narration flows so well that it isn't front an center.

I

I enjoyed this book overall, it was very slow to start but picked up pace near the end. I'd say most of this novel was from the perspective of a plant which made it unique and one of the most different books I've read recently. I think I didn't feel as connected to the characters because we spent too much time in the plant's perspective although I did really like reading their story. The best part of this book was the climax, it was very satisfying and was a good pay off for how slow the book started out. I loved the setting of post covid life, as it made the book feel more real and relatable. Overall I think I'll recommend it to people who like slow burn, kind of quirky, dark books.

A chilling twist on Little Shop of Horrors without the singing, Eat the Ones You Love follows a very unique and invasive plant that can eat or infect people at will, and needs to up it's plan when the mall housing its store is set to close. Featuring unique characters and vivid imagery, the affects the plant has on relationships and dynamics is fascinating, as well as its ability to understand and judge people's choice. It's a very creative and entertaining ride through interspecies relations.

An amazing queer botanical horror about hunger, desire and a creepy decaying mall.

First of all I LOVE that this book is told almost exclusively from our plant monster's POV. His name is baby and he's a sentient eldritch orchid with no regard for human life.

The storytelling around who Baby is, how he is growing and how he's able to participate in life beyond the flower shop in a decaying mall is absolutely genius.

There's a will-they / won't-they love story between the flower shop owner and her newest employee with great queer rep and toxic love.

I highly recommend this if you love botanical horror, flawed characters and eldritch plant monsters.

🌻 Queer Botanical Horror
🌻 Eat the ones you love
🌻 Plant monster's POV
🌻 Decaying, creepy mall
🌻 Hunger with no end
🌻 Amazing audiobook

This book is best read while gardening. Bring your sheers, leave your sanity.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an alc!

this was disturbing and unsettling, but one that queer horror readers will eat up and leave no crumbs (pun intended).

as for the narrators, both did a fantastic job!

I stopped listening to this audiobook at the 40% mark. While the narrators were good and I liked the cast of narrators, I just did not connect with the characters in this story. The most interesting character was the plant, but unfortunately, the rest of the perspectives, in my opinion, did not add to this story. I believe I would have like it more if it was told completely from the plant's perspective. I'm sure that there will be plenty of readers/listeners who enjoy this audiobook. Unfortunately, the book was just not for me.

I absolutely loved the audio narration for this book! Going into it, I had no idea that this was going to be told from the perspective of the plant, but I think that it added to the unsettling feeling I had throughout the story. I appreciated that the horror wasn't too gory, and honestly feel like it would be something that I can recommend to folks who are either new to horror, or don't really care for horror because of the typical gore. I would have loved to learn a little more about Neve and her perspectives, but I don't think it took away from the overall story. I do feel like in the audiobook, however, it was a bit jarring, going from the narration to the email interludes, and I personally didn't enjoy those parts - they seemed repetitive at times.

Thank you to the NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for making this advanced copy available to me in exchange for an honest review.

Eat the Ones You Love is a bizarre, tangled tale that feels like Little Shop of Horrors reimagined—only sapphic, set in a crumbling Irish mall, and even more unhinged. As someone who genuinely enjoys weird books, I was intrigued by the premise, but I’ll admit this one was a bit of a struggle at times.

The story shines brightest when it focuses on Shell and Baby. Shell’s journey—leaving behind a toxic relationship, moving back home, and slowly finding her footing in the most unlikely of places—was compelling and heartfelt. Watching her shed her past and grow into herself gave the story an emotional core that really worked. Baby, the sentient, carnivorous orchid lurking in the mall, is an absolute standout. His obsessive hunger and possessive love for Neve are both deeply unsettling and oddly fascinating. I actually wanted more of Baby and the body horror that came with him—it felt like the story was holding back a bit when it could’ve gone full monstrous.

What bogged me down a little were the multiple side characters and shifting perspectives. While they added layers, I found myself getting distracted and wishing the focus had stayed tighter on Shell and Baby.

That said, the audiobook production by Macmillan Audio was excellent and added a whole new dimension to the experience. Barry McStay and Lauren O’Leary brought the characters to life with vivid, engaging performances that really pulled me in—so much so that I’m bumping my rating from 3 stars to 4 purely because of the narration.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the early copy. If you like your horror weird, your romance dark, and your plants hungry, this might just be the twisted little book for you.

Thank you Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for my free ARC of Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin — available now!

» READ IF YOU «
🌱 love queer horror narratives with dark humor
🏬 enjoy a creepy, decaying setting
🪴 wish you had a sentient, carnivorous plant

» SYNOPSIS «
Shell is looking a fresh start. She finds a job at a florist shop in a crumbling mall, and falls hard for the owner, Neve. But Neve is harboring a dark secret: a sentient, flesh-eating plant named Baby, who lives in the shop and also has an obsessive love for Neve. As Baby's hunger grows, Shell becomes entangled in a web of desire, danger, and self-discovery.

» REVIEW «
This was a fun blend of horror, dark comedy, and Little Shop of Horrors nostagia. The prose does a solid job of capturing the eerie atmosphere of a dying mall and the emotions of each character (including Baby!). The story explores some hard-hitting themes through the lens of a horror premise, but I did find it a little lacking in action, for me. There is a lot of, "and then they did this, and then they did that," kind of build up, and the action at the end happens extremely quickly. But if you're a Little Shop of Horrors fan, this one will resonate with you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So, the next trend in horror is cannibalism/ingestion? I'm not sure what this says about our moment, except maybe that we're all both overwhelmed and feeling disconnected?

I was here for everything about this book until it galloped through the ending. It's not that I disliked said ending, but more that its self-imposed 180 kmh pace forced things that should have been left to sit in their own mess a bit to be to clean and fast. The early body horror was so lovely and visceral, but then we get a scene that should be grand that's just rushed.

It was also mildly disconcerting to have Baby be voiced by a masculine narrator when the book is otherwise queer. I don't know if we were supposed to reflect on how the patriarchy can never be completely sidestepped, but I would have preferred less masculine energy in my queer Irish reinterpretation of <i>Little Shop of Horrors</i>.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Shell is a bit down on her luck and has just moved back home. When she stumbles upon a “help needed” sign at the flower shop in the (crumbling) local mall, she sees it as a sign towards reinventing herself. It doesn’t hurt that she’s immediately drawn to the owner, Neve, and she can’t help but hope the connection isn’t one sided. But Neve has some baggage of her own.

The moment I realized who the second narrator was in this story I knew I was going to love this book. I can definitely see the homage to Little Shop of Horrors, but Eat the Ones You Love is a completely different breed. I knew I avoided orchids for a reason and I think Baby has put me off of them for life. We follow a few different POVs throughout the novel and I loved following Baby’s most of all. He is completely unapologetic about the lives he takes and relishes the power he has over Neve and then Shell, to a lesser extent. The imagery of his violence and the body horror we experience on the page is graphic, though beautifully written, and I loved this author’s writing style so much.

Eat the Ones You Love is a horror, but also so much of this book is about relationships, both the good and the bad. I love how the author uses Baby’s all-consuming “love” for Neve as a metaphor for the toxic relationships we can’t escape. At the same time, I ended up falling in love with all of the other characters who are connected to this dying mall. It really made me feel nostalgic for that time in my life. Minus the murder, of course.

I thought both narrators did a great job giving life to the characters, but I was particularly impressed by “Baby.” Barry McStay captured his sinister nature so perfectly and did so in such a cheeky way that added depth to his character. Baby is such a terrifying character, but his inner monologue is so funny at times.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a review copy. I can’t wait to read from this author again and would HIGHLY recommend reading the audiobook for a great listening experience.

This book was absolutely fascinating and everything I love in a story. A story being partially told by a sentient man eating plant that is called Baby maybe shouldn't work but it absolutely does here. I'm having trouble coming up with words to fully explain my experience reading this book and I don't know if I have read anything like it before. I was on the edge of my seat through most of the book! This is the first book I have read from Sarah Maria Griffin but will not be my last. I will be exploring her back catalogue and looking forward to any books she has coming in the future! I loved the audiobook narration on this from Barry McStay and Lauren O'Leary!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Shell is languishing. After getting laid off from her graphic design firm and her engagement collapsing, she's forced to move back in with her family, which is the last place she wants to be at the close of her early thirties. When she sees a sign in the front of dingy flower shop, one of the few stores left in a long-dying mall, she asks the striking and devoted florist Neve for a job. Shell's growing attraction to Neve gets harder and harder to ignore, but Shell isn't the only one obsessed with Neve. Deep in the mall, there's something waiting to show Neve just how much he loves her--and he's hungry.

Eat the Ones You Love is a strange, engaging story. The highlights for me were Shell's growing friendships with Neve and the rest of the mall crew. They were tender, realistic, and full of millennial absurdist angst in he best way. I also thought the risk of narrating the story from the POV of Baby, a carnivorous plant, was an interesting choice that paid off for me--Baby's voice and dialog reminded me of an abusive partner's (so take care while reading), though at times his dialog was repetitive.

What didn't work as well for me was the lack of worldbuilding which contributed to a landing at the end that the author didn't stick. Even still, it was interesting and I enjoyed letting myself be consumed by it.

I listened to an ALC compliments of Macmillain Audio and Netgalley. I thought both narrators did a fantastic job--the male narrator's voice was grating and contemptible which was perfect for his character. The female narrator did great with a variety of accents to imitate. I listened to it at 1.25 speed which did not affect my enjoyment.