"Eat the Ones You Love" is basically if "Little Shop of Horrors" was about queer women in a rundown mall in Ireland and was told from the perspective of the plant. It doesn't get truly gruesome until near the end in my opinion, and for much of the book the horror comes from the narration style and building tension. The characters are messy in very real ways and the location of the story felt so real I could imagine it very clearly. My biggest critique is just that the ending felt a little flat for the story that the rest of the book was telling, and I kind of wish the author had gone even further on the horror front.

The narrators of the audiobook were absolutely fantastic. I truly can't imagine the story told by anyone else. The introduction of the plant's perspective felt so eerie just from the change in narrator. I found the overlapping effect near the end a little cheesy but I'm willing to look past it considering the rest of the audiobook was so enjoyable.

I gave this a 4.5 on StoryGraph but I'm rounding down to a 4 here.

Queer, gothic Little Shop of Horrors set in Ireland. After breaking up with her fiancé and looses her job, Shell must move home and start over. While running errands, she discovers the most beautiful flower shop run by Neve, who just happens to be hiring. As Shell throws herself into reinvention and her new passion for flowers, her feelings for Neve grow, but Neve is already committed to Baby - a flesh-eating plant - that feeds on her. Mostly in third person omniscient from the POV of Baby with interludes from Neve's ex who knows something's a miss and is trying to intervene from across the country.

I definitely recommend the audiobook! The narrators are amazing & I felt more enthralled by the story when I switched from the book to the audiobook.

The narrators for the audiobook for Eat the Ones You Love contributed to the charm and creepiness of the characters as well as contributing to the overall atmosphere of the novel. Featuring strong character development, Eat the One's You Love had me entertained from start to finish. Although I didn't love the ending.

I received an ALC of this story.

With the ALC I strongly believe it helped me in differentiating the characters! Shell sees the help wanted signs and asks what kind of help is needed. With the narration I fully appreciated the tone that was placed on that question because in my opinion it set up accordingly to the interest that the shop owner, Neve, showed after having heard this question.

Once Neve's plant, Baby, is introduced into the strong along with the narrator of that character, I was reminded of Little Shop of Horrors. However, I will say that "Eat the Ones You Love" seems to go a bit further than the small section of Little Shop of Horrors that I do remember. Which is very good because this story kept me engaged and curious. I am glad that I was approved to listen to this story.

Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin, is the most disturbing, unsettling, and horrific book I have ever read, and I don’t phase easily. In this story, Shell susceptible to psychological manipulation due to recent events in her life, finds herself compelled to work in a flower shop in a haunted and decaying mall.

Baby, the carnivorous plant that lures people to this shop, through a form of psychological linking initiated through touch, compels Neve to take care of them, as it requires consuming human victims to survive. While this story did display some Little Shop of Horrors vibes, unlike its predecessor, the writing does not make you love to hate the carnivorous plant and this is not a bad thing.

While it is absolutely wonderfully written, the narration by Barry McStay and Lauren O’Leary take this story to the next level, making you love the characters and root for them against Baby, and simultaneously haunting you with the horror of this psychological and graphically gory thriller.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this ALC. All opinions are my own.

Audiobook Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Apr 22 2025

Tags:
#MacmillanAudio
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#SarahMariaGriffin
#BarryMcStay
#LaurenOLeary
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#Horror
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#netgalley

I knew I would love this book when I read the synopsis last fall. But boy, did it deliver—haunting, gruesome, and unforgettable!

Bat Eater is more than a horror novel—it explores grief, trauma, racism, and justice. Set during COVID-19, the story captures the real-life xenophobia East Asians faced. While the social horror feels disturbingly real, Baker weaves in other horror elements—hungry ghosts and a serial killer—to write a chilling, layered story of vengeance and justice.

I loved the use of Chinese folklore! Rituals like burning joss paper and feeding hungry ghosts are not just atmospheric; they add a cultural richness that we rarely see in mainstream horror.

In addition to Cora (our FMC), Auntie Zeng and Yifei stood out as memorable characters. I couldn't get enough of Auntie Z: part folkloric guide and part badass ghostbuster. Yifei also provided much needed levity that balanced Cora's heaviness. However, Yifei's heartbreaking confession at the end—ugh! That really hit me hard!

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus (a favorite of mine) while reading along with the physical copy. Naudus breathes life into Cora’s panic, grief, and doubt. Her performance is truly top-notch. The physical book was great for revisiting Auntie Z’s chapters, which provided more depth about the folklore.

If you haven’t picked this up yet, now’s the time—especially since May is AAPI Heritage Month. Bat Eater is dark, meaningful, and deeply original.

I liked this one! Over all, bones to the story was good! Just wanted a bit more of something, a little UMF to the story, felt like it was missing something. Still enjoyable! 3.75 stars, rounded to 4 for rating here

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

I enjoyed this audiobook and both narrators. I found the plot to be interesting, but I was disappointed with the ending. I wanted more from the plot and the characters.

I would read more from this author in the future!

This novel was good but not great.

After a breakup with her long-term boyfriend and losing her job, our protagonist, Shell, decides it's time for a change. She finds a help needed sign at a florist shop in a rundown mall and thinks it's just what she needs. The owner of the shop, Neve, is immediately intriguing. However, a sentient plant that Neve calls "Baby" is watching, and he's determined to get his way.

Little Shop of Horrors is one of my favorite movies. I have a tattoo on my arm of Audrey 2. Needless to say, as soon as I read the description of this book I was locked in. However, this was a slooooow burn. Unfortunately for me, too slow to feel like it was worth it. I love a good character study and I love that most of the book was from the plant's perspective, but when 90% of the book is build up and 10% is payoff and the payoff isn't extremely satisfying, it's not a book for me. Overall, there were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, but it didn't hit the way I wanted it to.

The biggest plus side of this book was the narration. If I had not been listening to the audiobook, I would not have been nearly as engaged. The narration was 10/10!

The Little Shop of Horror vibes, but in a dying shopping centre setting. Although, I wish the horror part was amped a bit more, being it’s a plant possessing you (I understand that it’s not the genre).
The vibes overall were great, very eerie / creepy, but comedic, but what really hooked me was the narration. Macmillan Audio did wonderful in selecting the narrator. Overall, this was a very fun read. I enjoyed the whole premise, esp being a plant mami, I would be 100% down to merge W/ Baby 🤣 Totally obsessed w/ carnivorous plant, which everyone should have w/ the upcoming warmer seasons = more bugs lol!!

A stunning and horrifying offering. I loved the narration, LOVED the pov choice, loved the prose. I have very little to gripe about with this one. Objectively it’s a damn near perfect and perfectly contained tale of consumption, decay, and transformation. Loved it.

Honestly, experiencing this on audiobook really improved my experience. The narrators are wonderful and I loved the accents. However...it still couldn't save how slow and meandering this plot was. While I can enjoy slow-paced books, the writing didn't earn that in my opinion. The themes were still compelling though, and I think the ideas were super intriguing!

This story had a great premise but wasn’t developed well enough. The side characters felt flat, and because the character development was lacking overall, many of their actions didn’t make sense. I wish the story had focused more on the plant and the two main characters. The author could have built more tension around their relationship and the secret in the back room, rather than introducing side characters who blended together and added little to the plot. Also, for a horror, there wasn’t enough horror.

3.5/5 ⭐️ This was so weird. But I like weird. I honestly had no clue what this evil orchid named Baby was going to do, but I was not disappointed. I like that we got different character POVs and the audiobook did a good job with all the narrators. I think the orchid had the perfect narrator and truly made it feel like a villain. I do wish the book had given a bit more lore on Baby. At times it did go by slow, and the ending was kinda not what I expected from it.

What a delicious little read. Its easy to compare this to Little Shop of Horrors, but i think this is a far more intimate tale of obsession and love than that. Honestly, while I like Little Shop, this is far, far more fun than that. Baby, the plant monster, is exactly the what I'm looking for in lovesick, starving monsters. Will recommend to those looking for sapphics that EAT.

This is Ms. Griffin's first adult novel, and honestly, it was a great read. You've got a slowly failing shopping center in Dublin, a young girl in the aftermath of a breakup and a layoff who takes a florist job with a young woman, and oh, enmeshment and toxic relationships as embodied by a sentient human eating plant. ^^ Honestly, the way the narrative builds between the slow burn romance between Shell and Neve and the gothic narration of the plant and the slow suburban decay is really neatly entwined. The only piece of this that I'm not sure about was the Jen narrative thread, but it still helps the narrative. The alternating voices of the Shell focused narrator and the plant narrator work really well here (though I'm not sure making the plant voice male was the best choice, feels like it takes a bit of the subtlety out of it).

A plant with a superiority complex, who would have thought? This was such a WEIRD read. The characters were all absolutely unhinged, but the most unhinged ones; the plant and Dr. Jen were top tier.
Neve seemed so unbothered it was just chilling, and the combo of her with Shell just seemed so odd? Their blah personalities worked too well together that it just seemed kind of bleh. Blah and bleh.
The idea of a plant literally getting under your skin gives me the heebie jeebies SO MUCH because I love gardening and have plants all over my house. Now I wonder if/when I'm going to turn into a plant....

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

To start, the audio for this book was fantastic. All the readers did an outstanding job and helped the story flow. There were several actors who switched out, making the story move along. I would definitely recommend listening to this book.

I personally was not super invested in the story, and I wish the characters and their relationships had been developed more.

Overall, a fun listen, but I do not see myself listening to it again.

I had an ALC of this and felt like the narrators brought the story to life. This book is unsettling and quirky, a creepy killer plant. This was a fever dream and I did really enjoy it. I will never look at a plant the same way again.
4 star

Thank you to Netgalley for this ALC.
I had high hopes for this based on the synopsis but it just didn’t quite work for me. I enjoyed the narrators though, they did a great job and I appreciated that we got more than one. I almost found myself wanting MORE unhinged things to happen, it felt a bit tame. I wanted a backstory of how it all happened.