Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin

When I first heard the synopsis for EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE, it sounded a lot like Little Shop of Horrors (and I can see others have already made the obvious jokes), but apart from a cannibalistic plant that lives in a flowershop with its enabler, the two are vastly different stories.

EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE is set in Ireland and features an ill-fated throuple between Shell, Neve, and Baby. Baby looks like an orchid but he's actually so much more and he's obsessed with Neve. He loves her so much that he wants to be with her forever-- by consuming her whole. Shell, meanwhile, is a thirty-something slacker and what the layman would probably refer to as an "unlikable character." She is also in love with Neve-- or thinks she is-- and this soon-to-be-toxic obsession pushes her to make choices that will doom them both.

The writing and social commentary in this book are excellent and it was just the right amount of weird to be interesting rather than silly. It features a heavy amount of body horror and, of course, plants committing murders, but I would say that the violence tends to feel more camp than it does brutal (trust me, I'm a wuss). I've read some banger sapphic horror novels this year and I'm happy to report that I can count EAT THE ONES YOU LOVE among them.

Thanks to the author/publisher for sending me a copy! 

4 out of 5 stars