Review by lovelymisanthrope - Eat the Ones You Love

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lovelymisanthrope 's review for:

Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin

2.0

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I picked this up because it was the Literally Dead Book Club pick for the month.

“Eat the Ones You Love” follows a young woman named Shell and a plant with a voracious appetite. One day, Shell stumbles upon a help wanted sign and once she sees the beautiful shop owner, Neve, she knows she has to take this job. But what Shell does not expect is how much Baby, the orchid growing in the heart of the mall, will over take their lives.

I did not know much about this novel before I picked it up, but as soon as a I started to really get into, I could see the parallels between this novel and “Little Shop of Horrors”. However, once I got a taste for the “Little Shop of Horrors” elements, I wanted more, much like Baby. I felt like this novel suffered from either not enough of a reference to the play or not enough of an original idea. The story felt just close enough to “Little Shop of Horrors” that I started to anticipate more of that plot and when that is not the direction the story went, I quickly grew frustrated.

There was something about the writing of this novel that I really struggled to connect with. I felt like most of my time reading this story I did not know what was going on, and then as soon as I felt like I started to grasp its essence, something would happen that pulled me out of the story again. I also just did not enjoy any element of this story. Because of this, I was never invested in this story.

I am sure this novel has its audience, but it is just not for me.

Content Warnings