Shell has recently been laid off and left a longterm relationship with her fiance. She finds herself living back in her childhood home and desperately trying to find out who she is and what she should do next. While in the local rundown mall, Shell finds a flower shop with a “help needed” sign, something draws her in to apply. Soon Shell finds herself happy in a new job, surrounded by flowers, and making new friends including her beautiful and mysterious boss Neve.

Unfortunately, for Shell, there’s a mystery growing in the floors and walls of the mall where she works, one that’s attached closely to Neve. A sentient plant she calls ‘baby’. Baby has an insatiable hunger and is incredibly dependant on Neve. What will happen when Shell becomes intertwined in this strange love story? And will she make it out alive?

Eat the Ones You Love, written by Sarah Maria Griffin, came out on April 22nd and is a must-read! It’s one of the most unique horrors I’ve read so far this year.

“It made Shell feel like she was eight, fourteen, and perhaps like she was seventy-two and still here, in a shopping centre adjacent to her housing estate, still here, still in this place. It wouldn’t let her leave this part of the world and she had worked so hard to get gone. She almost had.”

Much like a carnivorous plant, I absolutely devoured this book over 24 hours. This is such an incredibly fun and horrific take on the possession genre while also commenting on the pressure placed on women in their thirties, the housing crisis, and what it means to follow your creativity and finding your place in the world.

All of the characters in this book are fantastic. I immediately fell in love with them all. I loved how their stories all intertwined and how Shell as the outsider was so quickly and warmly welcomed in. It’s such a dream group of friends that are carrying each other and supporting each other. It’s just a really lovely cast of characters, each with their own unique personalities and flaws.

Baby, our evil plant, was incredible. I’m trying to be quite vague because there’s a lot in this book that I don’t want to spoil. But Baby was so fun to read and also the levels of his evil were unmatched.

The ambience was perfect. I worked in a run-down mall in a retail store where I used the tunnels under the mall to transport stock and get to and from the food court. I could very easily picture Woodbine Crown Mall and how a plant could slowly infest and cover the place in vines while no one noticed.

Again, I want to keep this pretty vague, because there’s so many incredible turns this story takes, and narrative moments that I wouldn’t want to spoil. But I can highly recommend you read this! This is Sarah Maria Griffin’s debut adult novel and she completely knocked it out of the park.

“She never would have known what it was to glimpse past tile and brick and wire and the boundaries of the world into something bigger, and older, and wilder. She never would have known that I am the best thing. Neve might have been the sculptor and she the apprentice, but I am the angel in the marble and I am starving. I am so, so hungry.”

A big thank you to Tor for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. Pick up a copy for yourself now! You’ll love this one!