Feed Me Seymour!

 

TITLE: Eat the Ones You Love

AUTHOR: Sarah Maria Griffin

PUBLISHER: Tor

PUBLISHING DATE: April 22, 2025

PAGES: 288   

SOURCE: Own library

FROM GOODREADS: A twisted, tangled story about workplace love-affairs, and plants with a taste for human flesh.  

During a grocery run to her local shopping center, Shell Pine sees a ‘HELP NEEDED’ sign in a flower shop window. She’s just left her fiancé, lost her job, and moved home to her parents’ house. She has to make a change and bring some good into her life, so she goes inside and takes a chance. Shell realizes right away that flowers are just the good thing she's been looking for, as is Neve, the beautiful florist who wrote the sign asking for help. The thing is, Neve needs help more than Shell could possibly imagine. 

An orchid growing out of sight in the heart of the mall is watching them closely. His name is Baby, and the beautiful florist belongs to him. He’s young, he’s hungry, and he’ll do just about anything to make sure he can keep growing big and strong. Nothing he eats – nobody he eats – can satisfy him, except the thing he most desires. Neve. He adores her and wants to consume her and will stop at nothing to eat the one he loves. 

This is a story about possession, and monstrosity, and working retail. It is about hunger and desire, and other terrible things that grow.

MY THOUGHTS: I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this book but since I preordered it and paid full price on Kindle, I was hoping to love it.  And I'm kind of shocked to say I really did.  This is supposedly inspired or a retelling of sorts of "Little Shop of Horrors" which I've never seen, but I didn't matter.  I kind of fell in love with Baby anyway - which is very, very twisted and has my bestie worried about me.

Shell's live has dismantled over the past few years.  At 33, she and her fiancé split, her job went under, and she moved back home with her parents and two siblings.  The day while visiting the local run-down mall, Shell is drawn to a "Help Wanted" sign in a local florist shop.  She goes in to apply and is taken by the shop owner, Neve.  Neve immediately hires Shell and over the next couple of weeks, they teeter on a work/flirtation tightrope.  However, Neve belongs to another.  Deep within the mall, in the locked terrarium, grows Baby.  Neve and Baby have known each other for years and Neve has helped Baby feed his hunger.  Baby has plans for Shell, but will she figure out the plans before it's too late?  The mall is set to close down soon, and Baby needs a way out.

This book is marketed as horror and while I would say it is to a point, it's also very weird fiction.  Baby is not only obsessed with Neve, but the both of them enter into a very problematic relationship.  I mean come on; Baby IS a plant after all.  As expected, there is quite a bit of body horror but there is also a sort of found family.  Shell meets Neve's mall friends and starts to come out of her shell (no pun intended) and sees a future where before it was nothing but darkness.  I really enjoyed this friend group with their very differing personalities and quirks.  I also liked Neve although I grew to question many of her choices.

Not to say this book wasn't without issues.  I had a hard problem with formatting.  There are no real chapter breaks but rather parts to the book and I felt that made the book seem much longer than its 288 pages.  Also, Baby narrates quite a bit of the book but there was no real indication of when Baby would take over the story which made for difficult transitions.  

The entire time I was reading this book there was a feeling of dread over me.  It is very atmospheric in that sense, and I wasn't sure where the story was headed and even now, a day after reading it, am not sure what I read.  There may be some deep meaning in this book, but I prefer to keep it at surface level.  I don't know who I would recommend this book to, and it doesn't have the best reviews, but I did enjoy it and will be looking for more from this author in the future.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS