Eat the ones you love

At the start of this heartrending gothic horror story from Griffin (Other Words for Smoke), Michelle "Shell" Pine has just lost her job, broken up with her fiancé, and moved back into the jumble of her parents' house in the Dublin suburbs. She needs a win and jumps on the first opportunity she's seen in months: a HELP NEEDED sign in the window of a flower shop in a decaying mall. Her new boss, Neve--beautiful, mysterious, and fresh off her own broken engagement--has secrets Shell can't wait to unravel. But Neve's secrets run deeper than Shell could imagine: she's the keeper of a massive, monstrous orchid that's taken over the mall's infrastructure and Neve's whole life. Not content with Neve simply helping it survive, the orchid wants to possess and consume her totally. Now Shell is caught in the middle of a love story, both her own and one much stranger and more terrifying. Griffin makes a premise that could feel a bit too Little Shop of Horrors instead feel lush, eerie, and sensual through prose that's equal parts romantic and horrifying. This poignant and original examination of desire and decay is a stunner. (Apr.)

Shell Pine has recently lost her job, her fiancé, and almost all hope. But when she walks past a florist's shop and sees a sign that says "help needed" instead of "help wanted," she is intrigued. Shell gets the job and finds her new boss, Neve, to be a beautiful but mysterious woman who has secrets of her own. Shell can't help falling in love. What she doesn't realize, however, is that it is not Neve who runs the show at the shop, but Baby, a sinister plant with an obsession and unquenchable thirst. YA author Griffin (Spare and Found Parts) presents a grimly humorous yet horrific tale of losing everything, finding family, falling in love, and surviving the unexpected. Narrators McStay (as Baby) and O'Leary (voicing the remaining characters) craft an unsettling atmosphere. Their talents are fully revealed in the book's final moments, as the story reaches a shocking conclusion and multiple voices converge. The sound design of this audiobook, underlaid with distressing overlapping voices, is as unnerving as the sentient plant that haunts it. VERDICT Griffin's imaginative take on Little Shop of Horrors offers finely tuned narration and sound design. Though not gruesomely horrific, this spectacular work will be appreciated by audio horror fans everywhere.--Elyssa Everling