Title: Love and Other Carnivorous Plants
Author: Florence Gonsalves
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 15, 2018
Love and other carnivorous plants was a truly perception changing book. Obviously, this is said about every book that anyone has ever liked, but this one has so many complex characters with problems even the characters themselves don’t understand that it makes the theory of a mind shifting book into a reality. The author explores sexuality and mental health in intertwining stories of the two main characters, Bugg and Danny. Although it focuses on a romance that I would usually identify as cheesy, both characters learn and develop with each other. They learn things about themselves and teach things about the universe itself and create a sort of dynamic where the romance is no longer cliche; rather real and personal to the world outside of the book as well as the town inside. The best part of Love and Other Carnivorous Plants isn’t the extremely well portrayed romance. It’s strongest point is how the story sucks you in the minute you start reading it and still holds a grasp on you after you’ve read every page multiple times. All of the secondary characters work to develop the primary characters while still being complex people with lives of their own. Every aspect of the setting works together to show who the characters are beyond their external lives. I cared about the characters and their futures beyond the book in a way that seemed unique to this book. Florence Gonsalves portrays life and death and every misguided event in between beautifully, and explores what it means to heal, to love, and to find yourself when it seems as though you’ve lost every part of yourself that you once understood. Love and Other Carnivorous Plants has quickly made its way into my personal book hall of fame as the best non-cliche romance novel I have ever read.
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