Love & Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves

Feb 14, 2018 Lola rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2018-publications, did-not-finish, mental-health, lgbt

DNF at 25%. I see no point in reading this book. I already know that it’s not going to teach me something meaningful and I feel as though there is a part missing—the part before and where she is recovering. All we get is the *after* part, making it seem as though the story begun a long time ago and what we get is what the heroine cares to share.

Speaking of the heroine, she is the non-stop sarcastic type. At first it was okay, and I even enjoyed her crazy thoughts or somewhat clever remarks, but ...more

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Jul 03, 2018 ellie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-book-release, queer-and-here, 2018-faves, contemporary, girl-meets-girl, side-lgbt-characters

This book features a character so self-destructive that she might as well come with a Danger! Object may combust under extreme stress sticker. Or in other words, it was everything about myself I try to not dwell on. Danny? She dwells. She makes stupid decisions, thinks the worst things, and is an all-around mess. But I think that’s what made her so real.

Mental illness makes you think - no, dwell - on the worst parts of yourself. And Danny reflects that. This is a book about a girl who tries to e ...more

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Jun 02, 2018 alice (arctic books) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018, diversity-lgbtq, diversity-mi-or-disability, contemporary, physical-arc, romance, debut-2018, best-of-2018, better-than-expected, read-2018

I’m so surprised with this novel! I picked LOVE & OTHER CARNIVOROUS PLANTS up on a whim, and I just finished reading this in one sitting. I’m definitely adding Florence Gonsalves to my auto-buy authors.

This novel follows Danny, who is a college student at Harvard but is struggling with an eating disorder, body image, her sexuality, and the recent death of a close friend. The plot was very fast-paced and I whipped through the pages faster than I thought was possible. Danny was so authentic an ...more

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May 26, 2018 Corey rated it liked it

3.5 STARS

Oh gosh, I have such mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, there's a lot to like. The prose is beautiful, which is especially refreshing in a YA novel, as I often find that the writing in the genre ditches quality sentences in favor of what a lot of authors must see as "voice." Gonsalves sees no need to compromise though; the prose is crystalline and occasionally lyrical, and yet LOVE's protagonist, Danny, sounds exactly like a nineteen-year old. Her voice is pitch-perfect, an ...more

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Aug 26, 2016 Dahlia added it

Shelves: 2018-releases, collegiate-setting, eating-disorders, neurodiversity, quiltbag-ya

Think American Panda meets Paperweight , which sounds really great except it felt like I'd already read this, because I wouldn't say it does a ton on top of those things. (Especially because although she's in college, she's never in that setting for any portion of the book, so it differentiates itself even less from Paperweight .)

From a queer perspective, I really liked this; I know readers will dislike Danny's refusal to self-label, and the author knows it, too, because there's an author's Think American Panda meets Paperweight , which sounds really great except it felt like I'd already read this, because I wouldn't say it does a ton on top of those things. (Especially because although she's in college, she's never in that setting for any portion of the book, so it differentiates itself even less from Paperweight .)

From a queer perspective, I really liked this; I know readers will dislike Danny's refusal to self-label, and the author knows it, too, because there's an author's note that pre-emptively addresses what a lot of criticism of this book and its main character is gonna be. (More on that below.) But over and over again it's made clear that Danny's still questioning things, that maybe she's somewhere on the ace spectrum (no such words are used, but she says things repeatedly about not being sexual, and it's never clear to the reader or to her whether it's Bugg or girls that are the exception), and I thought it was nicely done and very believable for Danny.

On the subject of that author's note...I did not love its inclusion. She's not wrong that people are going to hate the lack of labeling, or the main character eschewing medication for mental illness (content warning there - this is another of those "I hate the way it makes me feel" books that just leaves it at that), but those are the choices you make as an author and leave to the reader to react to. This feels like a "Can't criticize me because I explained!" move, vs. an author's note like in If I Was Your GirlIf I Was Your Girl, where the author's note genuinely felt in service of readers. And that's an easy way out, which, honestly, I felt like the book's ending was too. Not an easy way out for Danny, per se, but an easy way out for the author. It's hard to discuss without spoiling it, but it felt to me as if it was telling me Danny had had some sort of character arc that I just wasn't seeing.

None of this is to say I think it's a bad book, and I'm sure there are readers who will find themselves in it; I just don't know that they'll feel good about that by the time they finish.

Cw: Heavy eating disorder themes and depictions, mentions of suicide, above note re: mental illness meds ...more

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Jul 21, 2018 PinkAmy loves 💕 books📖, cats😻 and naps🛏 rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 29, 2018 Tori rated it it was amazing

VERY well-written, Love & Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves is a book that explores some extremely heavy topics: mental health, eating disorders, sexuality and sexual identity, grief and substance abuse.

It's hard for me to write a review for this one - this doesn't feel like the best space to try to grapple with what I've read or what I'm feeling after finishing. Just know that this book is not for the faint of heart. You want a fluffy, cute read? Go find a Kasie West book. Thi ...more

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Feb 24, 2018 Kaylie rated it liked it

Shelves: queer, mental-health

I really loved Danny’s voice in this book. She made me laugh and feel her acute contradictions and the itchy realness of her suffering. She was a wonderful narrator of the show-don’t-tell variety, who fucks up and fucks up and lies to herself and lies to you and makes hyperbolic jokes all along the way.

The story itself I didn’t love. Halfway through it takes a sudden sharp turn, and from there wavers along, no longer certain of its destination or goals. It doesn’t stick the landing because it ca ...more

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May 30, 2018 Sierra rated it it was amazing

Shelves: relatable, beyond-favorites, best-of-2018

Ahhh, this book. It has my entire heart. The eating disorder rep is unparalleled.

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Jul 12, 2018 Paige Green rated it liked it

Disclaimer: I received this book through KidLitExchange and Little, Brown Books! Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3/5

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 16+ (sex, lgbt+, eating disorders, fixation, self-destructive tendencies. Please be aware there are some possible triggers for those who have eating disorders).

Pages: 352

Author Website

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Freshman year at Harvard was the most anticlimactic year of Danny's life. She's failing pre-med and drifting apart from her best fri ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 Dove rated it liked it

This book was painful to finish. And I have no idea why. From the synopsis, it honestly seemed like the perfect book for me- it's exactly the genre that I always read and enjoy. But this was just different. It was so excessively long I got frustrated. So many things could have been condensed or summarized, but this book had so many filler chapters that literally did not advance the plot at all. My english teacher once gave me amazing advice, saying, "think about whether a particular detail or ev ...more

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Nov 01, 2018 Jaye Ashryver marked it as did-not-finish

Shelves: contemporary

Dropped at pg 75.

Despite this book having a shockingly low Goodreads rating average (3.39), I didn't go into this one hating it. I was curious sure, but I already owned it so I figured to try it out. Sometimes things are better left a mystery though. I just couldn't do it.

For some reason this book just... skipped everything important. It skipped on the before and during of this character's eating disorder and other issues that lead her into taking a break from college to go to a treatment center ...more

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Apr 15, 2018 Sue (BeautyBookCorner) rated it really liked it

3.5 Stars. Okay, it's been a few days since I finished the book. I still stand by my 3.5 rating. The book starts off funny. I loved the sarcasm and dark humor of the main character. Danny is a highly-focused overachiever. She was valedictorian at her high school and is going to Harvard as a premed major. She and her best friend have always had a plan. They would go to college together, get married, become widows, and live the rest of their lives out together. Unfortunately, that plan becomes mes 3.5 Stars. Okay, it's been a few days since I finished the book. I still stand by my 3.5 rating. The book starts off funny. I loved the sarcasm and dark humor of the main character. Danny is a highly-focused overachiever. She was valedictorian at her high school and is going to Harvard as a premed major. She and her best friend have always had a plan. They would go to college together, get married, become widows, and live the rest of their lives out together. Unfortunately, that plan becomes messy as Danny ends up at Harvard. I think we’ve all had friendships that we thought would last forever (especially after high school or a big life event). Unfortunately, friendships often change or end altogether. Danny is going through that stage in her life with her best friend Sarah.

What we know right from the beginning is that Danny has developed an eating disorder as a way to cope with her OCD and anxiety. She feels constantly pressured by her environment. She ends up at a treatment center. The story begins as she is leaving the center. It's summer vacation and she is now back in her hometown. Her friendship with Sarah is a little rocky, and she is well aware of her mental issues.

I felt Danny was likable and relatable. I loved her matter-of-fact way of thinking. That being said she is a very flawed character. She is flippant in the way she thinks of her compulsion and mental health. She sees those around her dealing with substance abuse and while she is concerned, she does not do anything to help them. Somehow though, this didn't bother me as a reader. I felt for her because she was battling her own demons while trying to keep her mental breakdown from the previous semester a secret.

Something tragic happens midway and the book turns a dark corner. Things get darker and angrier as she begins to relapse hard. Her dark humor is still there to bring some lightness to the overall angsty mood, but it's definitely angrier and more desperate. You can feel her grasping for any semblance of control while giving into her compulsions.

While I liked the mental health and friendship aspects, I wish this book had more diversity. There is almost no people of color. Everyone seemed to be rich, young, white girls who lived in mansions. It gave the book an early 2000s The O.C. soap opera-ish vibe.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and it got me out of a big reading slump. I think for those looking to read an book about mental health issues that isn't too intense, this is a great option. I ended the book rooting for Danny and sincerely hoping she gets better.

One thing I'd like to mention is that Danny begins to form a romance with a girl she meets at treatment. However, this is not a coming-out story. I believe the girl was the first person she was really attracted to and with everything that she’s going through, trying to label herself as any specific sexual orientation is not a priority. The focus is much more her journey to a healthy mental state.

Trigger warnings for eating disorders, alcohol abuse, depression, attempted suicide, grief, compulsion disorders, and anxiety. ...more

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May 17, 2018 Abby rated it liked it

Okay, so basically I got this book for free. When one gets a book for free that is nothing to sniff at. I almost drop kicked a few children to get my hands on it. Am I happy about that decision? I dunno. Would I do it again? Probably. Anyway, without further adieu, let's get to what I kind of liked about this book and what I absolutely hated.

Pros because I like to start positive: has a very real portrayal of eating disorders and mental illness, also the main character is in a same-sex relationsh ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 Kareena rated it really liked it

What a crazy journey. I loved all the twists and turns. Danny was such a great character because of how imperfect she is. She was such an incredible character, with so many issues that she was trying so hard to work through. Definitely a refreshing contemporary. Just wish her and Bugg ended differently...

Lesbian romance, a vague sex scene, underage drinking, as well as frank discussion of mental illness including eating disorders.

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Aug 30, 2018 Mary rated it liked it

Maybe 3.5 stars
I liked this book, but it dragged a bit for me. I would have really liked the story that occurs before the main events of this book. Overall though, it was a good read and an interesting look at living your true self in life and facing your problems.

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Nov 04, 2018 Melissa rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2018-read-books

DNF at page 139

Yikes.

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Sep 01, 2018 Jacqueline Wheeler rated it did not like it

This book was VERY boring - I felt absolutely no sympathy for the characters.

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Jun 07, 2018 Gabrielle added it

we're going to move on from this nightmare :)

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Jun 25, 2018 Tonya Spencer rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (This is my first in-depth book review. Bear with me.)

There are a many reasons I didn’t like this book, a few being a) the instalove trope that way too many YA novels have, b) the underdeveloped characters, and c) the random, unnecessary lists in almost every chapter.

Love & Other Carnivorous Plants sounds good until you actually dive into it. There’s little to no backstory about how Danny developed her eating disorder. It even goes as far as to say you developed it because her dad had an ea (This is my first in-depth book review. Bear with me.)

There are a many reasons I didn’t like this book, a few being a) the instalove trope that way too many YA novels have, b) the underdeveloped characters, and c) the random, unnecessary lists in almost every chapter.

Love & Other Carnivorous Plants sounds good until you actually dive into it. There’s little to no backstory about how Danny developed her eating disorder. It even goes as far as to say you developed it because her dad had an eating disorder 20+ years ago and it’s hereditary or something. Personally, I can’t speak to how well her character was portrayed. However, I don’t think you can just turn an eating disorder on and off depending on if you’re fighting with your girlfriend or not.

Speaking of girlfriend (named Bugg btw). Her character isn’t introduced until 30 pages in at a random party even though she and Danny knew each other prior. It’s instalove the moment they’re alone and just really unrealistic.

On to the Danny’s “best friend”, Sara. Her main characteristic is how heavily she drinks and how often yet she DIES FROM A HEREDITARY HEART CONDITION?? Wtf. If she had to die, something like alcohol poisoning or a drunk driving accident would have made so much more sense. Not some random newly discovered heart condition that was mentioned in as little as a paragraph.

Not that Sara is gone, Danny is grieving and blah blah blah but you can’t really feel anything since their friendship wasn’t developed at all. Oh, they’ve been friends for 14 years? That’s nice, they act like strangers forced to get along.

There’s more I could bitch about but I’ll skip to the end. Where Sara’s mom just hands the keys to her Range Rover over to Danny like it’s no big deal. Is that a rich people thing? “Here honey, I know you miss your best friend, here’s her 2 year old $86,000+ car to make you feel better.” Then to top that off, Danny turns around and sells it. She buys two tickets to Paris and convinces Bugg that neither of them need treatment for their issues (when they really do) and then decides on the way to the airport that she was wrong and they should go home and take a break from each other.

I feel like at this point I’m so frustrated with this book that I’m not articulating myself the way I want to but I’ll stop here. This book was a waste of time. Maybe I would have liked it in middle school, but at 25, nope, no way. ...more

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Mar 03, 2018 Emmi Rose (emmirosereads) rated it liked it

Shelves: three-and-a-half-stars

*3.5*
If you know me then you know contemporary novels aren't my most favorite thing. I've read many that I've enjoyed and want to read a few but there aren't something I actively reach for or that capture me as much as a good fantasy does. I know though that I would have loved this so much more if I was really into the contemporary genre and might have even given it five stars. With all that being said I still enjoyed this book for the most part. It's a book that deals with a lot of hard but im ...more

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Jul 05, 2018 Natalie rated it liked it

When I got this book from the library, I was prepared to fall head-over-heels in love with it. I had seen someone in the booktube community give it high praise, and I was sure this meant I was going to adore the book. Sadly, this was not the case. Although there was plenty about this book that I enjoyed, it wasn't the five star read I was anticipating.

Summary: Danny's life is not going according to plan. She got accepted at Harvard as a pre-med student, but lost her second semester as she was f When I got this book from the library, I was prepared to fall head-over-heels in love with it. I had seen someone in the booktube community give it high praise, and I was sure this meant I was going to adore the book. Sadly, this was not the case. Although there was plenty about this book that I enjoyed, it wasn't the five star read I was anticipating.

Summary: Danny's life is not going according to plan. She got accepted at Harvard as a pre-med student, but lost her second semester as she was forced to go to rehab for her newly-developed eating disorder. Fresh out of rehab, she returns home with plans to conceal where she's been and the feelings she's developing for a girl she met there.

Hands down, my favorite thing about this book was the main character. Dandelion, or Danny for short, was such a relatable and approachable character. Her personality felt very realistic and hit close to home. A lot of times, I found her over-exaggerations and her expressions to be exactly the kind of thing I would think to myself or say. Her voice really came across through the writing, and I adored that. I always love having strong main characters because they make it easier to stick with the story even if the plot is not that interesting.

Danny was far from a perfect character, but that's what made her so engaging. She said a lot of things that were horrible and hurtful, but they never came across as being right. It was clear she was being nasty and not exactly behaving as anyone ought to. She also exhibited a lot of self-sabotaging behavior that felt very accurate for someone suffering from an eating disorder (but that of course can be highly triggering). She was a pretty unreliable narrator, and I enjoyed sifting through the lies she told herself and her skewed way of portraying the people around her. All in all, she was a really well developed character.

Unfortunately, now I have to talk about what I didn't enjoy about this novel.

For starters, the first 40% of this book felt like a big pile of nothing had been dumped on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at sticking with books with no plot, but this was a little rough for me. During that first half of the book, Danny's struggles just came across as annoyances. The novel focused a lot on her fractured relationship with her best friend, Sara, and their problems were just so ridiculous to me. It felt like the stereotypical nerd and jock friends drifting apart after college because they have completely different views on life. This was not interesting to read about. The whole thing made me want to roll my eyes. Then we add in the fact that Sara came across as vapid and ignorant half of the time, and I couldn't see how they had been friends in the first place. To this we also have to factor in all that these two "best friends" were hiding from each other, and I just could not stand their drama.

*SPOILER ALERT*

As bad as it sounds, it was a relief when Sara died. This novel actual picked up speed and got more interesting when she was out of the picture. We got to watch as Danny and Bugg (the girl from rehab) got close and began to develop feelings for each other, and we got to see how Danny started spiraling out of control. This made the second half of the novel more engaging. I found it easier to keep turning the pages and keep reading about Danny's life falling apart.

*SPOILERS OVER*

Still. There were little things that bothered me about this book. For one, Danny makes some comments about how gross she finds blushing boys and their nervous tics when they're trying to flirt and I just ? ? ? I don't understand why she has to be so mean. I totally understand not being sexually attracted to guys (as someone who is asexual and biromantic I totally do get it), but I don't understand finding a certain gender repulsive simply because they're whatever gender they are. A lack of sexual attraction doesn't mean you have to find the other person gross. Then there's also the fact that Danny has a compulsive need to hide everything. She didn't want people to know she was in rehab, she didn't want people to know she was failing pre-med, she didn't want people to know she was into Bugg, she didn't want people to know she was falling into her unhealthy eating habits again. . . It was just too much. I'm not a fan of pathological liars. They just rub me the wrong way. The book had other little things that rubbed me the wrong way, but I don't want to dwell on them anymore.

At the end of the day, I'm not a hundred percent sure about how I feel about this novel. It wasn't what I was expecting it to be, but it was not a terrible read. I guess I'm just happy I got this from the library and didn't purchase it myself (even though the hardback is gorgeous). ...more

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Mar 22, 2018 Simone rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018, ya-novels

If you're looking for a sophisticated "adult" read, be prepared. This isn't for adults. The writing and the voice is way more amateur, but as a young adult novel this voice isn't meant for adults. This book in general isn't made for adults because while hitting on some serious adult themes, it's still made for teenagers.

The only thing that really irked me about the book was the writing and the voice. However, I also took it with a grain of sand because Florence Gonsalves had a point in writing t If you're looking for a sophisticated "adult" read, be prepared. This isn't for adults. The writing and the voice is way more amateur, but as a young adult novel this voice isn't meant for adults. This book in general isn't made for adults because while hitting on some serious adult themes, it's still made for teenagers.

The only thing that really irked me about the book was the writing and the voice. However, I also took it with a grain of sand because Florence Gonsalves had a point in writing this book with that particular voice.

Aside from that, this was one randomly deep book. I picked this up because I wanted to read something light and simple. With the word "love" and a cute picture of a Venus Fly Trap, I thought that this would be one of those books. However, what I got was quite the opposite.

The main character, Danny (short for Dandelion, which is kind of cringe-y for a name), is a young driven woman who during her first year at Harvard suffered from so much stress and disorder in her life that she was placed in a special hospital for her eating disorder. The story begins with her release from the hospital and trying to reconnect with her friends during summer break. She has until the end of the summer to decide if she wants to go back to Harvard after she's feeling better.

During that time, she's faced with her best friend, Sarah, who has changed drastically within the ten months they were separated for school. She also meets a friend she met at the hospital, Bugg, who later becomes her love interest.

I think that if you're a person who has ever had a best friend throughout your childhood and suddenly feel the strain of leaving each other for school, then this book will resonate with you. You may not be suffering from an eating disorder or even questioning your sexuality, but if you thought your friends would be friends forever and now it's not then this will ring in your ears like the bells of Notre Dame.

I really liked this book because I resonated with that. Also, I resonated with some of the mental health issues Florence Gonsalves brings up. While I don't have an eating disorder, it's been considered that Bulimia and Anorexia both have underlying symptoms of OCD. The inability to control everything around them materializes in control over your own body and your food intake. It becomes an obsession with obsessive thoughts. For example, being able to look at a piece of food and not spiral out of control on what would happen if you ate that food.

It was really difficult to read Danny's relationship with food. She's always wearing mu-mus because she's ashamed of the way her body looks. You find her vegan-ness to be more of a way to control her calorie intake than really anything to do with the harm of innocent creatures. You can see the symptoms in everything she says (lots of denial), her binge eating habits, her inability to tell the truth, etc.

I think the only thing I felt was a little unbelievable was the levels of Hell she found herself in. Most people don't experience as much pain and loss as Danny does and somehow Danny gets through ALL of it before the end of the book. In the realism of the book, I had to ding it because it just doesn't seem feasible that she can have that much woe at one time. Perhaps it is and there are some people who experience everything at once. When it rains it pours.

But in the end, I really liked this book and it kept my attention the entire time. Now I really need something a little bit more simple and fun. ...more

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Mar 22, 2018 Rimpy Toor rated it it was ok

Shelves: may-2018

First I'd like to mention that this novel contains mentions of suicide, eating disorders, and depression. Please understand this before deciding to pick this novel up.

I wanted to love this novel so badly. I read the synopsis and automatically was intrigued with the plot and the characters we got to follow.

Unfortunately, this novel fell a bit flat for me and I really couldn't get into it after the first 100 or so pages. After starting this novel I honestly thought it was going to be a new favou ...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Teenreadsdotcom rated it really liked it

Danny and Sara have been best friends forever. Along with being best friends forever comes The Plan. The Plan is to go to college together, fall in love with brothers and raise their kids together. But when Danny is accepted to Harvard, The Plan goes haywire. As she goes to her first year of college, her life catches up to her. After studying pre-med for part of a year, Danny winds up in treatment for an eating disorder where she meets an older girl who understands what it feels like to be compl Danny and Sara have been best friends forever. Along with being best friends forever comes The Plan. The Plan is to go to college together, fall in love with brothers and raise their kids together. But when Danny is accepted to Harvard, The Plan goes haywire. As she goes to her first year of college, her life catches up to her. After studying pre-med for part of a year, Danny winds up in treatment for an eating disorder where she meets an older girl who understands what it feels like to be completely messed up.

After leaving treatment, Danny has the whole summer ahead of her. She’s back with Sara, but they can’t talk about anything real. When she finds the girl again it seems like things might be turning back to okay, but then tragedy strikes, and Danny starts to destroy herself all over again.

Gonslaves uses a darkly hilarious voice to tell a story of life, loss and learning how to be okay with yourself. Even though she is living in a terrible time for herself, Danny narrates in a way that is funnier than anything I have read before --- and yet, her unfailing ability to make a joke, no matter how morbid, seemed to amplfy the severity of the situation she’s in. When the book started, her humor made me laugh out loud, but as it progressed, I began to realize what the humor meant for Danny. It got darker and darker as she fell further and further from herself.

LOVE & OTHER CARNIVOROUS PLANTS tells a love story in a way unlike many I read. Instead of the typical vision of two people falling in love and fixing each other’s problems, solving everything with their emotions, Gonslaves tells something real. Danny and Bugg are very real people. They have problems, they break down, they need help. But with each other, they get a reprieve. They find someone who understands, without ruining the reality of their characters. Not only their relationship, but everything is real. From her parents, to college, to her treatment, to her friends, Danny’s life can be mirrored in our own. Even without an eating disorder, all of us understands what it feels like to not be good enough.

The way that Danny deals with hardships and struggle is vividly real. Gonslaves manages to make something so horrible seem like it barely exists, and simultaneously that it is the end of the world. Coping with tragedy is something no one excels at, but she shows that the inability to manage it is okay. She shows that sometimes feeling nothing and everything all at once is the only way to handle it.

As a hilarious, thoughtful novel of trying to figure out loving other people when it hurts, and loving yourself when it’s impossible, LOVE & OTHER CARNIVOROUS PLANTS flies by. It reminds us that even after all the ups and downs of life, we can always somehow find a way to keep on going.

Reviewed by Caitlyn K., Teen Board Member ...more

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Jul 25, 2018 m rated it really liked it

cw eating disorders, body image, alcohol
(+spoilers + a review that's mostly here for personal archival purposes)

To be perfectly honest, reading about Danny felt a lot like holding up a mirror to myself, though maybe a younger version. Which is probably why the whole thing felt too close and I probably identified too much even while recognizing (like in the thoughtful author's note!) that a lot of what Danny says and does is imperfect and even sometimes problematic.

That said, I can't personally i cw eating disorders, body image, alcohol
(+spoilers + a review that's mostly here for personal archival purposes)

To be perfectly honest, reading about Danny felt a lot like holding up a mirror to myself, though maybe a younger version. Which is probably why the whole thing felt too close and I probably identified too much even while recognizing (like in the thoughtful author's note!) that a lot of what Danny says and does is imperfect and even sometimes problematic.

That said, I can't personally identify with the eating disorder and alcohol dependency issues in this book, so it's hard for me to say if the author has presented it in a realistic way as opposed to, say, glamorizing it to the point of solely using it as a trope or device. But the other stuff felt real to me in a way that probably speaks to my privilege but also made me feel Seen (also that I should work on my own stuff).

I am really glad that Danny and Bugg don't end up together--or at least, for the moment, and mostly by way of them deciding not to go on the France run away trip. I'm also glad they were together, for a bit. It's nice that it ends on a kind of point where their relationship is stable, but with the potential for growth in the future.

Not everything in this is realistic, obviously, in the way that no fiction is ever completely realistic in order to generate drama. On one hand, Sara's letter was a really nice plot point even if it was an external impetus when I wanted to see an internal one, and it was really convenient (though she did know about the potential for her condition beforehand...). On the other, are people really saying and thinking this kind of flowery dramatic stuff in real life? Do they fall in love solely through passing notes to a girl within a week? Maybe sometimes.

One big flaw is that Bugg felt flat as a character. I kept waiting for her to finally confront Danny, but she kept on forgiving and showing up and being comforting when she was needed to be. Speaking of which, I was about to say that Danny doesn't really face consequences, but in a way she does: Sara's death and going to treatment again, though those are arguable.

I really did not expect Sara's death and in a way I guess I was also in disbelief while reading about it. The fact that they had a big fight right before just made it all the more... I don't know. Gutwrenching? It's not something you wouldn't expect to happen based on where the plot was going, and I suppose in that way it really mimicked how death can be, no foreshadowing. This is the part that transforms this book, for me, into something more and propels the plot and character(s?) into motion.

Anyway, we end on a note where Danny is still herself, flaws and all, but there's a glimmer of that growth beyond the horizon. ...more

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Nov 17, 2018 Liralen rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, ed-etc, ya, 2018, reviewed

The front-cover soundbite says that it is for 'fans of Sarah Dessen', and I'm really not sure what they were thinking. I suspect that either 1) they didn't actually read Love & Other Carnivorous Plants or 2) they don't have a great understanding of what a Sarah Dessen book entails. Because this is nothing like a Sarah Dessen book—this is more like the sort of thing somebody reads when they've outgrown the books they read when they outgrew Sarah Dessen.

This is not criticism—not when it comes The front-cover soundbite says that it is for 'fans of Sarah Dessen', and I'm really not sure what they were thinking. I suspect that either 1) they didn't actually read Love & Other Carnivorous Plants or 2) they don't have a great understanding of what a Sarah Dessen book entails. Because this is nothing like a Sarah Dessen book—this is more like the sort of thing somebody reads when they've outgrown the books they read when they outgrew Sarah Dessen.

This is not criticism—not when it comes to Sarah Dessen and not when it comes to Florence Gonsalves. Just...Dessen doesn't let her characters get this messy. In Dessen books, a heroine doesn't have an eating disorder—her sister does. A heroine doesn't get pregnant—her best friend does. And if a heroine drinks too much, that doesn't mean passing out in a graveyard and having her stomach pumped; it means she's caught on the first sip of hard liquor. Oh, and Dessen heroines aren't into girls (a flaw...and yes, that much is criticism), but if they were, it would be the girlfriend (or, more likely, ex the heroine was trying to get over), not the heroine, who insisted that they stay in the closet.

And the thing is...Danny is not a likable heroine. Sarah Dessen's heroines are bland basic bastions of likability precisely because they don't do the things that Danny does. Precisely because they're approximately 2% as fucked up as Danny is. I...I wouldn't want to be Danny. I'm not sure I'd want to be in Danny's life at all, frankly, because her life seems to be chaos and Danny seems pretty hell-bent on self-destruction. She makes for a compelling heroine, though, because her chaos is balanced by the genuine care she has for the people around her (even when she's torpedoing those relationships). I kind of have no idea where her post-book life is going to take her, but in this case (given how much of a mess things are throughout the book), that's probably just as well—better than tying it all up with a bow, because Danny's going to need rather more time and space to get herself to a better place.

I'd maybe read more by Gonsalves, but, uh, definitely not when I'm in a Sarah Dessen mood. ...more

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Mar 29, 2018 Ashley rated it liked it

“She makes me feel like I’m not myself and more myself at the same time. She devours me in the best way and kills me in the worst way, but I’m happy to be killed by her because she’s heaven too.”

I have mixed feelings about this book and writing this review is so difficult. It’s not that I didn’t like the book, because I did like it. I would even recommend reading it, because it talks about a lot of important things; such as eating disorders, mental illness, alcohol abuse, questioning your sexu “She makes me feel like I’m not myself and more myself at the same time. She devours me in the best way and kills me in the worst way, but I’m happy to be killed by her because she’s heaven too.”

I have mixed feelings about this book and writing this review is so difficult. It’s not that I didn’t like the book, because I did like it. I would even recommend reading it, because it talks about a lot of important things; such as eating disorders, mental illness, alcohol abuse, questioning your sexuality, and a few other things as well. It’s jam packed with important things.

As far as the characters go, I liked the characters. They were all going through something different. They were all struggling with something in their lives. Danny was really sarcastic a lot of the time and she tried to use humor to cope with some of the things happening in her life. I really liked her relationship with Bugg (the girl she meets in rehab). Bugg was a really cool character. Danny’s best friend, Sarah, I wasn’t the biggest fan of hers. But again, she was also going through a lot as well. I can see how it could change her.

This tragic event that happens, I honestly wasn’t expecting it at all. I think that’s also where the book took a turn for me and where my mixed feelings about the story came into play. The pace of the book started to slow down. I was waiting for things to happen and they just weren’t happening or at a decent pace anymore. It was taking awhile to get there. I was also hoping for a little bit more with the ending and for certain things to go differently. Like the tragedy that happened, I personally felt like that didn’t need to happen. It’s hard to really talk about it without giving spoilers though.

Overall, I liked Love and Other Carnivorous Plants. I thought it was a good story. It dealt with a lot of pretty important and tough things. For the most part they were handled pretty well. I liked Florence’s writing style and it was easy to read. I wish the pace didn’t change in the second half of the book, but it was still a good read. I would still recommend reading it. ...more

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Jul 07, 2018 Stephanie rated it liked it

Shelves: identity, lgbtq, social-issues, young-adult

I randomly picked this up at the library during LGBTQ Pride Month. I enjoyed it, but it just wasn't "my book." There were SO many adult issues going on in this book (thought it was published under Young Adult), and I just didn't relate to any of them. What I did enjoy was the authentic voice and experience that the characters had. They felt like real people, but dealing with things with which I couldn't empathize. In the author's note at the end, Gonsalves mentions that she wanted her protagonis I randomly picked this up at the library during LGBTQ Pride Month. I enjoyed it, but it just wasn't "my book." There were SO many adult issues going on in this book (thought it was published under Young Adult), and I just didn't relate to any of them. What I did enjoy was the authentic voice and experience that the characters had. They felt like real people, but dealing with things with which I couldn't empathize. In the author's note at the end, Gonsalves mentions that she wanted her protagonist, Danny, to be real and relatable, but not exemplary. I think that's the perfect way to describe this book.

Danny (Dandelion) is 19 and a hot mess. She missed second semester of her freshman year at Harvard while receiving treatment for bulimia, and kept this a secret from everyone other than her parents, even her best friend Sara. When Danny returns home from treatment, she finds her friendship with Sara fraught with the tension of kept secrets (on both sides). She is riddled with indecision about whether or not she WANTS to return to Harvard or pursue pre-med. To top it off, Danny finds herself feeling romantic feelings for a girl she first met in treatment and is now encountering in "the real world." Danny was never interested in boys, which she largely put down to not finding the right one, but now she finds herself dealing with her sexual orientation and identity.

So - eating disorders, expectations for education and life, parental relationships, friendships, grief, sexual identity, sexual orientation.... What a big, heavy list for one 19-year-old girl to deal with, and she doesn't always handle it well. This book will give you all the feels on all the emotions, but it might be too much for some readers.

Definitely not appropriate for young readers, and exercise caution for high school age; lots of potential triggers for a variety of issues. However, I do think it is important to note that I KNOW teens deal with this issues, and it is important for readers to find themselves in literature, so just be aware that this book contains mature language, teen drinking and tobacco use, and sexual content in both hetero and homosexual situations. ...more

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May 26, 2018 Melissa (YA Book Shelf) rated it really liked it

This was a hard book for me to read. I mean I was blowing through it quite quickly in comparison to other books I’d read recently, but I had to put it down at one point because after tragedy strikes, some things that Danny had seemingly under control, get thrown out the window. It might go without saying that this book could be triggering to some with regard to eating disorder behaviours, binge drinking, and other risky behaviours.

Sometimes though when you pick a book up again, the triggering n ...more

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