Review: Love and Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves

Love and Other Carnivorous Plants by Florence Gonsalves
Series: n/a

Genre: YA Contemporary, LGBTQ+

Publication: May 15th 2018 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: ARC (thank you, the Novl!)

Freshman year at Harvard was the most anticlimactic year of Danny’s life. She’s failing pre-med and drifting apart from her best friend. One by one, Danny is losing all the underpinnings of her identity. When she finds herself attracted to an older, edgy girl who she met in rehab for an eating disorder, she finally feels like she might be finding a new sense of self. But when tragedy strikes, her self-destructive tendencies come back to haunt her as she struggles to discover who that self really is.

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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 and genuine, and I loved reading through her perspective.

While this novel covers several different themes and topics, such as bisexuality, grief, alcohol abuse, LBGTQ+, grief, and mental health, Gonsalves does a wonderful job depicting the ways that one can find help and support. I feel like the author was fantastic in being honest and authentic with these various issues in modern society.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. I highly, highly recommend this book for all readers. Danny will resonate with readers everywhere in the way she depicts common issues that many people go through. Be sure to pick this one as soon as you can!

Thank you to the Novl for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

alice name.png Alice is an 18 year old college student who loves the oxford comma, television shows, and the company of dogs. She finds writing in the third person odd yet enjoyable. You can find her scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, and forever organizing her shelves on Goodreads.