LOVE AND OTHER CARNIVOROUS PLANTS

A mature, character-driven, coming-of-age YA with an unreliable narrator, crossover potential, and a voice that feels like a mix between Lena Dunham and Sarah Dessen with a nice dollop of Amy Schumer.

The author, Florence Gonsalves, has an undeniable voice and the rare ability to use language to hone in on life's truths in a way that make you walk away from this manuscript feeling as though you've experienced something important. In short, she is an artist. For instance, there is a stunning section in which one of the characters talks about the Nucleus Incumbens (i.e. the pleasure center of the brain). It turns out that our pleasure centers begin to shrink after the age of twenty-five (which has me mourning my shrinking pleasure center). This hones in on part of what makes Florence such an electric storyteller. At the impressively young age of twenty-three, Florence has managed to write a novel that is honest, vibrant, and beautiful. She is so tuned-in to life, adolescence, and the world that it jumps off the page in an unexpectedly poignant way. On top of that, Florence works in publicity at Simon and Schuster (Gallery), which makes her uniquely qualified to approach publishing both as an artist and a businesswoman.

Dandelion (Danny) was used to being the best of the best, but that was before Harvard broke her down, leading her to spend her Freshman spring checked into rehab for bulimia rather than studying in the library. Now, she is back home for the summer, which leaves her with plenty of time to chow down on her monster snacks and while away the days playing tennis with her best friend, Sara. When a beautiful red-haired girl from rehab named Bugg shows up on the first day of summer poetry class, it sends unexpected shock waves through Danny's life. While Sara drowns Danny in details about her new boyfriend and her schemes to set Danny up with his friends, Danny finds herself unable to confide that she may actually be falling for a girl. Just as she is starting to navigate the uncharted waters of her sexuality, an unexpected tragedy shakes Danny to her core, throwing her into a tailspin and changing her life irrevocably. Through Danny's story, Gonsalves explores themes of sexuality, loss, eating disorders, poetry, and the bumpy road of adolescence.