Caring for Your Monster Venus Flytraps
It is a common misconception that monster Venus flytraps are man-eating psychopaths from outer space. Since pop culture made these adorable carnivorous plants popular in the B-movie scene and on Broadway, they have gotten quite a bad rap for being a bit naughty and eating everyone in sight. These green chlorophyll darlings hail from the horror dimension with an ocean view atop Creature Cove Island. Spending their days in the sun, they love graveyard beetles and the occasional fruit bat or two.
Gigi Stein, avid carnivorous plant caretaker and celebrity rat rod racing owner of Gigi’s Monster Garage tell us the little fellows are full of snuggles and love. Although, she did admit to having quite a few warning signs hanging around her garage to keep humans from getting too close. After all, they do bite and love causing mischief. Don’t worry. They’re just playing… sometimes. There was that one guy that lost a finger, but that’s what happens when you don’t read the signs. Gigi believes monster Venus flytraps are just misunderstood. Besides, no one gets angry at cacti for their gnarly attitudes.
If you are brave enough to venture into raising the horror world plants, here are four tips for keeping them happy and growing strong.
1. Flytraps love attention and tend to be a bit needy. Just like your adorable new puppy, they need lots of playtime and will return it with cheerful barks and plenty of pet-friendly face licks. Like human world plants, talking to your monster flytrap will help it grow big and strong. Once they have grown to trust you as their owner, the loving cuddles will melt your heart while you spend time with them listening to monster jams and humming together your favorite tunes.
2. Although these carnivorous sweethearts love window light, Frank-n-drag racer Gigi tells us they prefer direct sun. Days at the park playing fetch and catching butterflies are their favorite pastimes.
3. The dark truth—Flytraps are carnivorous and will eat just about anything, including your pet rabbit. But don’t try feeding them off their daily routine of small rodents and bugs, because they do have sensitive plant bellies. It’s not recommended to give them human blood or vampire flies as this will cause your plant severe stem issues. No one likes a belly ache. Large amounts of human flesh have also been known to make them grow at an alarming rate and cause psychotic manic episodes.
Instead of blood and body parts, keep your plant healthy and happy with graveyard beetles, earth bugs, and the occasional sweets. Gigi tells us her youngest flytrap loves lollipops and mini cupcakes.
4. Like earth Venus flytraps, fresh water is essential. Only necessary every 10-14 days. It is not suggested to give your flytrap any alcoholic beverages, no matter how much the older ones beg. Gigi tells us her buddy Poe took quite a liking to bloody margaritas, getting drunk and humming show tunes until he passed out in his pot. However funny to watch that it may be, graveyard beetles were not easy to clean out of the carpet the morning after from flytrap hangover.
Good luck with your new pet/plant. While you're spending time showing them attention, why not read to them?
Check out Gigi and her pet flytraps in the steamy, slow-burn monster romance, Gigi’s Monster Garage
Ghouls and Gals
Book One
Loretta Kendall
Genre: Monster Romance, RomCom
Publisher: Loretta Kendall
Date of Publication: April 16th
ASIN: B0BZJXVWZZ
Number of pages: 306
Word Count: 89,000
Cover Artist: LK Creative
Tagline: “I’m a rockabilly love’n, hot-to-trot mechanic with a need for speed. A little sass and not much class, but I'll keep you entertained and your car in the lane.” ~ Gigi Stein
Book Description:
Take a wild ride with Gigi, the former bride of Frank N. Stein, as she navigates the world of rat rod racing and explores the unfamiliar territory of understanding love. With a sassy rockabilly style and a lot of attitude, this stitched-up bad girl will capture your heart with lots of laughs along the way. Join her and her misfit friends, including an adorable Venus flytrap who can be a little naughty. Be careful and read the warning signs in the lobby - Molly Sue bites!
Get ready for motor-revving action as Gigi discovers the truth of the lost romance of her human past, uncovering a hidden agenda for why she’s not like others of her kind. Made for humans and monsters alike, Frank-n-people are nothing more than entertainment and sensual gratification for their owners, created by a madman. Not accepting that as her fate, this undead girl is blazing a path of her own.
With the mad scientist Victor’s decision to grant Gigi free will, she has mustered up enough strength to part ways with her abusive ex-husband, following a cataclysmic event that forces vintage horror monsters into the human realm. When she crosses paths with Fox Adams - a lonely human drifter, he wants to work alongside the beautiful, green-skinned drag racing icon in her infamous monster garage. Confused by the attraction to a man with dreams of racing stardom, it forces her to look into who her host body really is if she wants a future with Fox. Together, they form an unlikely bond that will show her she wasn’t just made to be a living Frank-n-mate doll. She was made for love.
Excerpt 2: Sweet Scene
“...It’s
not good for people to have to dwell on death.”
Dropping
her head to fiddle with her garage jumper’s zipper, she let out a breath.
“I worry
about that. Some girls get deactivated when they remember their past.
Frank-n-people can go mad when they remember how they died. They become obsessed
with who they were before.”
Taking his
eyes off the road for a moment, Fox wasn’t about to hear that. “Hell, no. I
won’t let them de-animate you. They’ll have to kill me before I let that
happen.”
In a fit
of sudden anger at the thought, Fox pulled to the side of the road with tires
screeching. The old truck's body shook violently as it came to a stop and dust
from the roadside swirled around them.
The dirt
that wafted in through the air vents made her choke as she looked at Fox like he’d
lost his ever loven’ mind.
“Are you
nuts? What is wrong with you?”
“I won’t
let them do that to you. You’re not undead, Gigi. I’ve seen others like you.
Those other creations are just basically walking, talking drones. You are
nothing like them. You have a soul with real-life emotions and a beating
heart.”
“That’s
not true, Fox. I was made for Frank. He only wanted sex and a maid, so that was
my design. It may not have been exactly what he ordered, but it’s how it is.
Girls like me are made to serve. That’s it.”
“Really?
Then why is it you have free will? Why are you not still bowing down to his
every whim? And why the hell was he the only Frank-n-man to have a mate made
for him since the original Frankenstein monsters? I’ve seen enough of those sex
dolls to know they do whatever their masters say. You don’t call him master,
nor do you ever refer to him as anything other than an abusive asshole. That,
and whatever other choice word you can think of. If you were made for him, you
wouldn’t hate him so much.”
“So, I’m
just… stronger than the others. Maybe I’m a defective model.”
Fox nodded
in agreement to that because she was right. “Yeah, you are. And for whatever
reason, your creator let you be an individual, and that defect is absolute
perfection. Maybe he didn’t want to see you as Frank’s slave. For whatever
reason, he made you unique. Dare I say… human.”
Gigi
didn’t know what to say. He was right, but no one had ever spoken to her like
that. Even her friends never brought up her creator in such a way, except for
Bear. She had wondered why she was different and why didn’t Victor keep to his
sex doll plans.
“You’re
special, stitches. And I for one, am thankful for it. You’re a kindhearted
soul, and whatever you’re afraid of with Frank, I’ll fight to the death to
protect you. I know Bear would too because that guy sees you like his little
sister. He’s a good guy—you both are.”
“You barely
know me,” she pouted.
“Yeah, but
maybe I’m a man who sees you as more than just some sex toy to get off on.
Others might see you that way, but I don’t. If I ever had the pleasure of
making love to a woman as wonderful as you, it wouldn’t be about sex.”
“Oh yeah?
Then what would it be?” she asked with a snarky tone, but still wanting to
know.
Leaning
in, Fox traced his finger down her lightning bolt scar, making her eyes slam
shut expecting pain to come next. But it didn’t, making her curious as to why.
His fingers traced her scar like it was a precious beauty mark and a soft
breath escaped her lips when realizing he had no intention of hurting her.
When his lips grazed her earlobe, he answered,
“It would be pure ecstasy. I’d make you feel things no man ever could. I’d show
you what your heart wants, but you're too afraid to see.”
Loretta Kendall started her life with a dream and a story in her mind. For as long as she can remember, she was a storyteller, sharing tales with her friends from her overactive imagination.
After twenty-two years as an image consultant in the beauty and entertainment industry, the Indiana native revisited her childhood love for books while continuing working in photography and graphic arts. As a graphic designer she also spends her time creating book covers and marketing materials for advertising for clients.
She has been writing full time since 2017 following an amazing writing journey that led to the completion of several novellas, novels, serial stories on popular book apps, and anthologies. An award winning, traditional, and self-published author, Loretta has a passion for creating happily ever after romance stories with the perfect mix of steamy and slow burn moments. A hopeless romantic, she lives her own happily ever after of twenty-seven years of wedded bliss with her husband being a plant mom to her favorite Venus flytrap, Molly Sue.
Tour Giveaway
Free novella download when readers sign up for Loretta’s newsletter.
No comments:
Post a Comment