Wow. The book is an emotional roller coaster throughout and then it ends so vaguely? It's begging for a sequel. This book will make you mad, sad, and so glad your child is sane. It's also skin-crawling creepy at times and made me want to stop reading. I'm giving it 3.5 stars because I thought the characters were I unrelatable. The family dynamic was too weird for me. I also didn't like the ending even a little, but all in all, not a bad book. I think some people will love it. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review it!

I had mixed feelings about this book. I really wanted to like it, but I really disliked all the characters. THe mom is martyr who thinks that she has is much harder than everyone. I found her especially annoying because I also have Crohn’s Disease, a very severe case, so her minor complaints made me folly my eyes. I hate the way the au5or and mom chose to portray Crohn’s Disease. Suzette only focuses on the poop coming out of her fistula and how the worst thing in the world would be to get an ostomy. 75% of people with Crohn’s will have surgery in their lives. It happens... it helps and the life goes on. Only Suzette never get over it and continues to whine about it for the entire book. She also spews out facts about Crohn’s and medications that are not always accurate. The Dad had no backbone and was in constant denial of his daughters behaviors. Not because he had never heard or seen them, but because he chose to turn a blind eye and deny any allegations against his daughter. The daughter, Hanna, was mentally disturbed and lashing out at everyone around her except her father. I think her behaviors were partially genetics and partial nurture. She was allowed to get alway with extreme behaviors and then coddled afterwards. I also found how the schools kept kickin* her out with no solution a bit unbelievable. Alternative schools like the behavioral school are setup to handle extreme cases like Hanna. I know this because I worked in one of those schools. I also didn’t understand why her parents were so set on her attending a private school after so many failed attempts. There were points in the book I wanted to give up on reading because I hated and didn’t care about the characters. However, parts of th book were engaging and I wanted to see if the parent saw every didnwhat was right for Hanna. I have to give the author credit for writing a book about a different topic. I had very mixed feelings about this book overall.

I received a free ARC from Net Galleyin exchange for an honest review.

Baby Teeth was a frightening look into a family with an absurdly evil child, that only shows that side to the mother. Of course that leads to all types of issues within the marital union. In all honesty, this book read like a car crash you couldn’t look away from. I had to keep reading but I was holding my breath and felt sick inside. I had to see how this wound up! Not sure I would classify this as a thriller but more as a scary, suspenseful book.

If the author intended for me hate most of the characters than she did her job well! I literally wanted to smack the heck out of the mother who was weak and needy and the father who was completely selfish. As a couple, they were amazing together sexually, but emotionally they never honestly shared their inner fears about their situation.

I will not speak of the young girl in fear of spoilers, however I will say she spoke at a much higher level than her age. The ending took me for a loop as it finished with a cliffhanger. I wanted a conclusion! Many of you love cliffhangers, me: I’ll leave them at the door. This book has also gotten good reviews from other sources, maybe I’m in the minority on this one.

2.5 stars. This is a tough review to write. The plot is pretty simple. There isn’t any huge twist or revelation. And to be very honest I did not like the story line. The whole idea that a child can behave like this is somehow difficult to digest. So much malice, despite what the reason are, somehow is hard to imagine. You just want it to not be true. To imagine a young child behave like this in real life makes me shudder. It sends a a chill down my spine and this is actually what I like about this book. I don’t like the story, I don’t like the characters much but I like how much it makes you ’feel’. It’s a deeply disturbing book and the author has done a great job in writing it.
Thanks NetGalley and St Martin’s press for giving me an ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Wow! This book was truly creepy! I enjoyed it immensely! I love psychological thrillers but the ones with children are particularly disturbing. I loved the author's style of writing, the back and forth was an interesting way to tell Hanna and Suzette's story. The challenges that a non-verbal child presents were described very well in this book. I would read more from this author. The ending definitely poses the question...will there be a sequel??

It’s about a family A mother, a father and a little girl. What a book! If you want highly suspenseful, can’t put the book down story this book is for you. Hannah is 7 years old and loves her daddy, but must spend her days with her mommy. Hannah is having behavioral problems and is being homeschooled by her mommy. But things aren’t as you make might expect. Read more of this suspenseful story.

This is a horror story and I don't like horror stories. It was well put together by the author, switching voices did make it more interesting. I had trouble with it because of all the news stories of children going bad, but that does not make it a bad book.

This book was a very atypical read for me, Not my typical type of story but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. I'll admit I had to step away from it for a bit because the story just struck a cord with me and I was struggling with it. The mother daughter dynamic in this book was so intense and hard to wrap my head around. After coming back to it and having finished I was left with a "That's It" sort of feeling. I felt like the author ran out of gas at the end or has more in store possibly later.
It is an intense book so if intense mother daughter stories have you intrigued this is the book for you.

So, it’s possible that I’m just too much of a Southerner for this book, but Baby Teeth absolutely did not work for me. (Well, that's not 100% true: I think the book's title and cover art are phenomenal. It was just so melodramatic and implausible that I found myself doing the deepest of eye rolls on more than one occasion, and turning the page became a harder and harder task the further I got along in these pages.

The premise of this novel is very simple: A seven-year-old terrorizes her mother but puts on an innocent face for Daddy, driving a wedge between the couple and driving the mom to desperation. Think The Orphan (2009) meets We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011). With that out of the way, we can move on to the merits and non-redeeming qualities of this book, shall we?

One of my pet peeves in fiction is when entire plot lines hinge on implausible circumstances. I heaved this book into that metaphorical pile pretty early on and it will remain there forever. Baby Teeth was kin to those horror movies where the pretty blonde girl is running through the night in her heels and instead of running outside of the house for safety, she runs upstairs to the collective annoyance of the audience. Like, the plot didn’t make ANY sense! Why, you may ask? Because the entire narrative would have been different if one of two SIMPLE things had happened: (view spoiler). That’s why I say I must be too much of a Southerner for this book, because I don’t know anyone, of any color or creed, who would let their kid get away with the things little Hanna got away with – and then crawl and grovel on their knees for this child’s forgiveness after THEY, the PARENT, have been assaulted . Seriously, implausible.

Aside from the sheer improbability of this story line, it also wasn’t very well-written either. And, there are very few things more unforgivable than that to an avid reader. I mean, yes, there were words strung together in a way that made sense in the English language, but I didn’t feel that there was any remarkable skill on display whatsoever. I didn't feel like I'd stumbled across anything that I would take with me for more than 4 minutes after I turned the final page of that book. It read as a first-time novel for sure, clunky and clumsily done.

I’ve seen Baby Teeth listed as a thriller; it wasn’t that at all, but it COULD have been. It probably would have been a much more enjoyable read—cringe-worthy moments in the plot and all—if it had been written from Suzette’s POV only. Then we could have seen her mounting terror and desperation and feel it in a more pure form—the way that she did. But Stage decided to try her hand at writing in a child’s voice via Hanna's chapters and it Did. Not. Work. Honestly, a terrible idea given the level of skill she displayed in this novel. Not only did it take away from the suspense to know exactly what Hanna was going to do next from her POV, but the clunky and inauthentic way in which Stage wrote Hanna made reading her chapters a real chore. Of course, I understand that Stage was attempting to speak simplistically, as a child might, but it didn’t sound anything like a seven-year-old’s way of speech and mannerisms in this slightest. Her editor would have done better to tell her to hold off on that.

I nearly didn’t finish this book. I found it to be THAT ridiculous. But, as we readers often do, I just HAD to trudge on to see if my mind would be magically changed in the end. It wasn’t, though the end result of the book was one of the better parts of the plot, so at least there’s that, right? 2 stars **

Baby Teeth is a creepy debut novel by Zoje Stage that will make readers question their decision to procreate and will certainly take the name Hanna off of the potential baby names list. Kidding aside - this is a bone-chilling novel about a seven-year-old girl who loves her father but not her mother. It's a psychological thriller about a mother who loves her daughter but questions if there is something seriously wrong with her. This is a polarizing book. Some readers will love the outlandish plot, and others will have a difficult time with the unreliable narration.

My thoughts are still racing, this book kept me on edge it was definitely a psychological thriller, and though it is not for everyone it is one I could not put down . Hanna is a wild child with scary defiant calculated behaviors who has her Daddy, Alex wrapped around her little finger and doesn't make nice with her Mommy, Suzette. She wants her gone away for good. Suzette suffers from Crohn's disease and is often too overwhelmed to take care of Hanna the way she thinks she should. Although she tries to tell her husband Alex what occurs, he isn't home when Hanna targets her mom . He doesn't believe there is anything wrong beyond Hanna's selective mutism even though she has been kicked out of several schools for hurting other children. There are several escalating events that brings the dysfunction to a crisis point and several diagnoses and treatment venues are presented. Will there be something to help Hanna, and bring hope to the crumbling relationship between Alex and Suzette? This book is brilliantly written and the ending is one I don't want to say anymore about except it leaves the reader wondering .... for those who love psychological thrillers, this is one to read.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for an e-galley in exchange for an honest review. Suzanne is Hanna’s mother but they never really bonded. Hanna is now 7 years old and she can’t or won’t speak. As Hanna’s behaviour towards her mother becomes more manipulative and disturbing but she saves her best behaviour for her father who does not believe his little angel could do wrong. Baby Teeth is told in alternating points of view between Suzette and Hanna and you will not be able to put this one down. So dark, creepy, and makes you think real hard about your child’s motives. Such an amazing psychological suspense that I bailed on life just to keep reading. Really disturbing in only the best ways. As a bonus for me, Suzette has Crohn’s Disease like I do. I thought this addition and the description of her fears and pains and worries were so spot on for me. I have always felt alone and a little crazy freaking out over every stomach pain but you never know when another flare will take hold, and this was described perfectly. I liked how it added to Suzette’s state of mind and some of her insecurities around her relationship but was not the focus of the story. It made me feel like my concerns are normal for someone with a chronic disease and made me feel less alone. Also, my son did not speak a word until he was 3. Luckily, that is where his similarity to Hanna stops, but Suzette’s fears over it being her fault or her parenting was the cause, searching for a diagnosis, all felt very deja vu for me too. Publishing July 17, 2018.

T his book was an incredible read. The story of a couple and their daughter Hanna.
We are introduced to Hanna at age 7. She doesn't speak and her mother is always taking her to doctors for tests to see why she doesn't speak.

Hanna and her mom are constantly engaged in a battle of wills and her dad who works outside the home never sees this side of his daughter.

Hana resents her mother and plots to harm her and kill her thereby leaving her with total access to the good loving parent: her dad.

Hanna plots constantly to be kicked out of the schools she's placed in by being abusive to other children and at one point taking red paint and mixing it with water to appear as fruit punch and giving it to another child to drink.

She also hits a toddler in the supermarket after the child hits her.

She hides her mother's jewelry ass well as a babysitter's jewelry and cuts her mother's her while she's sleeping.

Her violence towards her mother escalates to a point where her father is home and observes when she tries to kill her mother by burning her with embers from a fire pit.

The psychiatrist tells them that as long as Hanna lives in the house with them her mother's life is in danger.
She advises them of a facility where other children like Hanna live and are treated until they are no longer a danger.

Hanna is taken to the facility and after a period of time she is allowed to phone her parents. She talks to both of her parents, astounding both of them and tells them she's very sorry and promises to be good if they will relent and take her home.
Her father seems to be on board with idea at first until his wife make him realize that its just another scheme of Hanna's and she's not

At the end of the book we see that Hanna is indeed plotting: she has figured out that if she exhibits good behavior at the facility they will think she's cured and release her to go home.

This was an amazing story: of an intelligent evil child who is manipulative and very cunning: evil incarnate

This book really creeped me out! How heartbreaking to have a child who is mentally unstable. The child’s father loves her so much and is in denial to the extent of his child’s illness. Born to a woman who grew up iwith a disfunctuonal mother. For me it was a very hard book to read but I would recommend it to others. Be ready to be freaked out..

Baby Teeth is a psychological thriller that is so hard to put down. I read every page waiting to see what was going to happen next and to see what the twist would be. Loved this book and read it in 1 day. Wish the ending would have wrapped up a little more clearly...makes me think there might be a sequel?? Highly recommend.

(reviewed on goodreads)

"Baby Teeth" was a very strange book- not quite a thriller in my opinion but something else entirely. In alternating chapters with alternating points-of-view by daughter (Hanna) and mother (Suzette). Hanna won't speak- all the tests have shown that she is able but she is apparently unwilling (and as we can confirm from her sections, she is definitely unwilling). They are locked in an intense battle, where Suzette is hoping to teach her and get some normalcy while Hanna is hoping for her mother's death so that she can be alone with her father.

Alex, Hanna's father, is pretty oblivious to the things that are going on- but how could he not be when Hanna will never misbehave in front of him and never leaves any proof of her misdeeds. Others confirm Suzette's stories, as Hanna has been kicked out of multiple preschools and private schools. Suzette is desperate to do anything to "fix" her relationship with Hanna, and she thinks getting Hanna into a school might do the trick.

Hanna is intentionally cruel to other children and to her mother. This may be a spoiler, but you may want to be cautious in reading this book if sensitive to violence against children (honestly, it's incredibly hard to read). Hanna punches a toddler in the grocery store and frightens a disabled child (after removing his protective helmet) until he bashes his head against the wall (and she takes pleasure from this). Things just keep escalating in the book, until even Alex cannot ignore the monster their child is becoming.

On the plus side, this is really a page-turner, and I had a hard time putting it down. It didn't feel like a thriller to me- I wasn't really scared for any of the characters, but I did want to know how things were resolved and if there would be any twists/things would not be as they seemed. On the minus side, I finished the book with a big WTF. Hanna does not think like a seven year old, and her sections were very odd. I think they could have been left out or abbreviated. The ending did not have any twists or real resolutions- we still don't really get any insight into Hanna or the family (I felt). It almost seemed like it was setting it up for a second book and felt like a bit of a cliff-hanger. I wasn't sure about the description, but picked it up because I feel like I've been hearing about it all other the place- I would not read again.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Interesting premise and fast paced book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot twists. A quick read that I enjoyed.

Zoje Stage’s Baby Teeth is a dark and twisted tale of a seven-year old girl named Hanna who has one goal in life – to get rid of her mother so that she and her father can live happily ever after together. As a mom, I found Baby Teeth to be perhaps my worst nightmare come true – that my child would hate me and want me gone – so in that sense, it was an incredibly uncomfortable read for me. At the same time, however, it was still such a riveting read that I couldn’t stop turning the pages no matter how uncomfortable it made me.

Hanna is a troubled young girl. For reasons doctors haven’t established yet, she does not speak. In addition to being mute, she also has severe behavioral issues and has thus been expelled from every school that her parents have enrolled her in. Suzette, Hanna’s mom, makes the decision to stay home with Hanna and home school her. It’s not a permanent solution but at least Hanna won’t fall behind academically until a better solution presents itself.

Somewhere along the way, Hanna decides that she hates her mother and only loves her daddy. While she and her mom are alone together all day, Hanna goes out of her way to let her mom know just how much she hates her and then even starts scheming about ways to get rid of her. Then when Daddy comes home, she turns on the sweetness and perfectly plays the role of Daddy’s little angel, keeping him in the dark about how she really feels about her mom and of course frustrating her mother to no end.

As Daddy remains oblivious to Hanna’s dark side even as Hanna steps up her attacks on her mom, Suzette truly begins to fear for her own safety. Can she get through to her husband and make him understand that they have a serious problem on their hands with Hanna before it’s too late?

It’s hard to review books like this because I don’t want to give away any of the twist and turns that make it such a compelling read, but here are some elements of Baby Teeth that I really thought the author did a wonderful job with:

Two Points of View – I thought it was brilliant to present this story in alternating chapters between Suzette and Hanna. Being able to get a glimpse inside each of their heads as this disturbing family dynamic played out was what really made the book such an engaging read for me.

Suzette’s perspective was especially easy to relate to because all she can think about is what did she do wrong as a mother to make Hanna hate her so much. Not only does she question where she went wrong as a parent, but then she feels tremendous guilt because there are times when Hannah pushes the envelope so far, that Suzette finds herself thinking horrible things about her child and sometimes even saying horrible things to her because she has been pushed to her limit. In many ways, Suzette starts to really question herself as a mom. How could she possibly think such terrible things about her child, who she really does love with all her heart, no matter how troubled she is? Again, I found Suzette’s perspective to be very relatable and could imagine myself thinking many of the same things if I was in her shoes.

Hanna’s perspective added another disturbing layer to the narrative because even a quick glance at what’s going on inside her head reveals that she is truly a troubled little girl on many levels. She’s callous, unfeeling, manipulative, and frankly, just all around creepy. As soon as I’d read a chapter from Hanna, I’d instantly be all the more sympathetic to Suzette because she clearly had her hands full and was on her own thanks to Daddy Oblivious falling for all of Hanna’s tricks.

Twists and Turns – Another aspect of Baby Teeth that really entertained me was that it was fast-paced and filled with twists and turns that constantly kept me guessing about what was really going on with Hanna. At times, the story had the feel of a horror movie so it really had me considering any and all possible explanations for Hanna’s behavior – is it psychological? Are we going to find out she was somehow abused? Is there something supernatural afoot? I liked that the story really had me open to so many possibilities, no matter how over the top they seemed.

I’m guessing that you’ve picked up on the fact that I was not a huge fan of Hanna’s dad. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt – that Hanna was just that good of a manipulator – but it really just frustrated me to no end that he just didn’t get how dysfunctional their whole family situation was and how troubled his daughter truly was.

The only other real issue I had with Baby Teeth was that sometimes I found it hard to believe that a 7-year old child could devise some of the intricate and truly evil plots that Hanna came up with against her mother. I know some kids are more precocious than others, but some of her schemes and just some of her thoughts in general came across as way too sophisticated for a child of that age. In some ways it bothered me because I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it and sometimes it felt like maybe the author was just trying too hard to make the book shocking, but at the same time, it still kind of worked for me because it made my own imagination run wild, which added to the dark and twisted nature of the book and to the horror vibe that I was already feeling: Does she have multiple personality disorder or some other mental illness? Is she a psychopath? Do we have a case of The Exorcist going on here? Has she been possessed? Those last ones probably sound a little silly, but the book really just sucks you in that much!

Baby Teeth is sure to please readers who enjoy thrillers and/or horror. It’s a wild, dark, and twisted ride that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat as you watch the battle between Hanna and Suzette play out.

Wow, what a horribly disturbing yet completely enthralling book! I could not put this book down. I just had to know if Hanna was possessed, psychotic, or just in need of attention. From start to finish, I read to see what horrifying thing she would do next, yet I felt sad for her because her mother, Suzette  was unlikeable, uncaring, and a bit disturbed herself. I think this is story that would disturbed even Stephen King because of the way it builds the suspense slowly, a little bit at a time. It's definitely a must read.

First I want to thank Net Galley, St. Martins Press and Zoje Stage for the opportunity to read this book before it hits shelves next month. WOW is all I can say. I will say that this may not be for everyone, but it is a good book. I was hesitant to start it just from reading the blurb, but I read it in one day. I had to know what was going on with little Hanna and her mommy. I was a little turned off on some things that Hanna did, I won't lie. This book is different from any other book that I read just because I think the villain is a child, and not an adult. This story is told from Hanna and Suzette's point of view. I liked that, because yeah Hanna doesn't talk but we get to see her view on things. At the beginning I didn't care for Alex, the husband, just because I thought that he was spoiling and not listening to his wife when she would tell him the things that Hanna had done. I like the fact that Suzette stood firm in her belief that there was something wrong with her daughter. I also liked that they finally found some one that was willing to help them as a family. The ending was a little rushed for me, but all in all it wasn't a bad book.