Shout out to NetGalley for the Advance copy, in exchange, I will provide an honest review!

Okay, okay....Hannah is a little fucking weirdo. Scratch that a little fucking psycho. And at times, her intelligence is a bit unbelievable. Yes, I understand her IQ and intelligence are discussed, but I had a hard time believing she was a young child at times. But...it certainly makes for a wild ride of a story. So I can look past it.

With this kind of story, I get worried it will resemble too closely to a Lifetime original movie. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the story was much better than Lifetime quality. So Stage has that going for her.

I didn't enjoy all of the story, if I am being honest. Now don't think I am completely insensitive, but I got a little bored with the Crohns parts of the story. Not because I don't think awareness is important, more because it felt like boring filler. Although, it does play a bigger part of the plot. I just, I dunno, got a bit bored during some of those descriptions.

Another incredibly large issue I had, why the hell didn't Suzette pulls out her phone when Anne-Marie came about? I mean, Anne-Marie was encountered a few times. She couldn't manage to swipe her phone to record the conversation with out baby jackal noticing? Eh...it is a pretty big hole in my opinion.

Lastly, I could not stand the dad. His denial was a bit too much for me. I was so incredibly frustrated with him for taking a child's word over his wife's. For being a weakling. For turning a blind eye. For so damn much. Big but.....I love when books bring such strong emotions out of me. Nothing gets my goat going like a book making me glow crimson over loathing a character so intensely. For that, I give the book 4 stars!

Check the little psycho pants out! Kids a trip!

This was the first book by this author that I have read ,I I have to say that I absolutely love a good thriller book ,this story was definitely that for me ,it gave me spine tingling chills at times and a real page turner .The author does a very good job of describing the torment the mother in the story lived with and how she dealt with everything her daughter put her through ,she lived a nightmare , this book is definitely worth checking out if you love a intense and compelling storyline ,hoping to see more from this author .

Baby Teeth. Holy guacamole. I've said that a lot talking about this book. It was FANTASTIC. Now that I'm thinking about it though, I'm not 100% sure where the title for the book came from. That being said, lets get back to HOLY GUACAMOLE.

I loved this book. I hated every single character. These characters were all very flawed in very compelling ways. I hated the unaware dad, and the scary daughter. I found the mom the easiest to empathize with, but she too was a little bit off. Her interactions with her daughter often had my eyes the size of saucers (I get it, your daughter is bonkers and hates you- it is totally understandable that you are having trouble handling her. But... still... )

I found that in spite of hating the characters (or maybe because of), I couldn't put the book down. If I had a spare moment, I was reading. I NEEDED to know how it would end.

I spent the entire book internally debating whether this book was a thriller/horror novel with a demon child, or just a book about a family of people without much empathy dealing with hard things.
This story is unsettling regardless of the genre.

I don't want to say too much, and risk spoiling anything, but overall, I would recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a fast paced novel with complicated family relationships. I would also suggest this book to anyone who likes to be unsure of what they are reading.

I loved it. Read it. Be bothered by it. Love every moment of your discomfort.

2.5 stars, I guess. Really hard to rate this one, but somewhere between "meh" and "liked."

I read this book compulsively, but I'm not really sure I enjoyed it--And I usually love "evil seed" stories. It felt mean-spirited, I guess, with some entitled characters it was hard to feel sorry for.

There's a lot to like here--the writer establishes a sense of dread right away, and it only grows throughout the book. Characters may not be likable, but they are realistic, flawed, and very well written. The narrative voices were really strong. And I quite liked the ending.

The best horror novels have a sort of enjoyable scariness about them. We may be scared, but we keep reading, relishing the emotional outlet. This book lacked that for me. It felt dirty--empty of true meaning but not "fun" in the way horror can be. Am I making any sense? Likely not!

I think this book functions best if you think of it as a simple horror story and not anything deeper--but even then, even though I stayed up too late a couple nights to read it, it left me empty.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

If you are looking for a horror novel written primarily for shock value then this book will be a good fit for you. If you are looking for a thriller with an engaging plot and a great ending then this is not book for you. I know this book would be creepy but it went really far beyond that. It wasn’t just creepy, it was down right horrifying in a way that only scary things about children can be (think children of the corn). The problem I had with this book is that it seemed like that was the only goal, to freak people out. I wish that the author had taken more time to explore the issue of sociopathy more and explain more about what was wrong with Hanna. I also kept waiting for a twist and I never got one. The book ended on what could be seen as shocking by some but really to me it was just sad. The positives for the book were that it was really well written and the author did a great job switching back and forth between the view points of Hanna and Suzette. Overall though this book just was not for me.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Suzette (at home mother) and Hannah (her young daughter). Suzette verbalizes the struggles she has: being alone and isolated, health issues, and being a good mother. Her mother was neglectful and disconnected - Suzettes worst fear is to be a bad mom.

Hannah is a 7 year old who is non-verbal and homeschooled. She has a vibrant inner life and monolog which is focused on one thing - getting rid of Mommy so she can have Daddy to herself.

The story is fast paced as we learn of Hannah's past behaviors which led to being asked to leave several schools. Daddy loves his girl and just does not face the facts that Hannah may be less than perfect. As Hannah's actions against her Mother increase - I wondered if this time she would be successful. Creepy read but very entertaining. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the review copy.

4.5* Excellent debut. Creepy, edge of your seat thriller. I wasn't sure what would happen next. This is one I didn't want to put down.

Looking forward to a sequel. Will Hanna come home?

Short Take: A beautifully written but not-very-unique take on the “disturbed child” story.

*Note: I received an early advance copy of this book for review.*

I may not be the most qualified person to write this review. See, I like kids (quite a lot, actually), but to me, they are ALL insane. A clear danger to themselves and others. They ALWAYS want to touch the hot stove, to see if baby sister’s eyes will pop out like Mr. Potatohead’s, and to find out once and for all if the lights on the Christmas tree taste as good as they look. It’s damn near impossible to keep them alive for any length of time, and even harder to maintain your own sanity while you do so. So psychotic kids, to me, read as “kids in general, any and all kids.”

Fortunately, there’s a lull between the “Agent of Chaos” toddler stage and the “I’m Invincible And Will Try To Prove It” adolescent stage, and for most children, the ages between five and ten are the calmest ones. It’s when parents can start reasoning with them, instead of just hanging on for dear life and waiting for the next calamity.

That is, unless the child in question is Baby Teeth’s Hanna, the precocious, mute six year old monster locked in a dance of mutual destruction with her mother, Suzette. You see, Hanna wants Alex, her daddy, all to herself, and the only way to make that happen is if Mommy disappears. Suzette and Hanna are our narrators, alternating back and forth and giving us their perspectives and a lot of richly worded backstory on how exactly they got to this point.

Mad props to the author - Hanna is a great creation. She’s smarter than any of the adults around her give her credit for, willful enough to withhold her voice for her entire life (until she decides to scare the you-know-what out of Suzette with a few creepy words), manipulative enough to act like two entirely different children depending on which parent she’s with, and emotionless enough to scare even a jaded old horror reader like me. Her inner thoughts are richly drawn, her imagination breath-taking.

Suzette, on the other hand, is where Baby Teeth fell apart for me. One of the central plot points is Suzette’s Crohn’s disease, and the horrific struggle she went through as an adolescent with an abusive mother who wouldn’t get her the treatment she needed. We’re told (SO. MANY. TIMES.) how much her husband prizes her strength and resilience, but we see none of that. She is completely helpless when challenged by Hanna. It makes sense to a degree - she’s afraid of becoming her own mother, and afraid that if she tells Alex about all of Hanna’s tricks, he won’t believe her, and it will destroy their marriage.

But seriously, you’re telling me that an upper middle class, stay at home mom has never heard of a FREAKING NANNY CAM??? I feel like roughly 95% of the awful things that happened in Baby Teeth could’ve been avoided if Suzette had said “you know, Hanna doesn’t act right, and I want people to believe me so I can get her help, if only there were some technology available that would record her actions so that I could show them to her father, or a therapist….”

That’s pretty typical of horror protagonists in general, though, they always go in the basement alone or answer the phone or whatever. It’s dumb, but many fans have learned to settle for some dumb if it means they will get a new scary story.

And that right there is where the second shoe falls. Because for all the advance buzz, all the revved-up reviews, and the undeniably poetic style of Baby Teeth, it’s not very original at all. I kept waiting for the Gone-Girl-esque twist, the OMG DID THAT JUST HAPPEN moment, and it just never came. There are some shocking moments, to be sure (Hanna’s brilliance and creativity in torturing Suzette are downright impressive), but many of them were pretty clearly telegraphed.

Baby Teeth is yet another by-the-numbers entry in the Disturbed Child playbook: Kid is a monster. Adult who could fix it doesn’t believe it. Kid does something said adult can’t ignore. Screechy climax. Sequel setup. The end.



The Nerd’s Rating: Two Happy Neurons (and a potato, because you never know when you'll need a new best friend).

This is the first book that I received from Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy. I thought the premise sounded interesting. I love thrillers and psychological books. I had a hard time getting into the book. Once the author talked about the devil possibly being inside the child and having her speak as the devil I almost gave up. I'm like really? But I kept with it because I was given this book to review. I did like the different perspectives in the book. I almost would like a perspective from the father but I think the author did well placing that in the other stories. It was a quick read and I am glad I finished it. I reminded me of a horror movie that I've watched.

A thriller about an evil child. Not for me I'm afraid and I didn't get very far with it.. The early parts that I read did not seem to me to be well-written either. The publisher's blurb comparing it with the amazing Lionel Shiver's 'We Need to Talk About Kevin" (one of my favourite writers, and that book one of the best) a very far stretch... Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.

Wow. If Hitchcock remade and directed The Bad Seed, the result might be this book! I was both drawn to it and repulsed by this debut novel! As a parent, it's very difficult to read on many levels; how parents can ignore such blatant warning signs in a child, how a seven-year-old can plot so deviously against her mother. But like a gruesome accident, it's hard to turn away as well. Alternating chapters pit Hannah against her mother, Suzette as we witness Hannah's attachment to her dad and her repugnance toward her mother. Suzette is torn as she suffered a traumatic childhood as well and she often blames herself for being a "bad mother." But it's clear from the outset that something is desperately wrong with Hannah and it's frustrating that it takes her parents so long to polarize and admit that something needs to be done sooner rather than later. Clouding the issue is that Hannah doesn't speak--and when she does it's in the voice of a young French girl who was burned as a witch. Interested yet? This was a creepy and weird book but I couldn't not finish it and glad I did! You may want to lock your bedroom door at night though!

The daughter in this book could give “Mommy Dearest“ a run for her money. As a mother, this book frustrated me to no end. The parents were not working together. This deplorable child should have received help as soon as her antics began. No one in this novel was taking charge and acting like an adult. The only reason I kept reading it was to see how far it would go before there was a sufficient resolution. Eventually, the parents did the right thing and the ending was fairly satisfying with a “horror story” kind of feeling.

Okie Dokie, this book was crazy for me. So we go back and forth between Suzette and Hannah on their point of view and let me tell you makes you want to sleep with your bedroom door shut and locked.

Hannah is a pretty normal child though she doesn't speak and she hates her mother Suzette. Wait, scratch that it doesn't make her normal makes her psycho. Suzette seems to be a pretty good mother and it takes a while before she starts losing the niceness of being the mother to Hannah.

We watch as overtime Hannah starts escalating the hatred she has for her mom, and it takes the most severe thing to get Alex her father to realize that his little girl is not all sugar and spice.

The question is why does Hannah hate her mother so much?

I think the author did a great job with the way Hannah came about, she kind of freaked me out as a character and I loved it.

Suzette man she seems to be able to handle a lot thrown her way and I enjoyed how she didn't give up trying to get her daughter the help she needed. Though it kept bothering me that she never once thought to record her daughter doing the evil things.

Alex oh dear father, you need some help on trying to balance love and affection to both of the ladies in your life.

There were plenty of scenes that I enjoyed but I have to say the thumbtack scene for me really got me shuddering.

Can't wait to see what this author has more of.

About: Baby Teeth is a thriller written by Zoje Stage. It will be published on 7/17/18 by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, 320 pages. The genres are thriller, fiction, and mystery. This book is the author’s debut.

My Experience: I started reading Baby Teeth on 2/24/18 and finished it on 3/10/18. This book is an excellent read, though tough topic to handle. I’m reading this book as a mom and I cringe at what Hanna does. I sympathize with Suzette for losing her patience because I would lose it too for Hanna’s intentional bad behaviors. If I were to read this book before having a kid, it would ultimately make a decision for me to never have kids! Though, Hanna’s acting out is understandable for kids that have the demand for fun and games all day long because no one likes to follow rules and do work. This book has both strong views and it’s interesting to unravel as the story move forward.

This book is told in the third person point of view following Hanna, 7 years old girl. She hasn’t spoken since the day she was born. Another view is Suzette, Hanna’s mom. Suzette brings Hanna to many doctor appointments to test her for physical and mental problems to figure out why her daughter doesn’t speak. Hanna resents her mom for wanting to send her away to school and leaving her home alone with strangers (babysitters). She punishes her mom by doing opposite of what she’s told to do and more. She terrorizes all babysitters sent her way. Suzette wants her family to be perfect because she didn’t grow up with one. She has a disease called Crohn that gives her bowel movement troubles but her mom didn’t take her in for treatment until too late. This disease caused her to have an unpleasant pregnancy experience. There is a battle between mother and daughter’s relationship that readers can either sympathize or cringe. Suzette tries to be a good mom with patience and rewards for good behaviors, but it’s just impossible not to lose it with Hanna. When Hanna finally speaks, she informs Suzette that she’s not Hanna but Marie-Anne Dufosset, a teen accused of being a witch who was burn to death back in history. Suzette questions her parenting while Hanna makes plans and calculates her next move.

A well written thriller, this book can be a mind blowing read. I like the fast paced easy to read writing style. I like the clear picture it paints of a stay-at-home mom with hard work and stress. I like the clear view of a working husband away from the drama at home to be narrow minded and lost in his own beliefs. It’s a frustrating feeling to relate to Suzette when her daughter is only good for her dad and wicked for her. I like following Hanna’s thinking process even though she scares me at times. Suzette’s experience with her disease and parenthood is tough and relatable at times. I would say that this book is disturbing, but I would rather read to know than missing out on it. I would still recommend everyone to read this book, at least once.

Pro: fast paced, page turner, easy to read, mom and daughter relationship, parenting, family,

Con: none

I rate it 5 stars!

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to read, review, and host a blog tour for this book. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine

I was really excited for this book. Like REALLY excited. I expected it to be a twisty creepy thriller, and it is a creepy thriller, but it didn't live up to my expectations. The cover drew my attention first with its simplicity and the blurb made me put this one on my must read ASAP list. I know I am definitely in the minority of readers with my opinions of this book. I've seen the MANY 4 and 5 star reviews out there raving about how amazing Baby Teeth is, but sadly this book and I did not connect.

I felt like the story would have been more believable if Hanna were a little older. A lot of her thought processes did seem genuine to the maturity of a seven year old, but a lot of them did not. I also felt like there was something missing to make the actions and feelings of the characters genuine. To me it felt more like the characters were going through the motions of their lives, but without the true emotions to back up their actions.

I voluntarily received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine "Rosemary's Baby" as a seven year old girl (the evil spawn in the cult classic book and movie is a boy) and she's turned into one devilish child. Add an Electra Complex that would make Sigmund Freud's toes curl, and you've got one scary story to sink your teeth into. There's nothing pretty about Baby Teeth-parents dream of having a perfect child, and their worst nightmare is realizing not only is their child not perfect, there's something decidedly wrong with her. At age seven Hanna has yet to speak, and she's been kicked out of several schools for violent and disruptive behavior. But Hanna has dreams of her own-her sole purpose in life is making her father Alex happy and basking in his undivided attention and love. One person stands between Hanna and her goal-Hanna's mother Suzette. Despite a chronic illness that drains her mentally and physically, Suzette is forced to homeschool Hanna even though the child has voiced her hatred for her mother without saying a single word. With no physical explanation for her muteness and watching Hanna's behavior escalate from devious to dangerous, Suzette rides a seesaw of emotions that tilt from dogged determination to find out what is wrong with Hanna to desperately wanting her gone. Baby Teeth will not be published until July, but the novel has garnered plenty of attention on social media from bloggers concerned the story promotes child abuse. Author Zoje Stage bravely defends her debut novel, and this advance "buzz" is making Baby Teeth one of the most highly anticipated reads of the summer. Perhaps Baby Teeth is better suited for the big screen where movies about child demons are often blockbusters-after all nobody really knows what happened to Rosemary's baby...

What would you do if you thought your child was a psychopath?

Hanna is a cute seven-year-old child with more than adoring eyes for a father. She has not spoken since birth. Her mother Suzette is desperate for her child to communicate. But Suzette frailty psychologically and physically makes her an easy target for a young child's manipulation. Alex, her husband is what Hanna covets.

Baby teeth is a display of warped family dynamics where a seven-year-old mute child, Hanna, disturbingly exploits a mother's insecurities to garner a father's love. The story is told in alternative points of view, Hanna, and Suzette. In Hanna's chapters, we get a glimpse into a child sociopathic mind, which is both sophisticated and naive. With Suzette, we see a mother struggling with her unpredictable Crohn’s disease and her tenuous marriage. All she wants is her husband to believe that the child is purposefully devious. But he can only see a little angel and what Hanna hides from him is that she can not only speak, but also three different languages.

The characters in the story are extremely well rounded. The development of Suzette persona as a mother raising a child echos any parent’s concern. As a person living with a debilitating disease we are given a glimpse of the emotional and physical battles. Alex’s concern for his child over supporting his wife is off-putting, but this may be due to Suzette’s unstable energy and in that capacity believable. But it is Hanna that steals the show. Having a child as a sinister character, especially a seven year old could have been the down fall of this story. But it was the star of this novel. Hanna’s alter egos and personas were not only realistic, but creepy. There was however one dilemma: “...she regretted not being able to finish the job.”

The narrative is well-written, well-plotted, and delivered tension at the right time. The novel was fluid, easy to read, and compelling. Brush strokes of Swedish and Jewish heritage, the psychology of chronic illness and family relationship dynamics bring veracity to the narrative.

I highly recommend Baby teeth and look forwards to seeing more from Zoie Stage.

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Zoje Stage for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3,5 STARS

This is so out of my comfort zone, I still don't know how I managed to read it!A different story with a slow built up in creepy way that will make you want to turn the pages and see what will happen next.Even though I like my stories to have a lot of things I felt like in this one too many things happening that I couldn't keep up to all of them.It was disturbed at times and I felt like I should give up.However, the writing was perfect and the plot brilliant that I didn't want to stop reading until the end to see how it goes!

'Hannah kept the words to herself because they gave her power. Inside her, they retained their purity. She scrutinized mommy and other adults, studied them. Their words fell like dead bugs from their mouths.'

First it has to be said do not go into this lightly thinking you are going to be uplifted or that it’s a champion for those with mental disorders. Go back, turn around, this isn’t that type of novel. Baby Teeth cuts deep, leaves all the adults and other children who come in contact with Hanna wounded, bleeding, in fear for their lives. We Have To Talk About Kevin just tore me apart, it is one of my favorite novels, this is something else entirely. It’s a hard book compare with. With that said, it’s disturbing and dark. There is nothing darling here, and the mother isn’t without fault. I cannot imagine…

Suzette ‘rallies’ behind her girl, hoping to figure out what is wrong while Alex is adamant it’s nothing. I’m supposed to feel for her, but is she the problem? Does she need control, has this messed up her kid? There are small moments when it seems Hanna truly feels cast out by her mother, and we’re never really sure if it’s so. There is a tug of war going on to win Alex over, Hanna wants him all to herself, the only thing right with the world is her magnificent Daddy who sees nothing sinister about her. It’s clear he wants to believe the best about his child, but there is something broken within her. Suzette cannot muster enough love, not when the child she knows is not the same Hanna who appears before her husband. She pretends to be a good girl, she makes her mother into a liar. Or does she? For a while there, I wandered if there was going to be some mind bending twist. Maybe it’s good old mommy imagining things?

If only she could siphon the love her husband feels in buckets for their girl, but it’s so hard when it seems Hanna wants to annhilate her. When she poses an idea to send Hanna to school, all hell breaks loose.

I struggle with these sort of stories. I have a sensitivity to anything written about mental health issues, mind you this is s thriller, it’s fiction and it certainly grabs you by the throat. It is engaging, horrifying and a sprial into a nightmare. I took issue with Suzette, I know she’s the ‘victim’ but she is a little too quick to want to forget her child. I don’t know, maybe it’s a mother thing, maybe I love blindly but I cannot imagine pushing my kid off somewhere and brushing off my hands with a ‘well that’s taken care of, where was I, let’s make love honey.’ But that is why I tend to read more literary fiction. I knew what I was getting into, and for that- this is a hell of a disturbing novel.

This is the story of a born psychopath, what’s scarier than a child harboring such violence, hatred, a twisted mind? It’s terrible, the paths her mind takes, particualrly the fascination with a witch. The reader sees what’s coming, while mommy and daddy are oblivious, thinking maybe things will calm down now that they are both aware. Suzette is terrified of her little girl, for good reason. It’s a novel that will make a lot of people uncomfortable but it is well written. There will be many different reactions, and it depends on your reading ‘fix’. Why do I imagine this as a horror film, that comes out on Christmas, because it would rattle people?

If murderous children are your thing, this is right up your alley!

Publication Date: July 17, 2018

St. Martin’s Press

This was a pretty good book. There was lots of build up and suspense to what Hannah might do next. I was a little disappointed in the ending. Otherwise this would be 4 stars.