Feminist horror is a thing. This novel was an absolute page-turner, fast-paced and definitely thrilling but also so beautifully-written, with distinct 3-dimensional characters. It was emotional and meaningful and its feminism was rooted in realism - which was the true horror.

This is the best book I have read all year.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

A disturbing and dark tale about beasts that prey on women and the fierce resolve women display to be true to themselves, be authentic, and above all…be strong.

Be quiet. Be sweet. Be obedient. And show that pretty little smile. Only the bad girls get attacked by the beasts. Better be good!

DeMeester have crafted a slow, intentionally tense build in Such A Pretty Smile. Here “beasts” extend their claws, snarl exposed teeth and hunt young girls on which they need to feed. But don’t worry: only disobedient little women are at risk. The only problem is the “beasts” decide what actions will be tolerated; they set the rules.

Only some women see and hear the beasts. When they report them, they will be ridiculed, medicated, called hysterical or crazy…they will often be ignored.

Have you seen a beast?

I have.

Four fantastic stars for this tour-de-force tale of strength, resiliency and the determination women show to be themselves!

See full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4229873425

Caroline Sawyer is exhausted, every waking moment is spent caring for her father. So she assumes the strange sounds she hearing, barking, growling dogs; is just a symptom of that exhaustion. Then the sounds become visions, which she translates into the bizarre sculptures she creates even as her psychiatrist prescribes a regimen of pills to keep her “spells” away. Fifteen years later, Caroline’s thirteen year old daughter, Lila is experiencing her own tortured visions. With her father newly married and a new baby under the roof, Lila does her best to suppress her “urges”…until the day she can’t. This is a dark, violent book about the repressed feeling of women and what happens when they are held in check. Brilliant

This book is dark, evil, and haunting. It gave me that pit in my stomach, heavy, anxiety feeling after I put the book down. It is one that made me have trouble falling asleep afterwards and worked its way into my dreams. It also is a page turner. You won’t want to put it down. Very well written.

There is a lot of cursing and crude language, especially in the first four chapters. Net Galley had this book categorized as mystery thriller/horror. I find that many books classified as horror aren’t really something that I would consider horror. This is!

A thread through this novel is females being silenced. Yes, many of these ladies did things they shouldn’t have, but the theme is that they were all silenced after the fact and not allowed to discuss their side of things. Express their feelings or tell their stories. I loved that this horror story had such a good message.

So, I love suspense thrillers, I don’t like really evil or scary books. I think I have had my fill of evil and spooky for a while. Hahaha I gave this book four stars. I loved the message of the book, but it isn’t a Kimberly book. If you are a fan of horror books, you would probably love this.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #SuchaPrettySmile

My sincere thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review an ARC of this fantastic, creepy book!

A feminist horror story told across two generations - Such A Pretty Smile focuses on our two main characters with sympathy, love, and fear for what they will face.

On the one hand, we follow lonely teenager Lila as she pines after the object of her unrequited affections while facing the loneliness of being a social outcast. With a distant father and a helicopter mother who is a famous artist to boot, Lila feels alone in the world and adrift in a family history she doesn’t fully understand. Her mother refuses to talk about the past, however Lila is sure something lurks there because when the bodies of young girls start to turn up, her mother’s fear and overbearing parenting increases to unimaginable levels. What is her mother so afraid of? Lila knows her mother suffers from mental illness, and she fears that she will inherit those genes. But is her mother’s reaction a symptom of her illness, or is there truly something to fear out there?

On the other hand, we follow Lila’s mother Caroline before the birth of her daughter. Her beloved father is in hospice care, and in order to pay for his care she has had to sacrifice her artistic pursuits to take a dead end job tutoring the troubled teenage daughter of a wealthy family in more “classical” artistic pursuits than her preferred medium of scavenger sculptures. Caroline’s fiancé Daniel is also an artist, however as she begins to see and hear things that may or may not be there, their relationship becomes strained beyond the normal competitive streak that has always run underneath their love. Daniel’s concern for her seems genuine, but is he more worried about her or how he looks next to a crazy woman? As young girls begin to vanish, Caroline fears what she is seeing is not just a hallucination.

As the two timelines diverge and then meet up again, the reader finds themselves engrossed in not the only plot but the emotions that the characters feel. From the pangs of early girlhood to young womanhood, this book perfectly captures fears that are innate in being a woman while also adding a potentially supernatural evil into the mix. Haunting, touching, and fast paced - I highly recommend this book!

UCH A PRETTY SMILE by Kristi DeMeester would be a great book if you’re just introducing yourself to the horror genre. It’s an awesome dual-timeline thriller-horror. It features a killer that is referred to as THE CUR that masticates its victims similar to a snake and a mother-daughter duo you’ll want to root for.

THE CUR is quite frightening and the whole “killing girls with big mouths who don’t know when to shut up and learn their place”
was a great storyline.

Parts of the book reminded me of Meg Gardiners UNSUB series. But ultimately feel this title felt a bit closer to a YA horror than adult.

The protagonist was young and the themes of the book were centered around using ones voice and learning self power. There was a lot of me screaming

“FUCK YES”

While reading.

A very enjoyable read!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to @stmartinspress for sending this my way in exchange for an honest review!