As Horror readers, it can sometimes take a lot to shake us. But at the same time, we should never strive to become immune to the things in horror that upset or discomfort us. Because at its heart horror is an empathetic genre. You have to let yourself feel it, respond to it, and by extension it is my belief that horror makes us more empathetic, sympathetic human beings. If horror makes us flinch, that’s a good thing.

Such a Pretty Smile is a raw, bloody, open wound of a book, and DeMeester does not shrink from the violence against women - both physical and mental - that serves as her central theme. (Which is why I’ve tried to highlight some of the bigger content warnings down below.) But one thing I really loved about this book, is that the violence, though visceral and at times tough to read, is never gratuitous. For something to be gratuitous it has to be unwarranted and play no reasonable part in the telling of the story. But the story in question, that of a mother and daughter struggling against a vicious cycle of intergenerational and social traumas, is inherently violent. Violence has to be unnecessary to be gratuitous, and in Such a Pretty Smile every drop of blood spilled is vital.

It’s a story about what it means to be a woman, living in a world determined to make you small, and meek, and above all quiet. About the trauma that results from being forced to conform for safety, and how, in trying to protect her daughter, a mother can end up perpetuating the very societal rules and expectations that were used to suppress her own identity and joy. Caroline conformed for survival, and she has been trying ever since to keep her daughter sweet, good, compliant, and therefore safe. But the harder Caroline tries to protect her daughter, the more she kindles Lila’s anger, which draws the attention of the omnipresent third figure in Such a Pretty Smile: The Cur. As much metaphor as man or monster, The Cur leaves behind a trail of murdered and mutilated girls, punctuating both Caroline and Lila’s timelines with corpses.

There’s so much more I want to tell you, but the book just came out on the 18th and the very worst thing I could do would be to spoil it for anyone. You’ve really got to read and experience it for yourself, and I highly recommend that you do.

The story drew me in from the beginning. As the world around her focuses on area murders of teen girls Lila is navigating early teens years- family, popularity, attraction. Her mother watches on with worry as she recalls similar murders years ago. The story goes between time - Lila and her mom Caroline. The story unfolds and we learn about The Cur murdering young girls and the threat to all.

Such a Pretty Smile was such a creepy book. Caroline is plagued with seeing images that aren't there, she hears dogs barking and growling. As a young girl, she was abducted at an amusement park --possibly by a serial killer--but remembers nothing of what happened. Is she just crazy? She is now living in another city and a serial killer is abducting young girls again. She feels that all of this is connected to her experience. The book flashes back in multiple timelines with Caroline and her daughter. At the end, we finally find our what is happening to the girls but I still had some questions. I'm giving this book 3/5 stars because a lot of the book focuses on Caroline's mental state rather than plot. Seems like the main point of the book was that men are jerks and that they want women to remain weak--but in a horror kind of way.

I could not get into this book, and it was a DNF at 46%. The fact that the characters were teenage girls were bothersome for me.

How did I forget to write a review on this? Was I too wrapped up in it to remember… anything? That could be true, because after finishing it, all I wanted to do was keep reading it. This book isn’t for everybody, but it was definitely for me. Highly recommend this to anyone who has been silenced by the patriarchy and wants a book about fighting back, it was absolutely phenomenal.

This story was weird but in the best way. It keeps you on your toes and questioning everything.

You will hate most of the characters but stick with them, you may get a haha chance.

Well written and enjoyably confusing, this story will probably give you nightmares.

Fantastic book! It was really dark, and had a ton of different avenues that led to a satisfyingly supernatural ending. Lots of real, raw emotion and action!

Snarls and fangs and too many teeth - this weird in the best way horror story really bites. Young girls, staying silent, going crazy, doctors, pills, sculptures, shadows... the vivid imagery played with my imagination's feelings. I really need to see Caroline's creepy sculptures in person please and thank you.

This story starts in 2019 with Lila, Caroline's daughter and then shoots to the past in 2004 where we see Caroline's past ... how they come together and where the story ends was truly satisfying for me. I'm not sure what I expected from this story but what I thought was going to happen, didn't, and I'm so glad!

Wooooooow the "men" in this book suck. Constantly condescending and thinking the girls and women are just being hysterical. Hey, here's a pill for your problem because YOU'RE the problem. Now, now, listen to your husband, he knows what is best for you. Blah blah, inert eyeroll an try not to stab them. /rant

There's a lot to unpack in this story. Social commentary told in a horror story where girls are being silenced and the changing of the faces of the men around them still define the same type of misogynistic man we run into on the daily. It's a story of fighting back and finding a way to thrive when everything around you pushes you to be less than. Sometimes these kinds of stories don't work for me but I was involved with the violence part that it didn't dawn on me until the end and then it punched me in the face. Solid

▶️ I am so sorry to report that’s I did not enjoy this book. The blurb was interesting & I was excited to read it. But I never connected. I wasn’t invested or interested. I know this is supposed to be a feminist allegory but even that didn’t impact me.

▶️ I struggled to finish & the ending was disappointing.

▶️ I know others have enjoyed it. Perhaps I wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I read it or maybe it just isn’t my cup of tea.

▶️ If the premise intrigues you please read it. Your opinion could be completely different.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an electronic copy of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Lila Sawyer is a 13 year old struggling with many things, as many teenagers do. Her single mother, Caroline, has become very protective as someone is taking and murdering girls from their area. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear this monster has hit before and Caroline knows all about it from her past. A pretty unique and disturbing story!

Such a Pretty Smile is a dark and twisted thriller that will keep readers on edge from start to finish. A compelling story line and intriguing characters combine to make a memorable reading experience.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

This book took me a long time to get through. I had to put it down and read others. I just couldn’t seem to get into it. After reading what it was about, I thought it would be a book that I absolutely loved. But I just didn’t love it. While there were times that I was hooked and couldn’t put it down, it didn’t keep my interest. The book was well written, and I did enjoy the characters.

What in the world?!

This was an eccentric mother and daughter’s edgy relationship. A split narration respectively for both characters- Caroline the mom and Lila, the daughter. The beginning was very catchy with the morbid murder of a 12 year old girl. A serial
Killer on the loose and that alone kept me on edge.

Psychologically disturbing I would say, a freaky thriller with a tinge of supernatural vibe. The hallucinations and fear of dogs was a little manic now that I am thinking about it and it really has the unsettling feeling all throughout the book. Such A Pretty Smile was branded as horror yet I can’t put my finger to any part of it that is horror. Yes, there were graphic narrative of how the girls were murdered and I agree that it was horrific but not enough to brand the book as such. Disturbing and weird perhaps!

Overall, it was a slow burn to my liking and I did not get the satisfaction of a resolution in the end. It was definitely dark and twisted and that is alright but not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange of my honest review.

Going between two timelines in 2004 and 2019, Such a Pretty Smile follows Caroline Sawyer and her daughter, Lila, who are both victims of a dark power that they are searching for and fighting against. It has an undertone of feminism, misogyny, and the patriarchy.

I rated this completely in the middle. From the reviews I’ve seen people either love it or hate it, and for me it was a combination of both. Based on the blurb, I wanted to love this book. I thought I would love it, but in the end I was kind of bored? The message and horror didn’t land for me.

I will admit I was slightly confused in the beginning but once you keep going this book is insane and completely messed up. Lol. Probably one of the weirdest thrillers I have listened too. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to listen.

This was such an odd read and story. I struggled with my final thoughts as I honestly didn’t know what to rate it. I love when a thriller has dual timelines and multiple POVs, that’s why I enjoyed this story to a certain degree. It was also super eerie and descriptive. However, the overall story was a bit confusing and read YA at times. It also felt like something was missing from the story. I still enjoyed it for the most part!

Another spooky novel, quirky characters and more fast paced. The premise is intriguing and worth it if you're in the mood for a spooky read.

TW: Murder, gory scenes, rape, torture, alcoholism, homophobia, gaslighting, toxic parent relationship, loss of parent,

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:There’s something out there that’s killing. Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she’s seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother—the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice—until she is punished for using it.2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape—both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiancé is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waves her “problem” away with pills. But Caroline’s past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand.As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.
Release Date: 01.18. 2022
Genre: Horror
Pages: 320
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
• The story sounded creepy
• The characters feel like real people for a horror novel

What I Didn't Like:
• The back and force timeline
• I hate Daniel *gross*
• The ending isn't good

Overall Thoughts: I found this book very creepy. Carolina hearing the voices of the dogs just gave me goosebumps. I liked the story and the characters. I found the writing flowed and I was interested to find out the details of what was happening.

I did not like the cross timeline, but honestly I'm so over EVERY book having this.

Daniel was just a jerk. He made me so mad. Always telling her what to do and if this pill was okay and this one wasn't. Of course nothing happened to him. He gets off free with having a new wife and baby.

Final Thoughts: The ending just felt so rushed to me. Like for so long in the book it just goes on and on with things happening and then boom.... The therapist is the killer killing for a society of child murderers. I guess that's where we went with this book. Weird. Also seriously it didn't feel the ending tied up really anything.

This is not horror. This reads more like a thriller to me.

SUCH A PRETTY SMILE is an electrifying, disturbing and exciting psychological thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish. It's a fast read, but it's one of those reads where you're always unsure of where the story is going to go and what is going to happen next. My favorite thing about this book was the fact that we had two unreliable narrators, Caroline Sawyer and her 13 year old daughter, Lila. I always feel apprehensive when this literary tool is utilized, especially with characters who clearly have mental health issues, but I thought that DeMeester approached this well and really gets the reader inside Caroline and Lila's heads without committing the sin of gaslighting people with mental illnesses by villainizing them. There's also a fiercely feminist fury in this book that you can't help but feel as you read the men in Caroline and Lila's lives dissmissing and silencing them, telling them how they should feel and behave. It downright ticked me off, as every woman probably has a similar experience, and that is the point. SUCH A PRETTY SMILE is a scathing rebuke of the ways society approaches mental health in women, and the various ways that are used to keep women in their place. This book's pacing is perfect, its mystery is horrifying and it was everything I love in a great thriller. The only reason this is a 4 star read as opposed to 5 stars was that I was left SO confused about the ending. It seemed to me that something paranormal was afoot in the ending and the true culprit of who The Cur was, but I haven't seen any indications of that in other reviews. So I am confused about the ending. If someone wanted to explain that to me, I'd appreciate it.

This was a very dark book about women and power. It deals with putting women down to keep them in line, and what happens to girls who don’t fit the plan of how women are “supposed” to be. There’s also more nefarious things afoot! It’s extremely dark in tone and rather disturbing, and I kept trying to figure out what’s real and what’s not. It’s very fast paced though, and I absolutely needed to keep reading.

The book switches perspectives between Lila and her mom, as well as timelines between 2019 (present) and 2004 (past). This worked pretty well to dangle threads of what happened to Caroline in the past and how it affects Lila in the present. The book switches between these at times to keep up suspense, and I actually liked both timelines a lot because it really kept me guessing. There are murders starting up in the present day where young girls are being abducted and brutally killed (where they look like they’ve been mauled by a wild animal). The question here is is it the same killer as years ago when Caroline was younger? I really enjoyed this mystery and thought it increased the suspense of the book. I liked the general setting here as well - it takes place near Atlanta and in New Orleans. I really liked the idea of Jazzland (a theme park) and how it changes over the years.

Lila is a teenager, and she’s just trying to make it through school without being bullied or ostracized from her peers. She has a crush on her best friend Macie but can’t act on it. Lila is torn between wanting to rebel and be her own person and following along with what her mom wants her to do. I felt like the book accurately captures this time period as a teenager and what it would be like to have a popular girl take interest in a teenage girl as a special project. Lila tries to do anything she can to keep Macie happy so that Lila can remain popular as well. She’s mostly a good girl, but over the book, she starts to go down a darker path. It was really interesting to see these changes and similarities to her mom’s experience.

I also liked Caroline - she’s a sculptor, and I really liked the idea of these bizarre creations she makes. She’s in New Orleans with her fiancé trying to take care of her sick dad and have enough money to do so. She’s really struggling to make ends meet and also struggling with things she’s seeing that no one believes. She starts to unravel her past and figure out what’s going on. I really liked uncovering these mysteries! We do have to deal with men not believing or not supporting our characters and being jealous of their success. This can be hard to read about sometimes with gaslighting and mansplaining.

Overall, this was a very gripping book. I’d describe it as almost being stressful to read (but in a good way). I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a dark horror/thriller! There are some content warnings for things like murders and sexual assault.

My video review can be seen on my booktube channel (around minutes 18:30-21:43 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMXeOmpPEpc