When I started listening to the audiobook of Nothing But Blacked Teeth by Cassandra Khaw I was really hoping for a dark horror story. This fell flat for me. I listened to the entire thing waiting for a twist or something disturbing to happen, but it never did.

The book premise had SO much potential, but these characters drove me absolutely bonkers. They ruined the entire experience for me. I wanted to love it, but couldn't get passed the slow writing.

Today, I am bringing you guys my stop on the @storygramtours for Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw. I devoured this short book/novella in less than 2 hours. When I first caught wind of this book I knew I had to get it and then I saw the opportunity for this tour and jumped on it so fast. If you love horror, Japanese Folklore, haunting/ghost stories, then this is the book for you!

Five friends rent out a haunted mansion, the perfect spooky wedding venue -- but things aren’t what they seem. Personally I didn’t find the characters too likable, but it’s good if you’re into love triangles and drama. The setting, paired with Japanese folklore, made a great base for some disturbing antics to ensue and I would’ve liked to see this developed more. Overall, not sure how I feel about this but it definitely brought some spooky vibes!

Thanks NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my copy!

TL;DR: Nothing But Blackened Teeth didn’t quite hit for me, but is nonetheless a solid haunted house ghost story for when you’re in the mood for something short and spooky. My rating: 2 of 5 stars.

I listened to Nothing But Blackened Teeth right around Halloween. It was definitely good for spooky season since it felt like a pretty classic around-the-campfire-style ghost story. The plot: an estranged group of young adult friends are reunited for a wedding-gift trip to a reportedly haunted house in Japan. Interpersonal conflicts between members of the group come to the fore and take a deadly turn when the house and its ghostly inhabitants inevitably become hostile.

I enjoyed the twist and the questions it raised about who the monster *really* was--paranormal or human? But overall, I had a hard time getting into Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I wasn’t very affected by the writing, at least not as much or in the way I would expect from a creepy, scary story. I also felt like I needed a little bit more back story. Trying to piece together little hints as to why this group was even together to start with and what each person’s relation was to every other person in the group just kind of took away from my ability to immerse myself in the ghost-story ambience. Without giving anything away, the ending felt a bit rushed and unresolved to me as well. I wish the story had stayed with the narrators in the house rather than jumping forward in time and filling in the details as a retrospective telling of events.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me advance access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

☠️ This is a novella taking place in a very atmospheric setting. It is short so I don’t want to get too much into the story. Go into it as blind as possible if you’re reading this one. Can I also just say this cover is absolutely creepy. It’s the reason why I wanted to give this one a go, I was terrified by it - still am.

☠️ I honestly totally forgot this book was publishing today (oops). Thank you so much to those who reviewed this today and reminded me… technically it’s still pub day lol.

☠️ I honestly had really high hopes for this book. It wasn’t terrible, it just didn’t hit the expectations I had for it. It was a bit of a let down honestly. I just wish I got more out of it, but it does make sense since it’s a novella. I loved this author’s writing style. I definitely will be reading more from her: regardless of my feelings towards this book. The ending had me a bit disappointed, I know some really enjoyed this short novella. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as others did.

👻 Thank you @tornightfire and @netgalley for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review. 👻

I made the mistake of reading this at night, I'm a fast reader so It did not take me long to finish it. I do wish I would have waited because this is definitely a daytime read. Cassandra Khaw provides a bone-chilling premise set in Japan. The imagery is top-notch and Khaw does not shy on vivid descriptions. This book would be a great teen movie set in a slasher-type movie!

I do wish that the ending was stretched out more. It needed a slower pace to keep up with the theme.

I thought maybe I would enjoy the audiobook more than the ebook, but I was wrong. This story was too short. It would have made a fantastic full length novel, but as a novella, it falls short. There's not enough character development and story building. I didn't care about any of the characters. And the Japanese ghosts were confusing. This story just wasn't clear enough for me.

This book had a really good spooky feel to it but I felt like it was missing something. Overall it was an ok read.

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I would definitely be recommending this book to readers on my Instagram bookstagram account.

A creepy Japanese folklore story that made spooky season entertaining and a bit creeped out…

To be honest, I didn’t know much about the Japanese culture nor the Heian- era. But thanks to Cassandra she made it easy to understand with some straightforward facts and kept it easy to remember of the history of the castle where these characters were embarking.

Straight off the bat I didn’t like any of the characters. Supposedly being friends they were really just forcing themselves to be with each other. I mean what type of friends are these? Especially the bride to be and the main character.

Experiencing and witnessing a good amount of paranormal activities, you think they would get the message and skedaddle. However, it was quite the opposite.

This was a fast pace audiobook that had a great narrator telling the story. Definitely felt intrigued and felt I can easily see it in my head.

If you’re into horror or want something fast pace of a book, this is it. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It was great audiobook I manage to read around spooky season.

This book was the ideal spooky season read! A creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore, but also packed to the brim with dark humor and macabre imagery galore? To say that I was absolutely riveted the entire time is an understatement!

I highly recommend listening to this on audiobook - the narrator, Suehyla El-Attar, is truly stellar! The way she brought this story to life had me feeling like I was being told a ghost story around a campfire!

What I Loved:
✨Perfect Length - Clocking in at 128 pages / 2 hours and 32 minutes on audiobook, this novella is the perfect length and super binge-able! I absolutely devoured it and could have easily finished it in one sitting (but chickened out because nighttime rolled in and I didn’t want to freak myself out by continuing).

✨Incorporation of Horror Tropes - I’m a pretty big fan of the horror genre and am fairly well-versed in their standard tropes. I really liked this book’s use of them and how the characters within the story openly acknowledged them for exactly what they were. Lin and Cat’s commentary on the tropes as they happened, was also the best kind of comedic relief!

✨The Ending - I definitely thought I knew how this book was going to end, but was happily surprised when it went in a different direction. I don’t want to spoil anything, so all I’m going to say is that the ending completely satisfied my need for seasonal chills!

If you’re looking for a haunting tale that’s both atmospheric and vivid to the point of feeling cinematic, Nothing But Blackened Teeth is the book for you! Any fan of horror will enjoy this unsettling read!

This is not typically my genre. But it was the perfect spooky season book and I appreciate that the creepiness jumped in pretty fast and didn't let up.

I was really impressed by the author's ability to create well-rounded characters with clear and complex backstories in such a limited number of pages. The book is short enough to read in one sitting (which I did) and interesting enough to actually warrant doing it. My only complaint would be how much more I would have liked to know about these characters and their relationships and what got them to this point.

I'm mindful of spoilers but there is so much lurking in the shadows of how everyone behaves that colors why they do what they do, this one will leave you thinking and processing well after you close it.

There were some pretty significant gross out moments and as I said, generally this genre is just not my cup of tea, so not my most favorite thing I've ever written, but horror is your jam then I definitely recommend checking this one out.

This book was not for me. Though I appreciated the darkness and tension within the tale, there was something missing for me.

The imagery and metaphors that were written for this book were fabulous. It was easy to envision the setting and atmosphere of this book. I thought the scenes where we see the thing that is haunting the mansion creepy and unsettling, which is the whole point of a horror book!

I didn't enjoy our group of characters or their commentary throughout the book. I found all of them pretentious and immature which irritated me as I listened to the book. I thought the last half of this book was well done and wished that we got more of the background of the mansion and the woman who was haunting the mansion.

This time of the year especially, I love to listen to creepy books. And this novella's cover alone is quite chilling! The story focuses on a small group of friends who come together for a wedding in a haunted house in Japan. With a creepy backstory and also a lot of unspoken history between the characters and the mechanics of the group, this quickly escalates into some quite surprising turns.

I just wish that there had been a bit more to the story. Given the brevity and the scope of the novella, with the majority of it taking place in one single night, I really wanted there to be more space for character development. Because I had a hard time connecting with the characters, I never found myself sharing in their fear. There are certainly grotesque images and graphic descriptions of horrors here, but I never one time found myself genuinely frightened. The story itself did surprise me - but I just didn't love this one the way I had hoped to. The performance is solid, though and doesn't distract at all from the story.

I loved everything about this up until the end, which was so baffling I thought I was reading the end of a different book. Khaw writes some of the most beautiful and interesting prose I’ve ever read in my life. It was almost lyrical and I was captivated by how that was used to explore Japanese folklore, ghost stories and horror. There isn’t a lot of filler to get through for this, the plot starts moving immediately. The setting is rich and dark, the characters are impressively vibrant and the pace is perfect.

But it ends so abruptly that it was like a punch to the throat, and also disappointing. And I honestly wish this had been longer so I could live with Khaw’s writing just a while longer.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth is one of those that will haunt you for years to come. You'll think about it at random moments and your body will give a little shudder at the memory. This book is very short but punches a powerful punch. I love a creepy haunted house story and this one packed with Japanese folklore was perfect for a scary Halloween read. This story takes place in a mansion from the Heian era and was built on top of the bones of a bride. She still haunts the property and adds the bones of girls to the mansion so she isn't alone. Of course, the friends don't realize this when they decide to stay there. This night takes a horrifying turn when the ghost bride with her black smile makes her appearance known. She just wants a little company...

If you are looking for the perfect atmospheric book for spooky season look no further. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is about a group of friends that come together in a haunted mansion to celebrate a wedding. But when the houses secrets come to light the group of friends must decide if their friendships are worth saving.

I really enjoyed this little novella. I found the plot to be uniquely different than anything I’ve ever read before. I also really enjoyed the different character dynamics throughout the story.

I don’t want to give to much away with this one. I would just highly recommend that you read it.
3.5/5 Stars

I was hoping this was going to be a fast paced short read but it felt really slow to me. I was hoping for more scary action early on