Awestruck!, it has been a long time since a book has left me this captivated. At times I wondered who was the evil one, Hanna or her mother Suzette. I was a little disappointed in the ending. Will there be a sequel?

I picked up this thriller because of the strange cover. It was well written with an interesting plot. I would recommend this one to other thriller fans.

This is a heck of a read - compelling, page turning and disturbing - it kept me up well past my bedtime every night that I was reading it. I love a creepy AF kid, and Zoje Stage's Hanna of Baby Teeth, may be the winner.
In this novel, we focus on a young family that seems pretty perfect - stay at home mom Suzette, hipster dad Alex, and home schooled, Hanna. Hanna, however, loves her father so much that she wants her mother gone, and she is willing to make that dream a reality.
Stage cleverly sets up the novel in alternating perspectives between Hanna and Suzette - very clever, and in Suzette's chapters, we see her analyze (and antagonize) over her relationship with her mother. There were times where I hated both of the characters, and I was not sure who was more evil or if there were any "good" characters in the book; I appreciate this obscurity. A theme of supernatural horror is woven in as well, and I appreciated the possibility of possession and exorcism, which further made me question Suzette's reliability.
If this is Stage's debut, then I cannot wait to read her future novels. I am recommending this book to all of my friends, and Hanna definitely joins such characters as Lionel Shriver's Kevin in the most disturbing category.
Bravo.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for review.

I don’t think anyone could read this book and not think of it as a parent’s worst nightmare. Did I like the book? Yes and no. Yes, because I could not put it down. I wanted to know how it ended. And the ending gave me goosebumps. No, because at times it was so intense and horrifying that I just didn’t want to read anymore.

Suzette and her husband Alex are parents of seven year old Hanna, who is mute. They have had test after test to discover the cause of her lack of verbal communication and doctors cannot find a cause. To make matters worse, Suzette suffers from a chronic illness and needs to maintain a stress-free lifestyle.

Hanna has been expelled from every school she has attended and exhibits awful behavior towards Suzette, saving all her love and charm for Alex. She increasingly begins to display animosity towards Suzette.

As Alex and Suzette seek help for Hanna, things escalate and they realize being good parents is not enough. The question is, can Hanna be helped?

There are brief descriptions of sexual acts in the book, as well as disturbing behavior by Hanna. Hanna, at her young age, is able to research online and formulate plans to carry out her revenge against her mother. Most likely, this is the reason many readers put this book in the horror category.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

Holy moly this book was amazing. I was so captured by the description that I knew I had to get my hands on it. I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I’m so glad I did. It was almost as if this book was playing mind games with me. I spent the whole book second guessing my views on Hanna and Suezette. It’s a constant back and forth between okay is she an evil child, does she have a mental disability, or is she just trying to get her mother to change. As a mother of two daughters who are very much daddy’s girls myself this twisted thriller surely hit close to home. I had no issues with book at all and I plan to read it again to see if there’s any little details I may have missed in my first read. I can’t wait to purchase my own copy on release day.

I cant even handle this novel. All I know is I am never having children. I won't even make eye contact with them on the street now.

Wow. I finished this book last night and am still feeling unsettled. Baby Teeth is an eerie thriller that will have you up all night questioning if child-rearing is really for you after this roller coaster ride. Hearing from both the mother and the child that wants to kill her will leave you flipping back and forth on whom you are rooting for and shaken to the core. An incredible debut for Zoje Stage.

Wow! Such a sad, creepy, weird, angering story! It kept me enthralled the entire time, going between Suzette and Hanna's stories. I almost felt bad for Hanna, but then something would happen and my emotions did a 180. Very hard to be a parent and imagine going through what these parents dealt with.

I'm going to start by saying that this book is probably not going to be for everyone. Our "Big Bad" in this case is a seven-year-old girl, so it may lead to a little bit of weirdness for some. And that's okay - it's your reading life! But, that uncomfortable factor is why I enjoyed it. Well, that and I was able to empathize with Suzette - something I'll get into later.

Baby Teeth is the first from Zoje Stage, and it's a delightfully twisted piece of work. Ms Stage fearlessly ties in a couple of common suspense tropes and does so with style.

Suzette never really had a proper mother/daughter relationship and spent most of her life dealing with illness, so when Hanna comes along, she is determined to do what is best for her. Only Hanna is a little different. When we first meet her, we learn Hanna is non-verbal. Like most little girls, Hanna's heart belongs to Daddy. And only Daddy. Her affection doesn't extend even a little bit to her mother. In fact, she hates Suzette and would much rather she wasn't around, something husband Alex can't see, even when Suzette tells him. Hanna is always a perfect little angel when Daddy's around (Hands up all the Mamas who know that feeling!).

Told in two points of view (both Suzette and Hanna), we learn what's going through the minds of both, and both can be a little dark. 

Seriously. We're not talking about putting the "fun" in dysfunctional here. 

As Suzette struggles to maintain her relationship with both her husband and her daughter, as well as her hold on her sanity, Hanna's behaviour escalates dramatically, setting the stage for some genuinely jaw-dropping and creepy moments. And moments where you to grab the main characters around the collar and yell "What the ACTUAL HECK!".

But, I get it. I really do. 

I've read a lot of reviews where people feel the subject matter in Baby Teeth is too uncomfortable and a little unrealistic. Not me. While I felt Hanna may have been aged a little young for some of her schemes, I had empathy for Suzette. This may be a little TMI, but I have a bipolar son, and once he reached a certain age, there were times when we felt genuinely concerned for our safety. We were abused and threatened pretty regularly, sometimes physically. We had holes in walls and doors, destroyed furniture, photos and mementos. And yes, sometimes he would do stuff to our personal belongings. We would have to keep things locked up - things you wouldn't ever expect to have to hide. At one point, we had our bedroom door alarmed. We had law-enforcement on speed dial, just in case. So I understand that fear, and I understand how difficult it is to voice it to other people, including mental health professionals. You feel like (and in some instances, viewed as) a bad parent. You're not always believed, especially when that behaviour is often behind closed doors and not in public view. Ms Stage, with (I assume!) no actual experience of parenting a troubled child, managed to nail those feelings.

At this point, all I can say is that it's up to you. Baby Teeth is definitely different, but if you think you can cope with our "Little Bad", then definitely give it a go. Happy reading! 

Review crossposted at https://bookishbiker.com/2018/06/review-baby-teeth/

This is a book about a demented, cruel, entirely too precocious to be realistic, mute seven year old girl. It's about a mom who has no confidence in herself and a dad who is willingly oblivious to any fault in his child, placing his child before his wife, when there is any question about the child acting out. The ending could suggest a sequel, especially because it seems like the book ended when there was so much more to learn...when finally things were going somewhere.

Suzette grew up with a severely depressed, cold mother who did nothing to help her deal with her crohn's disease, until she had to have emergency surgery at 17. What followed was years of more pain and coldness from her mother, as she dealt with compilations of the surgery. Eventually she would go to college, got a degree and met her future husband at her first job. Alex is a loving husband but once they have their child Hannah and realize that she has some problems, Alex puts Hannah first in everything. Suzette, due lack of confidence in herself, from her life with a cold, uncaring mom, never stands up to Alex when what this family and demented child needed, was a united front from her parents, people who would put their foot down, and also would do anything to try to really help Hannah, rather than put the blame on any institution or person who would find fault with Hannah, where it rightly belonged. These parents are filled with guilt, thinking they are a cause of Hannah's problems while I believe she was born that way.

We read the book from the perspective of Suzette and Hannah, each chapter alternating that perspective. I enjoyed the book but was frustrated by some of the actions of the mom...her passiveness in the face of danger (she often destroyed evidence that could prove what Hannah was doing) and her complete lack of use of modern technology to help record Hannah's demented behavior (she could have easily made use of the camera, video and audio recorders on her phone), Alex was such a useless dad during most of the book, making things even harder in fact, as he coddled Hannah and made it clear he believed her over his wife.

Then there is Hannah, who refused to talk even though she is physically capable of doing so and does so as her alter ego. Her thoughts and actions are those of a much older person, not those of an isolated, mute seven year old. Hannah thinks that life would be perfect if she could murder her mom and have dad all to herself and her attempts to do so escalate until Alex finally has to believe that his daughter is a sociopath/psychopath. Once appropriate action has taken place, the book abruptly ends, just when I was hoping we could learn more. We do learn one thing from Hannah and that is that her mom had better watch out!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

Not for me. This book that I heard so much about is like introducing yourself to a stranger. When you saw them out of the corner of your eye you thought you knew them only to be embarrassed when you come face to face.

I appreciate the DRC from Net Galley and St. Martin's Press; however, this is too ludicrous to even continue. The premise is remix of the '70s movie, The Omen, in which an evil, small boy seeks to kill his mother, but this one is with a girl child; however, if it was well written, I would push myself through the rest of it and write something up. However, anyone that attempts an inner narrative of a preschool child of any stripe has to have some concept of what a little kid's vocabulary and development look like, unless they provide some reason for the tot to use an adult-level conversation. If it was established that some supernatural entity had endowed special intellectual powers on the brat, I could halfway buy into it. But this? This is sad. How did a good house like St. Martin's end up with it? Go figure.

No

Hannah is 7 years old and doesn't speak, there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her, so what is it that is keeping her mute?

As it turns out, Hannah is extremely intelligent yet there is something seriously wrong with this little girl, she is definitely not Mommy's best buddy. I was seriously scared at a couple points in this book and as the mother of a 4 year old girl, was worried I was going to have nightmares each night as I put the book down to go to sleep. This story is told from both the mother & daughter's points of view, and I just had to find out what the other character was going to do next, so putting the book down at all was a difficult task!

I really enjoyed this book, I typically read thrillers and this is not your typical thriller. The story was engaging, I liked the adult characters very much and just was amazed during Hannah's chapters. I highly recommend adding this book to your "must read" list. Is it too soon to ask for a sequel?

I think that this is one of those books that readers are either going to really like or really dislike. It is definitely different from any book I have ever read but it does contain a lot of shocking scenarios and is just a bit over the top in some parts.

This book is written from both Hanna and Suzette's perspectives, which makes for an interesting read. Hannah is beyond creepy and hearing everything from her point of view made her even more disturbing. Imaging a child who truly thinks like this and wants to not only hurt her mother, but get rid of her completely, I found to be very disturbing. This is certainly a thriller, but it also reminds of the horror genre, simply by reading from Hanna's point of view.

I enjoyed the author's writing and the premise of this story sounded very intriguing. I couldn't really connect with Suzette's character which often makes me not as invested in the actual story. And some of the story was a bit over the top, but I think that was the author's intention. I kept waiting for a like the twist or the climax, and something does happen about 75% of the way through, but I found it to be sort of anti-climatic. The ending wasn't my favorite either. The books ends in a way that makes me believe the author might plan on writing a sequel in the future. And the cover of this book is pretty great as well.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and it is certainly unlike anything I have read before. Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's press for sending me an ARC of this book.

Hanna is a very smart, nonverbal, 7-year old out to kill her mother. Suzette is her sickly mother full of low self-esteem and regrets and way too dependent on her husband. This is not a strong woman. She's all but given up throughout the first half of this book. Suzette reminded me of the woman from The Yellow Wall-Paper at times. What's to be said when the psychopathic little girl is the strongest character in the book? This was an OK read. Elements of it were great. However, there's also long passages where nothing happens. Honestly, the only times I found the book interesting is when Hanna was plotting her mother's death.

finally finished Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage laying by the pool while watching my kids take turns throwing each other into the water. It is exactly the setting you want to be in while you are reading this novel. It's a great summer/beach read but you will want to keep your kids close and hug them a lot while you are getting through this one.

The Good Parts: Zoje Stage sets a very vivid picture of the place where they are living. I love that the mother, Suzette, has a prominent facing battle with Chron's Disease. I feel like that detail played into some of the desperation that she feels towards needing time to rest and gave an interesting plot device. The plot as a whole reads as a modern telling of an Oedipal story to great effect. I loved how her actions were completely different around her father than her mother which was credible after seeing how my own kids act differently between each parent.

The Bad Parts: Hannah was too young for some of the thoughts that she was having. Even with her advanced intellect and powers of observation, I had a very hard time grasping that a 1st grader would be able to formulate some of these elaborate plots, much less be able to execute them. The second challenge that I have with the novel is that after multiple neurology and speech pathology exams, there was no mention of a psychiatric evaluation until things reached critical mass. I know that it is definitely difficult to source psych services for children but I can't believe that after 7 nonverbal years not one medical professional suggested mental help for her. I understand the mother's reluctance toward doctors, etc due to her chronic illness but she did not seem to have a problem with the medical testing.

All in all - if you can keep a reasonable disbelief suspension, you will likely enjoy this novel. For me it was a solid 3 stars - not great but I'm not mad that I spent the time to read it.

Many thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy of Baby Teeth. Available 07/17/2018 at retailers

There is no other way to describe this book other than disturbingly good. At points, I could not tell if it was a horror book or thriller. Baby Teeth kept me guessing what was going to happen next the whole time I was reading.

Hanna is a loving, adoring child with her father, but her relationship with her mother is totally different. Suzette and Alex are trying to find out why Hanna is still not speaking at seven years of age. She exhibits a number of odd, even troubling, behavior, but it’s mainly witnessed by Suzette. She’s manipulative and has Alex wrapped around her finger. Could Hanna be a sociopath?

I was certainly intrigued by the blurb of what is plugged as a psychological thriller. Parts of this were okay, but it was really hard for me to stay invested in the story and the characters. I feel like so much more could have been done, with the plot and character development. As written, some things come across as redundant, even predictable, which isn’t what you want in a thriller. Many things felt contrived. There were some truly creepy scenes, but things plodded along a bit too much for my preference. It’s told in alternating POVs (Hanna and Suzette). In general, I found Suzette annoying and Alex clueless. I wanted to like Hanna, but due to her lack of speech, I just felt distanced from her.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley. I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

Hanna is a perfect sweet 7 year old child for her dad but does not want to share him with her mom. In her world everything would be better once mom disappears so starts her diabolical acts to make that come true.Suzette loves her husband and tries to love her child but however hard she tries it is difficult for her to connect to Hanna and is sure that there is something seriously wrong with her kid.

Baby Teeth is well written book told from Hanna and Suzette’s POVs.it is dark and creepy but did not work for me as I found it impossible to believe that a 7 year old would be able to commit such horrific acts. I would put this more in a horror genre than a psychological thriller and I’m sure that people who love that category would enjoy it

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

Oh Hanna Hanna Hanna hahah.... boy are you quite the ideal child! ;)

I have seen numerous up and down reviews for this one... and was thinking as I started it... let me see what all this Baby Teeth business is all about.

Well.... drum roll........ I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. Let me tell you... this is definitely NOT for everyone. I would probably categorize this more as a horror genre then psychological thriller.

Let me introduce you to this gem of a family. Alex and Suzette have a little girl named Hanna. Hanna has always had a strong bond with her father... and quite the opposite with her mother. Let's just say Hanna wants to murder her mother... plain and simple. No sugarcoating there my friends ;).

There were a few issues that I had with this one... can I start off with the school issue with Hanna in the book. Ok... come on every school just kicked Hanna out after 1-2 behavior incidents? Yeah... I think not. This to me was very unrealistic and was a tad annoyed with this.

Additionally, I'm not sure if this was the author's intention but Hanna's obsession with her father was borderline sexual? Eh... was a tad weird to me? Not sure if anyone else noticed this?

I guess this was a battle between good vs evil? But, in this case mother vs daughter? haha it really was quite comical in some areas.

But, I give it to the author... she was creative but I had the story playing out a tad bit different in this one... and in my opinion it could have been better if there was a twist to it... tying in the mother more.

Overall, it was a fast paced read! I will be checking out more from this author!

3 baby stars!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Published to GR: 6/10/18
Publication date: 7/17/18