I had mixed feelings going into this book.
I decided to go into it with an open mind and form my own opinion.
Yes it was a very disturbing read at times....but I feel like it was a story that should be told. Like it or not this is a topic that many families struggle with.....it’s not a pretty picture that is for sure.
As a mother myself I found it to be a very painful read...it certainly opened my eyes to how much we don’t know about mental illness.
You hear about how tough it is to live with someone who is struggling....and how devastating it can be...but to get a glimpse of the disease from the perspective of a child struggling was heartbreaking...and so painful.
I feel Zoje Stage wrote a very brave account of a topic that no one wants to talk about yet needs to be dealt with, without shame and silence.
I hope she writes a sequel to this novel as I would love to see where she could take this story.

Wow! This brings Daddy's Little Girl a whole new meaning. Daddy is perfect and understands Hanna, even if she can't talk, but Mommy is in the way. Her tries to get rid of her become increasingly dangerous. Suzette loves her daughter and can't understand why is Hanna being so mean and what is wrong with her? This is a very edge of your seat read that is hard to put down. I can't wait to read more from this author.

I am finding this book difficult to review without giving what I consider to be spoilers. At first I thought it was going to follow the same tired old cliches but it did not which is a plus. The base story itself is very intriguing and I wish it had stuck more to that instead of padding it with a bunch of details about the mother's chronic illness and treatments. I understand that the author was trying to emphasize that the mother had such a bad example from her mother which contributed to her own insecurities but the details were way too graphic at times. I found the ending to be really unsatisfying as well.

What would you do if your own child was a psychopath? Would you love her? Would you fear her? Would you deny her issues just to alleviate your own guilt for creating a monster? Baby Teeth is a fast, rollercoaster ride of a thriller that takes you on that journey in a unique and terrifying manner. The story is told from the "voice" of Hanna, the little girl with some major issues; and Suzette, the mother who had an emotionally abusive childhood, which influences how she mothers now, both good and the bad.

Many times, books such as this one, are written from an outsider's perspective (a friend, the parent, a sibling, etc.) but this story tells the side of the troubled child. Hanna's story is more than just a little girl who dislikes others. We are allowed to share in how she sees and experiences the world. It is jarring to read life from a 7-year old's perspective, especially one as intelligent and diabolical as hers. We get to experience the extremes, of Hanna loving her Daddy to the point of obsession, to hating others and wishing they would die in a grotesque manner.

This story delves into the issues of having a sociopath as a child and the parents who refuse to see what is really going on. It also highlights the horrifying emotions Suzette, the mother, feels about her own daughter as she recalls her own emotional baggage brought about by her negligent mother.

The best part, however, is how this book ends. I don't want to ruin it for the reader, so I will just say that you need to go out and buy this book! You won't be sorry.

This is a physch/thriller book. Can a father really see no wrong in his baby girl or does baby girl have her daddy tied around her little finger so tight. The book is about Hannah who is a manipulative little girl and will do anything and I mean anything to get what she wants. This book isn't for everyone but it does keep you on the edge of your seat.

Riveting. I was absolutely enthralled,horrified and could not put this book down. What if your child never spoke m
What if when they did it was pure horror and terror?
Suzettes daughter Hanna is mute, or is she? This gripping novel explores a families nightmare as they navigate the path between a troubled child..or a psychopath?
A must read. I am hoping for a follow up!

I did finish this book, although, it stretched my patience to do so. The mother was wishy washy, the dad was adoring, the daughter totally evil, a bad seed. A good starting plot. I felt that the "child" was totally too manipulative for her age, and the mother and father were too passive, and basically stupid. The writing was good, and suspensful, thought it could have been tweaked to be a better book. Only my opinion.

I received a free e-copy of Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage from NetGalley for my honest review.

Wow!!!! Where do I start? I highly recommend this book is you want an edge of your seat, you can't put this book down, psychological thriller. Zoje Stage's writing is so intense that I found myself almost holding my breath in anticipation of what was going to happen next.

This book is about a couple (Alex and Suzette) who have a little girl, named Hannah. Suzette is a stay-at-home mother and is having behavioral problems with Hannah. Alex works all day and when he gets home Hannah is his precious (squirrly girly). Hannah does not speak but is extremely intelligent. Hannah has been kicked out of several schools due to her behavior. Suzette who had a bad relationship with her own mother is struggling raising Hannah and trying to not make the same mistakes her mother made with her. She is however, making different mistakes that are taking their toll on Hannah. Hannah hates her mother and wants to get rid of her. What lengths will Hannah go to, to get rid of her own mother? What damage can a sweet seven year old girl cause? Who's side will Alex take, his wife or his daughter?

2/13/18
Baby Teeth
Oh, boy, this is good. From the very start, I had to keep checking to make sure I was reading the correct eBook. This author is strong and fearless. She strolls into a territory most people are too timid to discuss openly; the chance that you’ve given birth to a cute, cuddly crazy-ass psychopath who’s liable to kill or maim you at a moment’s notice.
We’ve read about them in the news; the kids who grew up to commit some horrible act. They all had a start somewhere. Were there any clues earlier that the parents could not or would not wrap their minds around; the chance that you gave life to something evil and potentially dangerous? Or worse still did one or both of the parents do conniving evil things to the developing little baby that created the beast within?
Alex and Suzette love their precious little girl, Hannah. The story picks up when Hannah is seven, and Suzette is beginning to see a pattern of problems with her “little precious”. She can’t stay in a school an entire week without getting kicked out. She makes no bones about how she hates her disgusting mother but loves dear doting daddy. And of course, Hannah is manipulative enough to hide all the bad vibes from dear ol’ dad. He’s snagged by her charm, hook, line, and sinker.
Incidents at home begin to get more severe with each occurrence, and Suzette has to risk destroying her home in order to wake Alex up to the evil they’ve spawned together. Or is it truly all Hannah’s doing? Can needy, sickly, spoiled rotten, used to being the “center of attention” Suzette actually be calling all the shots?
Alex is a putz; bless his heart, which adds just the right amount of ignorant bliss to this volatile mix. I. Could. Not. Put. This. Book. Down.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for making it available.)

I’ve never ready anything like this! 4 Star review to come with release day! This book is disturbing and makes you look at your naughty kid twice... you will be biting your nails and shaking your head as you flip through the pages to fully understand what is happening with Hannah and Suzette. This book is unique and will stand strong in this genre for people who are tired of the typical cookie cutter stereotypical psychological thrillers!!

"There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid."

Hannah is very good to her Father and horrid to her Mother. In fact, she thinks life would be better if it was just her and her Dad. So begins Zoje Stage's, "Baby Teeth." If the reviews I've read so far are any indication, this book will prove to be divisive. I personally had mixed feelings and went back and forth while I read it.

I don't want to be a total negative Nancy so I'll start with what I liked. The suspense built up in a slow, creepy way but not so slowly that I lost interest. Chapters alternated between Hannah and her mother, Suzette which gave me a good amount of time in both of their heads. Stage has a unique voice and even though the, "Bad Seed," type story has been done before, she made it feel fresh, not stale.

Now for the things that made me scratch my head and feel frustrated. Even suspending a bit of disbelief, I found Hannah's character, at times, unbelievable for her age. Yes she was supposed to be very clever but her cleverness was far-fetched. I can't really say much more on that without spoiling things. The plot had other moments where it was really reaching and stretched my limits of plausibility. As usual, I like to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible so I can't elaborate on that. Lastly, there were several places where it completely changed scenes without any kind of transition. This may be due to it being an advance copy and the spacing and editing not being finished but it would happen in the middle of a paragraph and I found it jarring.

This book is disturbingly fantastic! I would love to see more books from this author

Excellent look at some messed-up family dynamics. You want to dislike Hannah because of her obvious problems, but when the author writes in Hanna's voice you, disturbingly, began to feel for her, and what drives her. Hanna's mother, Suzette, has brought her own baggage - years of benign neglect from her own mother - and how that affects the way she deals with Hannah makes for a very interesting and well-told tale. Recommended for anyone who likes a slow-burning story and creepy horror.

The description of this novel likens this book to "We need to talk about Kevin". I don't feel that this is an apt comparison. Baby Teeth doesn't attempt to make much social commentary and doesn't really seek to explain why Hanna is the way that she is, but despite this, I still finished this book in one sitting. Hanna is a very creepy child. In fact, her parents are both somewhat unlikeable, but neither hold a candle to Hanna, who has one singular goal: to kill her mommy. Hanna is a very well written character. Her ideation and rhetoric is pretty on point for a child of her "talents" and for most of this book I wanted to shake the shit out of her, which is the point I suppose. Anyway, while this doesn't quite have the emotional resonance of other books I have read on this topic, it is a very strong debut novel and I will look forward to seeing more from this author, and will be recommending this book once it becomes available.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This debut by Zoje Stage will not be for the faint of heart. Baby Teeth is a deeply disturbing psychological thriller told in alternating point of view between Hanna, a silent and disturbed seven-year-old, and Suzanne, her barely coping mother.

Hanna is conniving and precocious and is beyond her years mentally. She is able to play her parents off one another for her own gain as well as at the torment of her mother. When she is around her daddy, who she wants to marry, she is a sweet and silent angel that is eager to please. In the care of her mother, she is evil and violent, and plays on her mother's fear of her.

Suzette loves her daughter, but is exhausted both mentally and physically, and like her marriage, is breaking down. Hanna is home schooled so Suzette rarely gets time away from her. The little girl is becoming more conniving with each passing day—she has turned their family dynamic upside down by making Suzette look crazy and neurotic. Suzette fears that there is something seriously wrong with her daughter and that Hanna is too much of a threat to her at home.

Stage takes the reader down the rabbit hole that is is Hanna's mind. It is a dark and twisty ride, and as mentioned will not appeal to all readers. If a creepy kid story is your bag, you will love it. If stories about demented children are not your thing, I suggest you pass. I have to be honest, this is not something I would have normally picked up, but was intrigued by the cover and synopsis. After reading, I'm on the fence. The story is well-written and captivating, but there was a lot of suspension of disbelief—for a seven-year-old, Hanna is far too advanced and this was distracting from the actual story.

This would not be a book I would normally pick up (too scary and disturbing), but I was offered a widget by the publisher, so decided to give it a chance. Actually, I am glad I read it. We meet Suzette and Hanna, mother and daughter. Hanna is 7 years old and she is " Daddy's girl" to the extreme. Mommy just does not fit into the picture. Suzette has tried with Hanna, but she is at a major breaking point. Hanna's behavior is getting more and more extreme. She just wants her mother dead and gone! ( Not a spoiler- on the cover) The author takes us from Suzette to Hanna- I kept thinking of the show Survivor's motto "outplay, outwit, outlast" as the tension continued to rise between the two of them.
This book is definitely not for everyone- if you can't stand the thought of a diabolical child, then don't read it. But, I was thinking it would be an interesting book to discuss. How is Hanna the way she is- nature or nurture? I would have liked more answers to that one, I must say. All in all , a book that kept me reading and interested.

Reading Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage was a whole different experience in the coulee for me. So my review for this one is going to be a bit different too. I really don’t know what coulee I ended up in with this very different book from any that I have ever read before.

Baby Teeth is a dark domestic suspense that I recommend with caution. It’s bold and daring, unnerving, disturbing and an unsettling read. It could have you turning those pages as fast as you can or you could be closing the book as fast as you can. Or maybe even turning those pages as fast as you can and wish you would have closed the book when you had a chance.

For me, I was turning those pages as fast as I could but I struggled with things just not adding up or working for me. My biggest concern with this story was with Hannah’s age and I just took everything really lightly with this story because she seemed just too young for this story to work for me. It wasn’t that dark to me. I just tried to go with it and put some of those nagging thoughts aside and enjoy the shocking reveals and twists to this story. Overall I enjoyed Baby Teeth but it did leave me with not too much to say.

Publication Date July 17, 2018

Thank you to NetGalley, Zoje Stage, and St. Martin’s Press for a copy to read and review.

All of our Traveling Sisters Reviews can be found on our sister blog:
https://twogirlslostinacouleereading.wordpress.com/

3.5 stars

This review is based on an ARC of Baby Teeth which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (St. Martin’s Press).

Okay, I know that Baby Teeth deserves a higher rating, but after thinking on it for a little while I just did not enjoy the anticlimactic finale. Don’t misunderstand here, I did like the ending, and I felt that it was sewn in nicely to the plot overall, but I had been hoping for a real kicker of an ending—something super gory and disturbing. I feel a little letdown with such lack of a climax.

Despite this disappointment, the first ninety percent of Baby Teeth was gripping and phenomenal. Stage’s prose—especially in Hanna’s point of view—is breathtaking. I don’t think I have ever read such a well-written debut novel. I was continually blown away by how good of a first novel this is throughout.

Zoje Stage presents amazing talent with words and character development. The Jensen family felt like real people, all with believable personalities and struggles, augmenting a storyline that will stick with me for a long, long while. I really believe that this book will be a bestseller.

One last little thought: overall Baby Teeth (to me) reads more like heavy General Fiction or Adult Fiction than Thriller. I don’t know exactly how books are categorized though, so this remains an uninformed opinion.

Baby Teeth is a novel that I am glad I got the opportunity to read as an ARC, and I am really looking forward to more of Zoje Stage’s future writing!

Baby Teeth gets an extra star for being super creepy and really, really weird. Basically a daughter hates her mother and wants her to disappear so it will just be her and her daddy. It's a great birth control book, since it makes you re-think having children, because what if you child hates you and wants to kill you?!

I enjoyed how the novel goes back and forth between the mother and the daughter and how they each feel about each other. The author did a great job writing a creepy tone as the daughter. I wasn't too much a fan of the ending, I was hoping for something that was a bit more.

I don't understand the comparisons between Baby Teeth, We Need to Talk about Kevin and the Dinner. I haven't read We Need to Talk about Kevin, but I would never recommend Baby Teeth to someone who liked the Dinner.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is one twisted book. And I liked it. From the outside they look like a perfect family but little Hanna is not so perfect. She is trying to hurt her mother so that she can have her father all to herself.

This book kept me intrigued and I couldn't stop reading it. At times, I had a hard time believing that Hanna was supposed to be a 7 year old. Her thoughts are pretty mature and twisted. This book may not be for everyone as some of the scenes are pretty intense. I could feel the raw emotion from Suzette and how she feared for her life

I liked how the author left the ending. I sense a sequel in the works.