"Such A Pretty Smile" by Kristi DeMeester is one of the better horror novels I have read in quite some time! The atmosphere the author creates is chilling, and her choice of the abandoned amusement park Jazzland as a setting was brilliant. Readers, do yourself a favor and Google this park-the pictures are so creepy!

While the plot alone kept me engrossed in this creative debut, this is not simply a run-of-the mill horror novel. No sir, this novel is a giant "in your face" to the patriarchy! It's a horror novel with a message! It's about little girls who don't fit into the nice, neat., polite little box that a male-dominated society expects. In this story, the beasts strive to silence girls who think and speak for themselves; who go against the "natural" order of things and refuse to be sorry about it. When the girls refuse to be silent, then they must be silenced forever. This book packs a serious punch of girl power and is a middle finger to every man who ever told a woman on the street to smile for him. It's a book for all of us who have ever felt uncomfortable by something a man said or did and remained silent because we are just expected to keep the peace.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this extraordinary book. More please Ms. DeMeester!

I can tell that there is a clear discussion that this story poses on the cycles of abuse. However, some of it just does not work for me, in particular the duel-timelines.

I’m going to offer a partial review of this one because I’m not sure my brain has adequately comprehended the entirety of what I just read. And that’s a reflective criticism of myself as a reader, not a note on the book necessarily. Well written and absolutely enthralling, I couldn’t put this one down until I finished it. It’s dark, atmospheric, haunting, graphic, terrifying – all of those things. On the surface there’s a murder mystery, mother-daughter dynamics and coming to age stories told in dual timelines. But beyond that, there’s so much more. Commentary on growing up female in a world that continues to be dominated by men, and the ways that women must bend to fit into that world for various reasons, perhaps the most visceral reason being their personal safety. I found the personification of all of that into The Cur to be really interesting – adding an adult update to the fairy tales girls grow up listening to. All together, I think this would be a really neat one to chat about with a book club – I’m so looking forward to hearing what others read in the same pages.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kristi, and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of Such A Pretty Smile.

Young girls are turning up dead. Girls on the edge of becoming women found brutally attacked, and no one knows who or what is responsible. In 2004, Caroline was a sculptor living in New Orleans with her fiancé when the hallucinations start. She is hearing and seeing things that aren’t there, and she is losing time finding herself in the same place for hours at a time, or creating sculptures she has no recollection of making. First she chalks it up to her insomnia, but after a trip to a psychiatrist at the request of her fiancé and a new prescription, she decides it could be side effects of a new medication. In 2019, Caroline’s daughter Lila is a bit of an outcast. Desperate for the attention and affection of a cool girl, which leads to a meltdown after a confrontation with the girl, Lila starts to question her own sanity. She would never react that way, and why is she feeling watched, unsure if she’s hearing things or not? Told in alternating timelines, from both Caroline and Lila’s POV, Such A Pretty Smile delivers a very unsettling take on the oppression of women.

This is one of those books that I went into blindly. I’m pretty sure I requested it on Netgalley based on the title and cover alone. Despite giving a synopsis, I fully suggest going into this one with no real clue what to expect. Whether you read a little more in-depth synopsis or not, I still think you’ll find yourself saying “WTF??” more than once while reading this.

The plot was fun, I spent a lot of time going is this a psychological thriller? Is it paranormal? Is it horror? And the real answer is, a little of all of the above. The book moved quickly, I read it in two sittings with no issue concentrating at all. Set partially in Atlanta and partially in New Orleans, we get some good (by good, I mean fascinating, not wholesome) southern history. New Orleans is such an incredible setting for a book, the history is so rich, and so diverse.

We see a variety of women featured in this book. Pre-teens. “Troubled” girls. Single mom’s making it work. Jealous wives. Powerful women in charge. Women who cower under men and women who have had enough and stand up to men. Lila was a difficult character to really like, but I think that is pretty on point for pre-teen/early teen girls. They are moody, they are basically sour patch kids, with a little more sour than sweet. While Lila could be tough to swallow at times, she was ultimately still very easy to root for and watching her development through the book was really enjoyable.

I wish that we had seen a little more of Caroline’s 2019 life, or a little more of the ‘in-between’ years that give us a little more insight into Caroline. She never really fit the artist mould in my opinion, but I’m not sure if that was intentional because of the backstory we get with her mother.

Whether you love or hate it, whether you find it too on-the-nose or too obscure to get the hidden message, this book is going to make waves and be a great discussion piece for book clubs.

On the one hand, this is a poignant condemnation, and on the other, well, it's a bit gross. It wouldn't work without the violence, but I'm still sticking it in that category of books that are physically uncomfortable to read, which are not my preference.

From the gruesome start, to the grand finale, it was intense and turbulent, filled with nightmares, and terrors and unusual circumstances.
Lila is a good girl who suddenly becomes angry with voices in her head. This story delves into feminism and what societies normal behaviour should be and shouldn't be.
This story was different than the books I usually read. It almost felt like a YA but with a bit of horror and terror.
Overall a very interesting and entertaining story.

This is a hard book to review. On one hand, I was able to read most of the book in a single day and never felt the need to set it aside. On the other hand, this book is weird and I was really counting on the ending to make the journey worthwhile but instead, it was a huge disappointment. I liked the author’s writing style even if the story didn’t completely click for me.

This story is told from two timelines and points of view. Lila’s perspective is set in 2019. She is a middle school girl just trying to fit in and make some friends. Caroline’s story takes place in 2004. Caroline is Lila’s mother but her story takes place before Lila is born. Girls are disappearing and their bodies are usually found soon after in Lila’s world and her mother is more than a little concerned especially since she remembers the same thing happening 15 years earlier in another town. The girls that are taken tend to be ones that are considered troublemakers.

The females in this book are almost always dismissed. They are told what to think by the men around them and their opinions don’t seem to matter. The men are the authority and of course, they know best. Caroline does her best to keep Lila safe but it seems she might be in danger anyway.

I think that a lot of readers will like this one more than I did. This was a 4 star read for me right up until the ending let me down. I did like the book and will not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press.

This dark and creepy horror novel has a complex plot that left me with a building sense of dread but plenty of twists to leave me with no idea where it was going to go next. I'm left sitting here just thinking wow, what did I just read?! For all the troublemakers, the outspoken, all those girls that refuse to just behave and smile pretty, this book is for you.
I received an advance reader copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

I’d like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Such a Pretty Smile. Now a lot of reviewers are likely going to make a big deal of pointing out the prominent feminist themes in this book, and while I’m more than happy to acknowledge that, I don’t think that should overshadow the fact that Such a Pretty Smile is a wonderfully twisted and disturbing story. And yes, that is meant as praise not as a complaint, lol. Kristi DeMeester did a masterful job of pulling me into her incredibly vivid world. From our hauntingly disturbed main characters to the unsettling imagery and creepy plot, this was a story that stayed on my mind even after I’d turned off my kindle. And if you’re still thinking about a book after you’ve put it away, well to me that’s the sign of a successful novel. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

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Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester tells the story of Lila Sawyer and her mother, Caroline, as they unravel a mystery surrounded by the murder of several girls.
This is definitely a great book. I loved the story and the way it manages to deal with such dark themes while giving an amazing feminist message.
I really liked the way the characters develop throughout the story, and if I had to pick the one I liked the most it would definitely be Caroline.
There are some grotesque descriptions in this book, so you're warned if you're going to read it. I really recommend it to horror and thriller lovers.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an e-Galley ARC of Such A Pretty Smile, authored by Kristi Demeester, from the publisher St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley, for review consideration. At the time of writing this I have no information on the cover art. What follows is my honest review, given freely.

This novel was unapologetically feminist, which I found glorious. I went into this blind beyond the author’s name and the title grabbing my attention and ended up with a new favorite read. I feel, possible incorrectly, that there are many sly nods to the reader, starting with the title. Who has not been told they would do better with a smile? I found Lila’s smile outside Jazzland to be especially pretty. The Cur, the big nasty of the book, has a fitting title. Cur has more than one definition, which is still fitting for this story. One thing I loved was how easy it was to fall into the story each time I picked it up. Didn’t matter if I planned to read a few pages or chapters, I always read more than I intended. When I actually finished the book I was sitting at the edge of my bed, because I wasn’t planning to finish it right then. Only a few more paragraphs I thought, and then just a page. Then I was done with the bloody thing and my big toe was asleep from leaning all weird while reading.

It’s a read to get you invested, I had moments where I was cussing at people from the pages, entreating them, nodding along with them. I was energized after, I felt like I could move mountains, create something beautiful; this is a gift of a novel. If you love a good thrilling dark fiction, that also touches on real world issues with that fiction, look no further. Such A Pretty Smile is haunting, bloody, wild, and freeing.

“Such A Pretty Smile”- A novel, a story, a crazy bloody, thriller, which I’ve spent weeks? Approximately weeks trying to figure out how to review this. I have finally decided that my love for detail, the ability to see the tiniest grains of sand, long before I ever see the mountain, have failed me and so I concede that the connection of feminism and how this was written have completely eluded me. I have never considered myself a feminist. I have zero concept of what being a feminist feels like even though, I can painfully relate to a lifetime of #MeToo and being silenced…..then, always and even still. I thought I could figure it out. Reading and rereading notes and highlights etc, but I do stand with many others in that I just don’t see it. Contemplating, last night, how I would review this left me empty and then I saw a review from one of my favorite authors, who describes this book:

“Kristi DeMeester's novel is a menacing, mysterious, and righteously angry fever dream, one that hooks into you from page one. SUCH A PRETTY SMILE is unafraid to bare its feminist fangs." –Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts
(I hope it’s okay that I copy and pasted that here)

…..and while it still didn’t bring me any closer to connecting the feminism angle, what I was obviously oblivious to figuring out, he did use words with the intensity which this novel rightly deserves. “Righteously angry fever dream”. I love that description so much and it is absolutely fitting.

SO!, I will speak of this novel as the the fantastic thriller it is. As a thriller, completely separate from anything regarding feminism, it was fantastically gory and horror throughout. The bloody crime scene descriptions and the artwork of sticks are the two things which truly had the creep factor I crave in my reading. There were a few moments I did cringe at the male to female dialogue of the man being so incredibly demeaning and dismissive of the female beyond her looks. Ugh god that disgusts me.

The story is Caroline and Lila, mother and daughter and, often times spent with Lila’s best friend, and secret love interest/crush, Macie. The interest Lila had in Macie was one of the most intense parts of this book. Macie was so cruel and self centered, but I don’t know if that was because that’s just who she is or maybe she seeks some control and comfort out of self loathing?

Caroline’s art work and gutted shredded dead bodies equally sent chills and a pounding heart through me. The relationship between Lila and Macie was intense and solidly built.

I honestly don’t know. I’m typing and I just don’t get it. As much as I loved this book I cannot see or feel the connection regarding feminism and that has absolutely nothing to do with the book. I personally just didn’t see it and I cannot lie and pretend I did, but I can say that it’s one a tightly woven well written suspenseful and bloody read which will leave you thinking about it for a very long time to come.

I, like others, wish I could have figured the connection of feminism, out as it was meant, however give it a read and enjoy the time speculating on what does this story mean to you, because it’s worth doing so. 3.5 but stronger leaning to 4 strong stars.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s and author Kristi DeMeester for giving me the chance to read this incredibly unique and crazy ride of a story.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, through NetGalley, for my honest review.

It has been a long time since something has grabbed my full attention and held is so firmly in the first page as Such a Pretty Smile did. Hell, the first sentence had me unable to put the book down. I thought I would casually start the book, read a page or two before I went to bed, but when a book starts with “There was blood in the water–a dull pink bloom–the morning Lila Sawyer heard about the first missing girl,” you can’t really just put the book down after that. The book is absolutely full of little moments like this, lines that grab you and just refuse to let go.

Right from the get-go, even the title of the story helps to sort of set the tone of things. This might have just been me hoping against hope, but I sort of had ‘little red riding hood’ vibes from it right away, based on nothing but the title alone. There’s something about even the title that had me vaguely unsettled before I even got to the first page.

The pacing of this story is absolutely on point. It’s a creepy, horrid slow burn that had me grasping for more constantly, my brain drawing conclusion after conclusion, only to find out that somehow I was still wrong about everything. DeMeester kept laying down little stones or pieces of bread or whatever Hansel and Gretel did, and I kept on running toward the next one. Seriously, I read about 60% of this book in one fell swoop when I should have been sleeping because I was so close to getting answers and I couldn’t rest until I had them.

Another note on the pacing: nothing felt convenient! It’s so easy to lay down a little clue that seems tossed in or easy, but it never felt like that here. Even with the separate storylines, there wasn’t anything that was easily given. Everything felt so organic, it was almost hard to tell when the perspective shifted from Lila back to her mother, Caroline.

And what great characters they were. There were a few moments I felt Lila and her mother felt a little too similar, but being mother and daughter can sometimes be that similar, so it didn’t take away too much from the reading experience. There were a few moments, though, were Lila felt much older than her thirteen years should have allowed, and that sort of did take away from the reading. She felt very mature for her age, and not quite in a way that felt realistic. This was evened out by the fact that while she sometimes felt overly mature, there were moments where all that fell away, leading me to believe even the narration, her seeming wise beyond her years, was a declaration of teenage/preteen bravado, nothing but a thin facade that easily came crashing down.

I absolutely loved the pseudo-mystery that spanned generations, blurring lines between folklore and reality. Every time I turned the page, I was waiting for the monstrous reveal, the creature that went bump in the night to jump out and show it’s terrifying teeth, and though it wasn’t what I expected, I was absolutely not disappointed.

I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is disturbing, riveting, impactful, emotional and a giant eff you to the men in the world who harm women in ways both large and small. I was absolutely shattered after this read and I can’t remember the last time I’ve cried like this at the end of a novel.

Lila and her mother Caroline both live in a world in which a serial killer known as The Cur abducts and mutilates women. Lila is learning to navigate her relationships, sexuality, friendships, and family alongside one of the first real feelings of *threat* she’s known. Caroline, who is familiar with The Cur from many years prior, is balancing her own tightly concealed secrets and precarious state of mental health with her need to protect a daughter who increasingly demands freedom as she grows.

Both Lila and her mother will discover what is really at stake when a woman chooses to live outside of the carefully prescribed mold the world wishes to allow for her. How loud should a woman’s voice be? How silent should she keep about her experiences, desires, traumas, or fears? What are the consequences for refusing to keep quiet? What does it take to be believed?

This book has elements of a murder mystery, elements of a family drama, elements of horror, and elements of the supernatural. We get to see deeply into our two characters and the tenuous dynamics they share with the world — and men — around them. This book doesn’t fit neatly into one box, and if you go in expecting it does, you might be disappointed. This book might make you feel rage, and it should. These are things worth being angry about.

Such a Pretty Smile is an absolute masterpiece. I will reread it again many times in the years to come and I will never quit recommending it to friends. Books like this are one way of giving women a hard earned and much deserved voice.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have since purchased a copy for my collection.

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. It was well written, and I liked that there was a mystery surrounding the main characters' past, which also intertwined with some things her daughter was going through in the present day. However, I found the overall plot to be a bit weird, and I didn't like the supernatural element of it.

If you like book with a supernatural/horror vibe, you will enjoy this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

“Such a Pretty Smile” by Kristi DeMeester is a horror novel that is disturbing and dark, but in the best ways. The author’s descriptions are so visceral, that it became almost unsettling to read at points. And I absolutely loved it, for this reason and many more.

Flipping between the past and present, following the different timelines of a mother and her daughter, the author weaves a deeply emotional and painful story with feminist overtones. More than once I had to take a break from reading to remind myself to breathe, and that I was safe and not in immediate danger from the described imagery. It is not often that a horror novel is able to shake me so deeply to my core.

While the plot is paced at a bit of a slow-burn rate, it was never boring. I was enraptured throughout, invested in the characters and their growth, for better or for worse.

I highly recommend this novel for fans of horror, especially those who are not turned off by material that can be a bit shocking.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

I have to preface my review by stating that this book was out of my comfort level given its topic. I came close several times to deciding not to finish it but I do feel obligated to review the books fairly. This one was clearly in the horror genre and sections were extremely graphic. I was struck by the overreaching premise that good girls are quiet and compliant but bad girls are … dead. As the book unfolds Caroline has been unlucky in love, with a young teenage daughter, Lila, to raise. The timelines jump from 2004 to 2019 and at times made me somewhat confused. Similar experiences happen to both mother and daughter. The facet I was unable to wrap my head around were the beasts and their “powers”…it was too unrealistic for me. I never bought in, even at the end when they were trying to wrap everything up in a bow for me.
The good thing is the book brought back memories of early Stephen King books so I know there are many readers that will enjoy this author. Many thanks to Kristi DeMeester, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this book, published today, January 18th.

Hmmm...well that was a strange one. I usually love horror and dark, disturbing reads. I'm a huge Stephen King fan.

Say, this one just didn't work for me. It was extremely slow and it felt like the wording and descriptions were done more for shock value rather than adding any substance to the story itself. I'm all for shock value when it makes sense, but for me, this didn't.

This will either be one readers love or don't, so if this is on your radar and it sounds good to you, pick it up and give it a go.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

While I do enjoy a good thriller book, and talks of a serial killer story intrigued me. I found that this story lacked and ended up calling it quits about halfway through. I found it hard to follow and confusing at times, along with the fact that it tried to pack in way too much into one book. Sadly this one just wasn’t for me.

Super creepy horror story told in a dual timeline. In 2019, Lila Sawyer is living outside Atlanta with her beautiful artist mother, Caroline. Her mother is over-protective, particularly as a serial killer begins targeting pubescent girls nearby.

In 2004, Caroline Sawyer is a promising young artist living in New Orleans with her fiancé, Daniel, and caring for her dying father. As her father deteriorates and Caroline falls pregnant, she feels like she’s losing her mind—sleepwalking, hearing dogs howling. And the psychiatrist she sees convinces her it’s hysteria, as women are prone to. As Caroline explores dimly held memories of a time before, her life begins to unravel.

Part horror, but also part allegory for how women and girls are treated by society. Especially male society, if we are good and docile, we might survive, but those who rebel deserve to be punished. This book will haunt me. #suchaprettysmile #NetGalley