Such a Pretty Smile is a very strong horror novel from Kristi DeMeester - a solid finger to the patriarchy with a whole bunch of creepiness. The story moves back and forth between Caroline and her daughter, who are having similar experiences while a serial killer/ rabid dog/ werewolf is on the loose and murdering and mutilating young girls - girls who are "bad."
This is an interesting novel because I would read large chunks of it, sit back and think that nothing really happened, yet the story kept moving. The mystery remains a mystery right until the end and does offer resolution, and the feminist theme is strong throughout the story without being preachy. This novel is very well written with excellent character development, lots of horror and gore. This will definitely be a 2022 horror favourite.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for review.

5 stars for enjoyment

I really don’t know how to summarize Such a Pretty Smile. It’s a fantastic horror book on the surface, but with beautifully woven social injustice commentaries. This book is entertaining if you choose to look, or both entertaining and thought provoking if you choose to see. Or maybe I drank a Kool-aid and read too much into it. Who knows?

We follow the point of views of Lila in 2019, a teenager who is struggling to find her place in the world and feels that there is no one she can trust with her darkest secrets. We also follow mom’s POV in 2004.

When Caroline wasn’t much older than her daughter is now, a vicious serial killer dubbed The Cur terrorized her hometown by kidnapping young unconforming women, ripping the bodies to pieces and dumping them to be found – all without leaving a trace.

15 years pass, and now it seems that the dormant killer is back again, unearthing every buried fear Caroline has, and making her feel that neither she, nor her daughter are safe.

Separated by individual silencing traumas, both mom and daughter struggle to communicate, neither willing to be vulnerable enough.

I really enjoyed DeMeester’s narrative, it is haunting, intriguing, deliberate, thought provoking and very, very unsettling. Reading Such a Pretty Smile made me feel like I was in a fever dream I didn’t want to wake up from.

I love nuances, I love juxtaposition, I love dichotomy and this book gave me all of that as a cherry on top of a powerful patriarchy burn that will go straight over the head of the proudest mansplainers.

I have so much to say about it, but to do so is to rob other readers of the opportunity to experience this book for themselves through whatever lens they have available to them, but I will say this – the way DeMeester’s uses darkness and light, exposes the villanization of the victim; dances through the nuances of mental health and being a woman is original and visceral. Her narrative made me smile with the feeling that I was just told the most amazing secret in a whisper.

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Such a Pretty Smile.

I haven't read a horror this good in awhile! There were times when I had chills because the writing was so spooky. Definitely give this book a read if you don't mind sleeping with the lights on!

This book is not for everyone, but is definitely a unique mind-bender for horror fans! They will love it!!


"Such a Pretty Smile" begins with Lila Sawyer age 13. She lives with her very strict divorced mother Caroline in a cramped apartment in Acworth. Lila is struggling with her self-esteem and trying to fit in with friends at middle school. She begins having scary nightmares and bizarre occurrences that confuse her, but does not feel like she can share this with her mom. Her mom loves Lila very much, but Caroline has very dark issues from her past she is still struggling to cope with. Caroline is a well known admired artist in the area. She is employed at a local University and creates sculptures that are viewed as unique and borderline creepy. Adding to Caroline and Lila stress, there are several young girls Lila's age that have recently been brutally murdered sending fear and shockwaves throughout their local community.


Kristi DeMeester writes the book in duel timelines, beginning in 2019 and reverting back to 2004 when Caroline is younger and still with Lila's biological father living in New Orleans. The reader gets the sense there is a common thread linking all these events between mother and daughter together, but what is it?


Warning: Graphic Violence and Murder


"Such a Pretty Smile" will be published January 18, 2022.


Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to review this e-book. I greatly appreciate you!

Firstly thank you to St. Martin's Press for graciously allowing me an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I originally got excited about this book when I saw Camilla Sten's quote after reading it and I absolutely loved The Lost Village so if Camilla loved it I was sure that it was something special. The description pulled me in because I haven't ever had a book presented to me the way that this one was. The writing was beautifully done and touched on subjects that most authors seem to shy away from but I was thrilled that it was being given a platform to shine. To me, this book symbolized everything that women face when seeking mental health care and it sparked a fire deep inside of me because it was something I've personally been through in my life that I could relate to and knew what that feeling was.

I felt like this was a solid book with well-formed characters even if it did start off a little slow and slightly weird in my own opinion. I think what I had to get used to was the fact that Lila was so young and I usually don't read books told from a 13-year-old's POV. In the beginning, I did love Caroline's POV chapters way more than I enjoyed Lila's but upon reaching the end of the book I got the explanation that I needed as to why Kristi DeMesster made Lila the age that she was. Really the only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was that I did have a lot of trouble connecting with Lila in her chapters. To me, it felt as if I was disconnected from her parts of the story.

I will say that what I enjoyed about Lila's chapters was the emotional coming of age where you're trying to figure out just who you are aspects. Or when you know who you are and what you want but you can't tell anyone because there is a fear that you will be disowned by friends or family. I felt that Kristi DeMeester did a wonderful job of expressing the emotions and feelings that come with being a preteen that is trying to emerge into who they truly are as a person.

This was a beautifully written horror that touched on some very important real-life issues. I would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to feel something deep in their soul because this truly is a book that will evoke emotional responses from you.

This book was jaw-droppingly good. I had no expectations going into it, I had never read Kristi DeMeester before, but I most definitely will again! Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on, another twist came and threw me for a loop. I cannot recommend this book enough!

I finished this book in one sitting. With the lights on and the doors locked.

This is for all the women who don’t want to sit still and look pretty. For the women and girls who have been patronized and marginalized by men.

Told by two rather unreliable narrators. Caroline and her daughter Lila. In 2004 Caroline is living in New Orleans. Girls have been disappearing and the bodies are found mutilated with horrific bites and scratches that leave the media calling the killer The Cur. All are young girls who won’t sit still and look pretty. The ones who refuse to be put in a box. They are opinionated and will not conform to what society wants them to be.

Caroline is having a hard time sleeping. She hears packs of dogs everywhere and loses time. Her fiance’ is also an artist and rather a jerk. Caroline has begun sculpting and the sculptures are disturbing but also gallery-worthy. With her father who is dying and a husband who is a narcissist, she has a lot of stress. Her doctor is patronizing and tells her to take a pill and it will be fine. It is not fine. Not fine at all.

Jump to 2019 and Caroline and her daughter Lila are living close to Atlanta where Caroline is now teaching and sculpting. But she is still haunted by whatever is in her past. And now girls are disappearing and found dead in the same manner as before.

Lila is hiding who and what she is from everyone. Her father and his wife in New Orleans, the school psychologist, and her mother. She feels like there is something inside of her, snarling and begging to be let out, but when she does, it backfires horribly.

I am not going any further with this story because you really need to experience it for yourself. Let me just say it has been a long time since I was this terrified for an entire book!

I can’t wait to see what comes next for this author. Look out, Stephen King!

NetGalley/ January 18th, 2022 by St. Martin’s Press

3.5⭐️
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At it’s core, Such A Pretty Smile is a horrific thriller about the societal expectations of women to “behave” and the voices that work to silence them. Told through the duel perspective of mother Caroline and daughter Lila, it details their experience with a brutal serial killer called The Cur and Caroline’s mysterious childhood.
🐺
Such A Pretty Smile is brutal and unforgiving, and I respect Kristi DeMeester for not shying away from those aspects. It’s definitely not a book for everyone (check your trigger warnings!) but it’s very telling of a woman’s experience. The novel is very eerie and unsettling, especially from Lila’s point of view. There are also some really nice moments of tension and atmosphere; I just wish this had been more consistent, personally.
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Unfortunately, the ending felt really lackluster and heavy-handed. The point of the book comes across in a really clever way throughout the book, and that finesse seems lost in the end. For all the building of tension, Such A Pretty Smile feels like it goes out with a whisper instead of the bang it deserves. For me personally, I also found some issues with pacing. It would feel like the tension was really building only to slip to another perspective and come to a crashing hauls. In general, Caroline’s chapters tended to bring the novel down; I wish it had just been through Lila’s perspective.

The cover, the synopsis, the execution--all great. For the most part, I liked this book. However, I expected more horror, only a few parts of the book giving me creeps. There was also a lot of backstory, and not enough action. The ending was nice, but again, I expected a bit more. I did like the bits that were scary, and I really liked the dual perspectives.

Such a Pretty Smile follows Lila and her mother Caroline, Lila in the present day and Caroline in 2004. Caroline's past is buried deep, and when Lila starts having problems with her best friend, she becomes interested in her the why of it, and her mother's story comes out.

This was a tough read. Don't get me wrong, DeMeester is a great writer, but the story itself was incredibly confusing. Was it a story about mental health? Was it a story about sticking it to the patriarchy? Was it a story about feral wolves hurting young girls? Even now that I'm done, I can't say exactly which it is. While Caroline is a sympathetic character, and her struggles with her mental health seem realistic and relatable, Lila's issues with her mental heath are so far-fetched. Like she suddenly becomes a deplorable human being? I didn't like her to begin with, but geez. Also, she exhibits some other behaviors that had me scratching my head. Is anything told from Lila's POV meant to be believable? I won't spoil anything but I didn't like Lila at all, and I don't even know if anything that happened to her was real.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This book started out as a murder mystery. It then shifted into a YA book and finally into a paranormal book. I was thinking maybe it was a wolf shifter book for awhile too.
I’m not too sure what to think about this book. I do think it will find a following.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

This was... Good? Definitely creepy. I'm not sure how I feel about it but it was definitely well written.

A serial killer only known as The Cur comes out at night and hunts down, mutilating young girls that aren’t “good girls”. Those who fight back and use their voice to stand up for themselves.

This is absolutely a feminist horror novel that explores dark themes of sexism and societal expectations of gender norms.

Told in dual timelines, we follow Lila, a 13-yr old, and her mother Caroline in their town as a young girl’s body was just discovered after having gone missing a few days before. And then jumping back to when Caroline was younger and we start to see parallels between then and now.

Both are unreliable narrators but don’t fall into the category of the reader being frustrated with their every decision. Tension builds slow but steady until you’re on the edge of your seat, devouring what happens.

Recommended for horror fans that like a bit of social commentary and feminist elements.

CW: Some graphic imagery\description referencing to assault\mutilation of younger teen victims.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗛 𝗔 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗘 is a thriller with elements of horror and the supernatural. I was sucked in with the ease of Kristi DeMeester’s writing.

The story alternates perspectives between Caroline and Lila, overlapping to form a complete picture of just how far back the events of The Cur go.

There’s howling at night. Yellow eyes glowing. A feeling that something is inside you, seeking to get out… it lives there in all the dark places.

Girls are disappearing and the bodies are turning up with teeth marks on their thighs. Young girls. Too young.

Lila struggles to navigate her life, until she finds Macie. They become friends and finally she feels like she’s starting to fit in, until she starts hearing voices….Are these hallucinations? Or is it something else?

This book has visceral parts that open its maw and flash sharp incisors at you.

Most hated character goes to Daniel. He’s a selfish, inconsiderate ass. I wanted to rage at the way he treated both Lila and Caroline.

This novel integrates concepts of motherhood, mental illness and sexism.

I went in not knowing what to expect and came out really enjoying this book!

𝗣𝗨𝗕 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: January 18, 2022

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my ARC copy!

Unfortunately, I was not as invested in this book as I had hoped. The summary was so promising but it just couldn't hold my attention. Very disappointing.

Did not like this. Yes, there is gore/gruesome than actual horror. The actual horror is that young girls and women are being silenced for standing up for themselves when deprave acts are done. A good concept in the book, but not executed well. I did not really care that much about the main female characters. Plus the big cliffhanger I saw coming.

Disappointed. Maybe other readers will get more out of this than I did.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kristi DeMeester and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 1/18/22

This started out as a serial killer novel and then turned into a horror story. It was an intriguing story that kept me reading to find out what was going to happen. Many times parents and/or children keep secrets from each other thinking they are keeping each other safe. This novel delivers why this can be a bad idea. I did not expect the end but let me say this, “You’re in for a ride!”

Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester

Published: January 18, 2022
St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 320
Genre: Psychological Thriller
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Kristi DeMeester is the author of Beneath, a novel published by Word Horde Publications, and Everything That’s Underneath, a short fiction collection from Apex Books. Her short fiction has appeared in publications such as Ellen Datlow's The Year's Best Horror Volume 9, 11, and 12; Stephen Jones' Best New Horror, Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volumes 1, 3, and 5; in addition to publications such as Pseudopod, Black Static, Fairy Tale Review, and several others. In her spare time, she alternates between telling people how to pronounce her last name and spell her first.

“Yes. She would go back.”

Lila has been a good girl her whole life, and she is holding secrets inside of her. Desires. Her mom, Caroline, has secrets and scars she won’t talk about. And as things progress, they realize they only have each other. But for how long, neither can say.

This was not my typical read. But I don’t regret reading this novel. The story is scary, dark, twisted, and perfectly set.

The characters were all so well done. And the discussion and handling of mental health were so well done.

Lila is a typical young teenager, repressing who she truly is for fear of rejection. She tries to be what she thinks everyone wants her to be-but it starts to weigh on her. An unbearable pressure that starts to fester and starts bringing animalistic urges to the surface.

Caroline is the definition of someone the system abandoned. Anytime she struggled, she has prescribed a pill and told to stop being emotional. But through the murk, she learned to advocate for herself. And she decides she is taking her power back.

I’m not a huge supernatural fan, but I enjoyed this story. I enjoyed how it progressed, and I enjoyed how it ended. I loved how the intensity was played, and I loved how palpable the terror and desire felt.

Kristi DeMeester is a gifted storyteller, and I look forward to reading more of her work. She was able to bring this story to life with intense visuals and a terrifying twist.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kristi DeMeester and St Martin's Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to this one and I was a bit disappointed. It felt like it took a long time to really into what was happening and why. The last quarter of this novel was what I was looking for throughout the entire novel. This novel was very dark and creepy, but it felt like not much was happening.

Such a Pretty Smile has an engaging dual mother/daughter narrative, 15 years apart. The mother, Caroline, in 2004, is juggling an unstable marriage, an ailing father, and repressed trauma that is always in her periphery. Her daughter, Lila, is struggling with being a teenager in 2019, as well her father’s new family. As a strange, evil presence begins to envelope Lila, the terror that previously affected her mother may have returned, as well as a Femicidal killer known as The Cur.

To be honest, there is a lot going on in this book. The plot seems a little clunky, and the jumps across time can be a little jarring. I felt pretty dissatisfied for the first three-quarters of the book. When everything came together, very close to the end of the novel, things got very exciting, but it felt like it was too little, too late. It’s almost as if a sequel or series is inevitable.

I really connected to Caroline as a character. In both her stories as a young artist, and a mother, she is constantly trying to keep everything together, while her mental health fails. Bowing to the whims of family, of society, of her employer, of her past, she sacrifices her existence as a person; a trope I’m sure many women can relate to.

There are a lot of good ideas in Such a Pretty Smile, but I think in places, plot was sacrificed for ideas. There is a lot of interesting stuff about male control, and how women are expected to just smile while quietly dying inside. Part crime thriller, part coming-of-age story, part horror novel, but it unfortunately lacked the cohesion required that would make this a truly great, relevant novel.