When Cat is invited to a Heian-era mansion in Japan for the elopement of two of her friends. The bride, Nadia has dreamed for years of getting married in a haunted house and her fiancé Faiz is willing to accommodate. The house that they've chosen has a ghost story attached to it - many years ago, as wedding was panned there, but the groom died before arriving. The bride was so struck with grief that she asked the wedding guests to bury her alive in the foundation of the house. The bride would keep the house standing until the groom's ghost came home to her. Every year, a new girl would be buried in the walls so that the bride's ghost wouldn't grow lonely. As the story unfolds, we learn bit-by-bit about the past drama that exists in the group of friends that has gathered for this wedding, and the old wounds that may have never healed.

This novella was is atmospheric, creepy and chilling. It combines Japanese folklore with haunted houses and relationship drama. The author doesn't skimp on the gory horror imagery and her prose is really lovely and lyrical, while at the same time brutal and gruesome. In places, the story was a bit confusing to me - I did a lot of googling to keep up with the Japanese terminology, and I wish I understood more about the relationships in this friend group that brought everyone to this point. The cover is absolutely terrifying.

Thank you to @Netgalley, @TorNightfire and @macmillian.audio for providing me with an ARC/ALC of this book.

Listened to this as an audiobook and it was actually pretty good, but not exactly my favorite. I was a bit confused with the additional characters and what exactly was going on with the group. I might have been able to follow this if I had the physical copy. I also would have loved for this to be longer!
A group of friends travel to Japan to visit a haunted house. After learning the history the house and it’s ghosts start to attack.

Rating 3.75

Doesn’t “Nothing But Blackened Teeth” by Cassandra Khaw have the best cover?!? I saw this cover and had to read it immediately. This is the perfect novella to read/listen to in October.

I decided to listen to the audiobook hoping that it would add a certain level of creepiness and it totally did. I actually got creeped out a few times while listening! The whispering the narrator did was legit unsettling. The narrator did a great job of giving each character their own personality. Honestly, all of the characters were hatable and unlikable. The author did an excellent job of creating typical horror characters that the audience doesn’t care if they live or die. The setting of the story was perfect. I mean, who doesn’t love a haunted house story with Japanese folklore thrown in? I could feel the eeriness throughout the story.

While I did enjoy this novella I definitely think the cover of the book was creepier than the story. The cover hyped this story for me and it didn’t disappoint necessarily but I did have bigger expectations. The story started out a little rough but overall, I’m glad I kept with it.

Honestly, with the length of this story I say if you want a horror story then give this one a try! Even if you don’t end up loving it, it will definitely give you those spooky vibes!

**Received an advanced copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

Reminiscent of a horror movie, this short read was exactly what I needed in October. The descriptions were terrifyingly good. The narrator was fantastic at conveying the panic and horror that the characters felt. My only complaint is that I didn’t care about any of the characters but that’s normal for this genre.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw is one creepy book. The writing is poetic and lyrical and the atmosphere... the atmosphere is downright horrific, cinematic almost. The storytelling is what pulls you in. I loved the build-up. the plot points and the characterizations were just enough for the length of this book. I really enjoyed this book. I'm planning to dig into this author's backlist now.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a great horror listen for October. There was some vulgarity that I could have done without, but overall I liked it. It was a good short listen.

Four funerals and a wedding, not necessarily in that order. But…not necessarily NOT in that order. Or at least that’s what I thought might be the ending of this story as I was listening to it.

And drowning in it. Or being buried in it. Or both. Definitely both.

There are so many ways of looking at this bruisingly creepy, completely absorbing and utterly weird story. Especially as our point of view character, Cat, has such a history of mental and emotional damage that we’re never quite sure whether the story she’s relating is happening in the real world, whether the real is being viewed through a skewed and drunken lens or if the entire surreal experience is all just in her head.

At the same time, it’s also the kind of horror story that’s been heard and seen and done before. It could be something out of The Final Girl Support Group, except that Cat knows that if it is she’s not going to be the final girl.

After all, the damaged and the deviant always die first in those stories – and Cat is both. If the tropes get followed to their bitter end, the survivor of this tale is going to be golden boy Phillip. Unless this isn’t that kind of story.

Except when it is.

Five 20 somethings still clinging to their school friendship, in spite of the emotional baggage they gave each other then and throw at each other now, get together for one last attempt to pretend that they haven’t already gone their separate ways.

Three guys, two girls, an interwoven knot of friendship and rivalry with teeth and claws, gather in a haunted mansion to fulfill one girl’s dream of getting married in a haunted mansion. The darker it gets, the drunker they get, the more the fractures of their once tight-knit group come to the surface.

Letting the spirits of the house get into their heads, allowing the resentments they’ve hidden to surface, pushing them into a devil’s bargain with the house, the spirits, and each other.

Escape Rating A: This is a story of youth and hubris. They’re young, they’re still at the stage where they believe they’re immortal. Except for Cat. She knows it’s all an illusion, and that’s why she’s the narrator. She’s been on the outside looking in, on the group, on her own life. She sees beneath the surface of both her friends and the house they’ve paid to occupy for a few nights.

But the house is creepy in ways that get under everyone’s skin. Cat, who has studied the folklore that this place is straight out of and rotting into, knows in her gut that there’s something lying under the surface of everything. And knows that no one will believe her until it’s too late, because that’s how these stories go.

The bones of all the women who were supposed to have been buried alive in this place. Cat sees them, she hears them, and the reader wonders whether what Cat is experiencing is real or a hallucination or a fever dream. The language is creepy, lyrical and moving in ways that remind the reader of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s drug-infused epic poetry.

And all of that works so incredibly well in audio. It feels like being inside the poem, inside the ghost story as it crawls around everything and everyone, sucks them under and starts to rot them from the inside. I read this book earlier in the year and it wasn’t nearly as good in my head as it was when the narrator put me in Cat’s head.

So if you’re looking for a creepy ghost story for this Halloween season, gather some friends and let Cat tell you one hell of a story.

Aside from the cover creeping me out this was a good read. I definitely appreciate the spook level and thank you for the arc

This sounded like a decent novella for a spooky October read. The story features a group of five college-age friends who rent an ancient Heian mansion believe to be haunted as a wedding gift venue. The Japanese folklore history here is that a bride-to-be was buried alive just before her wedding. As the story unfolds we learn that one of the friends struggles with mental illness, there is too much alcohol consumed and soon the current day bride-to-be is believed to be taken by a spirit. Now it's up to the remaining friends to see that she is released.

I was never a fan of slasher movies but this short book had that same type of eerie vibe. Some parts seemed downright silly too but, isn't that cover art terrific? Fortunately, the entire audio was just 2.5 hours so it wasn't a struggle to finish this one.

Rating - Disappointed - 2.5/5 stars

Wow wow wow. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is without a doubt going to be one of my top reads of the year. The writing was haunting, beautiful, and visceral. The story was short but managed to pack in a fully fleshed-out haunted house tale that was terrifying with complicated interesting characters. I am beyond happy I requested an ARC of this book and will definitely be picking up Cassandra Khaw's other works.

This was one of the scariest horror novels I have ever consumed! It was full of creepy twists and turns and wonderful writing that really put me in the same what-the-f**k-is-happening headspace that the characters seemed to be in most of the time. I do not know anything about Japanese folklore yet I still found this book easy to read and understand. It made me curious about a lot of the lore but no research was required to find this amazing novella creepy and terrifying.

I also really liked the group of protaganists. That early to mid 20s age range isn't too common in stories, I find, and the way they all fit together--high school friends, former lovers, friends of friends--made for a really interesting group to be stuck in a haunted house together.

The audiobook narriator had a very good delivery of the story, keeping it chilling and suspenseful. I would recommend this to older teens and adults who are looking for something bone chilling and a little different

Not only was this book beautifully written, the narrator did such a wonderful job of conveying the tension and suspense from the very first line. I was looking for a book for October and this fit the bill so perfectly. It's hard to unsettle me as a long time horror fan, but this book succeeded multiple times over.

This is a tale of a haunted house In Japan. This house eats peoplebecause it’s fed people. Mainly young women who’ve lost their love. In modern times a group of young adults decide to have a haunted wedding. Oh yeah and the wedding is a spur of the moment surprise. Well they’re all going to be really surprised when not everybody survives to the “I do”. This was a short Gothic read for the holidays that was quite interesting but not really long enough to build the story. Personally I think the cover is better than the story. I enjoyed the story but didn’t find it spooky or haunting or scary. Maybe for newcomers or people who don’t need horror very often this would be a great jumping in novel. A book for people who like the haunting of hill house. But if you are a horror lover you might find this book lacking. But for something short to pass the time away it works.

Have you ever fallen so in love with a cover? Even though the cover of Nothing But Blackened Teeth terrifies me, I love it so much. I think the two things I loved the most about this novella were the character dynamics and the Japanese folklore. The action of the story, haunted mansion and ghost brides, would be enough to thrill. But where Nothing But Blackened Teeth presents intrigue is in the character dynamics. There are secrets between these 'friends'. All the flames and loves we think we've put out. The history between people that seem to haunt us.

And amidst this tension between the characters at the core is a setting of danger lurking beneath the surface. While I wish that there was a little more space devoted to the ending - especially with all the revelations - I still enjoyed this novella. One reason that the narrator, Suehyla El-Attar, truly excelled is in capturing the fear. The danger and the ways we second guess ourselves in the narration. It gave the entire thing an almost frenzied feeling especially towards the ending.

There’s nothing like a good ghost story this time of year. In Nothing But Blackened Teeth // Cassandra Khaw a group of friends gather in a haunted mansion for a wedding, but are soon joined by the ghost of another bride - buried alive within the walls of the house- and the ghosts of those who were killed to keep her company.

Truly, the scariest part of this novella is the cover. But it has plenty of spooky atmosphere and gory details to keep the horror enthusiasts enthralled. I listened to the audio book in the bright light of the afternoon and was still sufficiently spooked.

Dear horror lovers, do yourself an add this to your #tbr. It comes out October 19th and is the epitome of spooky reads.

What happens when 5 friends, all with varying degrees of tension between them, get together at an abandoned Heian-era mansion? Obviously nothing good. With just 128 pages, Cassandra Khaw did an incredible job at showing you the dynamic between the group and dropped you right into all the action.

I love when the setting becomes a character in its own right. The mansion at the center of this story became just that. Coupled with the lore you learn about early on and frequently revisit throughout, it’s just the perfect pairing and setting for some gruesome events to go down.

I listened to this on audio ( thank you @ for my copy) and loved how Suehyla El-Attar captured the range of all the character’s emotions but mainly Cat’s. From her snarky remarks, sadness, to her anxiety as events are escalating, it provided a whole new layer of terror to the experience.

I listened to this one twice and found myself just as creeped out on the second try. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a horror novella I could see myself reaching for countless times in the future, like a good horror movie I never tire of rewatching.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for an ALC of this book.

When Cat gets invited to a Heian-era mansion in Japan for a friends' elopement, she is immediately wary of the past the mansion has and feels the darkness lurking in the corners. This doesn't stop her college friends from exploring it, but it quickly turns into a horror story.

This novella was so atmospheric and perfectly creepy. There were so many hard-hitting lines that made me pause to really think. It honestly gave me chills! This is the perfect read for October or anyone who loves a good scare!

Pub Date: Oct 19, 2021

Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

I loved the spooky atmosphere and the haunted house setting..

We don’t delve deep into the characters and their history but we get a some of it. They all bring their own secrets and conflicts.
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The audiobook was well done. I really enjoyed the performance.

I got an ARC of this book.

That cover. I just looked at that cover like I was longing for my husband that is off at war, knowing it will be another fortnight until the next post. Super dramatic and in love. I needed this book so badly. I got excited when I got the audiobook, about 24 hours ago. I am already done.

That is a bit misleading. The audiobook is only two and a half hours long, it isn’t because I immediately started and couldn’t stop listening. Instead it was the length that got me through. The length is where this book started to go wrong. Either this is the perfect length because there is no substance to the characters. Or it needs to be twice as long so I could even pretend that I knew any of the character’s names.

The characters are flat. The story is very thin. Then there was so horror, I guess. Maybe I am just jaded, but nothing was really all that scary. I kept waiting for someone that was exciting or gory or really wow. Instead I got a ton of “fucks” and weird references to cum. This is not a book that you want to listen to at work. By the time you are an hour in, it is just constant “fuck” and at one point “fucking fuck”. I needed a lot more than I got.

That being said, it would have made a great horror movie. I would have loved this as a movie. I did enjoy the narration. I am not sure if this is better as a book or an audiobook. I think the audiobook is what got me through. I just felt like the text/audio did not live up to that title, cover, and the hype I built around it.

I very much enjoyed this novella. I was expecting it to be longer, but was pleasantly surprised by how well the story flowed even though it was shorter than I thought. A very dark and scary listen. There is a lot of gore, so if you are squeamish, perhaps look elsewhere. The audiobook narration is really done well, and I having the music at the beginning really helped set the mood. Excellent overall story :)