This book is a witty, darkly funny, and emotionally resonant novel that offers a fresh twist on the werewolf trope while delving into themes of trauma, self-acceptance, and the complexities of womanhood. At its core, it’s a horror story, but Harrison skillfully layers in elements of personal growth and human connection, making it as much a tale about transformation in a literal sense as it is about reclaiming control over one’s life.

A fun modern werewolf story with a strong female protagonist.

When Rory returns to her hometown to help her pregnant twin sister, she bites off more than she can chew — literally — as she soon develops paranormal powers after a vicious animal attack.

Struggling with her new abilities, or curse, while navigating her past relationships and friendships, Rory has to learn to control the wolf inside before she loses herself to the wolf completely.

This is the second book I've read from Rachel Harrison and I think she will become an auto-buy author for me. As in "Cackle", "Such sharp teeth" is about finding yourself, trauma, a lot of rage, family. Because of her twin sister Scarlett who is pregnant and got abandoned by her boyfriend, Rory moves temporarily from Manhattan to a tiny village in the countryside. Of course, SST is a werewolf story. From the beginning, we get to know that Rory has accidentally crashed some wild animal on the street. In search of the animal, she goes into the dark forest and gets bitten by a creature. Rory realizes something is wrong with her, she craves for meat, she has extremely strong powers and her hair is shiny and looks marvellous. If you did not read this story, male sure you'll block some time, get some pumpkin spice latte, apple cider donuts and a blanket. This is the perfect book to celebrate the start of the autumn. Sympathetic characters, not perfect, but lovely. Rory suffers from trauma and she needs to understand the source of her rage. SST is also a love story. I found it very cute how Rory and her high-school crush Ian get a second chance as adults.

If you love a cozy paranormal story with strong female characters, I absolutely recommend you this book.

Rory is just trying to do the right thing by her twin sister Scarlett, so she takes a sabbatical from her job, sublets her apartment, and travels hours home to be with her sister who her partner has abandoned during her final months of pregnancy. In the first week of being back, she is attacked by a bear. Well, not a bear, it was a werewolf. That has to be the only explanation for her increased strength, her craving of meat, and how she transformed into something during the full moon. It doesn't help that being back in her hometown she is confronted with the people from her past she isn't ready to deal with. It also doesn't help that her mom is coming to visit, and there's a lot of anger towards her mom as she didn't protect her from SA as a child. There are a lot of questions of womanhood, of personhood, of inner strength, and all this is occurring while Rory deals with figuring out what it means to be a werewolf and where the next chicken will come from. There are a lot of secrets and trauma from her past that she needs to deal with, but Rory will find the strength somehow. A visceral horror novel that makes you wonder what monster is inside of you?

I have really enjoyed all of Rachel Harrison's books so far. This was a fun and quick read and perfect for spooky season.

“There’s no relief in destruction “
Rory
Such Sharp Teeth, Rachel Harrison

It’s one of the Summer Scares titles for this year! Rachel’s books are all so much fun. She does such a great job of describing female relationships- both good and messy. It’s a great werewolf book to add to your beach read pile.

"Such Sharp Teeth is a great book to put on your read list this October. Harrison’s monster story will give you chills, and Rory’s story of growth and change will warm you right up. I think pretty much anybody will enjoy Such Sharp Teeth. I definitely recommend it for this spooky season or any time of year."

(See link for full review) https://www.thecosmiccircus.com/book-review-such-sharp-teeth-a-werewolf-novel-by-rachel-harrison/

Was expecting this to somewhat a horror-ish kind of werewolf. However, it leaned more into PRN type of writing, which I really didn't mind since it was pretty easy to get into.

I think my only problem is that it felt kind of underwhelming? Like, I think the events just happened, or the conflict kind of resolved in an underwhelming way? Like the whole werewolf thing with Rory, the trauma, with Scarlett, with Mia, I felt like there's not that much of a resolution there.

Also, I also thought that it's gonna be the other person to be the cause of Rory's transformation, but that didn't happen.

Overall, I think this could have been better if it had been written in a horror-ish way.

~Thank you, PRH International, for the free book~

I love how Rachel Harrison combines contemporary life with horror. So many horror novels, which I love, take place in scary settings, while Rachel's are just like normal life. Her monsters are great metaphors for life and she captures what the main character is going through so well. This is not your average werewolf novel and I will recommend it to anyone!

I've been a fan of everything Rachel Harrison writes and SUCH SHARP TEETH did not disappoint. Her signature wit and fast pacing were clearly on display here and it was such an enjoyable read, I'm already looking forward to picking it up again!

For once a woman gets to be the scary monster! I happened to be actively looking for a book where the gal gets to be the fearsome werewolf instead of just another fated mate shtick and this more than delivered. One of my favorite books of the year!

So somehow this is my first by Rachel Harrison! And what a fun ride it was. This is a great mix of horror and comedy and was a perfect fall read. Rory was such a relatable character as she tries to deal with being back in her hometown for the first time in ages. And then somehow she gets unlucky enough to be bitten by a werewolf. I loved her relationship with her sister as well as her budding relationship from her childhood friend.

All in all, super entertaining! I plan to pick up Cackle or Black Sheep asap!

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for my e-arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

I want to start out by saying that I have never read a werewolf book ever. The only werewolves that I know of are Professor Lupin in Harry Potter and Jacob from Twilight. Not really much to fall back on.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed Such Sharp Teeth. I think Harrison did a great job of explaining what Rory was going through during her transformation periods and they were even a little bit hilarious but in a good way. The hot dog scene was absolutely hilarious and bizarre but I loved every word of it.

I did figure out who the other werewolf was by Chapter 12 but I was still fully entertained and enjoyed it none the less after figuring it out because Rory was still figuring it out and I knew something that she didn’t.

I also liked the dash of romance that was in this book. One of my favorite lines was from Chpater 15 “Can I kiss you?” He asks. “Just be careful,” I whisper. “I have such sharp teeth.” I die every time I find the book title in the text so this was a wonderful way to end the book.

I will be reading more of Rachel’s books in the future.

rating 4 stars

I recommend for those who love werewolf books, a dash of mystery, a touch of monster romance.

I am honestly in love with everything that Rachel Harrison writes. Such Sharp Teeth was definitely no exception to the rule! Witches, forest monsters, satanic cults, werewolves - she's working her way through Horror's "best of" tropes and I can't wait to see what is next.

I tried this one and it was just a little too out there for me. Great for spooky season if you're into that sort of thing - give it a try!

4.5 stars

I guess I’m not as over werewolves as I thought I was.

I haven’t read a werewolf novel in years, but there was something about the cover of Rachel Harrison’s "Such Sharp Teeth" that caught my eye. It spoke to me in some unknown way and made me want to revisit the reading days of my 20s, back when I was into all the supernatural things.

And I’m so grateful the book jumped out at me – it’s a killer read. The book is deceiving, though, and at first you think you’re only getting a standard tale of a young woman who changes into a werewolf. But Harrison turns the story into so much more.

It’s about trauma and what it really does to a person, deep down inside. And it’s about the lingering anger a victim carries right beneath the surface.

With Rory, our protagonist, Harrison gives us a survivor. Rory is angry because of what she’s suffered in the past and now must suffer in the future. And Harrison shows us it’s okay to be mad, that we should be mad when awful things happen to us.

But the story isn’t all about anger. It has a sweet romance to it, some dark humor, a mystery, and enough blood and gore to satisfy horror lovers.

Yes, the book is all that and a bag of chips. Its bite will leave a mark.


My sincerest appreciation to Rachel Harrison, Berkley, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

Sadly I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did with my first Rachel Harrison book, Cackle. The writing is great and I loved the sister dynamic. For me it just felt a bit too much of a downer for me. I wanted the characters to be enjoying Halloween, not trying to get through it. But I totally understand that's part of the story. I definitely think many people will enjoy this! It just wasn't my personal cup of tea.

This was tons of fun - I saw it marketed as a "dark comedy" and I think that definitely fits, but was also surprised at the amount of emotion and rawness in some of the main character's monologues or inner thoughts. Feminist themes in horror is one of my favorite parts of the genre, and this did not disappoint - loved it!

I think my problem with this book was that I was expecting it to be more horror and less family drama. This book has a lot of different elements going on: family drama, romance, self-discovery, and werewolves. I would have preferred if the book omitted at least one element, as it felt like too much for one book.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Rachel Harrison writes such pointed feminist horror novels. In Such Sharp Teeth she compares pregnancy to lupinism and losing body autonomy. This was such an interesting take on werewolf trope.