Chandler Baker's Cutting Teeth is a gripping and unsettling read that cleverly blends elements of thriller, horror, and social commentary. The story centers around a group of young mothers whose children inexplicably begin to crave human blood. What starts as an eerie and seemingly supernatural occurrence quickly spirals into a tense narrative that explores the pressures of motherhood, the complexities of female friendships, and the lengths parents will go to protect their children.

Baker's writing is sharp and engaging, with well-drawn characters who are relatable yet flawed. The way she captures the anxieties and sacrifices of modern parenting is both realistic and touching. The novel's pacing is steady, with moments of intense suspense that kept me turning pages late into the night.

The only drawback is that the plot can feel a bit far-fetched at times, especially as it delves deeper into the horror elements. However, the strong character development and the thought-provoking themes more than make up for it. Cutting Teeth is a unique and memorable read that will leave you pondering long after you've finished the last page.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This twisted fiction tale was an interesting one about mothers and children having a strange vampire virus that ends some lives within their school. After some triggering experiences of being in the school system and a mother, this was not a choice I could continue with. I am grateful for the chance to try it and maybe in a later date I will be able to finish.

This book was funny, silly and just a fun read. It wasn’t scary or anything. I highly recommend listening to it!

I can totally see why this book has such low ratings. There is a LOT going on, and as someone who is not a parent and doesn’t really ever want to be, I was horrified by all the negative sides of parenting this book highlights.

Audio is the way to go for sure! If I had physically read I think I would’ve been too overwhelmed by all the different families and kids and side plots, which connect in the end but can still feel a little too much.

The thriller side of this story was extremely predictable, you’ll likely guess the whodunit within the first couple chapters. So that side of things was pretty blah, but I appreciated the realness of messy lives behind closed doors that this book highlighted.

Read if you like:
🎧 strong narration
😵‍💫 messy family lives
🥴 imperfect motherhood
🩸 vampire children

While this book was not for me personally because I just could not vibe with the characters, I can see many who enjoy mystery/thrillers with a lot of plot twists!

This one was okay. I read it a while ago and forgot to review it, and sadly I just remember it being decent enough but not Chandler's best book. Thank you for the ALC!

My take on this book:

I was very intrigue about this book as it has such a promising plot. The story started okay. With the little kids I was more understanding than the adults. I think the adults are a bit whiny and have too much drama in them. Like I want to pull my hair every time it becomes about them. For me in this day and age where google is available. The parents are a bit clueless or dare I say they're just too naive or ignorant about what's going on with their kids. Like it took awhile to have someone actually said that it could be "Renfield's Syndrome" and even then some of the parents are still defensive. Quick google and you can see that syndrome and then seek advice from the doctors or health professional on what you can do or if this is something that you might think it is and maybe just be honest to the doctor on what's going on instead of not telling everything and in detail if possible. It was frustrating honestly. Like as a parent you will do everything you can to help your kids not like let them feed on you or drink your blood(the heck was that and disgusting). It was just so weird to me. Some may disagree with me but I'm also a mom and my quick thinking will always be to help my kids and not be defensive or in denial that something might be going on or something is wrong.

I don't think the book was awful at all in-fact it provided some great insight about motherhood.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of this audiobook!

I read and loved The Husbands, so when I saw this author had a new book coming out, I knew I had to read it. I wish I could say I loved this one just as much, but that is not the case.

I did enjoy the mystery of who killed the teacher and the twists it took to get there, but the whole vampiric children thing took me out of the story.

I do look forward to see what she writes in the future, but unfortunately this was just not for me.

Rhea, Darby and Mary Beth are navigating their way through motherhood when the unexplainable happens. Preschoolers at Little Academy develop a rare medical condition in which they start to crave the taste of blood. To make matters worse, the dead body of the preschool teacher is found, along with tiny foot prints in the blood. The book goes through the challenges of motherhood and begs to ask the question, “how far would a mother go to protect her children?”.

Preschoolers develop this vampsirtic condition. They don’t have pointy teeth, have an adversion to garlic, or burn at the sight of holy water. These four year olds suddenly just crave the taste of blood. The only thing that will curb their behavior is a little sip of the red stuff. I believe this was a brilliant plot, one that I haven’t read before.

The overarching theme of this book is motherhood. The audience it’s conditioned for is mothers. Mothers will bleed theirselves dry (quite literally in this book) for their children. They give everything up for their kids. Mother’s don’t get a sick day, they don’t get many breaks, and their main obligation is to be a good mother. This isn’t to denounce anything about a father, because there are really great fathers out there, this is just the main theme of this book. I believe I enjoyed this book more because I am a mother. I really resonated to a lot of the difficulties these three mothers face in “Cutting Teeth”.

The narrator did a wonderful job on this audio. I would recommend this to a mother who is looking for a gory, horror read.

Short synopsis: Preschool aged kids at Little Academy start to crave blood, and their teacher is found dead in class.

My thoughts: The premise of this one was so unique and fun, with moments of gruesome and gross.

I did at times find myself losing track of what child belonged to which parent, and they all started to blend a bit towards the end. Overall the mystery kept me guessing until the very end. It was a good look at the intricacies motherhood and the lengths a parent would go to to protect their children.

The audiobook was very well told by January LaVoy, the way she seamlessly switched from the adult voices to the children’s voices was phenomenal. I’d recommend all my audio lovers to pick up this version.

Read if you love:
- Books about vampires 🤭
- 4 year olds
- Parenthood
- PTA and Room Mom

Mommy drama and blood-sucking children make this an entertaining ride. It’s a slow paced suspense with a murder at its core. I found the middle dragging but the ending was satisfying enough. Narration of the audiobook was well done.
3.5 ⭐️

LOVE the narrator.
Previously I have really enjoyed Chandler Baker's books. But CUTTING TEETH was like a toothache, annoying, lingering, slow, and frankly kind of infuriating. I am all for suspension of reality or unusual twists like in THE HUSBANDS, but the baby vampire thing was just ridiculous. Yes I see the way it is satirizing modern day parenting with our willingness to normalize behaviors that were once cause for ostracization, but this was just ridiculous. And the number of characters made it even more annoying.

Original, entertaining, and well narrated. A recommended purchase for collections where suburbia-behaving-badly tales are popular.

This was weird, and I liked it! In my opinion, due to the overall nature of the plot, this book will have a specific audience. Honestly at first I wasn’t sure it was for me, because loosely put, Cutting Teeth is a murder mystery surrounding the death of a teacher and the preschool aged children who have developed a craving for blood. Bananas, right? However, the writing on parenthood was so well done. Having kids myself, I could find relatability in almost every character. It was just fantastic! The narration was well done and I found it easy to follow who was who. Overall, a book I am glad I stuck with because I will be thinking about it for a long time.
Thank you Macmillan Audio for the copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

One of my favorite reads recently. Not only is Cutting Teeth a murder mystery, it is a humorous parenting satire. Parenthood bleeds us dry while putting on the pressure to be perfect. I loved the parent confessions and found it to be relatable, clever, funny, and a page turner. Definitely recommend this one go on your TBR if you’re a parent.

Thanks Macmillan audio for the audiobook!

August is always a strange month for me and what I feel like reading, because on one hand, I want to still read all the summery books I’ve savored, but I also want to start adding in books from my Fall TBR.

CUTTING TEETH was the perfect happy medium for my mood reading heart. It’s about a group of preschool Moms who suddenly discover their children craving blood, and then there’s a murder. Going with the theme this week of vampires and odd books, I picked this one up and found myself binge reading it in a day.

🎧I started with the physical but then switched to the audio format because I ended up loving the narration so much, and it was so captivating.

*many thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Damn I love Chandler Baker!
I can't stop listening to her stories! I listened to this in the shower because i didn't want to stop! Narrator did an excellent job!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick. Our library purchased and our patrons have been checking out and and enjoying the book. I see it is a popular book club choice as well we hope to have more oppurtinies to support authors like them

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audio arc! This was such a unique and campy novel. Enthralling and absolutely hilarious, this was so intriguing. I couldn’t stop reading and I throughly enjoyed this as it was so different than anything I’ve read recently. The commentary and allegory was exceptional. The dark humor was on point.