Kids really suck the life out of you. In this book, they literally do. Lol. Little preschool bloodsuckers are tapping into their mothers for nourishment. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? We nourish them in the womb, and as infants, why not forever? When is it enough? When do mothers get to detach those fangs and say, “ it’s my time now” ?
Cutting Teeth is a witty, and honest portrayal of motherhood. It bounces between the narrative of all types of moms, and why they mother the way they do. It also touches on expectations and judgment from other mothers, and how it effects our parenting. I related to every mother in this book, and feel like it’s message is loud and clear.
The kids have Pediatric Renfield Syndrome. I freaking googled this, I had to. It’s a thing, but not normal in kids. It’s actually referred to as “clinical vampirism”, and is a mental disorder. For a whole class of kids to just up and get it, is not a thing, but it made for a very good story. Chandler Baker took the syndrome to next level, and made it more frightening. Kids can’t control their outbursts, imagine adding blood lust to that? Terrifying.
As an audiobook, it rocked. The narrator did an excellent job with the kids voices, which can sometimes be cringey. It was believable and took the book next level. It actually made it a little eerie. Those sweet little voices asking for blood. lol
I loved this book. It’s my first by this author, and now I have to go back and read their other books. Read this if you’re a mom. It will hit you hard.

I went into this ARC blind and immediately loved it, thinking it was a mockumentary about suburban upper middle class white ladies with bullsh*t problems ("desperate housewives") or a contemporary social commentary/satire similar to Nightbitch. TBH one reason I enjoyed this so much is because how much it reminded me of Nightbitch).

I was also LMAO the entire time thinking how brazen Baker was for making fun (in a tongue-in-cheek way) of the very women who are most likely to read her book.

Imagine my surprise when I learn this isn't a satire or mockumentary at all but a manifesto to motherhood. WHOOPS.

This book started strong and then I quickly started losing interest because it read like a motivational mom book after a while. Beautiful message, but it dragged too long.

From the author of Whisper Network and The Husbands (two of my favorite books), Cutting Teeth is my most anticipated books of 2023! It’s a sharp and satirical story about four-year-olds that crave blood, a dead teacher, and mothers that will do anything for their precious children.

I’m a huge fan of the way Chandler Baker shines a bright light on motherhood and feminism in her entertaining and compulsively readable writing style. In Cutting Teeth, she delivers biting social commentary in a bold and thrilling new way. A bit darker than Baker’s previous books, but still delivering on point takes on gender roles, women’s roles in the home and workplace, motherhood, and wifedom. I swear she sees straight into my heart! This story is dark, bloody, witty, and smart. Bloodthirsty preschoolers, suspense, and incisive feminist observations combine to make for a unique and totally engrossing read!

The audiobook is narrated by January LaVoy, and she is absolutely phenomenal! She hits the perfect note again and again – maternal angst, humor, fear, she brings them all to life. She also does an excellent job of portraying the children, complete with high pitched voices and lisps. I could listen to Ms. LaVoy narrate all day long!

4/5 stars

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

Darby, Mary Beth and Rhea approach parenting very differently, but they love their kids all the same. While their children are in the midst of "the fours" class at Little Academy, things start to take very unexpected turns. Between their dead preschool teacher, Ms. Ollie, and a class full of "biters" who are craving blood, these mothers are forced to reckon with the balance between being parents or pushovers. How much freedom for these kids is too much? How "normalized" do we want this behavior? AND what happens when the only potential witnesses to a murder are a bunch of four year olds?

This book is labeled as "women's fiction," but it's so much more than that. It's also part mystery, part horror (vampire children? come on) and a clever social critique that will have any one, especially women, in their feels. This was a harrowing tale of motherhood and the way that children can, quite literally, suck their mothers dry. For much of this book, I had no idea what was going on, but in a good way. There was so much drama all wrapped up into a fun whodunnit. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. This was a fun summer read and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves a bit of drama and social critique wrapped into one.

On the audio: January LaVoy is an iconic narrator and I will literally listen to anything that includes her voice. The way the production included transcripts of police interviews (featuring the author's voice at times, too!) was really fun and well done. This book reminded me of some of the drama in BAD SUMMER PEOPLE, so it was a pleasant surprise that the audio ended with a conversation between the authors of both of these, Chandler Baker and Emma Rosenblum. It was fun to hear about the process of making an audiobook and to hear their perspectives on the writing process, too.

This surprised me. I wasn’t sure where it was going with the whole vampire kid angle. I enjoyed the narrator but I’m torn on the book. I liked it but I didn’t. I can’t really pinpoint exactly why.

Thank you netgalley and macmillianaudio for this arc in exchange for my honest review

As a mother you have a lot of pressure to be perfect parent. You also tend to compare yourself to other parents on how well you are living up to those expectations. As a parent you already sacrifice a lot of yourself, but would you sacrifice your blood.

The children of Littles Academy 4 year preschool class has started to bite and request blood it sparks concerns through the class parents. But as the behavior becomes normalized things take a turn when the teacher is found dead. Was it one of the students and what is causing this?

I found this very similar to Big Little Lirs with an errie and speculative twist. Very much enjoyed. The ending was a little underwhelming for me but overall was good.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

Thank you Netgalley for the weirdest book I'm read in a while. But that I couldn't put down. Never did I think I would read a book about blood thirsty preschoolers but here we are. It was a great story about family and community relationships.

A teacher is dead, and her four-year-old students have developed an affinity for blood? Sign me up!

However, the story is more satire than thriller and more of a look at motherhood. I did enjoy it, but not as much as Baker's last two novels.

Cutting Teeth was a solid 3 for me. I was hoping for more here because I’m a big Chandler Baker fan, but this one wasn’t my favorite. Typically there’s enough relatable millennial humor for me as a childless, single person to compensate for the mommy moments, which are hallmarks of Baker's books, but they took such a focus here with the subject matter that I wasn’t really able to get around it. It also felt surprisingly canned and cheesy at times which is unlike her previous two books which had more nuance. I definitely think some of my friends with kids will enjoy this one though and I will recommend it to them. The narrator is excellent, and I appreciate the ALC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the free ALC in exchange for honest review. I was so EXCITED for this but so disappointed in the story. The narration with sound fx was a fun add on for sure. The number of times teeth was mentioned or cutting teeth felt repetitive and tool away from the story for me.

I love Chandler Baker and have read her two other novels. I love her take on womanhood/mommy hood/ wife-dom. This audiobook was really well done and I loved the interludes of interviews and even the narrators take on kids voices. Overall really entertaining and even though not everyone is going to jump yo read abt kid vamps I thought it was creepy and fun. Also my son is bodhi(similar to one of the kids in the book) and was a vampire for Halloween last year so maybe I dig dark babies. ;)

First, I would die for January Lavoy. I listen to everything she narrates.
That isn't really what the review is about though. This book was a delight, an adventure, and the most relatable book about motherhood I have ever read. It is also hilarious.
I was laughing so hard. The poo bandit! I have taught kindergarten and I have seen a few things. I wouldn't be surprised if those little darlings were vampires feeding off of their mothers.

I will appreciate my twins a tiny bit more now.

Chandler Baker is one of my favorite authors (doesn't hurt that she lives in Austin, so when women in her books get stressed, they eat Blue Bell straight outta the carton). Sometimes when I really like an author, my high expectations set me up for disappointment.


Well. This book far exceeded my already lofty expectations. It was brilliant funny, clever, and really worth reading. Highly recommended.



Review copy provided by publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Well this is yet another reason to not have kids for me. Lol.
This was a weird book. I almost considered not finishing it but I was too curious to not.
Definitely could have done without the weird music everything they interviewed one of the children, I found it quite annoying.
The mothers giving in to their vampire children made zero sense to me as well.
All around this was a weird but ok book. I don’t think I would have liked the written version at all as the narrators made this more enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟
Narration: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟

Cutting Teeth analyzes how far a mother will go for their children. Darby, Mary Beth, and Rhea’s children all attend Little Academy preschool together. The children begin showing signs of an unsettling medical condition - they are craving blood. When their teacher’s body is found on school grounds, who is to blame?

I loved aspects of this novel, but I feel like it could never figure out what tone it was going for. I would have preferred the author lean fully into the horror comedy genre. The dark humor was my favorite part of the story and I enjoyed the campiness. January LaVoy did an excellent job with the narration and elevated the story. I highly recommend the audiobook.

ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic! I loved the narrator. The book is told in three different moms points of view-Darby, Mary Beth and Rhea. They all have 4 year old children at the Little Academy. This book is so relatable as a mom as you struggle to do everything you can for your child and keep your self sane in the process. Parts of this book were funny and some creepy.

Some of the kids in the class are suffering from Renfield's Syndrome where they have a need or desire to drink human blood and are biting their parents to get the blood they crave. Yikes! Of course this freaks all the parents out and who wouldn't be if their precious little child was showing vampire like tendencies.

Then the teacher ends up being killed and all the children are the suspects. All the parents rally around their children and hope their child isn't the one that did this. The teacher was hiding secrets too.

The last PTA meeting where all the parents are confessing things was hilarious.

The ending twist was a good one.

3.5 rounded up.

I think perhaps I could have liked this more if I was a mother, but maybe that also would have made it worse. It's funny, it's campy, and overall enjoyable, but I do wish it had gone in a different direction.

The end had be shook.

The narrator was AMAZING - her voices were fantastic, and it was easy to keep track of which characters POV we were seeing.

Story: 3.5 ⭐️
Audiobook performance: 5 ⭐️

From the "New York Times" bestselling author of "Whisper Network" comes "Cutting Teeth," part murder mystery, part motherhood manifesto. This thrilling story of parental love begs the question, is there anything a mother wouldn't do for her child?

This story is told from the points of view of three mothers, Darby, Mary Beth, and Rhea, whose four-year-old children are in the same preschool class at Little Academy. Each woman's life has been consumed by motherhood, and they are on their own personal journeys to reclaim their identities outside of being parents. Their plans are disrupted, however, when a disturbing and unusual medical condition goes around the preschool classroom. What started as a biting incident develops into something more: the children crave blood. No, really. A classroom outbreak of Pediatric Renfield's Syndrome has caused actual vampiric children. That's not the worst of it, though. When the children's young teacher is found dead, the only witnesses are ten four-year-olds. But they're not just witnesses, they're also suspects, and so are their mothers.

I listened to this audiobook narrated by the incredible January LaVoy, and her performance was fantastic. I actually checked to see if there was more than one narrator because her character voices were so distinctive. If I could give her 6 stars, I would. Just a really superb, high-quality audiobook. The novel itself was a fascinating take on the high standards that mothers are held to by society, told in the most unique way. This is definitely not your typical murder mystery. "Big Little Lies" meets..."Dracula"? A fun book to add to your summer reading list.

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

CW: blood, lots of blood; traumatic birth/emergency c-section; murder

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC. This was my first read by Chandler and I thought the premise was interesting, but strange. Definitely unlike anything I’ve ever read and I’m not sure how I feel about Cutting Teeth. The story kept my interest to the end, especially with the interviews mixed in.

I enjoyed the narrator, but the kids voices were almost too real and at points made me cringe. So I would recommend reading this physically if that bothers you as well.

All and all, I liked Cutting Teeth but it left something to be desired with the ending.