Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Dear Hanna by Zoje Stage.

There is definitely a whole vibe that Stage is going for in her novels, this is the third I've read of her's.

I love a dark and twisty suspense, but this wasn't really dark, or twisty enough for me. Worse than that, it was reeeeally slow. Way too much build up, not near enough pay off. There was absolutely nothing about the end of the book that surprised me, at all. And it took forever to get there.

It's not a bad book, I wouldn't say it's boring, or dry, I just don't know if it's worth the time.

I love that Hanna is a little bit of a menace. We don't have enough books with likable women who are also menaces and weirdos.
She is hilarious and low key evil and I love her. She is a whole problem.
I love that this is a domestic drama with normal stuff but Hanna is absolutely not normal. It was lovely.

I'm so glad we got to spend more time with Hanna! Baby Teeth was the book that got me back into reading as an adult, so it's only fitting that I read this in one night, haha.

DH picks back up with Hanna years after she gets out of the special school, while she's still living with her parents but looking for a way out. She meets a widowed man with a young daughter and, at first, married life is easy and breezy although Hanna doesn't love the idea that she's become "domestic." Hanna's world turns upside down when her stepdaughter, Jo, gets into trouble and Hanna has to find a way to prevent Jo from the biggest mistake in her life. Of course, she does so in the classic Hanna fashion we saw in Baby Teeth. Part of the story is told throughout Hanna's letters to her brother, Goose, who is always down for any of Hanna's plans. For me, the letters somewhat disrupted the action of Hanna's home life but I can see why this relationship was important for her.

It was so much fun, thank you for this ARC of my most anticipated book of forever!

This was a great sequel. Enjoyed reading about grownup Hanna and her exploits. I realize I shouldn't like this character, but I do.
The plot was well thought out/written.

I loved the book Baby Teeth and wasn't sure how this book would be able to successfully carry on the story of Hanna, but the amount of time that has elapsed in the fictional world between the first book and this one really made the whole story. I really enjoyed that most of this book was letters between Hanna and her little brother, Goose, the only member of her family she has a somewhat healthy relationship with. I thought the characters were very relatable and that the plot twists were written in really well and that they weren't completely over the top.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts in this review are my own.

I loved this follow up to Baby Teeth. Zoje has an impressive writing style that you can’t help but admire.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC of #DearHanna #Netgalley

I recently read Babyteeth and shortly after Zoje Stage announced a sequel of the book Dear Hanna!! I applied for this so fast lol. Unfortunately, I was expecting more!! Hanna has matured a lot more since our last visit with her in Babytheeth. She is now a fully grown adult in her 20's. When BabyTeeth ended she was placed in an in-patient facility where she received a lot of support and developed personally. The storyline wasn't what I was hoping for! I was waiting for her to push boundaries and take a few more steps to the dark side lol. I was expecting complete mayhem but it never materialized. This book is great but it could have been better knowing what Hanna did in BabyTeeth!

I will start this review by saying that I was not team sequel. I believe Baby Teeth was perfect ending in ambiguity. However, I know a majority of reader enjoy tidier endings and will love this sequel.

The big reveal seemed glaringly obvious from the beginning, but I was intrigued to see how we’d get there. It was definitely a wild ride along the way. Hanna still has a knack for getting under my skin and making me extremely uncomfortable (the whole appetizer plan?! HELLO?! Deranged) but nothing quite compares to a psychopathic child. Ultimately, I believe the only real downside to Dear Hanna was that its predecessor was SO good.

Thank you to Netgalley, and the publisher for a chance to review this.

I've read all of Zoje Stage's books, and was very eager to read this one. This is a stand alone sequel to her debut 'Baby Teeth' If you've never read Zoje before, now would be a wonderful time to start. I started with 'Baby Teeth' being drawn in by the cover, and synopsis. When I found out a sequel was coming I squealed with excitement. This stand alone sequel is great, because it doesn't matter if you've read her debut or not. Read them in any order. I had actually planned on re-reading 'Baby Teeth' but I didn't. In 'Baby Teeth' Hanna is a child, in ' Dear Hanna' she's an adult. It was a thrilling slow burn, of terror, and horror. I kept reading, and didn't want to put the book down. If you like books on evil children, then I suggest you pick this one up. Sure, she's not a child anymore, but it shows that evil can still lurk.
Told mostly between letters of Hanna, and her brother Goose. You find out more of what goes on in her head, and the type of relationships she holds. Be ready for a fun thrill ride this summer, and don't leave this one behind.

I enjoyed reading author Stage's "Baby Teeth" some forever years ago - it was disturbing & stayed with me for long time. Really glad to get my hands on the sequel "Dear Hanna" which takes up some years afterward (appropriately) with our titular, sociopathic evil child Hanna, now all grown up and married with a step-daughter to deal with - which she does!! There are some call-backs to the first book with old characters, but the focus of this novel is on our anti-heroine, and what's going on inside of her head (kinda like Joe Goldberg IYKYK) and her now life. Crazy and worth reading - couldn't put it down! My thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the "read now" DRC - my pleasure to review it!

We first meet devious and downright creepy Hanna Jensen in Baby Teeth. It’s in Baby Teeth we learn of her obsession with her father and her obsession with trying to make her mother’s life miserable, even going as far as trying to end her mother’s life.

In Dear Hanna, Hanna is now an adult. She hatches a plan to marry an older man who can provide financial security and a home so that she can move out of her parent’s house, as she’s not keen on the idea of living alone. Hanna zeros in on Jacob, when he brings his 12 year old daughter Joelle for a blood draw at the lab she works at. Jacob and Hanna marry, and Joelle is now Hanna’s step-daughter. A few years into their domesticity, Joelle ends up pregnant at 16 and this is where Hanna reverts back to the more dangerous plotting and scheming personality of her childhood.

From the start of the book we get Hanna’s raw and unfiltered thoughts. We read enough to know Hanna is not nearly as “recovered” as she would have everyone, including her parents believe. She’s merely gotten better at hiding her psychopathic thoughts. I loved this story. Creepy kids who turn into creepy adults as a story line? SIGN ME UP. Without any spoilers, there were multiple times throughout this book where my jaw DROPPED and I gasped. My heart was racing and I couldn’t stop reading as Hanna got closer and closer to carrying out her devious plans. This sequel did not disappoint! It earned a solid 5 stars from me.

Dear Hanna is out 08/13/24. Be sure to keep this one on your radar! Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eARC!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of Dear Hanna!

I was so excited for Dear Hanna and to continue the journey that was started in Baby Teeth. However, this fell very flat for me. In Baby Teeth and Mothered, Stage shows an incredible ability to explore the mother-daughter relationship and Dear Hanna loses this - by only focusing on Hanna's POV, we don't get nearly as much insight into other characters. While I was able to read this fairly quickly, it was more due to the fact that not a lot happened as opposed to a page turner full of intrigue. I saw the "twist" coming from very early on and I found myself wanting so much more of the vibe of Baby Teeth throughout the experience. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Dear Hanna, written by Zoje Stage, is the second book by this author that features Hanna. We are introduced to Hannah in Baby Teeth, and Dear Hanna picks up about twenty years later. Hanna is now married and has a life of her own, but still faces some similar struggles in her relationships and behaviors that we saw in Baby Teeth. But luckily, she has her husband, step-daughter, and little brother to support her!

I really enjoyed this book. Baby Teeth was a favorite of mine, and I liked being reintroduced to Hanna and seeing what ways she did and did not grow. I appreciated the letters between her and her younger brother, and also liked being able to understand Hanna’s thought processes at different points in the book. I definitely recommend this as a good interesting read! Thank you to NetGalley and to the author and publisher of this book for an ARC in exchange for an honest review .

I absolutely loved Baby Teeth, and have obsessed over Stage's novels since reading her debut, and so I was thrilled to receive an eARC of this stand-alone follow-up to Hanna's story! Here readers find Hanna a reserved 24-year-old with a phlebotomy career (she gets to poke people with needles!) and married to a middle-aged man with a teenage daughter. Hanna has managed to figure out how to function in the world relatively well, but when the carefully construed balance at home starts to wobble, she feels her old demons rising to the surface.
While I loved the character development and exploration of Hanna's inner thoughts, I was hoping for a bit more going on outside of her head. I felt like there were times that I would read multiple pages consisting of only her interior thoughts. Stage does a masterful job with a very small group of characters, allowing the story to really focus in on the relationships. Hanna's observations of the others were fascinating to read, as was her doubts in her own sanity and way of viewing the world. I finished this book quickly, in about 3 days, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Stage is quickly becoming an auto-read and auto-buy author for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

The sequel to <u>Baby Teeth</u> that no one needed.

While <u>Baby Teeth</u> always left some doubt as to who to trust/believe in the story of Suzette and Hanna, <u>Dear Hanna</u> leaves no doubt that Hanna was (and still is) severely disturbed. She finds herself in a marriage and as a stepmom at the young age of 20 and for four years everything goes seemingly smoothly. Until it doesn't. And then nothing really happens for the duration of the story as Hanna bemoans the unraveling of her new family. And then there's the "reveal" that was extremely obvious about 30 pages in. I should have just DNFed this, but I stuck it out. The <u>Baby Teeth</u> duology just wasn't for me. This was not thrilling, nor suspenseful, and I wish I had moved onto another book sooner.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Dear Hanna! I'm a massive fan of Zoje Stage's work, so it was very exciting to see that a follow-up to one of my favorite books is hitting shelves soon. Unfortunately, I was expecting more "Baby Teeth" Hannah, and that's really not what this is. Here, Hannah is in her 20s, a full-fledged adult, and has grown a lot since we last saw her. She got a lot of help at the in-patient facility she was left in at the end of "Baby Teeth" and has grown as a person. Because of that, Hannah has a lot more control over her impulses and is able to think things through. It's a realistic arc, but it's not what I wanted. I was waiting for her to snap, to go several steps farther after crossing certain lines. I was ready for full-on, unhinged chaos, and it just never came. It's not a bad book, it's just not the book I was hoping for. 3 stars

I don't know everyone. I loved "Baby Teeth". "Dear Hanna" did not have the same bite to it (pun intended) that the first book did. It was missing some many elements to make this a really good horror book, mainly that I saw the twist coming a mile away. And when we get the reveal, I just felt very letdown by it. I also thought at times that Hanna was being written very inconsistently. I think that Stage tries to over-explain a lot about this character when I thought one of the best things about the first book is that Hanna was just a "bad seed" and that's about it.

"Hanna" follows 24 year old Hanna from "Baby Teeth." Hanna is married to a man twice her age, named Jacob, and is now a stepmother to a young 16 year old girl, named Joelle. Hanna though is estranged from "Mommy" and "Daddy" but still corresponds with her younger brother Goose. Hanna seems content, but at times needs to "release" her anger. And when her stepdaughter has a huge life change that Hanna sees as being detrimental to the family, old Hanna starts to re-emerge.

Eh. Hanna we know is stunted, but I think at times I didn't get where things were going with her. Her back and forth with Goose seemed to always regress her (a lot of her writing reminded me of her thought process during "Baby Teeth"). And her plans in this book, unlike with "Baby Teeth" seemed kind of half assed. I kept waiting for the darkly formed version of Hanna to just erupt. We kept getting hints that it was fighting to get out. But just whispers here and there. I don't know what it says about me that I wanted more gore and damage, but there you go.

The other characters felt very muted at times. Jacob got on my nerves and of course at the end you get an idea of why Hanna went for him. I mean, if you read "Baby Teeth" it's obvious enough, but still.

I think it would have been great if maybe we had an epilogue with Joelle. A teen girl is always mysterious, it would have been great to see her view of Hanna and the events in the book.

The other characters we get insight into via Hanna and once again, you have to wonder about how the girl from "Baby Teeth" was able to go forward and even interact with humans, it just felt very handwavy. Especially after the reveal.

I have to say that the flow of this one was up and down. Reading the back and forth letters got tiresome after a while and I got tired of hearing from Goose. I just wanted to stay in the moment with Hanna and not have her telling Goose every thing she was up to and him writing her back.

I also think that Stage didn't go far enough for me in this one. "Baby Teeth" I thought was shocking. This one felt toothless when we got to the end.

I loved Baby Teeth so I was looking forward to this book and it definitely hit the mark for me, it was full of suspense and growing intensity as we explore more of Hanna's backstory and present life.

I recently read Dear Hanna by Zoje Stage. This is the sequel to Baby Teeth, published in 2018. I admit I have a soft spot for Baby Teeth. Not only did I love the book, but it was the first advanced copy of a story that I ever received. Baby Teeth is about a young child that is devious. Hanna dislikes her mother, very much. She scares her mother. The story makes you feel twisted for liking the delicious evilness about it. It is heart-poundingly tense.

This time in Dear Hanna we are following Hanna again, years have passed. She is married and has a teenage stepdaughter. Hanna enjoys not only a successful life with her new family, but she also corresponds with her younger brother. As things in her life begin to change, dark feelings of the past bubble to the surface once again.

I appreciate that this book is carefully written so that it may be easily read as a standalone. For those who are experiencing Hanna for the first time, they will likely enjoy this story. For me, it was not quite as fun as Baby Teeth. First, since we are seeing everything from Hanna's point of view, there is no suspense, no tension, which I expected but found missing. I kind of felt like I was on a behind the scenes tour at Disney World. I don't want to know how the Haunted Mansion works; I just want it to delight me. I found seeing Hanna's darkness in her head, instead of wondering what she will do next, both disturbing and disappointing. Next, for me, the plot was not strong enough. Nothing really happens until the end of the book, and even that, I knew early on would happen. No surprises, no big twists. The plot of Baby Teeth was fairly simple, as well, but had the suspense to support it, which is missing here.

I enjoyed reading Dear Hanna, especially reconnecting with the characters. Although it wasn't my favorite book, I encourage you to keep an open mind and to give it a try.

Many thanks for Thomas and Mercer for the advanced copy. Obviously, my thoughts are my own (I'm not Hanna, you know!)

I binged the audiobook of Baby Teeth before starting this stand alone sequel. I’m a completist what more can I say. I was actually scared and nervous reading this book because I was unsure what would transpire. It kept me interested and reading until after my bedtime. I found myself rooting for Hanna so does that make me a villain. I can’t wait to talk more about certain plot twists after publication. Read it and then we’ll talk. ARC was provided by Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.