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.

I don’t really know what I was expecting for the follow up of Baby Teeth but this wasn’t quite it. I expected a more enthralling thrill ride with Hanna having snarky attitude. This was more a slow burn thriller with some oddness thrown in. Sorry to say it was a miss for me but I really did enjoy Baby Teeth. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this early copy for read and review

With Dear Hanna, Zoje Stage has delivered the right amount of messed up. After reading Baby Teeth a few years ago I wanted to know what happened to Hanna, how her family was doing and what life looked like now. Its was great to revisit these characters and to see how they have developed.
I also enjoyed the new family dynamic along with some all too accurate depictions of having a teenager. Like any of Zoje's books I have read, I am comfortable recommending this one.

Dear Hanna is an electric portrayal of family life on a wire, manipulated and directed by the titular Hanna. The plot takes one sharp turn after another, taking the reader on a wild ride through Hanna's domestic life (and the ways she's growing dissatisfied), and her regular communication with her younger brother. I read it within twenty four hours, raced to reread the original Hanna book, Baby Teeth, then returned to read Dear Hanna again.

As a long time fan of Baby Teeth (who's read the first book more times that I can count), this was SUCH a treat as a sequel, and very much worth the wait. It's incredibly rewarding to see how Hanna has grown up, and fans of the original novel will be able to spot a subtle continuity that's absolutely delightful. I raced through without breathing, until the astonishing gut-punch of an ending. Love her or hate her, Hanna is a fascinating character to follow in any scenario, and I'm here for any stories featuring her at the forefront! Once again, Zoje Stage delivers a novel I know I'll revisit many times in coming years.

Dear Hanna - Zoje Stage

I was late to the party with Baby Teeth, I’ve only just read it in anticipation of this the follow-up. I loved Baby Teeth, one of the very best ‘disturbing child’ books I’ve read.

I couldn’t wait to read Dear Hanna and read it immediately after Baby Teeth.

Hanna, the troubled child in Baby Teeth in is her twenties. She’s living a reasonably normal adult with a job, a successful husband and a teenage stepdaughter, Joelle.
Changes in Joelle threaten to derail Hanna’s normality and send her back to her old, manipulative, destructive ways.

I’m sorry to say I was rather disappointed. It’s fairly slow, and sort of anxious rather than offering the disturbing, shocking delights of Baby Teeth. I would have liked more pace, threat and shocks. Perhaps it’s just the reality that a disturbed manipulative child trying to harm a parent is a lot more fun to read about than an anxious twenty-something wife and stepmom.

Hanna’s character is well setup and her life story is interesting but I wanted a bit more plot and more disturbing shocking moments.

I’m sorry to say it as I like this author’s writing.

3.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer

She’s back! Hanna is back in all her evil sociopathic glory. Fast forward years past “Baby Teeth,” we find Hanna married with a teenage stepdaughter and a successful career in phlebotomy. Hanna and her stepdaughter are only 8 years apart in age and are very close. Hanna also maintains a close relationship with her brother, writing to each other often. Hanna has learned to exist in society and have a successful family life because she knows how to behave in a way that doesn’t cause trouble, no matter what she is thinking or feeling. When Hanna’s stepdaughter starts causing changes in the family dynamic and getting more attention because of her action's, Hanna is forced to act. Dark, fast paced thriller that is impossible to put down. Fingers crossed that we get another book about Hanna.

Dear Hanna, I just don’t know…

I loved most of this book. At first, I wasn’t sure about Hanna. She wasn’t what I expected from the first book. She’s definitely…softer. But as I read on, she had shades of Joe Goldberg. I mean, yes, she’s so very wrong, but you just keep hoping she’ll find her happy. (And you absolutely HATE her enemies.) Sometimes I felt like Hanna needed a big hug.

But there’s a conceit in the book that didn’t work for me. It was supposed to be a big reveal. The only problem is that it seemed very obvious in the first 10% of the book. And since that didn’t work for me, any twist and revealed was rendered completely null.

Overall, I really did enjoy the book. Part of me, however, wishes that we’d just kept Hanna the way she was.

• ARC via Publisher

I loved reading Baby Teeth so I was excited to read this one from adult Hanna. It was interesting to read things from Hannas perspective as a grown adult, married with a step daughter. Her mentality hasn't really changed from being a child - she still wants to be the center of attention and she will stoop to any level to get there.

While it was interesting reading things from Hannas perspective, nothing really happened. She was very much all talk and no action. I think what drew me to Baby Teeth so much is how creepy a child acting this way is but it just doesn't have the same impact when an adult is acting this way.

I think this is a fantastic follow up to Baby Teeth. Sure, Hanna Jenson is a sociopath but she has layers. The world she lives in isn’t necessarily the same world we live in and that can make life complicated. Five stars.

I throughly enjoyed this book especially not knowing it was a sequel until I remembered information from the first novel. Hanna is all grown up and has a family of her own now but will it work out…