I actually never read the first book in this duology but I loved Dear Hanna. I never knew what she was going to do or when she was going to loose her s*** for lack of better word. I knew I was along for a wild ride.

I really loved Zoje Stage’s book Baby Teeth and thought that it was a crazy and intense read. I was excited to pick up Dear Hanna and to see what life is like for adult Hanna but I found this book to be a little harder to follow along and read. In Baby Teeth I found all of the characters to be likable and struggled to put the book down. In Dear Hanna I didn't really like any of the characters and while it was. great psychological thriller I wasn't as invested. I still enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Stage's books.

I entered into this book yet again not remembering what it was about. I just jumped in and was quickly absorbed in the story. It had a sort of fairytale quality to it .

Of course, it all starts nicely but then the cracks start to appear after we jump forward a few years. Hanna is unhappy in her marriage and not sure how to handle it. When extremely unwelcome familial situation rears its head, she resorts to old habits, but even those don't work.

All throughout the story, Hanna writes to her younger brother, asking him for advice as how to deal with her family. Only he knows her true nature so she is able to be frank with him so he can guide her accordingly. I had my doubts that this brother even existed but the truth was definitely more horrifying.

While the end was somewhat sad, I think it was best for Hanna. She would probably still be able to move on and create a new “perfect” life for herself.

If you're looking for a fast read that gives a look into a sociopath's thoughts, you'll enjoy Dear Hanna.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

What a delicious treat, to revisit Hanna!!!!!

I wanted a bit more tie ins from book 1, but this was almost just a stand alone book with same names. I was very enthralled with this book, even when it was a bit dull at times, I just wanted to keep going and keep reading.


I am looking forward to rereading via audiobook so I can see if there is anything I missed!

I loved Baby Teeth and it made me glad I don’t have kids so of course I had to read the sequel. While not quite as nailbiting as Baby Teeth this was still a tense, dark read. Hanna as a stepmom? Scary thought! Overall I liked it but again not quite as much as Baby Teeth. Some parts of the story kind of went on too long (can’t say what without spoiling the plot).

If you liked Baby Teeth I think you’ll like Dear Hanna.

**Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**

I was introduced to Zoe Stage’s writing after reading Baby Teeth. I really enjoyed that book. It was crazy, wild and phew did I have empathy for that Mother!
Dear Hanna is the follow up to Baby Teeth. The author wrote it in a way that you can read it before Baby Teeth or after. Both books are based around Hannah, one in childhood, and later as an adult. Same sociopath, different problems.

In this newest story Hannah, 24, has married an older man with a teenage daughter. It all seems to be going perfect, until it isn’t. Hannah likes things to go the way SHE wants. Simple as that. Lord help the people that interfere in her happiness, or life.
Hannah isn’t likeable to me at all. No redeeming traits.
I enjoyed this one, but not as much as I enjoyed Baby Teeth. I thought the writing style was great. It was a little slow, and I found more could have happened to show the sinister ways of Hanna. There were some good twists and turns though.
I will definitely pick up another book by Zoje Stage

Omg I love love love Zoje Stage!
It all started with me reading her book about a dysfunctional mother/daughter dynamic a few years ago. Then, Baby Teeth. And now THIS!
Creepy! Gripping! Weird! Insane! Also, heartbreaking and sad.
Read this if you have read Baby Teeth. This doesn’t work as a standalone, I’m afraid. But, if you have read and loved Baby Teeth, this is perfect.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the digital review copy of Dear Hanna by Zoje Stage. I didn’t realize this book was set with some of the same characters from Baby Teeth until I finished it. The author has said this is a standalone sequel and you don’t have to read them in order.

Three Words That Describe This Book: sociopath, dark humour, trauma

According to WebMD, “Sociopath is an outdated, informal term for someone who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)”. They are sometimes referred to as psychopaths – but both are actually ASPD.

Hanna is one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever read about. She hurt people, but from her perception, she is trying to solve problems. She wants to have a “successful” life. She’s extremely creative – sure her graphite drawings are morbid, but she has worked hard to develop this skill and even has a TikTok following. The letters give us a glimpse of the between Hanna and Goose. Does she think killing someone is a good solution to a problem? Yes. But Hanna shows us that people with ASPD are not monsters. They want a lot of the same things we all strive for. I just love it when a story supports the idea that we have more in common with each other than we think and it’s not us versus them. We’re all just trying to live our best life.

This story produced a strange feeling of discomfort where I know Hanna is making horrible decisions that hurt people, yet I find myself rooting for her. I want things to work out for Hanna. Stage succeeded in creating a compelling character that inspired me to buy Baby Teeth. I can’t wait to read about 7-year-old Hanna. I would have liked more description of the setting and world-building. It’s not mentioned in the blurb, but I think it’s important to let you know that pregnancy is a big plot point. I usually don’t like pregnancy being used as a plot device, but in this instance, it does make sense to the story and character motivations. I didn’t understand the words floating above heads, and this ability seemed to disappear during the story. That being said, Dear Hanna is an emotional and dark story that I couldn’t put down and I had a really good time reading it.

APPEAL FACTORS
Storyline: character-driven, unconventional, tragic
Pace: medium
Tone: emotional, angsty, bittersweet, heartwrenching, high-drama, moody, suspenseful, edgy, mysterious, sinister, disturbing
Humour: dark humour
Writing Style: conversational, well-crafted dialogue, compelling, gritty
Character: complex, flawed, likeable, mischievous, unlikeable, well-developed
Disability representation: mental illness

Read Alikes:
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
The Apartment by S. L. Grey
You Won’t Believe Me by Cyn Balog
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
The Push by Ashley Audrain

Final Thoughts
• Dear Hanna is a heartwrenching, suspenseful, and grim story about motherhood, marriage, and untreated mental illness. I can’t wait to read Baby Teeth and honestly, I would read more books about Hanna. This book is marketed as a mystery & thriller, but to me, it felt more like a horror/suspense. Stage has said they have an “eco-horror novella” hopefully coming soon and My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast (the book mentioned in Dear Hanna) is coming in December.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Dear Hanna by Zoje Stage is the follow up story to Baby Teeth.
I absolutely LOVED Baby Teeth , it was SO good.

Sometimes, sequels just aren't meant to be.

I didn't enjoy this book , I did have high hopes, it just fell flat for me.

Hanna's character seemed flat and the story wasn't fully developed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I was excited to see what happened to Hanna after Baby Teeth, and I wasn't disappointed! This twisty psychological thriller kept me gripped until the ending....that twist was amazing!
I don't recommend reading this without reading Baby Teeth first.

Baby Teeth fans! She’s BACK!⁣

I’m thrilled to say that my favorite little sociopath is back and she’s all grown up and just as demented and manipulative as ever!⁣
⁣
Zoje Stage never fails me. She always crafts the most twisty, masterful, and horrific stories that my cold black heart can so easily get lost in and fall in love with!⁣
⁣
Hanna is all grown up now. She has a husband, a stepdaughter, and a job (yes it involves blood, but would you expect anything else?!) Things seem to be going so well for her … But something happens that cause all of that the change. And soon baby Hanna, who we all know and adore, comes back with a vengeance - and grown up Hanna is delightfully unhinged and seriously unbalanced and it’s a satisfying peek into where she’s been all these years!⁣
⁣
Here’s hoping for a sociopath granny story to complete a trilogy?!? #fingerscrossed

As someone who reads a LOT of books every year, it means a lot when there is a book that you can’t forget. That book is BABY TEETH, one of the creepiest books I’ve read. Is Hanna a bad seed or just misunderstood? Go read this book. Now, Stage is back with DEAR HANNA, the grown up version of BABY TEETH. Hanna is married with a young stepdaughter who turns up pregnant. Hanna begins to worry about being around a baby and how she might react. This one is also so good. Do we cheer for Hanna or is she really inherently evil?

Hanna, the bad seed protagonist of Zoje Stage’s blockbuster novel Baby Teeth, is back and all grown up. After high school, she decided to study to be a phlebotomist, affording her a career that allows her to inflict a little “accidental” pain whenever she’s feeling frustrated. Usually, she’s excellent at her job, with a reputation for gentleness and skill in drawing blood that makes her moments of sadism seem all the more unintentional.

It’s while at work that she meets the perfect man to help her escape the purgatory of living at home with her parents. Jacob Altman is a successful real estate agent in his forties. Widowed and with a twelve year-old daughter, he seems like the husband Hanna’s always wanted. Despite the two decade age difference between them, they begin dating and soon get married, to the barely disguised relief of both Hanna and her parents. At least her beloved younger brother Goose, with whom she keeps a steady correspondence while he’s away at boarding school, is unreservedly happy for her.

The first four years of marriage are easy for Hanna, even if she is expected to do all the cooking and cleaning in addition to maintaining her own career and cultivating a healthy following for her art on TikTok. She’d been encouraged to sketch out her thoughts and feelings by her therapists ever since she was a child, and is gratified that other people enjoy looking at the pieces she feels safe making public, even if her viewers don’t necessarily understand her process:

QUOTE
Now, when people saw her artwork, they often labeled it as fantasy or horror and complimented her ingenuity. Hanna didn’t correct them, but she thought of many of her drawings as memories. Once a vivid image settled in her mind–whether as a child or an adult–it lived there forever. Skin, and to a lesser degree clothing, still seemed alive and strange to her at times. Sometimes when she traced her fingertips back and forth along Jacob’s bare shoulder blades, something he enjoyed, she pictured her nails as scalpels, delicately dissecting the layers of skin and peeling away the mask of his outer self.
END QUOTE

The other large part of her new life is her step-daughter Joelle, whom she adores. The two strike up a supportive relationship, with Hanna never presuming to replace Joelle’s late mother. Instead, she offers up her own experience and help, like a cool older sister would. And everything is perfectly fine, happy even, until the threat of a new baby enters Hanna’s life.

Given Hanna’s unhappy history with her own terrible mother, the last thing she wants is a baby in the house:

QUOTE
Mommy had planted that seed, that Hanna posed a danger. And Hanna had internalized it, and a part of her feared, then and now, that she would accidentally do the wrong thing. Was it true that she wasn’t capable of caring for a baby, or had she been infected by her mother’s anxiety? Parents were allowed to be imperfect, to make mistakes–more than one therapist had explained that to Hanna. So wasn’t she allowed to make mistakes too?

Maybe not.

When Hanna made mistakes, no one could ever forgive her. That was another thing she’d learned as a child. Now she wasn’t sure if she could ever risk having a baby.
END QUOTE

With the impending burden of a new life that she might have to be disproportionately responsible for – goodness knows, the husband that she characterizes as goodhearted is obviously, to this reader at least, lazy, evasive and entitled – Hanna begins to spiral. Unable to talk about her feelings due to the unrelenting shame that’s been instilled in her since childhood, she begins to act out again in increasingly dangerous, destructive ways. How far will she go to reclaim her interior peace without disturbing the surface happiness of the family she adores?

As a mom of neurodivergent children with speech issues, my heart hurt so badly for Hanna and her struggles over the course of this affecting novel. I haven’t yet read Baby Teeth, and perhaps doing so will change my mind, but Hanna’s mother is a horror. Yes, Hanna is ultimately responsible for the bad things that she does as an adult, but the damage done to her as a child with an underdeveloped capacity to properly express and cope with her emotions filled me with such rage towards the family that clearly valued who they wanted her to be more than who she actually was.

Ms Stage’s ability to showcase the growth of a disturbed young woman as she tries to lead a normal, productive life is impressive. We’ve all had the same kind of bad thoughts that Hanna has but, unlike her, know that there are things that should just stay fantasies, that you shouldn’t actually do to other people. That she’s never learned those boundaries despite being capable of both kindness and love speaks to a gross failure of parenting, teaching and understanding from people who should know better. The fact that I care about Hanna almost as if she’s a real person is a testament to Ms Stage’s skill at both storytelling and empathy in conveying this riveting tale of crime and suspense.

✨𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀✨
• not standalone
• pregnancy + triggers
• manipulation

✨ 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
Hanna Jensen is grown up and on her own on the hunt for her next victim, ahem… husband.

✨ 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
I think this was a good sequel book, but it sadly didn’t live up to Baby Teeth. It was a slower paced read that I wish had more devious antics from Hanna. I will say the ending did throw me for a loop that I thoroughly enjoyed.

This was simply meant to be a follow up to Baby Teeth, saying Hanna as an adult. We did get to experience it, but I just feel Hanna was too tamed for the girl she was.

I still would recommend this to fans of the author and anyone who has read Baby Teeth and liked it since it’s a decent follow up story with an awesome ending.

As a huge fan of *Baby Teeth*, I couldn’t wait to dive into *Dear Hanna*, the follow-up to one of my all-time favorite books. Hanna, once a chillingly sinister child, is now twenty-four and living what appears to be a normal life—until things start to unravel.

This sequel delivers all the dark, psychological twists that made the first book so unforgettable. Hanna’s inner monologue is as disturbing as ever, and watching her navigate adulthood while battling her old, murderous tendencies is both fascinating and terrifying. The tension builds as her carefully constructed life begins to crack, and the suspense had me hooked from start to finish.

*Dear Hanna* is a masterful continuation of Hanna’s story, and it doesn’t shy away from exploring the darker sides of human nature. If you loved *Baby Teeth* as much as I did, you won’t be disappointed with this haunting sequel.

All grown up, with the childhood attempts at murdering her Mommy in the past, Hanna is now married to Jacob, a man 20-ish years her senior with a pre-teen daughter. Jacob does not know much about Hanna's past, just that her brother, Gustav "Goose" is now in a boarding school, just like Hanna was as a child. Hanna feels safe with Jacob and Joelle, his daughter, until Joelle grows into a teenager and her decisions threaten the small life Hanna's made for herself. Hanna returns to her old habits, attempting to control the behavior and outcomes of the people around her--no matter the cost.

The problem is, so much of what Hanna does is predictable, or rather lame, not scary. Yes, she's a sociopath, but not an effective one. We get a look into grown up Hanna's psyche and that's about it--lots of thoughts and ponderings. The chapters where Hanna exchanges letters with her brother are actually more interesting, as she often says what she really thinks to her own sibling.

HANNA looks into the dynamics of motherhood and marriage, exploring both Hanna's past and her present, and, of course, highlights the perils of untreated mental illness. We see how far someone can go to convince others that they are fine (and how easily we may want to believe it). Some of the book is creepy, and there's a twist or two, but mostly it's rather simple and predictable.

I loved baby teeth and Dear Hanna was a perfect follow up. Seeing Hanna as an adult which a perfect sequel that’s not a sequel. The books can be read in any order which is awesome. I truly loved reading from Hanna’s point of view and the set up was told between what was now and letters back and forth. Hanna is now married with a career and then her stepdaughter drops a bomb and Hanna unravels..

Title: Dear Hanna
Author: Zoje Stage
Format: eBook
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Themes: Human monster, family drama, psychological horror, anti-hero?
Trigger Warnings: gore, mental illness, violence, sociopathy, loose morals

This book is a sequel to Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage. I confess that I haven’t read that one yet. I LOVE the creepy kid trope so I will read it. However, not having read its predecessor, I still really enjoyed this one. I’m going to go on record as saying that this book can stand alone and made me excited about reading “Baby Teeth”. Hanna is now grown up. She’s apparently found happiness as a wife and stepmother. Her sociopathic need to cause harm is tempered through her job as a phlebotomist. When her stepdaughter begins to behave in ways that Hanna doesn’t like, she begins to have trouble maintaining control.

Hanna is not likable. Her husband is not likable. It was hard to find a character to root for here. I think that was the idea, and mission accomplished. I did find myself in Hanna’s corner by the end of the book. What does that say about me???? I also really enjoyed the correspondence between Hanna and her brother, Goose. I felt like they broke up the monotony a little bit and helped keep the writing light.

This book took too long to get going. I found myself starting to get impatient with the lack of action while hanging out with these characters, but once it got going, it made up for it.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and it can definitely be read as a standalone. I’m off to read ‘Baby Teeth” now. Enjoy!

Readers who enjoyed Baby Teeth will probably be curious enough to pick this up. It's hard to capture the creepy factor that made Baby Teeth such compelling reading when Hanna is an adult, but she's still an interesting and complicated character with a point of view that will definitely keep readers invested.

Hanna was a morally grey character who let some of her intrusive thoughts win. She could be manipulative and I loved the thought she put into her revenge when she didn’t get her way. It was wrong what she was doing but I was sucked in by her correspondence with her brother. There was just enough mystery from Hanna’s past to not know what she was going to do about her situation in the present. I loved knowing Hanna’s plan and watched how she had to adjust it multiple times as things kept going out of her control. I kinda loved how twisted the story was even if the main character wasn’t extremely likeable. It was a fun read.

Thank you @zoje.stage_author @amazonpublishing @otrpr for the #gifted copy.