I love an English folklore retelling! I also love that focus on relationships between friends and family and this really hit home for me! Will definitely recommend to friends!

First I would like to thank NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read and review this eARC.

This was such a whimsical and enchanting story. It had all the right elements of adventure and suspense. To learn more about different creatures of folklore was intriguing and the dynamics in which they work so well in the story was so captivating. The pronunciation guide was also helpful to feel more sure in how things should be pronounced.

All of the characters were so well developed and you felt like you got to know them through the course of the book. I felt like this book kept a consistent medium pace to it which I prefer.

It was a truly amazing read and I feel like it is a story I will revisit time and time again.

I have full intentions to purchase a physical copy of this upon release.

What an extraordinary story of friendship! This is a wonderful fantasy with a beautiful found family. The characters are so layered and have so much development throughout the story. A perfect story!

_Greenteeth_ by Molly O’Neill is a magical and folksy cozy fantasy read with quirky characters. Water creature Jenny Greenteeth is content living in her lake when Temperance, a local witch, is thrown into the water by the town’s evil pastor. Friendship blossoms from Jenny’s encounter with Temperance, leading to an adventure into the land of fae to defeat evil and save the magic and human worlds. A charming read for lovers of cozy fantasy books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

This book is so cool wow. 10/10. I loved the story and the exploration of British folklore. It was different and gripping and spooky. Will look for more from this author.

An interesting idea that will fill a novel spot in the current slate of witchy books. A compelling debut for O’Neill.

This book was enjoyable from start to finish. I was not familiar with the folklore of Jenny Greenteeth, but the folklore of Britain was part of what drew me to this title. I wasn't sure what to expect from the start, but the book quickly picked up pace and I started to care for the characters immediately. Jenny is such a contradiction of the traditional "monster", countered by Temperance, who is a very traditional witch of the period. The introduction of the Erl King took the story to the next chilling level. I suspected early on that the book would take inspiration for Arthurian legend, but I did not expect the twist it took towards the end. The combination of "impossible" fae tasks with ancient folklore of different kinds was a perfect combination of intrigue. The author reveals more about Jenny as the story goes on, and eventually you learn heartbreaking information about her past, which gives her a deeply human feel. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fairytales and folklore!

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Molly O’Neil’s Greenteeth is a stunning debut that weaves a spellbinding tale of friendship, motherhood, fae lore, and Arthurian legends. Though I typically prefer my fantasy reads with a touch of romance, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I adored this story despite its absence of romantic subplots.

The heart of the book lies in its protagonist, Jenny—a tough, morally gray, and utterly captivating character whose perspective makes this adventure a joy to experience. Her wit, resilience, and complexity kept me thoroughly entertained from start to finish.

One of the highlights of this novel is the incorporation of British Isles mythology. As someone unfamiliar with these legends, I found myself completely immersed in the world O’Neil created. Her vivid storytelling brought the magical, and at times haunting, elements of the folklore to life in an unforgettable way.

I rate Greenteeth a solid 4.5 stars, but I’m more than happy to round up to a 5 for the sheer joy it brought me. I am now eagerly anticipating future works from this talented author. Greenteeth marks the start of what I hope will be a long and successful writing career for Molly O’Neil. Consider me a new fan!

Other than a clunky tendency to begin every sentence with "I," I can't find much of a fault with this book. Charming characters, an interesting plot, and original ideas helped to make Greenteeth a very likeable and fun story. I enjoyed the focus on friendship, and O'Neill managed to make her protagonist suitably creepy while still maintaining her relatability. While I wish the prose had been a little more varied, this book was still one of my favorite reads of the month.

Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill is a new take on mythical creatures and folklore, the story centered around an ancient lake spirit. I loved all the connections to Arthurian lore, and O'Neill is wonderful at writing lush imagery.

I really enjoyed Jenny, the main character. I appreciated her morally gray personality, and that she really stood firm on her identity, refusing to become someone else for the sake of a changing world. And I very much loved her surprising character arc.

The journey portion of the story does start to lag, but there were also moments that really caught my attention. The moment with elderly unicorn, and especially the scene of Jenny and the star's heartbeat gave me warm flashbacks of Book of the Ice, and I wish this would have been expanded on.

In fact, my biggest issue with Greentheeth was the ease with which the characters complete their quests. Three impossible tasks, yet not so impossible that they manage to complete them all in only a few months. Add that with the main antagonist, who is supposedly even more powerful, more impossible to kill, and it starts to feel unbelievable. Yes, I understand it's cozy fantasy and the good guys always prevail. I like cozy fantasy! I just wish the characters' victories felt a little more earned.

The dialogue came off a little stilted and unnatural, with lots of exposition thrown in for the reader's sake.

Overall, Greenteeth is a nice, classical fantasy adventure with a familiar English mythology backdrop. A good debut for Molly O'Neill. And that cover!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was interested exclusively because I liked the cover. Once I read the description, I was sold.

I really enjoyed retellings, especially when they’re well done. This one was excellent! The plot was traditional and fairly linear, with only a little bit of sidetracking. The characters are fun and interesting, definitely all from different walks of life. The writing is fun and whimsical in a way, almost like Old English reads but easier to understand. I haven’t decided what this factor is, but I notice it almost every time I read a fantasy book from a British (or thereabouts) author compared to an American one. It seems more traditional to me, and I cannot pinpoint it.

There’s definitely a twist or two on this journey, and I honestly had no idea this was a retelling until I got towards the end. Very well done, and an entertaining journey there with LOTS of character development. I’d give this one 4.5⭐️ with the caveat it may be a mood read for some.

the writing as it naturally flowed. This was very entertaining and clever! You will be enthralled by this eerie, exquisitely written book. Fans of horror, mystery, and literary fiction should not miss this book because of its evocative setting, nuanced characters, and simmering tension.

This book was a great weekend read with interesting and complex characters and enough action to keep the stakes high. The main character especially goes through a very surprising character arc, which I cannot say too much about without giving away the plot.

A brief plot summary:
Jenny Greenteeth has lived a long life in her lake and starts the story largely content. However, her peace is disrupted when a witch is thrown into her lake at the orders of a new parson who has taken control of her village. The unlikely pair have to work together to push against these threats and save their home and family.

The positives:
Like I said, this book has really good characters, a lot of time is spent developing their personalities and motivations. This adds to the stakes of the book by having you root for the character. The book also delves into English mythology, which helped to flesh out the world. Although the book covers a lot of names and places, the writing never feels like I'm reading an encyclopedia.

The things that might be negatives:
Most of this can come down to personal preference in the books I read. I felt that at points the plot got a little repetitive, and the ending felt a little rushed. However, the book is fairly short so none of this is anything that would make me stop reading. I also felt that the relationship between the two main characters could have been fleshed out more.

Finally, I have a small gripe about this book's classification as cozy fantasy, this has appeared a lot in the marketing, but "cozy" seems to be used as shorthand for character focused. This isn't a bad thing but be aware that the stakes do get about as high as a typical fantasy book.

Altogether, this was a great read, and I really enjoyed the world and characters created. I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a refreshing new folksy fantasy! Loved Jenny Greenteeth as a character so much, I kept envisioning a life size green sea monkey! She had such great chit chat, curiosity and humor! Would love to read more of her adventures! This was a 4 star read for me, and I will definitely be picking up a hard copy and read again.

An excellent book! Jenny, Temperance, and Brackus are wonderful characters, and the story is rich and engaging. A storyteller that fans of T. Kingfisher will love!

Just not for me! The writing was good, but I was never invested in the plot or the characters. The tension was minimal and I never felt a sense of urgency. I think O'Neill did a cool exploration of the world of Faerie and all other European folktale figures, but the book became weighed down my exposition. With the lack of enjoyable characters on top of endless internal monologue, I never found myself interested.

This one was a little closer to 2.5 than 3, but I can see what the author was trying to do, so I bumped it up to a 3. This was just... fine. For a debut, the writing definitely felt more certain in places than some other debuts I read. And I appreciate a morally gray main character. For me, at least, there were just a few things that didn't quite work for me.

For starters, while there were hints of a good character voice from Jenny, overall I think the 1st-person POV was more of a detriment than an asset. There were times where the narration felt very clunky and, particularly in the early chapters, hopped around a bit too much when trying to establish plot details and backstory. It felt like, more often than not, the author's voice bled too heavily into the writing, drowning out Jenny's voice.

Normally, I've found that in debut novels, they're under-written rather than over-written, stylistically and narratively. This was the opposite. There were a lot of details that bogged down the writing rather than enhancing it. I think it probably would've been a bit more excusable in 3rd-person POV, but because it's 1st-person, it ended up feeling a bit more unnatural. Because despite Jenny's age, she's a character that's largely isolated, so giving her certain bits of knowledge and verbiage to use within the narration didn't quite work, in my opinion.


I also felt like the character relationships never quite hit. I wanted a bit more bonding between the main trio (though I did appreciate that the relationships were entirely platonic!), particularly because their relationships are such an important and character-defining thing for Jenny. It's not that there weren't any of those moments. I just wanted more.

Overall, this was just fine. I can definitely see why people are really enjoying this. It just didn't work for me.

cozy fantasy is very hit or miss for me— but greenteeth is a certified hit. this is the kind of warm story that stays with you, like sleeping in front of the fireplace. it’s also just wonderfully folkloric. a cozy, atmospheric tale of friendship that’ll hopefully worm its way into your mind (positively) for long after its pages are done.

This has everything fun about a frothy cozy fantasy, with whipped folklore, and a sprinkling of teleportation to the British Isles!

I loved the prose as it flowed effortlessly. This was clever and a lot of fun! This deserves the hype I am certain it will get.

Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley!! Also, thank you to Molly O’Neill for this wonderful escape from real life! I very much needed it!!

Clever, breathtaking debut novel! Greenteeth is a fairy tale, a fast-paced adventure story and ultimately an exploration of how we perceive humanity, told from the perspective of Jenny Greenteeth, a creature who dwells beneath a small British lake.

The author has written a love letter to the mythology of the British Isles in these pages. Immersive without being overbearing in its world-building, the story strikes a good balance between moving the plot forward and making sure not to leave the reader behind. Jenny is an engaging, flawed protagonist and she and her traveling companions (a witch and a hobgoblin) play off of each other well throughout the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy!