Pretty Teeth

by K.P. Ambroziak

Twelve-year-old Iris wakes in an unfamiliar bedroom after an ordeal at the beach. The boy who abducted her is barely old enough to drive a car.

Twenty-one-year-old Marguerite is newly arrived from France and takes a job tutoring French for pocket money. Her only pupil is a twelve-year-old girl called Lucy, whose mother claims she sometimes tells outlandish lies.

Iris and Marguerite’s stories intersect with Philip Klein, the enigmatic TA in the Languages department at the university. He’s everything a girl could want in a tragic hero. He’s intelligent, attractive, sensitive, and swayable. It doesn’t take long for Marguerite to realize he’s perfect for her American life. Her plan is simple: Find the hero of Iris’s tragedy, and make it true.

As Iris struggles to remember everything she can about her captor, Marguerite is pulled into her pupil’s fabrications, realizing Lucy knows far more about Philip than she should. Once Lucy starts showing up on campus, leaving secret messages in the library books for someone, Marguerite seeks to uncover the truth. Because her plan is at stake if Philip is Lucy’s target, too. What Marguerite doesn’t realize is that the girl isn’t as dangerous as the ghost stalking her.

A buried past never remains interred for long, and Marguerite fears Philip will unearth hers.

218 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2023

About the author

K.P. Ambroziak's THE JOURNAL OF VINCENT DU MAURIER (RAGE FOR BLOOD) was featured in Publishers Weekly Reviews Roundup in 2015.

Reviews

[Aimee Sandridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this was an interesting book. 12 year old Iris is kidnapped for 4 days. In those 4 days she spoke to a teen boy that she believed loved her and she loved him. Once found, the boy is now her only concern. She wants to find him, bring him home. Nobody believes her when she says he’s real. They found the man that took her but there was no boy; so they believe it was her coping mechanism to survive. Follows her trauma before, during and after. Also goes into POV of others around her throughout. This was very intriguing and a non stop read. Little predictable but still very enjoyable.

[Felicia Bracamontes · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a WILD ride! I had a feeling on what was going on but not in the way it turned out so it was still twisty for me but the ending had me livid for certain characters

[Debra Devine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing

I almost quit reading this book, but I decided not to be a quitter. I was so confused through most of the story. Too many step and half-siblings to keep track of. I hope I don't come across a story like this again.

[Leilani · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliantly written book!! Every page and every chapter enthralled my psyche.

[Tina Transformation · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric and unsettling, this story weaves eerie suspense with layered mystery. A slow burn that lingers long after the final page, haunting, smart, and beautifully written.

[Susan Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

struggled to get thru this. The story jumps all over the place. Years ago, present day. Also hard to keep track of who is who and how they fit in.