Jenny Will Eat You Now

by Gillian Daniels

What do you get if you cross The Little Mermaid with Jennifer's Body ? A hungry, violent, sexy yet grotesque girl called Jenny… And she will eat you now.

Jenny Greenteeth has watched civilizations fall and wars break out during her lifetime. Preferring to keep her own company, she has been living in Boston for the last few hundred years – currently, in an abandoned subway station. Here, she has access to the waterways, an interconnected subterranean system that allows her to travel around the globe. With a conviction that she is far superior to humans – who are petty, dangerous, and fragile – she has no qualms about satisfying her hunger with their flesh. That is, until she comes face to face with a human man who, for the first time, she doesn’t want to eat (but also…she kind of does). Confused by these conflicting feelings, Jenny is intrigued.

So, when two other cryptids take up residence in her station – a satyr and a selkie – she (begrudgingly) asks them to help her find this mystery man in exchange for safe passage through her waterways. Together, they embark on a quest to track him down. On the way, Jenny experiences the modern world – discovering catcalling, pigeons, protests, fashion, friendship, and…Dunkin Donuts. On her journey to find the man that she couldn’t eat at first sight, Jenny goes on an unexpected deep dive into what it means to be human and to fall in love.

Sometimes you just want to eat the one you love...right?

Genres: Horror, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Cozy, Paranormal, Audiobook

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2026

About the author

Gillian Daniels writes and works in Boston, MA. Since attending the 2011 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop, her poetry and short fiction have appeared in Strange Horizons, Flash Fiction Online, and Nightmare Magazine among others. Here's a full list of publications.

Her debut novel is Jenny Will Eat You Now (September 2026).

Reviews

[Jenna Satterthwaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most unique, viscerally beautiful books I've read. Ever.

[Maggie · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

On the surface this looks like your standard monster rom-com, but it’s so much more than that. Using monsters that us “weird girls” (read: neurodivergents and outcasts) often lean on and sympathize with, Daniels creates an incredible metaphor for what it’s like to feel as though you exist outside of society, without the rulebook everyone else seems to have grown up with. I see so much of myself in Jenny and her journey, and I bet other weird girls will too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Solstice Books for the arc!

[Alina ♡ · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

I liked this and the audiobook. One thing annoyed me though was that in the audio, Zeke's name was sometimes changed to Zac. Very confusing.

[Ann (Inky Labyrinth) · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Delightfully bizarre and strangely endearing, tender in unexpected places. Totally refreshing, like nothing I've read before. I love you, Jenny!

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got an arc from Libro.Fm


If your favorite Disney movie growing up was The Little Mermaid and you grew up to be a monsterfucker, this is a book for you! It balances a tightrope of being gross and gory while also being heartfelt and deeply funny. I don't know if this was intended to read as a neurodivergence parallel, but there were a number of times where Jenny talks about feeling like there's a wall between her and humanity and like she doesn't understand the rules everyone else seems to and as a neurodivergent person myself I found that pretty affirming. I ended up devouring (pun somewhat intended) this one as an audiobook!

[Alexa (reading slump) · Rating 1.75 out of 5]

“What do you get if you cross The Little Mermaid with Jennifer's Body?”

First of all, the man she’s obsessed with is named Ezekiel Fuego-Eckstein (derogatory). And second of all, don’t you dare compare this to Jennifer’s body.

[calmaester · Rating 4 out of 5]

What seems like another inoccuous monster romance stands out, i think, because in this version the woman gets to be the monster. It seems that in the paranormal romance genre it’s always the man who’s dangerous and flighty, who could snap his tiny beautiful human girlfriend’s neck with one glance, but Jenny embodies the monstrous within women. She’s self-isolating and self-sabotaging, clearly afraid of being regarded as the monster she is. She’s adopted this into her identity, calling everyone else weak or pathetic, that she wouldn’t even want to spend time with them anyway.

I was expecting a pretty typical romance story, but I was surprised to find a story about the grief of loneliness with a romance just kinda included. Jenny can’t discern her desire for companionship from her desire to feed, she’s been alone so long that it all just feels like desire. The reason she’s drawn to Zeke is because he’s the first person in hundreds of years to say her name, to see her, to know her, calling attention to her deep-rooted desire to be known.

This book has an ironic dryness to it, mixing the sweetness and corniness of what’s happening with blunt, dry humor. Jenny is matter-of-fact, with almost no social filter, which I found to be rather charming, although it does get her into some awkward situations. Despite her sardonic outlook, she’s caring and genuine, as shown in her actions (like when she caught that bird!), but deeply lonely and unsure how to be vulnerable enough to ask for companionship.

I didn’t much care for the ending in some ways, I liked it in others. It was a little too convenient and fast-paced, rushing to wrap up too many character threads, and felt a little too kitschy for my tastes. Still a fantastic read, one I wasn’t expecting to be so touched by, a favorite feeling, I might add.

[Ariel (ariel_reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

jenny Will Eat You Now is a modern-day take on the Jenny Greenteeth lore, and I had a great time. The narrative voice was light and humorous, and I found myself rooting for Jenny throughout the book. It has a bit of a rom-com feel to it, which was also a fun time. There are some serious moments and as expected, there's no shying away from the gore. Overall, this was a fast read and it was difficult to put down at times.

A huge thank you to Gallery Books for the eARC in exchange for my thoughts and to Colleen for buddy reading this with me!

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the great honor to read an early draft of Gillian Daniels’ Jenny Will Eat You Now: A Meat Cute and I was super excited to read the actual final published version, which has a cover and everything. I am not an objective reader but I am also pretty confident that I am correct when I say this book is fun and delightful.

I am not normally a huge reader of genre romance, but when I do it tends to be “urban fantasy” monsterfucker books, because that is the sort of thing that happens to young goths when you try to read monster books but don’t really sort them at all. Anyway, this one is fun because the monster in question isn’t a sexy vampire man; it is Jenny Greenteeth, the English cryptid that eats children who wander into the bog, cited by many generations of English parents to tell their children not to wander into the bog. This version of Jenny lives in an abandoned MBTA subway tunnel underneath Boston. This is extra fun for me as someone who’s spent her entire adult life in or around Boston; I felt very in the know when I recognized places (and yes, the Central Square branch of the Cambridge Public Library really does look like a parking garage).

Jenny has an unexpected encounter with a nebbishy Harvard grad student who runs a cryptid blog and goes exploring in her abandoned tunnel; she lets him escape and then decides that that’s unacceptable and embarrassing and she has to go out into above-ground Boston so she can find him and eat him, and it’s entirely because she is a mighty predator and definitely not that she’s lonely or that he’s hot or anything like that. Jenny’s inner monologue really carries the book, in my opinion, because she’s quite smart but she’s also feral and emotionally repressed and about a century or two out of date in her understanding of the human world. The results are funny and sort of endearing even as the book doesn’t shy away from the fact that she eats people–mostly unloved sad sacks, which is sometimes poignant given Jenny’s own isolated and mostly-forgotten cryptid status, but also it’s very satisfying when she eats a guy who catcalls her. If I were a monster who ate people I would target street harassers too.

Jenny’s guides to the human world–or to Harvard Square, at least, which is kind of its own universe–are a very angry satyr named Faun and a very tired selkie named Clyde. They are very different and are already sort of an imperfectly stuck-together odd couple even before they adopt Jenny and try to teach her how to land a human man in exchange for her help navigating the magical waterway portals (like L-space, but for water) to try to find Clyde’s skin. I liked them both quite a lot; they were fun.

Anyway, this was an excellent spooky season read!

Originally posted at Love lurks in the MBTA.

[kymagirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Will Eat You Now is weird, gory, funny, and much sweeter than a story about a flesh-eating river monster has any right to be.

It's playful and easy to move through, with Jenny’s voice doing most of the heavy lifting. She’s arrogant, curious, blunt, and genuinely confused by humans, which makes her attempts to navigate modern Boston consistently entertaining. The pacing stays fairly quick, although some of the humor and fish-out-of-water moments work better than others.

Jenny is allowed to be sympathetic without becoming less monstrous, and that makes both the romance and the comedy more interesting. Her relationships with the other cryptids add a surprisingly warm found-family element without pushing the central romance aside.

Underneath all the blood and absurdity, there’s a genuinely sweet story about loneliness, belonging, and wanting to be understood without having to completely change who you are. It has fun asking what actually makes someone a monster, especially when the humans around Jenny aren’t always particularly admirable themselves.

The balance between horror and romance won’t work for everyone. It’s too bloody to feel completely cozy and too playful to be particularly frightening, but that odd middle ground is also part of its charm.

Funny, messy, surprisingly tender, and unapologetically strange. A monster romance full of found family, folklore, and far more heart than terror.

[Lala 💕 · Rating 0.25 out of 5]

DNF at 16%. I was super excited about the concept at first, but I cannot finish this book.

1. Do not read if you hate “millennial author syndrome.” By this I mean the need to insert some social justice cause into a story as a way of virtue signaling, even when the story is about a literal monster eating humans. I have no problem with social commentary when it actually serves a purpose, but there is a difference between naturally incorporating a theme into a story and feeling the need to make everything a statement about something. It feels forced, preachy, and completely unnecessary.

2. Do not read if you do not want to engage with media that mocks Jesus. Jesus is referred to as a “half-God from Bethlehem,” and I found this both disrespectful and completely irrelevant to the story. It added nothing to the plot, the worldbuilding, or anything else I had read up to that point. So why was it even there?

And before anyone tells me this is a fantasy book and I am taking it too seriously, that is not the point. The fact that something is fictional does not mean I cannot criticize the author’s decision to include a gratuitous, disrespectful reference to my faith. The author deliberately chose to bring Jesus into the narrative, and the way it was done felt less like a meaningful part of the story and more like an unnecessary dig at Christianity.

What makes it even more irritating is that the reference was so out of place. It did not fit the writing around it, it did not contribute anything meaningful, and it felt as though the author had simply thrown it in because they wanted to make the comment. Given some of the other writing and commentary, it also left me with the impression that the author’s own biases were bleeding into the narrative. I cannot claim to know their intentions, but I can criticize what is actually on the page.

3. The premise is good. The execution is not.

This is what frustrates me the most. The concept genuinely caught my attention, and I went into this book wanting to like it. The premise has potential, which makes the actual reading experience all the more disappointing. Having an interesting idea is one thing; knowing how to turn that idea into a compelling story is another.

At 16%, I am already struggling with the writing itself. Instead of allowing the premise to carry the story through engaging storytelling, the execution keeps getting in its own way. The forced commentary and unnecessary asides make the narrative feel disjointed, and rather than drawing me into the world, they keep reminding me that I am reading an author trying to make particular points.

A good premise cannot compensate for poor execution indefinitely. You can have the most interesting concept in the world, but if the writing does not bring it to life, the characters and narrative do not give you a reason to keep reading, and the dialogue and commentary feel more distracting than engaging, then the concept is ultimately wasted.

And that is what makes this so disappointing. I can forgive a book for not being what I expected, but it is frustrating to see a concept with genuine potential undermined by the way it is written. I should not have to keep convincing myself to push through a book when I am not even a fifth of the way in.

Maybe the story improves later, but I am not interested in forcing myself to finish a book simply because the premise sounded good.

DNF at 16%. Great concept, terrible execution.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Gallery Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I ate this book like Jenny eats people.

This was so different from other things I have read. I expected rompy horror and instead got something that was thoughtful, lyrical, and sometimes profound.

This book was such a surprise. It took a little bit to get into, took some time to settle into the voice of the book, but it grew on me quickly and I read it over two days.

This did not feel like a first book, aside from how obviously it was filled with the author’s affection for what she was writing.

[amsel · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Ich fand den Einstieg wirklich gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber als ich mich auf die Geschichte einlassen konnte fand ich sie doch wirklich herzerwärmend.

[TJ · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

This book is not what I was expecting, and I mean that in a good way! I feel like the original cover is a terrible match for the book, and I've never had that criticism before. 😭 This story was so beautifully written, and I don't think the cover does it justice. I've never experienced such a disconnect between a cover and the actual book before lol.

This story was a modern-day take on English folklore and the Jenny Greenteeth creature. I'm not someone who usually enjoys romance unless there's something specific about it that appeals to me, which is rare, but this is now one of my favorite romance novels!

As a woman with autism, I felt like this book portrayed some of my experiences navigating the world. I'm not sure if that's what the author intended, but I loved it! The feeling of existing outside of the world, of not quite belonging with other humans, like you never got the societal handbook everyone else seems to have received. Wanting to be close to people but being scared or not knowing how to relate to them. I loved the way the author wrote this book, and I loved the main character so much.

The only reason I'm not giving this 5 stars is that the ending felt weird to me. It was more convoluted than it needed to be and didn't quite fit with the rest of the story or flow as smoothly. I don't know, it just didn't work for me. But I still liked this book a lot, and I cannot wait to read more from this author! 🧡

[Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew “I want to love you” and “I want to eat you” could be such a romantic dilemma?

Jenny Will Eat You proved once again that horror and romance can go together BEAUTIFULLY.

Jenny Greenteeth is a centuries old river monster living beneath the streets of Boston who has spent most of her existence perfectly content knowing one simple truth: humans are terrible...but they are delicious.

Then she meets one she doesn’t want to eat.

Well...she still kind of wants to eat him.

And somehow, from that absolutely bizarre starting point, this story becomes funny, gruesome, romantic, heartbreaking, and surprisingly tender.

The prose was absolutely beautiful. I loved these characters and especially how deeply we got to explore their emotions, loneliness, desires, and need to belong. Jenny’s two competing hungers, her hunger for human flesh and her hunger to finally be seen and understood, made her such a fascinating character.

I also LOVED the Boston setting. There was something extra fun about watching this ancient cryptid experience the modern world through protests, fashion, pigeons, catcalling, friendship, and, obviously, Dunkin’.

This is exactly why I love horror. The genre can be weird. It can be grotesque. It can be hilarious. It can be romantic. It can rip your heart out while someone else is literally having theirs eaten.

Definitely one I’ll be recommending, and honestly, one I can already see myself rereading.

Five very hungry stars.

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[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rusalkas, satyrs, and selkies: oh my!

I’ve always wanted to write a story featuring a rusalka, and I’m glad I didn’t: I could never have done it as well as Gillian Daniels does. Sure, Jenny is awkward. Sure, Jenny is primarily concerned with Jenny first (her hunger, her self-preservation, her superiority to humans). But by mid-novel, I had fallen head over heels in love with Jenny, and that’s because of Daniels’ exceptional writing skill, period.
If you’re looking for a creature feature that’s smart, unique, and just plain damn delightful, let Jenny [Will] Eat You Now.

[Annadee · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

This was different, but I wasn't a huge fan :/

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

My second book this year about Jenny Greenteeth. Not at all intentional. These characters are interesting but awful. They hate society and humans because of all the wrong they've done to them--but they also kill humans whenever it pleases them. Jenny and Faun decide to kill a man because he yelled at them across the street. That's totally justified, sure. Some of the storyline is creative but mostly it's exhausting in the way that freeloaders are exhausting. Yes, let's have a monster love story and involve political views as well. Great combo. In the acknowledgements Daniels thanks the DSA! What a load of garbage. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

[Richard Bankey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the author, Goodreads and the publisher for the ARC. Interesting story, easy to read. 3.5 stars.
Stacey Bankey

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Gallery Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this one! 😭🥰 I was never really aware about the Jenny Greenteeth lore until the last year or so, when I read another book (more cozy fantasy based) about this creature in English folklore. I absolutely love how this was created as a sort of "monster" romance horror rom-com. Based on the lore, Jenny Greenteeth is definitely a terrifying creature, meant to scare children away from playing near waterways where they might drown (or be pulled underwater and eaten by Jenny!). In this particular story, there was a lot of gore and body horror which was fantastically written. It made me squeamish and uncomfortable, but at the same time I really loved the depth the author gave to Jenny's personality. I feel like the loneliness of her situation was really well-captured, and it made me feel emotional for her. I loved the friends she met along the way, and learning about their tragic backstories. I flew through this book quickly, it was a really perfect blend of humor, heart, horror, and folklore. The romance was sweet (and it did get pretty spicy at times), but the relationship between Jenny and Zeke really worked well. The ending felt bittersweet. The pacing was perfect for me, I never felt bored or that any part dragged on.

If you want a little bit of romance mixed with your horror this spooky season, definitely put this one on your radar!

[ColleenIsBooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Greenteeth lives in flooded, abandoned tunnel under Boston and likes it very much, except for the bickering couple in the adjacent tunnel. One night, a man stumbles into her tunnel talking about her! Jenny becomes fascinated and hungry. After failing to capture him, Jenny becomes obsessed with the man and enlists the help of the bickering couple from the other tunnel (who are also not human) to find him and eat him.
This book was funny, gory at times, and yet also romantic. The romance between Jenny and the man is somehow very adorable, but also you know the whole time that she really wants to eat him. I also really liked the friendship that blooms between Jenny and the couple. Such an interesting book. I find I am not opposed to more of this kind of story.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own. Also thank you to Ariel for buddy reading this with me!

[Kirsty Mallalieu · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

Cozy horror is a thing now!

Jenny Greenteeth is an ancient water dwelling predator of legend. Her sisters are all long dead and she has lived alone in the waterways of Boston for at least a century eating rats and the occasional misguided human.

One day Zeke, a young professor with an interest in criptids, strays into Jenny’s lair and she hears him say her name. Unfathomably Zeke escapes her, so when two more mythical creatures wander in wanting access to her waterways, she enlists them to help her find him and devour him.

This was charming and gruesome. Jenny reads like a time displaced neurodivergent, I can’t help but find her endearing even as she bluntly explains which parts of humans she prefers to eat. The book is full of humour but also sadness as Jenny’s interactions with Zeke and the other creatures like her highlight how lonely she truly is.

An enjoyable horror-comedy-romance for spooky season.

[Gianaclis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not my usual read. I'm trying to keep that in mind in this review. Jenny Will Eat You Now is light-hearted, campy, and, being a romance, there's not much surprise in how it ends. It's original and a fun read. I picked it after interacting with the author at a conference and always like to support when I can. But for those of you who read my reviews wanting to know what I enjoy, if it's going to be campy, I like dark. AKA Dark Shadows. If you're looking for something light and charming, though, give this book a try.

[Megan McKenney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my 2nd Jenny Greenteeth book. The first one was called Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill and had rated it 5⭐️. So my expectations of that happening again was very low. However, this book surpassed my expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than all gore, this book was truly a cutesy love story with also some folk story mixed in. It was a ton of fun and i found myself loving Jenny despite her terrifying nature. Absolutely loved it, but am sure it's not for everyone.

[Cassie R · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Weird girl lit meets monster romance, i absolutely loved it. Stumbled across this while scrolling books on kindle and I’m so glad I did. Jenny is a river monster who has a crush on a human but also has a primal urge to eat him. Watching Jenny work to get her crush was unique, hilarious, heart warming, and at times gory. I adored Jenny and will be thinking about her for a long time. Such a fun read.

[Reggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quirky romance with a cryptid and a solid message about loneliness. I really liked Jenny’s voice and characterization, she was the strongest element of the story for me. The side characters were complex and often difficult to sympathize with, but I found their dynamic interesting. The plot resolution felt a bit rushed, but the story made for an entertaining read. Looking forward to more from this author!

[Emmy]

I thought a horror romance could be fun, but the story is pretty grisly and I just can't connect with Jenny at all. Plus, there's the constantly overhanging concern of what is going to happen to the love interest/menu item once Jenny catches up to him. I'm sure that it'll all work out, but I'm just a little too concerned to read on.

[Jenna Verstraeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a weird and delightful book! This was exactly what I wanted and more.

[Linseedling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t expect to find a book about a river monster that regularly eats people so charming and sweet! Jenny and Zeke have great chemistry and the banter between Jenny and her two supernatural companions Clyde and Faun gave me Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes. This was campy and fun, but it also had a lot of heart!

[Anne Hampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid spooky szn read!