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Such a Pretty Smile
A biting novel from an electrifying new voice, Such a Pretty Smile is a heart-stopping tour-de-force about powerful women, angry men, and all the ways in which girls fight against the forces that try to silence them.
There’s something out there that’s killing. Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.
2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she’s seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother—the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice—until she is punished for using it.
2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape—both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiancé is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waves her “problem” away with pills. But Caroline’s past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand.
As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.
There’s something out there that’s killing. Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.
2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she’s seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother—the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice—until she is punished for using it.
2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape—both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiancé is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waves her “problem” away with pills. But Caroline’s past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand.
As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 18, 2022
263 people are currently reading
27057 people want to read
About the author
Kristi DeMeester
80 books527 followersKristi DeMeester is the author of Beneath, published by Word Horde, and Everything That's Underneath by Apex Books. Her short fiction has been included in Ellen Datlow's Year's Best Horror Volumes 9 and 11, Year's Best Weird Fiction Volumes 1, 3, and 5, and Stephen Jone's Best New Horror. Her short fiction has also appeared in publications such as Black Static, The Dark, Pseudopod, as well as several others. In her spare time, she alternates between telling people how to pronounce her last name and how to spell her first.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,346 reviews
June 13, 2022
Wow! (Silence) wow! ( more gulping) wow! ( hyperventilating , drinking up entire cold carafe filled with ice water) Wo..( Brain freezing- couldn’t pronounce the words)
( silence for 45 minutes: my my mouth agape, eyes popped out, looking at the wall as if I’m watching the final scene of Seven and Wicker Man at the same time)
Finally I gathered my wits to form reliable words and write a review about WTH I just read kind of jaw dropping, sinister, dark, complex story I’ve just finished. A little Outsiders meets Candyman vibes with centered on ill fated mother- daughter story connected with disturbing amusement park and a creepy, haunted creature controlling the naughty girls of the town by pulling their strings like a horrible puppet master.
Two unreliable narrators- dreamy states- illusional minds of mother and daughter who are resilient, peculiar, reserved, introvert, observant with their unique kind of way to perceive things at the outside world.
The story moves between 2004 where Caroline: young and talented artist who recently engaged, living with her painter fiancée in NOLA, suffering from terrible nightmares and taking care of her father who is living in an expensive hospice she barely affords to pay for.
She starts seeing a dog faced man with sharp fangs, hiding in the shadows, watching her every move like a hawk and in the meantime the little girls are taken away by a serial killer who massacres them brutally and leaves them at the places that public can see them. They called him the Cur.
She gives private art lessons to Beth to provide extra money to pay her father’s facilities’ bills but as she spends more time with Beth and observes her disturbing manners and secrets she keeps, she realizes she’s not the only one connected with the mysterious man who takes lives.
As the delusions take over her mind control, Caroline leaves her life behind in Nola which brings us to 2019 and read things from Caroline’s daughter Lila’s perspective. Lila is outsider, quiet, trying to adjust in school life.
But she also keeps suffering from nightmares, hearing nonstop dog barks. Something truly changes in her. But she cannot share this information with mother who is so occupied with her bizarre sculptures, insisting to keep secrets from her past in Nola. And her dear father had second family, having a baby with severe health conditions already acts like she’s invisible.
But something changes in her. Something is growing inside of her and she has to go to Nola- Jazzland- the amusement park where her mother’s past is connected with a soul shaking traumatic experience.
Both mother and daughter has to confront with the inner devils as the Cur strikes back and takes the new innocent young girls’ lives brutally!
This is raw, graphic, dark, irritating, addictive, challenging and extremely well crafted horror story about the darkness growing inside of the people which is fueled with fear, anger and resentment.
As you may see, how it truly rocked my world and affected me deeply from leaving me speechless. I’m giving my gory, raw, bloody, haunting, terrifying, barking five stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.
( silence for 45 minutes: my my mouth agape, eyes popped out, looking at the wall as if I’m watching the final scene of Seven and Wicker Man at the same time)
Finally I gathered my wits to form reliable words and write a review about WTH I just read kind of jaw dropping, sinister, dark, complex story I’ve just finished. A little Outsiders meets Candyman vibes with centered on ill fated mother- daughter story connected with disturbing amusement park and a creepy, haunted creature controlling the naughty girls of the town by pulling their strings like a horrible puppet master.
Two unreliable narrators- dreamy states- illusional minds of mother and daughter who are resilient, peculiar, reserved, introvert, observant with their unique kind of way to perceive things at the outside world.
The story moves between 2004 where Caroline: young and talented artist who recently engaged, living with her painter fiancée in NOLA, suffering from terrible nightmares and taking care of her father who is living in an expensive hospice she barely affords to pay for.
She starts seeing a dog faced man with sharp fangs, hiding in the shadows, watching her every move like a hawk and in the meantime the little girls are taken away by a serial killer who massacres them brutally and leaves them at the places that public can see them. They called him the Cur.
She gives private art lessons to Beth to provide extra money to pay her father’s facilities’ bills but as she spends more time with Beth and observes her disturbing manners and secrets she keeps, she realizes she’s not the only one connected with the mysterious man who takes lives.
As the delusions take over her mind control, Caroline leaves her life behind in Nola which brings us to 2019 and read things from Caroline’s daughter Lila’s perspective. Lila is outsider, quiet, trying to adjust in school life.
But she also keeps suffering from nightmares, hearing nonstop dog barks. Something truly changes in her. But she cannot share this information with mother who is so occupied with her bizarre sculptures, insisting to keep secrets from her past in Nola. And her dear father had second family, having a baby with severe health conditions already acts like she’s invisible.
But something changes in her. Something is growing inside of her and she has to go to Nola- Jazzland- the amusement park where her mother’s past is connected with a soul shaking traumatic experience.
Both mother and daughter has to confront with the inner devils as the Cur strikes back and takes the new innocent young girls’ lives brutally!
This is raw, graphic, dark, irritating, addictive, challenging and extremely well crafted horror story about the darkness growing inside of the people which is fueled with fear, anger and resentment.
As you may see, how it truly rocked my world and affected me deeply from leaving me speechless. I’m giving my gory, raw, bloody, haunting, terrifying, barking five stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.
May 21, 2024
**4.5-stars**
Lila Sawyer, at 13-years old, is grappling with many things. One of the largest is coming to grips with her own sexuality. This issue is constantly at the forefront of her mind, but there are other things too.
Someone is taking and murdering girls in her area; girls that are about her age. Because of this her Mom, Caroline, has become really paranoid and strict about Lila's whereabouts and movements.
It's more than that though. It's like her Mom knows something about what is going on and she's keeping it, and her entire past, secret from Lila.
It appears that the killer, dubbed The Cur by media, has struck before. Lila hears her Mom talking about it; something about the past, about New Orleans.
Caroline Sawyer is a single-mom and successful artist, whose macabre sculptures composed of artifacts from nature, such as twigs and leaves, is heavily disturbed by the murders of the young girls.
She desperately wants to keep her daughter, Lila, safe. This monster has affected her life before and she can't have it happen again.
Such a Pretty Smile follows the perspectives of both Lila and Caroline; Lila in 2019 and Caroline mainly in 2004. The narrative alternates until past and present slowly begin to merge into one horrifying showdown.
I really enjoyed this story. I found it to be wildly creative, brutal, bizarre and extraordinarily thought-provoking. DeMeester's got a lot to say and she's not afraid to say it.
She's clearly not going to just be quiet and smile pretty. We're here for it.
While I recognize this won't necessarily be for every Reader, for me it was an impressive display of feminist Horror. The biting social commentary, my word, I doff my cap.
DeMeester's writing is incredibly rich with dark, evocative imagery. I was essentially watching this entire story play out in my mind. I loved how she revealed certain aspects of Caroline's past and how that played into their present.
This is the first that I have read from this author, although she has been on my radar for a while. I actually own a copy of her short-story collection, Everything That's Underneath, and definitely plan to pick that up this year.
If you like dark, no-mercy stories, with vivid imagery and brain-rattling social commentary, you should absolutely give this one a shot!
Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
This story will stay on my mind for a long time to come!
Lila Sawyer, at 13-years old, is grappling with many things. One of the largest is coming to grips with her own sexuality. This issue is constantly at the forefront of her mind, but there are other things too.
Someone is taking and murdering girls in her area; girls that are about her age. Because of this her Mom, Caroline, has become really paranoid and strict about Lila's whereabouts and movements.
It's more than that though. It's like her Mom knows something about what is going on and she's keeping it, and her entire past, secret from Lila.
It appears that the killer, dubbed The Cur by media, has struck before. Lila hears her Mom talking about it; something about the past, about New Orleans.
Caroline Sawyer is a single-mom and successful artist, whose macabre sculptures composed of artifacts from nature, such as twigs and leaves, is heavily disturbed by the murders of the young girls.
She desperately wants to keep her daughter, Lila, safe. This monster has affected her life before and she can't have it happen again.
Such a Pretty Smile follows the perspectives of both Lila and Caroline; Lila in 2019 and Caroline mainly in 2004. The narrative alternates until past and present slowly begin to merge into one horrifying showdown.
I really enjoyed this story. I found it to be wildly creative, brutal, bizarre and extraordinarily thought-provoking. DeMeester's got a lot to say and she's not afraid to say it.
She's clearly not going to just be quiet and smile pretty. We're here for it.
While I recognize this won't necessarily be for every Reader, for me it was an impressive display of feminist Horror. The biting social commentary, my word, I doff my cap.
DeMeester's writing is incredibly rich with dark, evocative imagery. I was essentially watching this entire story play out in my mind. I loved how she revealed certain aspects of Caroline's past and how that played into their present.
This is the first that I have read from this author, although she has been on my radar for a while. I actually own a copy of her short-story collection, Everything That's Underneath, and definitely plan to pick that up this year.
If you like dark, no-mercy stories, with vivid imagery and brain-rattling social commentary, you should absolutely give this one a shot!
Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
This story will stay on my mind for a long time to come!
January 18, 2022
Such a Pretty Smile is an enthusiastic middle finger to the patriarchy.
It opens with a grisly description of a young girl found mutilated and murdered days after her disappearance. As more girls turn up brutally murdered, it begins to look like the work of the Cur, a serial killer that slays girls who refuse to be tamed.
Told in dual timelines, the reader follows Lila, a thirteen-year-old girl, and her mother, Caroline, an artist known for crafting creepy statues.
Lila has been a good girl her whole life, until one day, she suddenly feels overcome with fever dreams, anger and a malevolent voice in her head.
This is a story about a girl who refuses to be controlled and will, most definitely, not “calm down.”
This horror novel explores dark themes of sexism, feminism, and societal expectations on gender norms. It looks at the Chads and Brocks of the world and how they get away with so much because they are good boys who can’t afford to have their life derailed, no matter their offence and whose lives they have ruined.
Some parts of this book have a persistent sense of uneasiness that escalates as the book progresses, while others are explicitly nightmarish.
I recommend this to those who love horror with a heavy dose of feminism and social commentary.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to read this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It opens with a grisly description of a young girl found mutilated and murdered days after her disappearance. As more girls turn up brutally murdered, it begins to look like the work of the Cur, a serial killer that slays girls who refuse to be tamed.
Told in dual timelines, the reader follows Lila, a thirteen-year-old girl, and her mother, Caroline, an artist known for crafting creepy statues.
Lila has been a good girl her whole life, until one day, she suddenly feels overcome with fever dreams, anger and a malevolent voice in her head.
This is a story about a girl who refuses to be controlled and will, most definitely, not “calm down.”
This horror novel explores dark themes of sexism, feminism, and societal expectations on gender norms. It looks at the Chads and Brocks of the world and how they get away with so much because they are good boys who can’t afford to have their life derailed, no matter their offence and whose lives they have ruined.
Some parts of this book have a persistent sense of uneasiness that escalates as the book progresses, while others are explicitly nightmarish.
I recommend this to those who love horror with a heavy dose of feminism and social commentary.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to read this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 16, 2022
Not for me.
Not one bit.
I should have put this down. But I didn't and that's on me. I have a feeling this book is going to be polarizing. Readers are either going to love it or it just won’t work for them. The synopsis was intriguing. Sounded like it would be right up my alley. I enjoy reading dark books. I enjoy disturbing books. I enjoy horror. I did not enjoy this.
Girls are being murdered. Their bodies are being torn apart. The victims are girls who do not always follow the rules, girls you walk to their own beat, girls labeled troublemakers. The Cur is the culprit.
The book is told in two-time frames (2019 and 2004). In 2019, Lilia Sawyer is being raised by her mother, Caroline Sawyer, an artist known for her bizarre and creepy sculptures. Caroline has strict rules for Lilia. The main goal is to remain a good girl. In 2004, young Caroline Sawyer can hear dogs that no one else can hear. She begins to make sculptures in a trance like state. Her doctor prescribes her medications but....
This is a disturbing book to read. There is graphic violence, girls are told to be good girls, because if you are bad/a troublemaker something horrible will happen to you, while teen males and grown men in this book don't seem to have consequences for their behavior.
If I had to describe this book it would be horror with a twist. Again, I think this book will be polarizing. I wasn't a fan of the storytelling.
We can't love them all. There is an audience out there for this book and author. As I stated, many enjoyed this book, and I encourage you to see out their reviews.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
Not one bit.
I should have put this down. But I didn't and that's on me. I have a feeling this book is going to be polarizing. Readers are either going to love it or it just won’t work for them. The synopsis was intriguing. Sounded like it would be right up my alley. I enjoy reading dark books. I enjoy disturbing books. I enjoy horror. I did not enjoy this.
Girls are being murdered. Their bodies are being torn apart. The victims are girls who do not always follow the rules, girls you walk to their own beat, girls labeled troublemakers. The Cur is the culprit.
The book is told in two-time frames (2019 and 2004). In 2019, Lilia Sawyer is being raised by her mother, Caroline Sawyer, an artist known for her bizarre and creepy sculptures. Caroline has strict rules for Lilia. The main goal is to remain a good girl. In 2004, young Caroline Sawyer can hear dogs that no one else can hear. She begins to make sculptures in a trance like state. Her doctor prescribes her medications but....
This is a disturbing book to read. There is graphic violence, girls are told to be good girls, because if you are bad/a troublemaker something horrible will happen to you, while teen males and grown men in this book don't seem to have consequences for their behavior.
If I had to describe this book it would be horror with a twist. Again, I think this book will be polarizing. I wasn't a fan of the storytelling.
We can't love them all. There is an audience out there for this book and author. As I stated, many enjoyed this book, and I encourage you to see out their reviews.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
October 26, 2021
If you’ve ever had visions of stabbing the stranger who told you to smile in the neck, this may be the book for you. For real though, and this goes out to anyone who tells random people to smile: Stop it. Right now.
Lila is in 8th grade and struggling with an unrequited crush on her best friend Macie. She also has been feeling off lately, as if there's some dark force inside her. When she sees Macie in a compromising position with an older boy, these two struggles collide as Lila has an almost feral, ferocious reaction. She has seen that her mother Caroline takes pills and knows she's been diagnosed with mental health issues. But that can't be happening to Lila too, right? She's not her mother. And like most teenagers she's certainly not ready to talk to her mom about what's been going on.
Meanwhile, the abduction and murder of young teen girls in the area has the already protective Caroline on high alert. Lila overhears her on the phone talking about how similar these murders feel to something in her past. A past she never talks about and has never shared with Lila. What happened back then and what does it have to do with now?
I would classify this much more as Horror than Mystery/Thriller, just so readers know what they’re getting. Allegorical Feminist Horror to be precise. There is some very strong, upsetting imagery here, and it’s not a comfortable read. That said, in my opinion, the discomfort was generally worth it. I did come away with some lingering questions (some of Lila's behavior still didn't make sense to me even after I'd finished), but I also came away with a lot of food for thought. This is a book that will stick with me.
Those of you who read my reviews regularly know I can’t stand the overly used “unreliable female narrator who may or may not be crazy and is on pills” trope, and that I’m pretty quick to call out what I feel is misandry in novels. So I want to mark an important distinction with this one. This is heavily feminist and very harshly critiques the patriarchy, and it also focuses on the mental health of female characters. The thing is, these ARE the book’s message, and they’re used with a very specific purpose and messaging in mind. They’re not cheap plot or narrative devices, so it worked for me and made this into a really powerful commentary rather than making a mockery of the concept or feeling exploitative.
CW: I don’t like to discourage people from reading books, particularly not books I enjoyed or found powerful, but I never want anyone to pick up something that is going to upset them. There are somewhat graphic descriptions of assault/mutilation of younger teen murder victims. Nothing happens to them “on page”, and it is akin to something you might read in more lurid news articles or true crime, but nonetheless, it’s triggering for lots of people and I get that. Dog lovers will also want to read with caution.
Expected Publication Date: January 18, 2022
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this title for review.
Lila is in 8th grade and struggling with an unrequited crush on her best friend Macie. She also has been feeling off lately, as if there's some dark force inside her. When she sees Macie in a compromising position with an older boy, these two struggles collide as Lila has an almost feral, ferocious reaction. She has seen that her mother Caroline takes pills and knows she's been diagnosed with mental health issues. But that can't be happening to Lila too, right? She's not her mother. And like most teenagers she's certainly not ready to talk to her mom about what's been going on.
Meanwhile, the abduction and murder of young teen girls in the area has the already protective Caroline on high alert. Lila overhears her on the phone talking about how similar these murders feel to something in her past. A past she never talks about and has never shared with Lila. What happened back then and what does it have to do with now?
I would classify this much more as Horror than Mystery/Thriller, just so readers know what they’re getting. Allegorical Feminist Horror to be precise. There is some very strong, upsetting imagery here, and it’s not a comfortable read. That said, in my opinion, the discomfort was generally worth it. I did come away with some lingering questions (some of Lila's behavior still didn't make sense to me even after I'd finished), but I also came away with a lot of food for thought. This is a book that will stick with me.
Those of you who read my reviews regularly know I can’t stand the overly used “unreliable female narrator who may or may not be crazy and is on pills” trope, and that I’m pretty quick to call out what I feel is misandry in novels. So I want to mark an important distinction with this one. This is heavily feminist and very harshly critiques the patriarchy, and it also focuses on the mental health of female characters. The thing is, these ARE the book’s message, and they’re used with a very specific purpose and messaging in mind. They’re not cheap plot or narrative devices, so it worked for me and made this into a really powerful commentary rather than making a mockery of the concept or feeling exploitative.
CW: I don’t like to discourage people from reading books, particularly not books I enjoyed or found powerful, but I never want anyone to pick up something that is going to upset them. There are somewhat graphic descriptions of assault/mutilation of younger teen murder victims. Nothing happens to them “on page”, and it is akin to something you might read in more lurid news articles or true crime, but nonetheless, it’s triggering for lots of people and I get that. Dog lovers will also want to read with caution.
Expected Publication Date: January 18, 2022
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this title for review.
February 24, 2022
I am so conflicted on how to rate this. I know there is supposed to be some hidden message about women learning to use their voice and speak up for themselves. However, when you list your book in the horror genre, I expect horror. Yes, there were some descriptions of how the girls were killed, but that is not enough to throw your book in the horror arena. The relationship between the mother and daughter was horrible. Nothing was resolved in the end. Overall disappointment for me.
2.6 rating rounded up to 3
2.6 rating rounded up to 3
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October 14, 2021What a weird book this is and I say that at 25%.
This book reads like Young Adult as we are in 13 year old Lila's head for the first four or five chapters that I read. In the background young girls are being brutally murdered. We are also offered a glimpse of Lila and her mother, Caroline's, odd relationship. Her mother is a famous artist that creates macabre sculptures and she's also a helicopter mom that won't even let her daughter shave her legs so she remains a good girl. Um, okay.
When I finally decided to close the cover to this is when I was told that the 13 year old girl and recent murder victim had her vagina slit in half and her nipple removed.
I am all for dark and bleak books but this seems like the author is going for shock value rather than a well written and cohesive story. The inconsistent tone was jarring to say the least. I decided to read a few other reviews to see if maybe it's just me when I saw several warnings to not read this if your a dog lover. I have not read far enough to find out what happens to any dogs nor do I want to. I'm already not enjoying this so I figure it's best to bail now. DNF. No rating and will not be included in my reading challenge.
This book reads like Young Adult as we are in 13 year old Lila's head for the first four or five chapters that I read. In the background young girls are being brutally murdered. We are also offered a glimpse of Lila and her mother, Caroline's, odd relationship. Her mother is a famous artist that creates macabre sculptures and she's also a helicopter mom that won't even let her daughter shave her legs so she remains a good girl. Um, okay.
When I finally decided to close the cover to this is when I was told that the 13 year old girl and recent murder victim had her vagina slit in half and her nipple removed.
I am all for dark and bleak books but this seems like the author is going for shock value rather than a well written and cohesive story. The inconsistent tone was jarring to say the least. I decided to read a few other reviews to see if maybe it's just me when I saw several warnings to not read this if your a dog lover. I have not read far enough to find out what happens to any dogs nor do I want to. I'm already not enjoying this so I figure it's best to bail now. DNF. No rating and will not be included in my reading challenge.
October 31, 2021
Thank goodness for the rain....hours to read...and it is Halloween Eve🥺 This book is not for the faint of heart (Moi) It is a nightmare of delusions, which I would categorize as horror, but an ultimate thriller! Whatever you label it, just know it will get under your skin...it's creepy! The author is well crafted in how she wrote this multi-dimensional evil force. Some of the tension building was absorbing and disturbing, as if you are inhabiting all of the characters' minds.
2019- "There was blood in the water____ a dull pink bloom____the morning Lila Sawyer heard about the first missing girl." A serial killer "The Cur" has unleashed his fury on the hunt for teenage girls that are considered "troublemakers". He not only kills them, but he mutilates their bodies. Lila has a sweet desire and a pull to be bad without self control. She overhears her mom on the phone saying "It" has returned and history is repeating itself.
in 2004, Caroline, Lila's mom, had a foreboding feeling of what is to come. She is highly medicated for some grim occurrences. An artist in her adult life, she develops weird, dark art forms and encounters hallucinations. Now she has a daughter to be concerned with. "The girls fight against forces that try to silence them." It is unsettling and heart-stopping!
"For every mother who is haunted by what came before. And the two Js. Forever."
Be aware of the graphic content as some of it is very disturbing! It does have some anger issues in the teenage girls, but is crafted to build the tension.. Happy Halloween...SMILE and BEHAVE!!!
Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eGalley in exchange for my honest review!
2019- "There was blood in the water____ a dull pink bloom____the morning Lila Sawyer heard about the first missing girl." A serial killer "The Cur" has unleashed his fury on the hunt for teenage girls that are considered "troublemakers". He not only kills them, but he mutilates their bodies. Lila has a sweet desire and a pull to be bad without self control. She overhears her mom on the phone saying "It" has returned and history is repeating itself.
in 2004, Caroline, Lila's mom, had a foreboding feeling of what is to come. She is highly medicated for some grim occurrences. An artist in her adult life, she develops weird, dark art forms and encounters hallucinations. Now she has a daughter to be concerned with. "The girls fight against forces that try to silence them." It is unsettling and heart-stopping!
"For every mother who is haunted by what came before. And the two Js. Forever."
Be aware of the graphic content as some of it is very disturbing! It does have some anger issues in the teenage girls, but is crafted to build the tension.. Happy Halloween...SMILE and BEHAVE!!!
Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eGalley in exchange for my honest review!
January 12, 2022
There’s something out there that’s killing. Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.
Caroline Sawyer is a well-known artist in her local communities and also the loving, single parent of daughter Lila who happens to be thirteen years old, such a difficult age. Lila has always been an obedient and good child but lately she is unhappy with herself and is experiencing unsettling feelings of anger stirring within herself and also having trouble holding it in especially since she has been hearing a voice often whispering to her telling her to say and do some terrible things that normally she would never think of doing. Lila feels someone or something unnatural watching her from the shadows and also has been hearing dogs snarling and snapping close to her but whenever she turns around they are gone. What is happening to her?
Caroline is on edge with news of a few missing young girls close to their home and she thinks it has something to do with her past unfortunately she has repressed memories from her childhood yet understands she must uncover these lost memories because she has been feeling anxious and having a foreboding fear and feels it has to do with Lila but she doesn't have any clues why she feels this way but she will do everything in her power to save her precious daughter who is being tormented by her own secrets that she won't share with Caroline. Mother and daughter must somehow come together before the past catches up and overpowers both of them.
This was a very disturbing and unique horror story with a feminist twist. I was drawn in from the first paragraph and just couldn't stop reading even when some of the writing was difficult to process with some very graphic and horrifying passages. I originally thought maybe this was a book about mental illness but No, No, No this is a truly a well-done horror book and there is not one thing predictable about this story. Sometimes I thought I knew where the story was leading but I was wrong again. What a clever writer Kristi DeMeester is bringing fresh horror to the forefront that hasn't been written before. This book is terrifying, horrifying and also heartbreaking at times and I highly recommend it to any horror lover.
There are some warning triggers here: graphic violence, gore, some areas that may be offensive to dog lovers yet I'm a dog lover and didn't have a problem. Sexism isssues, language and some sexual situations of young girls. Pleas remember this is a horror book not a pretty gift wrapped fairy tale.
I want to thank the publisher "St. Martin's Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this terrific ARC and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!
I have given this frightening book a rating of 4 TERRIFYING AND DISTURBING 🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!
TITLE: Such A Pretty Smile
AUTHOR: Kristi DeMeester
PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Press
PUBLICATION DATE: January 18, 2022
Caroline Sawyer is a well-known artist in her local communities and also the loving, single parent of daughter Lila who happens to be thirteen years old, such a difficult age. Lila has always been an obedient and good child but lately she is unhappy with herself and is experiencing unsettling feelings of anger stirring within herself and also having trouble holding it in especially since she has been hearing a voice often whispering to her telling her to say and do some terrible things that normally she would never think of doing. Lila feels someone or something unnatural watching her from the shadows and also has been hearing dogs snarling and snapping close to her but whenever she turns around they are gone. What is happening to her?
Caroline is on edge with news of a few missing young girls close to their home and she thinks it has something to do with her past unfortunately she has repressed memories from her childhood yet understands she must uncover these lost memories because she has been feeling anxious and having a foreboding fear and feels it has to do with Lila but she doesn't have any clues why she feels this way but she will do everything in her power to save her precious daughter who is being tormented by her own secrets that she won't share with Caroline. Mother and daughter must somehow come together before the past catches up and overpowers both of them.
This was a very disturbing and unique horror story with a feminist twist. I was drawn in from the first paragraph and just couldn't stop reading even when some of the writing was difficult to process with some very graphic and horrifying passages. I originally thought maybe this was a book about mental illness but No, No, No this is a truly a well-done horror book and there is not one thing predictable about this story. Sometimes I thought I knew where the story was leading but I was wrong again. What a clever writer Kristi DeMeester is bringing fresh horror to the forefront that hasn't been written before. This book is terrifying, horrifying and also heartbreaking at times and I highly recommend it to any horror lover.
There are some warning triggers here: graphic violence, gore, some areas that may be offensive to dog lovers yet I'm a dog lover and didn't have a problem. Sexism isssues, language and some sexual situations of young girls. Pleas remember this is a horror book not a pretty gift wrapped fairy tale.
I want to thank the publisher "St. Martin's Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this terrific ARC and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!
I have given this frightening book a rating of 4 TERRIFYING AND DISTURBING 🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!
TITLE: Such A Pretty Smile
AUTHOR: Kristi DeMeester
PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Press
PUBLICATION DATE: January 18, 2022
December 18, 2022
There’s nothing pretty about Such a Pretty Smile. It’s brutal. In-your-face. Unapologetic.
For this, I admire the heck out of it.
Kristi DeMeester’s feminist horror novel is about the inexcusable epidemic of violence against women. It’s about how women are too often told to sit down and shut up. How we’re meant to know our place.
And yes, it’s graphic. Yes, it’s uncomfortable to read at times. But that’s the point. It should unsettle us. It should make us squirm.
What I struggled with, though, is the pacing of the story. After a riveting first act, the narrative stalls around the halfway mark. It’s like the story gets stuck in a rut and nothing much happens, and it frustrated me because I was beyond ready for something explosive to occur.
But the ending – I gotta hand it to DeMeester – she nails it. It’s all that I wanted: horrifying, poignant, and powerful.
Sign me up for DeMeester’s next book. I can’t wait to read what she has to say next.
My sincerest appreciation to Kristi DeMeester, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.
For this, I admire the heck out of it.
Kristi DeMeester’s feminist horror novel is about the inexcusable epidemic of violence against women. It’s about how women are too often told to sit down and shut up. How we’re meant to know our place.
And yes, it’s graphic. Yes, it’s uncomfortable to read at times. But that’s the point. It should unsettle us. It should make us squirm.
What I struggled with, though, is the pacing of the story. After a riveting first act, the narrative stalls around the halfway mark. It’s like the story gets stuck in a rut and nothing much happens, and it frustrated me because I was beyond ready for something explosive to occur.
But the ending – I gotta hand it to DeMeester – she nails it. It’s all that I wanted: horrifying, poignant, and powerful.
Sign me up for DeMeester’s next book. I can’t wait to read what she has to say next.
My sincerest appreciation to Kristi DeMeester, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.
December 17, 2021
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Jan. 18, 2022
Kristi DeMeester brings women’s issues to the forefront with her hauntingly chilling novel, “Such a Pretty Smile”. At first glance, it is novel about missing and murdered girls. Or mental illness. Or a dilapidated theme park full of dark creatures that go bump in the night. Or none of these, and yet all of them.
In 2004, Caroline Sawyer began to hear dogs growling everywhere; she began to see their dark shapes sneaking up on her, their jaws trying to tear her apart. After a terrifying incident at a theme park, Caroline is dismissed as “mentally unwell”, put on meds, and left with the belief that she is “crazy” and “unstable”. In 2019, Caroline’s daughter, Lila, is struggling to fit in, knowing that her mother is keeping secrets but unable to find the truth. But Lila, too, is keeping secrets. She sees a dark figure, hears growling, and hears the snap of sharp teeth. As Lila tries to cope with her changing world, young women around her are being abducted, their decimated bodies left to rot. Caroline’s biggest fear is her daughter becoming like her, and Lila’s biggest fear is becoming her mother, however the two have only each other to turn to when the scary ‘beast’ reappears, promising to destroy them.
“Smile” was well written and creative but I struggled with it. It is one of those novels where you need to look below the surface, reading the subtle cues and nuances that indicate a deeper meaning. I normally am okay with this type of novel, but it has to be done the right way, and “Smile” did not give me the outcome I was expecting. It has multiple plot points to follow, and each one could be the basis of its own novel.
The story is told in two timelines- Caroline, as a young girl and now, and Lila, in the present- with each chapter being narrated by one or the other. The chapters are clearly marked, so it is easy to identify who is telling their story, but that is about the only thing about this novel that is easy.
If this novel was just a paranormal story, full of things that go bump in the night, it would have been absolutely creepy. If it was about mental illness and the ways said illness is stigmatized and stuffed in a box, it would have been completely emotional and powerfully adept. As a story that proffers the ways in which females are often stereotyped and judged, it would have been thought-provoking. But to combine all of these, in such a bizarre way, the story missed the mark for me. I loved each plot line, but it didn’t need to be so convoluted. DeMeester has writing chops, that is obvious, but “Smile” left me confused.
Expected publication date: Jan. 18, 2022
Kristi DeMeester brings women’s issues to the forefront with her hauntingly chilling novel, “Such a Pretty Smile”. At first glance, it is novel about missing and murdered girls. Or mental illness. Or a dilapidated theme park full of dark creatures that go bump in the night. Or none of these, and yet all of them.
In 2004, Caroline Sawyer began to hear dogs growling everywhere; she began to see their dark shapes sneaking up on her, their jaws trying to tear her apart. After a terrifying incident at a theme park, Caroline is dismissed as “mentally unwell”, put on meds, and left with the belief that she is “crazy” and “unstable”. In 2019, Caroline’s daughter, Lila, is struggling to fit in, knowing that her mother is keeping secrets but unable to find the truth. But Lila, too, is keeping secrets. She sees a dark figure, hears growling, and hears the snap of sharp teeth. As Lila tries to cope with her changing world, young women around her are being abducted, their decimated bodies left to rot. Caroline’s biggest fear is her daughter becoming like her, and Lila’s biggest fear is becoming her mother, however the two have only each other to turn to when the scary ‘beast’ reappears, promising to destroy them.
“Smile” was well written and creative but I struggled with it. It is one of those novels where you need to look below the surface, reading the subtle cues and nuances that indicate a deeper meaning. I normally am okay with this type of novel, but it has to be done the right way, and “Smile” did not give me the outcome I was expecting. It has multiple plot points to follow, and each one could be the basis of its own novel.
The story is told in two timelines- Caroline, as a young girl and now, and Lila, in the present- with each chapter being narrated by one or the other. The chapters are clearly marked, so it is easy to identify who is telling their story, but that is about the only thing about this novel that is easy.
If this novel was just a paranormal story, full of things that go bump in the night, it would have been absolutely creepy. If it was about mental illness and the ways said illness is stigmatized and stuffed in a box, it would have been completely emotional and powerfully adept. As a story that proffers the ways in which females are often stereotyped and judged, it would have been thought-provoking. But to combine all of these, in such a bizarre way, the story missed the mark for me. I loved each plot line, but it didn’t need to be so convoluted. DeMeester has writing chops, that is obvious, but “Smile” left me confused.
Read
January 8, 2022I regret that Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester was my first DNF of 2022. After reading 53%, I quit because I felt the book was not for me. I will not be rating or reviewing it. This is only my opinion and I am sure that the book will appeal to most readers.
November 16, 2021
A common theme in this horror novel is men dismissing women as hysterical. Females are the problem and not males sexually harassing girls or older guys trying to have physical power over females or men being jealous of a woman’s talent. Females who fight back are abducted and killed by what some call The Cur, a sort of man-beast that comes around every fifteen years or so to keep women in line.
Caroline is a sculptor who has been on medication for years after being diagnosed as schizophrenic. She doesn’t remember anything about being abducted when she was 11 and found wandering around Jazzland, which was one of the many places destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Her thirteen-year-old daughter begins to have visions, too, but doesn’t want to tell anyone lest she be put on medication like her mother. Lila has every reason to be angry. Her father ignores her because he’s so consumed with his new wife and premature daughter and all of the medical issues that go along with being born too early.
I didn’t enjoy reading this book because I was furious with men and boys the whole time. The characters are fictional but what is described is painfully real—boys getting away with awful behavior in a way girls never can. The Cur is also fictional, but women’s behavior—how we dress, if we have the audacity to drink or god forbid get drunk, if we dare go outside at night—that’s our fault, not the men seeking out women in vulnerable states.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 18, 2022.
Caroline is a sculptor who has been on medication for years after being diagnosed as schizophrenic. She doesn’t remember anything about being abducted when she was 11 and found wandering around Jazzland, which was one of the many places destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Her thirteen-year-old daughter begins to have visions, too, but doesn’t want to tell anyone lest she be put on medication like her mother. Lila has every reason to be angry. Her father ignores her because he’s so consumed with his new wife and premature daughter and all of the medical issues that go along with being born too early.
I didn’t enjoy reading this book because I was furious with men and boys the whole time. The characters are fictional but what is described is painfully real—boys getting away with awful behavior in a way girls never can. The Cur is also fictional, but women’s behavior—how we dress, if we have the audacity to drink or god forbid get drunk, if we dare go outside at night—that’s our fault, not the men seeking out women in vulnerable states.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 18, 2022.
December 19, 2021
The book opens with the present-day perspective of a thirteen-year-old girl named Lila who’s going through the typical issues that you'd expect with a preteen. She has a crush on her best friend, who’s oblivious to her feelings. She's dealing with an overbearing mother. She's navigating changes to her body and the evolving expectations surrounding her femininity and womanhood. As if all this isn't complicated enough for a thirteen-year-old to handle, there’s also someone out there murdering young girls in a morbid fashion that mysteriously resembles a string of killings that occurred in New Orleans in 2004. Lila’s mother, Caroline, is terrified and overprotective of her daughter, and it’s clear that she knows more about the killings than she lets on…
In addition to Lila's present day POV, we're treated to another timeline–that of Caroline in 2004, when she lived in New Orleans. We follow her as she’s in a relationship with Lila’s father, working on her art, and dealing with her father’s illness, all while a serial killer is targeting young girls in her neighborhood. There is a lot of uncertainty and mystery surrounding the murders in both of the timelines. Is it the same person? A copycat? Or is it something else entirely?... One thing’s for sure–the killings are disturbing and gruesome and the reader can’t help but worry that Lila might become a victim, all the while wondering how Caroline might be involved with what went on back in 2004 and if she might be connected to what’s going on now.
This book is beautifully written and had me on the edge of my seat, gnawing at my fingernails. The atmosphere is mysterious and dark, and the confusion and dread that both protagonists feel throughout the novel radiates from every page. The author uses visceral language to best incite both fear and intrigue in the reader.
The novel is character-driven, and we dive deep into the troubled minds of Caroline and Lila. The story drew me in immediately, despite the slower pace. The twists are revealed gradually, and the slow pacing is quite effective, and never boring.
The entire book is a creepy metaphor that the author masterfully twisted to represent themes of feminism and what it's like to be a young woman in a patriarchal society. Even the title, “Such a Pretty Smile”, is revealed to be a nod to the way that men will often tell women to “smile” because it makes them prettier, a well known sexist expression. I can't comment too much on the way that the metaphor complements these themes without giving too much away. But if you're interested in reading a well-crafted literary horror, this book's for you!
I had a pretty good idea of where the story was going, but then I was thrown for a loop when the final twist was nothing like I’d expected. The conclusion perfectly encapsulates the feminist themes of the novel, exploring them at an even deeper level than I was expecting.
All that said, the book is never too heavy-handed with the metaphor. You can still enjoy the book at a surface level, blissfully ignoring the poignant themes and imagery, if you’re just looking for a spooky yarn that will stave off sleep for the next few days (okay, weeks).
I recommend this book to those who want a smart horror story that deals in disturbing, yet poignant metaphors and hauntingly beautiful language.
*Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ebook to review*
This review appeared first on https://powerlibrarian.wordpress.com/
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October 28, 2021
This book is one of the most odd horror novels that I've ever read, but I liked it! I still can't quite explain what I think this book was trying to create, but I guess it's one of those things (like rewatching the Dune movie) where I'll eventually understand more and more as I think about it.
Lila Sawyer and her mother Caroline live in Atlanta, Georgia, in an apartment together while her mother is an art professor at school nearby. Her mother is a local celebrity, a well-known sculpture artist, and a woman with a reputation. Lila is an average teenager who has some secrets of her own, but as she hits adolescence, her behavioral patterns begin to change. Lila is scared to divulge any of her secrets, and has a difficult time speaking of them with her father and his new wife or her mother. While the story takes place in 2019, the readers are also given glimpses into Lila's mother's life in 2004, before leaving Lila's father and living in New Orleans. Both Caroline and Lila's lives are intertwined by a similar threat, but people are not taking their fears seriously. Women are dying and bodies are piling up, but Caroline and Lila both have serious concerns as its affecting them both.
Go into this book with zero knowledge about what to expect. It's like supernatural wackiness of The Bright Lands infused with the psychological suspense of The Wife Between Us (it isn't a domestic thriller though, just stating it now). I really enjoyed seeing the story develop, but I think it'll take me some time to actually understand what exactly happened. Definitely a fun, wild ride, and if you enjoy horror novels, you'll enjoy Such a Pretty Smile .
Lila Sawyer and her mother Caroline live in Atlanta, Georgia, in an apartment together while her mother is an art professor at school nearby. Her mother is a local celebrity, a well-known sculpture artist, and a woman with a reputation. Lila is an average teenager who has some secrets of her own, but as she hits adolescence, her behavioral patterns begin to change. Lila is scared to divulge any of her secrets, and has a difficult time speaking of them with her father and his new wife or her mother. While the story takes place in 2019, the readers are also given glimpses into Lila's mother's life in 2004, before leaving Lila's father and living in New Orleans. Both Caroline and Lila's lives are intertwined by a similar threat, but people are not taking their fears seriously. Women are dying and bodies are piling up, but Caroline and Lila both have serious concerns as its affecting them both.
Go into this book with zero knowledge about what to expect. It's like supernatural wackiness of The Bright Lands infused with the psychological suspense of The Wife Between Us (it isn't a domestic thriller though, just stating it now). I really enjoyed seeing the story develop, but I think it'll take me some time to actually understand what exactly happened. Definitely a fun, wild ride, and if you enjoy horror novels, you'll enjoy Such a Pretty Smile .
Read
December 27, 2021(I don't rate with stars; just read the review)
Review originally published at Mystery & Suspense Magazine:
https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/su...
..
In the last two or three years, just under the surface of the modern horror fiction scene is a low-level buzz that grows stronger and stronger each day. It’s very exciting to both observe the way the buzz is shaping the industry and actively BE THE BUZZ.
A very exciting time for genre buffs. New, powerful voices are on the rise telling unique stories their way and for the first time, in a long time, the pathways to the top seem free of obstacles, gatekeepers, and road blocks. Kristi DeMeester is a storyteller I have long admired. Her novel, Beneath, was the first indie horror book I ever requested for review (thank you Word Horde!). After reading, I immediately dove into her short story collection, Everything That’s Underneath and that was it for me; a die-hard DeMeester fan for life.
Now here we are with Such A Pretty Smile. Let me set some early expectations, unpack my reading experience, and close with an invitation.
DeMeester’s storytelling is ferociously and unashamedly feminine. She explores themes of mother/daughter relationships, sexuality, body image, gender norms and biases, and the way society/culture inform or complicate/frustrate the female experience. Showing up to read Such A Pretty Smile is to expect these themes.
A small town is rocked when a missing girl is found murdered; her body ravaged. A local artist, Caroline Sawyer is triggered by these new reports–eerily similar to trauma she experienced in her past. Caroline’s daughter, Lilah, is going through a volatile season of adolescence, has a crush on a girl at school, and is troubled by strange visions.
The narrative follows both Caroline’s present-day situation and flashes back to 2004 as well as Lilah’s present day POV.
The overall atmosphere of this story is somewhere between the thick tension and suspense of an intricately plotted crime thriller and the figurative, often ambiguous work of speculative horror fiction. The mash-up can be frustrating at times as there is a real desire for concrete answers or explanations but Demeester unapologetically leaves things for the reader to sort out. The pacing is a bit troublesome as well, skating along fluidly and quickly at first but then tapering off toward the middle with a few full stops and starts before picking up again for the climax/ending. Those issues aside, I am over-the-moon ecstatic to read horror that answers the call for more stories from a woman’s perspective and detailing the issues we face, the predatory world we exist in, and the uniquely feminine horrors we go through. I’m here for any and all of it. I recommend this book to readers also looking to quench that fire within them–drink long and deeply from the wellspring DeMeester offers here. It’s very satisfying.
Review originally published at Mystery & Suspense Magazine:
https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/su...
..
In the last two or three years, just under the surface of the modern horror fiction scene is a low-level buzz that grows stronger and stronger each day. It’s very exciting to both observe the way the buzz is shaping the industry and actively BE THE BUZZ.
A very exciting time for genre buffs. New, powerful voices are on the rise telling unique stories their way and for the first time, in a long time, the pathways to the top seem free of obstacles, gatekeepers, and road blocks. Kristi DeMeester is a storyteller I have long admired. Her novel, Beneath, was the first indie horror book I ever requested for review (thank you Word Horde!). After reading, I immediately dove into her short story collection, Everything That’s Underneath and that was it for me; a die-hard DeMeester fan for life.
Now here we are with Such A Pretty Smile. Let me set some early expectations, unpack my reading experience, and close with an invitation.
DeMeester’s storytelling is ferociously and unashamedly feminine. She explores themes of mother/daughter relationships, sexuality, body image, gender norms and biases, and the way society/culture inform or complicate/frustrate the female experience. Showing up to read Such A Pretty Smile is to expect these themes.
A small town is rocked when a missing girl is found murdered; her body ravaged. A local artist, Caroline Sawyer is triggered by these new reports–eerily similar to trauma she experienced in her past. Caroline’s daughter, Lilah, is going through a volatile season of adolescence, has a crush on a girl at school, and is troubled by strange visions.
The narrative follows both Caroline’s present-day situation and flashes back to 2004 as well as Lilah’s present day POV.
The overall atmosphere of this story is somewhere between the thick tension and suspense of an intricately plotted crime thriller and the figurative, often ambiguous work of speculative horror fiction. The mash-up can be frustrating at times as there is a real desire for concrete answers or explanations but Demeester unapologetically leaves things for the reader to sort out. The pacing is a bit troublesome as well, skating along fluidly and quickly at first but then tapering off toward the middle with a few full stops and starts before picking up again for the climax/ending. Those issues aside, I am over-the-moon ecstatic to read horror that answers the call for more stories from a woman’s perspective and detailing the issues we face, the predatory world we exist in, and the uniquely feminine horrors we go through. I’m here for any and all of it. I recommend this book to readers also looking to quench that fire within them–drink long and deeply from the wellspring DeMeester offers here. It’s very satisfying.
January 20, 2022
Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester is a standalone horror novel. The story in this one is one that is told in two different timelines one in 2004 and one in 2019. Of course there are also changes to the point of view in the story too.
Back in 2004 Caroline Sawyer is an artist who is married when she begins to see and hear things no one else does. Caroline struggles with hearing dogs barking and a dog faced man hiding in the shadows watching her until she finally gets help and medicine to calm the nightmares.
In 2019 Lila Sawyer is wanting nothing more than some trust from her mother who uses protecting as an excuse to say no to everything. Lila doesn’t know of her mother’s past and why Caroline wants to protect her so much but when Lila goes behind her mother’s back and begins seeing the dog faced man herself the last thing she wants to do is admit it to her mother.
Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester seems to be one of those books that people are either loving or hating and somehow I found myself siding with both. There were times I was so engaged to the story that I thought I would end up loving this one but on the other hand I finished and felt letdown. To me the book almost worked but missed something there to make that come together and while I didn’t dislike it completely I did come away feeling I needed more and also seeing why others were disappointed.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
Back in 2004 Caroline Sawyer is an artist who is married when she begins to see and hear things no one else does. Caroline struggles with hearing dogs barking and a dog faced man hiding in the shadows watching her until she finally gets help and medicine to calm the nightmares.
In 2019 Lila Sawyer is wanting nothing more than some trust from her mother who uses protecting as an excuse to say no to everything. Lila doesn’t know of her mother’s past and why Caroline wants to protect her so much but when Lila goes behind her mother’s back and begins seeing the dog faced man herself the last thing she wants to do is admit it to her mother.
Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester seems to be one of those books that people are either loving or hating and somehow I found myself siding with both. There were times I was so engaged to the story that I thought I would end up loving this one but on the other hand I finished and felt letdown. To me the book almost worked but missed something there to make that come together and while I didn’t dislike it completely I did come away feeling I needed more and also seeing why others were disappointed.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
September 15, 2021
This is one that grew on me more and more as I read it.
I ended up loving the darkness and the fury of it all. The story is grim, but the message about not being tamed is just about everything.
I’ll admit, though, that my love for it grew slowly. At first, things that should have been secret were all too obvious to me. I still don’t know whether the author intended to try to hide these things or not, but that was a little unsuccessful for me.
However, I kept at it and was glad that I did.
Hidden among the obvious were things I didn’t anticipate and I loved the reason behind everything, even as I wanted to weep for some of the characters.
A good and ultimately surprising read.
*ARC via Net Galley
February 17, 2023
Damn that was crazy!! And stressful, rage inducing, and trippy. This is a book that will leave you deeply frustrated, which is the point, but it made for some difficult reading at times.
December 19, 2021
SUCH A PRETTY SMILE by Kristi DeMeester
An immersive psychological thriller told through the eyes of Caroline Sawyer and her daughter Lila … stressing the misogyny of women, and warped societal expectations of normalcy in gender. Lila’s point of view is the present …. while Caroline’s is not only now but in 2004 New Orleans. This affords the reader insight not only into actions and motivation of Caroline … but, more importantly the mortar that built Lila. Teenage girls are being murdered and ravaged and mutilated. As the body count mounts, it is assumed a serial killer is menacing Atlanta, the present home of Lila. The similarities to the decades old killings of The Cur, immediately draws attention …. the same killer resurfacing or a copycat? Lila is unaware of her mother’s past in New Orleans. The true history of her mother’s meeting and marrying her father, Daniel, and her mother’s abrupt departure and divorce. Traumatic events occurring in New Orleans, and especially Jazzland are alluded to …. but, never explained. Her mother is a beautiful and talented artist, while Lila is somewhat plain, not talented, nor brilliant in her studies . Her sculptures are sought after … although they create a feeling of disquiet, and are even considered vile, threatening and macabre. They are formed of natural materials and throwaway items that Caroline finds on her frequent walks. Through Caroline’s point of view from the present and 2004, the history of Caroline, Daniel and their individual problems and foibles are unspooled.
DeMeester weaves a disturbing tale of escalating dread and tension using graphic imagery.
She successfully explores many feminist themes. The reader is kept guessing who the real victims are through intense visceral language and intricate plotting. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review…. at readers remains.com
An immersive psychological thriller told through the eyes of Caroline Sawyer and her daughter Lila … stressing the misogyny of women, and warped societal expectations of normalcy in gender. Lila’s point of view is the present …. while Caroline’s is not only now but in 2004 New Orleans. This affords the reader insight not only into actions and motivation of Caroline … but, more importantly the mortar that built Lila. Teenage girls are being murdered and ravaged and mutilated. As the body count mounts, it is assumed a serial killer is menacing Atlanta, the present home of Lila. The similarities to the decades old killings of The Cur, immediately draws attention …. the same killer resurfacing or a copycat? Lila is unaware of her mother’s past in New Orleans. The true history of her mother’s meeting and marrying her father, Daniel, and her mother’s abrupt departure and divorce. Traumatic events occurring in New Orleans, and especially Jazzland are alluded to …. but, never explained. Her mother is a beautiful and talented artist, while Lila is somewhat plain, not talented, nor brilliant in her studies . Her sculptures are sought after … although they create a feeling of disquiet, and are even considered vile, threatening and macabre. They are formed of natural materials and throwaway items that Caroline finds on her frequent walks. Through Caroline’s point of view from the present and 2004, the history of Caroline, Daniel and their individual problems and foibles are unspooled.
DeMeester weaves a disturbing tale of escalating dread and tension using graphic imagery.
She successfully explores many feminist themes. The reader is kept guessing who the real victims are through intense visceral language and intricate plotting. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review…. at readers remains.com
October 15, 2022
The thing inside her was fully awake now, and she wondered if this was what it was like to be possessed. It wasn't so bad. Like she could feel and say the things she'd always wanted to but had never been allowed. Like finally taking a breath after spending a lifetime buried under what other people wanted. pg. 264
This book was a horror novel, it's been so long since I've read one. It was nice stepping into horror again.
SYNOPSIS
Lila Sawyer is a 13-year-old lesbian with a crush on her best friend Macie, who is a boy-crazy asshole. Really cannot understand why Lila is so into this girl, she's a horrible person. Lila is also dealing with some dark thoughts and desires, perhaps coming into existence because of a serial killer reappearing after 15 years. His name is The Cur and he mutilates and kills pre-pubescent tween girls (say age 11-14).
Lila's mom, Caroline, is an artist of dark, scary 'weird' sculptures involving things she finds on her nature walks. She's also a paranoid schizophrenic and Lila is terrified she is going to end up like her mother. Lila's dad is an absent asshole who honestly should never have become a father, he's a shitty father.
HIGHLIGHTS
Sounds interesting, right? Fascinating premise. There's a lot to analyze here.
WEREWOLVES: The book is If you like that sort of thing, you might like this. I was really hoping but alas, that was not the case.
As a side note, if you are sensitive to dead dogs, violence against dogs (it's not exactly what you're thinking, pretty much 100% of dogs in here are portrayed as evil), and dogs being portrayed as evil and scary... you may not want to read this.
ATMOSPHERE AND VIBES: This is a horror entry, DeMeester doesn't hold back. Atmosphere-heavy, horror-vibe-heavy. Expect chills. Perfect October read. Deeply dark and dripping with all the creepy vibes.
The smell hit her first. Underneath the sharp bite of the whiskey was the foul stink of urine and shit, and she brought her hand to her mouth. A pair of eyes reflected back at her.
"Lila?" she said, and the girl looked at her and opened her mouth wide and wide and wide. pg. 146
Not only is the book dark and full of creepiness, but there's honest-to-God, King-style horror in here. You will be sickened. You will be creeped out. You WILL be wondering what the fuck is going on.
Lots of good horror scenes in here: some highlights are when Lila spies on Macie, when Lila confronts Macie in the theater bathroom, and classic horror when Caroline is in the Kellum house with (possibly insane) Beth.
Expect classic horror, chilling horror, like "I have a secret I want to show you." "I see something in the basement that only appears when the lights are off." and "I can't remember what I was doing for the past three hours - I must have blacked out. Now why is there blood all over the floor?"
If you like this sort of stuff (I love it) you will be thrilled. Stephen King vibes, although she doesn't execute as cleanly as King. But she's talented and it shows.
...and reached for the light, but when it turned off, she saw it. A dark form hunched in the corner, shoulders curved forward as if it could hide itself, as if she would not see it if it kept very, very still. Her breath caught in her throat, and she squinted into the gloom. It was nothing. A shadow.
She flipped the light back on, and the form vanished, the corner only a corner. Her heart hammering, she switched the light off once more, and the shadow reappeared, but it was closer, and in the darkness, she thought she saw a mouth open, long teeth reflecting back the light pouring from the top of the stairs. pg. 220
BRUSHES UP AGAINST SOMETHING POWERFUL:
DeMeester doesn't actually end up going through with this, so the ending was a let-down, but there are some powerful scenes in here, mostly involving Lila mouthing-off to people and fantasizing about hurting or killing them.
The absolute best scene (IMO) in the whole book is when but alas, that kind of glorious hellbent justice only happens once in the entire novel, even though it seems like the whole book is foreplay and buildup to a beautiful, violent event at the end where women and justice prevail. SPOILER:
Andrew was sitting at her table when she walked into science. He'd pulled the chair to the very edge, his backpack thrust into the aisle, his body arching away from her. His fingers white-knuckled and straining as he gripped the table so there was no chance he'd touch her. Even by accident. Like she'd stain him just by breathing the same air.
"Hey," she said even though she really didn't want to, and he grunted and lifted his chin. She could smell the fear rolling off of him. Great, stinking waves of it, and SHE had been the one to make him afraid. The invisible girl. She wanted to open her mouth and breathe in his apprehension. Let it roll over her tongue like some forbidden luxury. Men were not frightened by women. Women were not meant to be fearsome. These were the rules Lila had grown up understanding, and there was delight in breaking them.
Lila knew she shouldn't think things like this; knew these were not things NICE girls thought about. She should apologize; the rules she'd upended put back in place. Girls who disturbed the natural order were supposed to say sorry. But she liked feeling this way. All squirmy and excited and as if she couldn't catch her breath. It was the same way she'd felt when she'd finally unloaded all her anger on Macie, and it felt strong and powerful. She wasn't sure she wanted it to go away again even if it did mess everything up. pg. 154
LOWLIGHTS
Sigh.
REALLY DOES NOT DELIVER ON THE ENDING: I was hoping for some kind of righteous fury. I was hoping for some kind of I was hoping for the women, shown as weak (if not naturally, than forced to be weak by the patriarchy) to rise up and violently serve up bloody retribution to all the creepers in this book. Alas, this is not what DeMeester was getting at. I was disappointed, but if your hopes didn't align with mine, perhaps you'd be fine with it.
SPELLS OUT THE ENDING, PREACHY: I really appreciate feminist horror, and this is definitely a feminist text or trying hard to make some hard-hitting points about the patriarchy and feminism. Unfortunately, not only does DeMeester shy away from some sort of glorious bloodbath ending in which , instead it ends with a whimper and
I am also not a fan, especially after getting done reading Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, of authors spoon feeding you exactly what to think and feel. The ending on this one was so spelled-out and so explainy in a way that felt fake.
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE:
LESBIANISM:
I couldn't figure out exactly what DeMeester's point was about lesbianism. Lila being a lesbian was no accident. I spent the whole book thinking perhaps she could Perhaps lesbianism was being presented as a superpower? No, not the case. Maybe that was DeMeester's point though, and I'm just not appreciating it because it was a case of Too Little Too Late.
Was she trying to make some sort of point about masculinity as presented by the patriarchy? Hmmmm, that Lila's violent fantasies about Macie were because, as a lesbian, she wants to dominate and subjugate women the same way men do and the patriarchy encourages? Is she trying to say that lycanthropy is inherently toxic masculinity? Or that wanting to fuck a woman means, on some level, wanting to rape and kill her? That putting Lila in the position of a predator, not only someone who is violent and willing to hurt others but also a sexual predator who - because she's sexually attracted to women - also wants to dominate and hurt and abuse in some way? I don't know, it's unclear.
Is she trying to say that lesbianism really pisses men off and angers them and they want to kill lesbians as punishment for not wanting to fuck men? Again, unclear.
You could write a whole thesis on this, IDK, there are about a thousand interpretations and even though I was unhappy with DeMeester's let-me-sit-you-down-and-explain-everything-to-you ending, this part was unexplained and that also made me unhappy. Can't win with me, I guess.
TL;DR Dark, atmospheric, creepy book. Genuine horror novel, not trying to be anything else. The misstep is DeMeester being too preachy about feminism, and, in a lesser way, racism. You can write brilliant feminist and anti-racist horror texts, the ground is fertile for these sorts of things. But she is too heavy-handed, especially at the finale. She spells everything out and it's annoying. And she goes for a more typical horror ending instead of making I would have liked to have actually SEEN that on page.
I'm grading DeMeester on my expectations and my wishes, so take it with a grain of salt. It's still a good book. Just not what I was hoping for deep in my heart.
Great writing - atmospheric and creepy. DeMeester is no slouch, I'd even compare her to Stephen King - high praise - but unfortunately I'd also compare her to R.F. Kuang - which is an insult. She botches the ending, IMO. Even if I accept the story as she presented it, still disappointed , she could have delivered on a kickass ending that took my breathe away. Instead, we got this. *shrug*
Having a teenage dirtbag character who is female is fascinating. There's a lot of fascinating things in this book, it's a great premise and pretty close to being an A+ book, but it misses the mark by an inch or two.
I WOULD ABSOLUTELY READ ANOTHER BOOK BY HER
I think she has great potential. Bring it on. I'd read it.
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT?
Absolutely. If you are a horror fan, absolutely. I'm obviously highly critical and nit-picking by complaining that the book could have been better, doesn't mean it wasn't good and didn't deserve props. Not my favorite, but so, so, so close to being a five-star. If not for the let-down of an ending it would have been five-stars for me, and maybe it is five stars for you.
RELATED READING/WATCHING:
Rose Madder by Stephen King
Ginger Snaps https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210070/
Blood Moon https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265752/
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
NAMES IN THIS BOOK
This book was a horror novel, it's been so long since I've read one. It was nice stepping into horror again.
SYNOPSIS
Lila Sawyer is a 13-year-old lesbian with a crush on her best friend Macie, who is a boy-crazy asshole. Really cannot understand why Lila is so into this girl, she's a horrible person. Lila is also dealing with some dark thoughts and desires, perhaps coming into existence because of a serial killer reappearing after 15 years. His name is The Cur and he mutilates and kills pre-pubescent tween girls (say age 11-14).
Lila's mom, Caroline, is an artist of dark, scary 'weird' sculptures involving things she finds on her nature walks. She's also a paranoid schizophrenic and Lila is terrified she is going to end up like her mother. Lila's dad is an absent asshole who honestly should never have become a father, he's a shitty father.
HIGHLIGHTS
Sounds interesting, right? Fascinating premise. There's a lot to analyze here.
WEREWOLVES: The book is If you like that sort of thing, you might like this. I was really hoping but alas, that was not the case.
As a side note, if you are sensitive to dead dogs, violence against dogs (it's not exactly what you're thinking, pretty much 100% of dogs in here are portrayed as evil), and dogs being portrayed as evil and scary... you may not want to read this.
ATMOSPHERE AND VIBES: This is a horror entry, DeMeester doesn't hold back. Atmosphere-heavy, horror-vibe-heavy. Expect chills. Perfect October read. Deeply dark and dripping with all the creepy vibes.
The smell hit her first. Underneath the sharp bite of the whiskey was the foul stink of urine and shit, and she brought her hand to her mouth. A pair of eyes reflected back at her.
"Lila?" she said, and the girl looked at her and opened her mouth wide and wide and wide. pg. 146
Not only is the book dark and full of creepiness, but there's honest-to-God, King-style horror in here. You will be sickened. You will be creeped out. You WILL be wondering what the fuck is going on.
Lots of good horror scenes in here: some highlights are when Lila spies on Macie, when Lila confronts Macie in the theater bathroom, and classic horror when Caroline is in the Kellum house with (possibly insane) Beth.
Expect classic horror, chilling horror, like "I have a secret I want to show you." "I see something in the basement that only appears when the lights are off." and "I can't remember what I was doing for the past three hours - I must have blacked out. Now why is there blood all over the floor?"
If you like this sort of stuff (I love it) you will be thrilled. Stephen King vibes, although she doesn't execute as cleanly as King. But she's talented and it shows.
...and reached for the light, but when it turned off, she saw it. A dark form hunched in the corner, shoulders curved forward as if it could hide itself, as if she would not see it if it kept very, very still. Her breath caught in her throat, and she squinted into the gloom. It was nothing. A shadow.
She flipped the light back on, and the form vanished, the corner only a corner. Her heart hammering, she switched the light off once more, and the shadow reappeared, but it was closer, and in the darkness, she thought she saw a mouth open, long teeth reflecting back the light pouring from the top of the stairs. pg. 220
BRUSHES UP AGAINST SOMETHING POWERFUL:
DeMeester doesn't actually end up going through with this, so the ending was a let-down, but there are some powerful scenes in here, mostly involving Lila mouthing-off to people and fantasizing about hurting or killing them.
The absolute best scene (IMO) in the whole book is when but alas, that kind of glorious hellbent justice only happens once in the entire novel, even though it seems like the whole book is foreplay and buildup to a beautiful, violent event at the end where women and justice prevail. SPOILER:
Andrew was sitting at her table when she walked into science. He'd pulled the chair to the very edge, his backpack thrust into the aisle, his body arching away from her. His fingers white-knuckled and straining as he gripped the table so there was no chance he'd touch her. Even by accident. Like she'd stain him just by breathing the same air.
"Hey," she said even though she really didn't want to, and he grunted and lifted his chin. She could smell the fear rolling off of him. Great, stinking waves of it, and SHE had been the one to make him afraid. The invisible girl. She wanted to open her mouth and breathe in his apprehension. Let it roll over her tongue like some forbidden luxury. Men were not frightened by women. Women were not meant to be fearsome. These were the rules Lila had grown up understanding, and there was delight in breaking them.
Lila knew she shouldn't think things like this; knew these were not things NICE girls thought about. She should apologize; the rules she'd upended put back in place. Girls who disturbed the natural order were supposed to say sorry. But she liked feeling this way. All squirmy and excited and as if she couldn't catch her breath. It was the same way she'd felt when she'd finally unloaded all her anger on Macie, and it felt strong and powerful. She wasn't sure she wanted it to go away again even if it did mess everything up. pg. 154
LOWLIGHTS
Sigh.
REALLY DOES NOT DELIVER ON THE ENDING: I was hoping for some kind of righteous fury. I was hoping for some kind of I was hoping for the women, shown as weak (if not naturally, than forced to be weak by the patriarchy) to rise up and violently serve up bloody retribution to all the creepers in this book. Alas, this is not what DeMeester was getting at. I was disappointed, but if your hopes didn't align with mine, perhaps you'd be fine with it.
SPELLS OUT THE ENDING, PREACHY: I really appreciate feminist horror, and this is definitely a feminist text or trying hard to make some hard-hitting points about the patriarchy and feminism. Unfortunately, not only does DeMeester shy away from some sort of glorious bloodbath ending in which , instead it ends with a whimper and
I am also not a fan, especially after getting done reading Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, of authors spoon feeding you exactly what to think and feel. The ending on this one was so spelled-out and so explainy in a way that felt fake.
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE:
LESBIANISM:
I couldn't figure out exactly what DeMeester's point was about lesbianism. Lila being a lesbian was no accident. I spent the whole book thinking perhaps she could Perhaps lesbianism was being presented as a superpower? No, not the case. Maybe that was DeMeester's point though, and I'm just not appreciating it because it was a case of Too Little Too Late.
Was she trying to make some sort of point about masculinity as presented by the patriarchy? Hmmmm, that Lila's violent fantasies about Macie were because, as a lesbian, she wants to dominate and subjugate women the same way men do and the patriarchy encourages? Is she trying to say that lycanthropy is inherently toxic masculinity? Or that wanting to fuck a woman means, on some level, wanting to rape and kill her? That putting Lila in the position of a predator, not only someone who is violent and willing to hurt others but also a sexual predator who - because she's sexually attracted to women - also wants to dominate and hurt and abuse in some way? I don't know, it's unclear.
Is she trying to say that lesbianism really pisses men off and angers them and they want to kill lesbians as punishment for not wanting to fuck men? Again, unclear.
You could write a whole thesis on this, IDK, there are about a thousand interpretations and even though I was unhappy with DeMeester's let-me-sit-you-down-and-explain-everything-to-you ending, this part was unexplained and that also made me unhappy. Can't win with me, I guess.
TL;DR Dark, atmospheric, creepy book. Genuine horror novel, not trying to be anything else. The misstep is DeMeester being too preachy about feminism, and, in a lesser way, racism. You can write brilliant feminist and anti-racist horror texts, the ground is fertile for these sorts of things. But she is too heavy-handed, especially at the finale. She spells everything out and it's annoying. And she goes for a more typical horror ending instead of making I would have liked to have actually SEEN that on page.
I'm grading DeMeester on my expectations and my wishes, so take it with a grain of salt. It's still a good book. Just not what I was hoping for deep in my heart.
Great writing - atmospheric and creepy. DeMeester is no slouch, I'd even compare her to Stephen King - high praise - but unfortunately I'd also compare her to R.F. Kuang - which is an insult. She botches the ending, IMO. Even if I accept the story as she presented it, still disappointed , she could have delivered on a kickass ending that took my breathe away. Instead, we got this. *shrug*
Having a teenage dirtbag character who is female is fascinating. There's a lot of fascinating things in this book, it's a great premise and pretty close to being an A+ book, but it misses the mark by an inch or two.
I WOULD ABSOLUTELY READ ANOTHER BOOK BY HER
I think she has great potential. Bring it on. I'd read it.
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT?
Absolutely. If you are a horror fan, absolutely. I'm obviously highly critical and nit-picking by complaining that the book could have been better, doesn't mean it wasn't good and didn't deserve props. Not my favorite, but so, so, so close to being a five-star. If not for the let-down of an ending it would have been five-stars for me, and maybe it is five stars for you.
RELATED READING/WATCHING:
Rose Madder by Stephen King
Ginger Snaps https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210070/
Blood Moon https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265752/
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
NAMES IN THIS BOOK
January 19, 2022
I have such mixed up feelings about this book - purely on the qualification that art is meant to make you think, this would be a winner. Sorry book, it's more complicated than that.
Alternating between Lila in 2019 and Caroline in 2004, Such a Pretty Smile tells two stories - one of an artist fearful of losing her mind and dismissed at every turn by the men around her, and one of a teenager encountering her own dark side and being drawn to it. It absolutely intrigued me, and the writing style was easy to read - it kept me speeding through.
But there's some definite dings. The misogyny encountered is cartoonish for the most part, too much a stereotype - one or two exaggerations might have been more tolerable, but every encounter is a caricature of a Terrible Man. In case you need an example, here's one in spoiler tags:
This is probably the worst interaction, but it's not by much, and they really added up in a relatively short book. The ending, too, felt rushed, and kind of a let down - that one, though, I'm more willing to chalk up to just a mismatch between me as a reader and the book.
All in all, I don't think this is a bad book, but certainly a muddled one, though there's reasons for that in the story. It was, though, definitely not one that suited me personally.
Alternating between Lila in 2019 and Caroline in 2004, Such a Pretty Smile tells two stories - one of an artist fearful of losing her mind and dismissed at every turn by the men around her, and one of a teenager encountering her own dark side and being drawn to it. It absolutely intrigued me, and the writing style was easy to read - it kept me speeding through.
But there's some definite dings. The misogyny encountered is cartoonish for the most part, too much a stereotype - one or two exaggerations might have been more tolerable, but every encounter is a caricature of a Terrible Man. In case you need an example, here's one in spoiler tags:
This is probably the worst interaction, but it's not by much, and they really added up in a relatively short book. The ending, too, felt rushed, and kind of a let down - that one, though, I'm more willing to chalk up to just a mismatch between me as a reader and the book.
All in all, I don't think this is a bad book, but certainly a muddled one, though there's reasons for that in the story. It was, though, definitely not one that suited me personally.
January 14, 2022
Such A Pretty Smile is a devastating and unflinching look at the way women are forced to make themselves smaller, quieter, nicer - all that nonsense - so men can feel better about themselves and it may fill you with rage. It is a horror novel/thriller/mystery hybrid and it has some very graphic content. Prepare yourself.
This was a tough book for me at this time. I’m sure others in a different headspace will have a better time with it. It had such a pall of despair and fury and frustration over the entire story. I realized once I was midway through that it wasn’t the best choice for me at this moment in time but I kept going. I don't know why I'm like this. Anyhow, our family just suffered a huge loss due to a cruel illness and, well, this one cut deeper than it might've five years ago. One of the main characters is watching her beloved father slowly disappear due to illness and it's incredibly sad, worse so when you realize that she truly has no support system to help her through things.
So this book is about a mother and daughter plagued by men and also haunted by a specter who lurks in the shadows, looming over them at their most emotional moments. There is also a killer of young ladies called "The Cur" that is running amuck and dredging up more pain for one of the characters. I enjoyed the way this story was told. It leaves you feeling off kilter, slightly questioning events but in the end it all comes together most excellently.
Several of the chapters were a bit draggy and left me with a few images I’d like to scrub from my brain. It might've been me or it might've been the story. I'm not sure so don't take my word for it. As I said, my head is in a weird place. But there were also many chapters that I couldn’t read fast enough. The majority of the story made me feel angry and upset and I suppose that means it was effective in what it did but, ugh, I need something with a touch of humor now before I tumble into a pit of despair.
This is a review of my personal reading experience. Yours may differ. Don't be blaming me if it does!
Content warning:
This was a tough book for me at this time. I’m sure others in a different headspace will have a better time with it. It had such a pall of despair and fury and frustration over the entire story. I realized once I was midway through that it wasn’t the best choice for me at this moment in time but I kept going. I don't know why I'm like this. Anyhow, our family just suffered a huge loss due to a cruel illness and, well, this one cut deeper than it might've five years ago. One of the main characters is watching her beloved father slowly disappear due to illness and it's incredibly sad, worse so when you realize that she truly has no support system to help her through things.
So this book is about a mother and daughter plagued by men and also haunted by a specter who lurks in the shadows, looming over them at their most emotional moments. There is also a killer of young ladies called "The Cur" that is running amuck and dredging up more pain for one of the characters. I enjoyed the way this story was told. It leaves you feeling off kilter, slightly questioning events but in the end it all comes together most excellently.
Several of the chapters were a bit draggy and left me with a few images I’d like to scrub from my brain. It might've been me or it might've been the story. I'm not sure so don't take my word for it. As I said, my head is in a weird place. But there were also many chapters that I couldn’t read fast enough. The majority of the story made me feel angry and upset and I suppose that means it was effective in what it did but, ugh, I need something with a touch of humor now before I tumble into a pit of despair.
This is a review of my personal reading experience. Yours may differ. Don't be blaming me if it does!
Content warning:
Read
December 18, 2021Source of book: NetGalley (thank you!)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
I admired this book more than I liked it, but that really is down to personal taste because this is a genuinely polished and impressive piece of writing, and the last thing I want to do is make the book a victim of my decision to read more widely. It’s as tautly structured as a thriller, woven around a dark coming-of-age story, with horror elements that were sufficiently, err, horror-ey that I had to stop reading it in the dark. Though, of course, the true horror here is the patriarchy.
The basic setup here is that the book jumps between 2004 and 2019, uniting the story of 13-year-old Lila, struggling with her identity and being 13 in a small town, with that of her artist mother, Caroline, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2004 when she started seeing shadowy dog-men figures and hear the snarling of dogs. Further bridging both timelines is a serial killer, known only as The Cur, who preys on young girls, leaving only their brutally torn-up bodies behind.
So, yeah. All the trigger warnings for violence, sexual violence, gaslighting, emotional manipulation, and sexual assault. As I say, this is a powerful book (especially in the current climate considering the bodily autonomy of people with uteruses is very much under scrutiny), that uses its horror elements very effectively to interrogate the mechanisms (social, familial, political, cultural, institutional) which we use to control women, and young women especially. It’s just, y’know, not exactly enjoyable, given the themes. The writing, though, phew. There are some passages that literally raised the hairs on my arms.
Ambitious, chilling, and timely.
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
I admired this book more than I liked it, but that really is down to personal taste because this is a genuinely polished and impressive piece of writing, and the last thing I want to do is make the book a victim of my decision to read more widely. It’s as tautly structured as a thriller, woven around a dark coming-of-age story, with horror elements that were sufficiently, err, horror-ey that I had to stop reading it in the dark. Though, of course, the true horror here is the patriarchy.
The basic setup here is that the book jumps between 2004 and 2019, uniting the story of 13-year-old Lila, struggling with her identity and being 13 in a small town, with that of her artist mother, Caroline, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2004 when she started seeing shadowy dog-men figures and hear the snarling of dogs. Further bridging both timelines is a serial killer, known only as The Cur, who preys on young girls, leaving only their brutally torn-up bodies behind.
So, yeah. All the trigger warnings for violence, sexual violence, gaslighting, emotional manipulation, and sexual assault. As I say, this is a powerful book (especially in the current climate considering the bodily autonomy of people with uteruses is very much under scrutiny), that uses its horror elements very effectively to interrogate the mechanisms (social, familial, political, cultural, institutional) which we use to control women, and young women especially. It’s just, y’know, not exactly enjoyable, given the themes. The writing, though, phew. There are some passages that literally raised the hairs on my arms.
Ambitious, chilling, and timely.
November 15, 2021
The whole time I was reading this, all I could think is “what on earth am I reading here?”. It took me until about the halfway point to even start to understand what all this stuff about dogs, murders and an amusement park had to do with anything. Whether that’s because of me or the book is to be determined…
Caroline Sawyer and her daughter, Lila, are our two protagonists. Something terrible happened to Caroline when she was young, and it still leaves her with nightmares and trauma. Young girls in New Orleans were being brutally killed, but she somehow survived. Fifteen years later, “The Cur” seems to be back, taking more young girls. Now Caroline is not only reliving the fears of her youth, she also has new fears that her daughter is in danger.
I liked some parts of this, I thought other parts were confusing, and I thought the horror component was lacking something (plus this had werewolf/vampire vibes and I’m not into that). This one threw me for a loop; I really liked the underlying theme of female empowerment, and the writing was stellar. The writing was the only thing keeping me going through some parts though, as the plot just didn’t do it for me.
I’m giving this 2.5 stars, rounded up because the writing style really was phenomenal, and the ending is good. I’d definitely be willing to give this author another try with a different story.
(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Kristi DeMeester, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)
Caroline Sawyer and her daughter, Lila, are our two protagonists. Something terrible happened to Caroline when she was young, and it still leaves her with nightmares and trauma. Young girls in New Orleans were being brutally killed, but she somehow survived. Fifteen years later, “The Cur” seems to be back, taking more young girls. Now Caroline is not only reliving the fears of her youth, she also has new fears that her daughter is in danger.
I liked some parts of this, I thought other parts were confusing, and I thought the horror component was lacking something (plus this had werewolf/vampire vibes and I’m not into that). This one threw me for a loop; I really liked the underlying theme of female empowerment, and the writing was stellar. The writing was the only thing keeping me going through some parts though, as the plot just didn’t do it for me.
I’m giving this 2.5 stars, rounded up because the writing style really was phenomenal, and the ending is good. I’d definitely be willing to give this author another try with a different story.
(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Kristi DeMeester, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)
January 16, 2022
3.0 Stars
I absolutely loved the premise of this one so I was hoping this would be a new favourite. I loved the author's first novel, Beneath, but I was underwhelmed.
This sophomore novel felt much more polished than her debut novel, which felt a bit more fragmented and raw. Unfortunately, in that polishing, I felt the narrative lost it's bite. I loved the criticisms surrounding the roles of of women in society, but I felt the story played it too safe.
I went into this book with impossibly high expectations so I would still encourage readers to try this for themselves if they are intrigued by the premise.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I absolutely loved the premise of this one so I was hoping this would be a new favourite. I loved the author's first novel, Beneath, but I was underwhelmed.
This sophomore novel felt much more polished than her debut novel, which felt a bit more fragmented and raw. Unfortunately, in that polishing, I felt the narrative lost it's bite. I loved the criticisms surrounding the roles of of women in society, but I felt the story played it too safe.
I went into this book with impossibly high expectations so I would still encourage readers to try this for themselves if they are intrigued by the premise.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
October 19, 2021
I found this book to be really strange and can't decide if I liked it or not. It felt like a stretch that it was touted as being about "powerful women being brought down by men" - almost like the book was written and then the author went back and tried to give it some political meaning. That just didn't land for me. That being said, it was scary at times and I love anything that takes place in an abandoned theme park.
The story goes back and forth between the POVs of 13 year old Lila in current time, and her mother Caroline,, 13-14 years ago. I liked the switching of POVs though I can't say I identified with either character that much. I am normally more of a psychological thriller reader than a horror reader, and struggled a bit with suspending my disbelief when all is revealed. I also thought that there were a few parts of the story that were just confusing. Despite that, the book was fast-paced and I liked the creepiness of the setting.
Overall, I can't say I would recommend the book but I am clearly in the minority when I read other reviews. I think I would have liked it better if it was just a horror book and wasn't trying to be anything else. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story goes back and forth between the POVs of 13 year old Lila in current time, and her mother Caroline,, 13-14 years ago. I liked the switching of POVs though I can't say I identified with either character that much. I am normally more of a psychological thriller reader than a horror reader, and struggled a bit with suspending my disbelief when all is revealed. I also thought that there were a few parts of the story that were just confusing. Despite that, the book was fast-paced and I liked the creepiness of the setting.
Overall, I can't say I would recommend the book but I am clearly in the minority when I read other reviews. I think I would have liked it better if it was just a horror book and wasn't trying to be anything else. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 19, 2022
This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/
This is a hard book to review. On one hand, I was able to read most of the book in a single day and never felt the need to set it aside. On the other hand, this book is weird and I was really counting on the ending to make the journey worthwhile but instead, it was a huge disappointment. I liked the author’s writing style even if the story didn’t completely click for me.
This story is told from two timelines and points of view. Lila’s perspective is set in 2019. She is a middle school girl just trying to fit in and make some friends. Caroline’s story takes place in 2004. Caroline is Lila’s mother but her story takes place before Lila is born. Girls are disappearing and their bodies are usually found soon after in Lila’s world and her mother is more than a little concerned especially since she remembers the same thing happening 15 years earlier in another town. The girls that are taken tend to be ones that are considered troublemakers.
The females in this book are almost always dismissed. They are told what to think by the men around them and their opinions don’t seem to matter. The men are the authority and of course, they know best. Caroline does her best to keep Lila safe but it seems she might be in danger anyway.
I think that a lot of readers will like this one more than I did. This was a 4 star read for me right up until the ending let me down. I did like the book and will not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press.
This is a hard book to review. On one hand, I was able to read most of the book in a single day and never felt the need to set it aside. On the other hand, this book is weird and I was really counting on the ending to make the journey worthwhile but instead, it was a huge disappointment. I liked the author’s writing style even if the story didn’t completely click for me.
This story is told from two timelines and points of view. Lila’s perspective is set in 2019. She is a middle school girl just trying to fit in and make some friends. Caroline’s story takes place in 2004. Caroline is Lila’s mother but her story takes place before Lila is born. Girls are disappearing and their bodies are usually found soon after in Lila’s world and her mother is more than a little concerned especially since she remembers the same thing happening 15 years earlier in another town. The girls that are taken tend to be ones that are considered troublemakers.
The females in this book are almost always dismissed. They are told what to think by the men around them and their opinions don’t seem to matter. The men are the authority and of course, they know best. Caroline does her best to keep Lila safe but it seems she might be in danger anyway.
I think that a lot of readers will like this one more than I did. This was a 4 star read for me right up until the ending let me down. I did like the book and will not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press.
September 25, 2021
2019: 13 year old Lila starts seeing and hearing things that no one else can. Lila feels absolutely terrorized by these evil haunting visions and voices that encourage her to say and do evil things.
She feels like she can’t tell anyone these things, not even her famous artist/sculpture mom, Caroline.
2004: Caroline starts to hear barking dogs everywhere she goes. At first she blames it on the insomnia she suffers from but then she starts to see violent and terrifying images in the daytime.
As these demons in Caroline’s past resurface, both the mother and daughter must confront this demonic presence to put an end to it.
This book is told through Lila’s point of view in 2019 and alternates to Caroline’s point of view in 2004.
Initially I was unsure about this one but the further I read, the more it pulled me in. This turned out to be one of the most original horror stories I’ve ever read. I loved the themes of good vs evil, female empowerment and the unconditional love between a mother and daughter.
Such A Pretty Smile has extreme violent and disturbing images so this one is not for the faint of heart. Kristi DeMeester leaves the readers a ominous feeling with a heavy sense of foreboding and dread.
There is no doubt in my mind that seasoned horror readers will love this intense and atmospheric book. Many thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
She feels like she can’t tell anyone these things, not even her famous artist/sculpture mom, Caroline.
2004: Caroline starts to hear barking dogs everywhere she goes. At first she blames it on the insomnia she suffers from but then she starts to see violent and terrifying images in the daytime.
As these demons in Caroline’s past resurface, both the mother and daughter must confront this demonic presence to put an end to it.
This book is told through Lila’s point of view in 2019 and alternates to Caroline’s point of view in 2004.
Initially I was unsure about this one but the further I read, the more it pulled me in. This turned out to be one of the most original horror stories I’ve ever read. I loved the themes of good vs evil, female empowerment and the unconditional love between a mother and daughter.
Such A Pretty Smile has extreme violent and disturbing images so this one is not for the faint of heart. Kristi DeMeester leaves the readers a ominous feeling with a heavy sense of foreboding and dread.
There is no doubt in my mind that seasoned horror readers will love this intense and atmospheric book. Many thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
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