The writing style was gripping. I adored that the father was Swedish, and he usually used a Swedish word. It was special. I like that he calls Hanna his lilla gumman. Baby Teeth (2018): This novel tells the story of Suzette and Alex, a thirty-something married couple who is trying to figure out what's wrong with their 7-year-old daughter, Hanna. Hanna has been mute since she was 3-years-old, but has recently started talking to only Suzette as Marie-Anne Dufosset, a witch who was burned at the stake. Meanwhile, Suzette is growing increasingly more scared of Hanna's violent outbursts and manipulative moments. Hanna doesn't talk, but she has a vivid imagination. She's frustrated that words don't come out the way she intends. She hears her parents in the bedroom and is upset at this "language" that excludes her. She tried to communicate with them by grunting, but they STILL don't understand her. Hanna experiences overwhelming relief when she meets a person who finally finds a way to communicate with her effectively and takes the time to understand her. This book is about Hannah a seven-year-old who has some pretty major issues.... one of them being the fact that she wants to get rid of her mother.... for good....Suzette is an exhausted mother at the end of her rope, what has she done to deserve this child? As a mother I would love to believe that I would do all the right things in this situation, but next to Hana my children are absolute perfection (just don’t tell them that)..... I felt the author did a good job in the portrayal of the parents the overly stressed out mother and the oblivious father.... and the tension this would put on a relationship when Dad chooses to pretend that daughter is perfectly normal and mom wants to pull her hair out.... She stuffed a grape in her mouth, a strawberry, a cheese cube, another cheese cube, another grape. And made a show at chewing, chewing.”

Now, before you even start naysaying about how this story has been told before I need you to kindly STFU. Even Mark Twain said, “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” So yes, simply put this story has been told before . . . . For some reason I thought this book was going to be about an evil baby that ate people. I mean Baby Teeth right? . . . The pivotal moment in Hannah and Suzette's relationship is when Suzette is inappropriately candid with two-year-old Hanna. She doesn't consider how much Hanna can understand or how a young child with limited experience might process the information. It's a frustrating scene to witness, because of all the miscommunications that ignite the toxic cycle of Hanna and Suzette's relationship: Hannah is stressed out because Mommy is acting weird→Hanna tries to get her Mommy's attention the only way a two-year-old can→ Suzette interprets it as yet another one of her maternal failings, when Hanna is actually just being a normal toddler→The situation spirals out of control. this is the story of a seven-year-old girl named hanna who loves her daddy SO MUCH that she doesn’t want anyone else taking up any of his time or attention. so, obviously, her mom’s gotta go. like, go in a “not be breathing anymore” way.There's not enough room in the house for both Hanna and her Mommy! Seven-year-old Hanna would be so much happier if Mommy would just disappear so that she and her Daddy could live happily ever after. Through Hanna and Suzette's (Mommy) eyes, we see their daily battles to maintain control in an unpredictable, ever-changing world and what it's like to maneuver through life when no one will hear you. The people in this story are permanently tied together by blood, but have toxic effects on each other. ( Warning: After the ARC disclaimer, I get a little spoilery talking about a part of the book that came up in my comment section, though I don't really consider it a true spoiler. The content may be upsetting for some.) She wants Hanna to go to school like other children. She wants her to learn how to play nice and interact with others. I hate to finish like a negative Nancy. So, I add this: the cover is striking and I love the title! Too bad about the book.😕 Zoje Stage Thank you so much, Renee! Maybe not surprisingly, it's a bit of a long story. I'll give you the highlights...

This is not a fun read. It’s gripping, but it’s really hard for me to imagine a child who hates her mother so much. I’ve read stories of kids who are physically and emotionally abused by a parent, and still the kid professes love for his or her parent. So to have a child so young purposely trying to do anything she can to destroy a non-abusive mother is extremely foreign to me. There may be any number of reasons as to why BABY TEETH is not the book for you, but there is absolutely no gratuitous child abuse in my novel. As Hanna grew stronger she could take it advantage of Mommy’s weakness. Could mommy die if cleaning too much – – could she scrubbed to death? And Suzanne tries her hardest to be the mom that she never had herself. Her health problems have made her doubt herself but now she has that perfect marriage with a dream child. Except that dream child is starting to really freak her out. She didn't have the greatest relationship with her own Mum and feels this is her chance to do better by her daughter.

Baby Teeth

Zoje Stage's 'Wonderland' is another gripping supernatural thriller". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 2020-10-08 . Retrieved 2020-09-23. Even without finishing this book - I can already see the author isn’t accomplishing any attempts to portray what might lead a child to kill —- such as Lionel Shriver did in “We Need To Talk About Kevin”. It’s bumblegum chewing for the sake of chewing mindlessly. I’m not a fan— but many readers probably will be: I believe I’m going to bust out my complement sandwich for this review... as a refresher a complement sandwich is good/bad/good.... so in short the bad is sandwiched in between the good..... I also want to make it very clear that I read this with a group and I was in the true minority on this.... so the opinions in this review are absolutely my own and my review should be read with the understanding that this book is unquestionably not for everybody....