pickT book was hard to read. 1st, it‘s graphic and creepy. 2nd, it‘s theory. I knew the ending was going to be hard to swallow. Very Slenderman meets feminist revenge fantasy, without the revenge we long for. This book feels incomplete & unfair but it‘s supposed to. The patriarchy fucks shit, LITERALLY—hungry, ugly & disgustingly. Lots of warnings folks, be advised but should be required reading for femtheory alone but the writing doesn‘t disappoint.
so-soA creepy paranormal horror with some body horror & fairly graphic gore. The writing is calmly calculating, with a plot that reveals in slow, peeling moments delivered by unreliable narrators. . Dark & disturbing, it delves into ideas of sexism & sexual oppression. There is a lot of latent talent in the narrative, but the plot was often repetitive & the characters felt flat. I'm a fan of weird, dark books, but this didn't quite hit the mark.
panI do appreciate what I think the author was trying to show here—women and girls being marginalized/silenced with a horror/mystery slant—but it didn‘t exactly work for me. The serial killer horror storyline is violent but not scary, the mental illness elements are not convincing, and the moments of righteous feminist indignation felt forced. The writing isn‘t bad, but the storytelling was weird (not in a good way), the plot gets really muddled, ⬇️
bailedI‘m cutting my losses on this one from NetGalley. It‘s supposedly a horror novel told in alternating POVs of a mother and daughter. While I‘m interested in getting to the mother‘s POV, after 3 chapters, I cannot stand one more minute stuck in the 13 year old‘s head while she obsesses over a classmate. Her father‘s an ass, her classmate is a self-absorbed bitch, and her mother clearly needs therapy.
pickSuch a Pretty Smile is an entertaining novel surrounding a powerful message. Too often in our society girls and women are told to smile and look pretty, effectively silencing an entire community of people, muting their creativity, their intelligence, and their voices; this novel brings this message to the reader in a deliciously twisted and creepy way. It takes place along two timelines which come together seamlessly.
so-soDeMeester‘s latest novel focuses on a mother & daughter- set in 2004 & 2019. Mother Caroline is an artist, living a quiet life & avoiding her past. Daughter Lila deals with an infatuation-& the murders of young girls her same age by a killer known as The Cur. With gore and an overlying message encouraging girls to speak up, this makes for a unique and fast-paced read. But as the girls are gobbled up, sometimes the story itself feels garbled here…
pickThe story is told from the points of view of both Lila (in 2019) and Caroline (2019 and 2004), but the chapter names tell us whose POV and when, so easy to follow. I really liked this. There were definitely some heart-thumping moments, though at the same time, it was a bit tricky to picture some things. I do need to add a warning that this is horror - there are some violent and gruesome scenes.
so-soI appreciate what the author wanted to do. Sadly, I found it slow, odd, uncomfortably graphic, and often poorly developed. Frustratingly, there were some loose threads left hanging in the end, never properly stitched into a clean seam. This was a story with great potential, but it mostly missed its mark.
My full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4168950343
pickNot perfect writing, and the plot gets a little muddled at times, but it was still a spine-tingling read that kept building momento from beginning to end. The "beast" in this story was very creepy.
I loved that Jazzland, both before and after Hurricane Katrina, was a setting in the story. I spent lots of wonderful weekends in college riding the rides there.
Tackle the TBR 🤓📚 #boleybooks #suchaprettysmile #kristidemeester #bookbeast #bookjoy #NetGalley #bookbuds
What are you reading? 😊
Such a Pretty Smile: A Novel | 
