"An outstanding story in outstanding hands." - Josh Malerman 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 ...
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"An outstanding story in outstanding hands." - Josh Malerman 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 fiance is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waives 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.
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Add this copy of Such a Pretty Smile to cart. $3.02, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2022 by St. Martin's Press.
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Add this copy of Such a Pretty Smile to cart. $3.02, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2022 by St. Martin's Press.
Add this copy of Such a Pretty Smile to cart. $3.02, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2022 by St. Martin's Press.
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I received an e-Galley ARC of Such A Pretty Smile, authored by Kristi Demeester, from the publisher St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for review consideration. At the time of writing this I have no information on the cover art. What follows is my honest review, given freely.
This novel was unapologetically feminist, which I found glorious. I went into this blind beyond the author's name and the title grabbing my attention and ended up with a new favorite read. I feel, possible incorrectly, that there are many sly nods to the reader, starting with the title. Who has not been told they would do better with a smile? I found Lila's smile outside Jazzland to be especially pretty. The Cur, the big nasty of the book, has a fitting title. Cur has more than one definition, which is still fitting for this story. One thing I loved was how easy it was to fall into the story each time I picked it up. Didn't matter if I planned to read a few pages or chapters, I always read more than I intended. When I actually finished the book I was sitting at the edge of my bed, because I wasn't planning to finish it right then. Only a few more paragraphs I thought, and then just a page. Then I was done with the bloody thing and my big toe was asleep from leaning all weird while reading.
It's a read to get you invested, I had moments where I was cussing at people from the pages, entreating them, nodding along with them. I was energized after, I felt like I could move mountains, create something beautiful; this is a gift of a novel. If you love a good thrilling dark fiction, that also touches on real world issues with that fiction, look no further. Such A Pretty Smile is haunting, bloody, wild, and freeing.
