A review by kaelaceleste
Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester

3.0

Mixed feelings about this... it's really not a full-fledged horror but more like magical realism with horror. I enjoyed the writing, but the story was just a little off. I didn't fully understand what I was getting into for the first half-ish and there were a lot of things going on that didn't really pay off by the end. The back and forth timeline was confusing, and despite only having two POVs I frequently got mixed up about who I was listening to. I liked the feminist undertones, but I hesitate to call them undertones at all, because the whole thing felt pretty in-your-face and overt to me. I also really didn't like the ending and especially the epilogue.

Overall I didn't dislike it, and I think there's good ideas in here somewhere. But it just felt not quite there for me! 2.5 and rounding up.