Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison – a Review

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Description:
Rory Morris isn’t thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby’s father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she’d put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she’s attacked.

Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She’s unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver–and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She’s changing into someone else–something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she’s putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance?

This darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability

Review:

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison is a standalone novel.  Rory Morris, our heroine, is not happy to return to her hometown, but her twin sister, Scarlett is pregnant and estranged from the baby’s father; and Rory needs to be there for her sister. She has bad memories, and has been distant with her mother, who is out of town.  When meeting friends at the local bar, she leaves early to drive back to the house, only to accidently hit an animal with her car; when she checks to see what she hit, Rory is attacked.

Rory survives, and is treated at the hospital, with scratches (why have her deep bruises disappeared?), not to mention she suddenly has extra strength, craves meat, angry and feels so very different.  After reading up, she begins to realize that she was bitten by a werewolf, and now she is changing into one. Rory tries to learn more about werewolves, and how to lock herself up during a full moon.

While Rory deals with her transformation, she meets an old flame, Ian, who still professes his love for Rory.  Rory must also deal with her mother, whom she resents, since she had a bad childhood experience with a former boyfriend of the mother.  Rory can’t forgive.

Most of the characters were flawed, which included Rory and Scarlett. Rory was a great heroine, doing everything she can to help her sister, and still deal with the change in her life being what she calls “a monster”. Despite that, Rory was cool, charismatic, sassy and quirky; Scarlett was even more unpredictable.  The relationship between Rory and Ian was nice, but what happens when Ian finds out about Rory?

Such Sharp Teeth was a wild ride of a book, that kept me entertained, as well as tense at times. I did like most of the secondary characters. The closer we got to the end, was very exciting, with a satisfying finale.  Such Sharp Teeth was very well written by Rachel Harrison.  

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher