It took a while to figure out who was who and what their relationships were to each other, as the reader has to glean all the information through dialog and Cat’s inner thoughts. The story is narrated by Cat, and the reader is dropped into the middle of all the drama swirling around the characters, which makes for a very confusing opening. They need to put their differences aside if they’re going to survive the night. Cat hears a woman’s voice whispering in Japanese, and the mansion seems to grow and change as they explore its vast corridors. It’s all a big tangled mess, but everyone is trying to ignore these emotional undercurrents and get along, at least until the ceremony is over.īut the ghost bride has other plans for the group, and soon after their arrival, strange things start to happen. Phillip and Cat used to go out until he broke it off to date Nadia. Nadia hates Cat because she dated Faiz at one time.

It’s said that her ghost haunts the mansion, waiting for her dead husband to return, and Nadia, Faiz, Cat, Lin and Phillip are determined to find evidence of the haunting and make their own wedding an event to remember.īut when everyone arrives at the mansion, it soon becomes clear to the reader that these “friends” are anything but. A particularly nasty legend surrounds the mansion, revolving around a bride whose fiancé was killed before he could make it to the wedding. Nadia’s lifelong dream is to be married in a haunted house, and Faiz has lovingly set up the ultimate destination wedding by securing an old abandoned Heian-era mansion in Japan. Nadia and Faiz are getting married and have invited their three closest friends to join the celebration. Normally I would count this as a negative, but for me, this element worked with the rest of the story. Nothing But Blackened Teeth certainly wins the creepy cover of the year prize, but does the story inside live up to the macabre artwork? In many ways, the answer for me is “yes.” Cassandra Khaw’s evocative writing style is perfect for a haunted house story set in Japan, and the house in question definitely gave me chills (I wouldn’t stay in this house if you paid me!) But the author also layers a lot of relationship drama into her story, which made for some very unappealing characters. The nitty-gritty: Five friends come together for a wedding in this spooky, Japanese-themed horror story. Published by NIghtfire on October 19 2021 Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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