This book had no plot and was so boring. The constant miscommunication was so irritating. It feels so pretentious

Another incredible story by Jessica Andrews, she really manages to capture how it feels to be in your 20’s and figuring things out. As someone who has suffered from disordered eating I found Jessica’s description of it relatable and realistic.

Having enjoyed Jessica's debut, I was really excited to read this! In general, I did really enjoy it and I definitely think her previous fans will, too. However, I did find the structure a little bit confusing at times, and even though I knew that her teenage years were relevant to the story, I found the character in the present to be the most interesting/compelling.

I read a review of this book that described it as ‘no plot, just vibes’ and that sums it up pretty concisely. I’m a bit confused by the comparisons to Sally Rooney as the writing style could not be more different, but I suppose millennial sad girl fiction has become a sub-genre of its own by now. Sometimes I felt this was a tad overwritten but it’s a decent summer read if you just let the vibes wash over you. Its dual themes of desire and disordered eating are quite a jarring combination and I just felt really sorry for the protagonist for most of the book, which I’m not sure was the intended effect. Overall, there was much to like and I’ll still seek out Saltwater as I’ve heard a lot of good things.

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.

I would be happy to re-review if a better file became available. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

I swore of the ‘sad lost girl’ books a while ago as I was finding it slightly overdone and I’m entering the time if my life where I really need the ‘girl has her shit together’ books. But Milk Teeth straddles that daunting perepice of ‘sad girl figuring out what she wants’ and though we have the traditional tropes of disordered eating and shitty men- Jessica Andrews does it so perfectly and with such absorbing prose I couldn’t help but love it.

This is a book meant to be read in the sun whilst sipping wine and eating olives. it is stifling and consuming as we follow the narrator as she navigates a passionate and confusing relationship and moving to a new country.

Andrews does give me Rooney vibes (and I dont really like that Rooney is now the benchmark we all judge against but she is reigning queen of the millennial sad girl books). But where Rooney is detached and minimal Andrews is sensual and visceral which for me made this a memorable and relatable tale.

Highly recommend this one!

This is a pin-sharp and at times painful account of what it means to go through life in a female body. Really beautifully written - I kept highlighting sentences so I could go back and let them sink in later.

-trigger warnings: body image, disordered eating-

'"What do you want?" it says and I trace my fingers over the letters. I want to reach out and hold all of the beauty around me, to be unafraid of pleasure. I want love, sticky and painful, fat with desire and mottled with light.'

I requested Milk Teeth on NetGalley before reading Jessica Andrews' debut, Saltwater. Then I read Saltwater and, although I loved the lyrical prose, the slow storyline had me struggling towards the end, and so I ended up putting off Milk Teeth for far longer than I should have. Despite the similarities between the writing, the format and the slow pace, Milk Teeth was absolutely an easy five-star read for me.

Milk Teeth follows the unnamed narrator's journey of appetite and denial - for both food and things in life. As much as she denies herself nutrition, she denies herself who and what she wants for her heart. She discusses not taking up space as a woman moving through the world while at the same time being resentful of feeling invisible/insignificant, of not wanting to be looked at but at the same time succumbing to the male gaze. The thoughts and feelings are told through a series of vignettes, switching from focussing on the past to focussing on the present, taking the reader through many relationships - with partners, with friends and with food.

'The women we admired could do anything if they were skinny and beautiful enough. They flaunted their appetites for sex and drugs, good-time girls who could take the whole rush of the world in their slender fingers, as long as they didn't eat too much. We drank it all in, understanding that we had to sacrifice flavour and fullness for beauty and the dazzle of club lights. We learned to suppress out needs so that we could touch pleasure, to reach out and grab it for ourselves.'

I've already mentioned the lyrical prose present in Andrews' writing. It's beautiful - poetic and whismsical, but just the right amount. Her writing also evokes such a feeling of nostalgia of being a teenager in the early 00s - think Alexa Chung, the Olsen twins' boho chic, and Kate Moss's famous quote that 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'.

'My sadness was not beautiful; it was scalding, destructive and heavy. It was not alluring or mysterious. It did not give me hidden depths. It was something the world outside me had pushed into my body and forced me to carry.'

As well as being nostaglic, I found the novel so relatable (and I think most women in their late 20s/30s will too - although don't let not being in this category put you off reading it!). I had to laugh at the niche relatability of the narrator turning up to her prom in a short black dress while everyone else turned up in colourful full length gowns. I did exactly the same in 2004. Black dress solidarity.

'Guilt clogs my throat but I keep eating anyway, taking life in my mouth and choosing to be part of it, even though I am afraid. I want to grow bigger than my shame, to have mass and density, to leave marks and indentations, to prove my own existence.'

Writing this review and looking at the highlighted quotes has made me want to go back and read it all over again. Maybe now is the time to re-read Saltwater - after all, enjoyment of a book is often affected by the time and context we read it in, and maybe I'd enjoy the slower pace now.

Milk Teeth is out now. Thank you to NetGalley and Sceptre for providing a proof copy.

This is beautifully written and offers great insight into the psyche of a young white woman. I found it quite exclusive of other perspectives, with the protagonist rather inward-focused and unaware of wider society so it was difficult for me to read, but I suppose it's also reflective of what may go on in the minds of many young people.

Truly delightful writing. So sticky and evocative and beautiful. I absolutely adored this book and I cannot wait to read more by Jessica Andrews.

Very different, excellent read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I'm a huge fan of Jessica Andrews, her first book Saltwater blew me away and was my favourite book the year it came out. Milk Teeth didn't have quite the same impact, it was less poetic and lyrical, and seemed very over descriptive (often with quite similar descriptions) I did find the descriptions of the main character's relationship to food very interesting and sensitively handled.

Our unnamed narrator takes us from growing up in the North East of England to the streets of Paris, London and Barcelona, detailing her struggles to find herself and to claim her place in the world.
It’s all about that aching, awkward stage of youth when you want to be free but also yearn to be safe - when you feel scared and untethered but also reckless and ready to fight to be your own person. And then you throw love into that mix!
The book analyses the insecurities of the human heart but also our relationship with ourselves and our bodies - whether we are too much or too little.
The writing is dazzling - it’s perfect and I loved it.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

I requested this book after hearing great things about Jessica Andrews previous book "Saltwater" (which I still haven't read!).

As someone who grew up in County Durham (including Bishop Auckland) it made me want to read it. Although I found it very depressing, Andrews hit on a lot of marks, such as the growing up with media idolising unhealthy skinny women which really affected us at that age.

It was a love story with an unamed character but at first I wasn't sure where the story was going as it flicks back and forth between two timelines. Andrews uses a lot of description, some of which such as, " I can smell the power in my own skin, creamy and bitter, like burnt milk” made absolutely no sense to me and felt like it was just there to try to make the story feel more "artsy" (but this might just be because I am a bit thick 🤣)

I liked the story and the description of life and the North East and her raw honesty throughout the book.

This is my first book by @jessicaandrews I’d read reviews of her Portico Prize winning book of Saltwater. Following @womensprize I learned she is one of the Futures 10 you can vote for now.

So she’s obviously good 😂😊

This book took me a little while to get into. There is an unnamed protagonist. I confess I struggle a little with this. The plot also flips back & forth in time. But once you’re inside the rhythms & rhymes of it, laid before you is a jewel of a novel.

The central premise of this book - seen through the prism of a blossoming, growing & waining relationship - is a question most of us wrestle with everyday - have we fulfilled our life’s potential?

It’s set in the early pre social media explosion of 2000’s. It’s easy to forget in our World that toxic diet & body cultures way pre date the Internet. You only have to read The Edible Woman @margaretatwood published in 1969 to know this is true. In the world of this book our protagonist has read & consumed a constant diet of magazines, TV shows, opinions from friends & family.

Our protagonist is disconnected from her body, from her aspirations. She worries whether people love her for herself or for how she looks.

Taking us from the north east of England, to the noisy bars of London & Paris to the shimmering heat of Barcelona - this book is a rollercoaster of highs & lows but it’s a lyrical & fascinating read that, I think, will be relevant to everyone. Are any of us truly the person we were meant to be?

@jessicaandrews gives us punchy short chapters - so this is a great travelling companion. The depictions of a working class teenager’s experience are profound. The day to day struggles of an eating disorder are illuminating. The insecurity of young working life is neatly drawn. And romantic love - a realistic contemporary portrayal to rival @sallyrooney

I’d wholeheartedly recommend.

I read Milk Teeth in a couple of sittings. It's beautifully-written, extremely relatable and yes, very raw, but also full of grace.

Much like Andrews debut, Milk Teeth is as beautiful to read. I never seem to note down as many quotes as when I’m reading a Jessica Andrews book. As a teen of the late noughties I was exposed to the era of skinny chic and diet fads so found that running theme throughout the book hit close to home. Also the feeling of not quite feeling you belong in certain settings and at the same time not knowing where to find the environments for you. I still favour Saltwater as my favourite of Andrews work but she has become a must read author for me and one I hope receives the same acclaim and commerciality as the not too dissimilar Rooney.

3.5*


milk teeth by Jessica Andrews

i think this book is going to stay with me for a very, very long time.

after finishing saltwater in the winter of 2020, Andrews cemented herself as one of my all-time favourite authors just from her debut. that book lives rent free in my mind and I couldn’t wait to pick up her newest novel.

now, full disclosure, it took me quite a long time to get into this one. the novel follows our unnamed protagonist through vignette type passages, starting at the point she meets her unnamed lover “you” in her late twenties, whilst we simultaneously follow her childhood and teenage years in the north of england up to the present day.

I found our narrator’s time spent in barcelona and paris to be the most compelling, as she is eternally struggling to find herself and work out what she wants to do with her life, whilst battling a severe eating disorder daily. the way Andrews portrayed how it feels to live with an ED was incredibly well done and poignant and this was when I felt most connected to our protagonist.

milk teeth encapsulates growing up in the 2000s having idols such as kate moss and alexa chung, wanting to be desired as a young girl, wanting love but also trying to find where you belong. this trope may sound a bit tired but through Andrews writing was delivered beautifully and I found myself underlining so many passages despite struggling to connect to the characters at the start.

i've seen this compared to open water and i have to agree, if you loved OW you would most certainly love this!

this is definitely one to watch. Out 21st July. Thank you sceptre books!

I loved Jessica Andrews Debut novel Saltwater and Milk Teeth did not disappoint.

Following our unnamed narrator as she travel through life from working class County Durham to Spain via London and Paris. We see how she has been influenced by pop culture to be Kate Moss-esque from her early teens and how society has driven her behaviours.

I feel Jessica Andrews has a way of writing her character as they express the depths of their soul. She is the voice of the working class northern girl finding her place in the world.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance digital copy of the book for review.

I absolutely flew through this book. I totally wasn't expecting to be so gripped by it, but every chapter I found something to relate to, hungry for the next thing and the next thing. Jessica Andrews is a stunning writer, with sharp prose and cutting insights into contemporary life.

The quick writing style reflects the frenzied nature of the protagonist: short chapters, dashing onto the next anecdote before you realise you're there, are the perfect form for this story. We have two timelines. One is a love story, of a woman in her twenties who doesn't know whether to follow her new lover to Barcelona. Is this right, is it what she wants for herself? The other is a coming of age story, in which a young girl grapples with understanding her own desire. Desire for food, friendship, sex and romance.

cw: eating disorders.

You don't often see discussion of how 'thin' glamour culture affect specifically the working class women. It's perceived as a very middle-class, white problem, but this book delves into how the dangerous, Kate Moss-trends of the noughties were so pervasive, especially for teen girls. I'm the wrong age for my experience of growing up to match the protagonist's exactly, but some of the scenes struck a scarily familiar chord. So many of us know what it is to deny ourselves something, for fear of what it means if we accept it, what it will mean for our bodies and the way we're percieved. Fundamentally, this is what the book is about, that relationship between hunger, wanting, and denial.

A short, but very sweet, read that tugs the heartstrings. I'd recommend this to fans of Deborah Levy, Sally Rooney or Elena Ferrante - except it's also completely different to any of those books. I've not read Saltwater, but I'll certainly be seeking it out.