Rating & Tropes
☆☆☆☆.5/5 rounded up to 5
Cottagecore
British Folklore
Grumpy/Sunshine
Cosy Vibes

-Quick Description-
Jenny Greenteeth is a creature who lives in a lake near a village in England, she hasn’t spoken to a human in many years until a witch is thrown into her lake and she decides to save her. We see a budding friendship start to form along with a friendly goblin. The three friends find themselves on a fairytale/Camelotish adventure to save their little village. We get to meet some truly interesting characters along the way aswell as a few mythical creatures.

-My thoughts-
This book was filled with British folklore and I loved it. It is a cosy fantasy with sometimes creepy themes running through it. I adored the friendship and humour in Greenteeth and I’m a little sad it’s come to an end. The characters were full of heart and courage. The writing was amazing and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author. I had the pleasure of listening to this on audio and the narrator did an incredible job.
Disclaimer - My rating reflects the vibes and enjoyment I had whilst reading the book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my ARL and a huge thank you to Molly O’Neill.
Also reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph,Fable and Instagram (post coming soon) @read.with.rue

This is a charming, occasionally creepy, but still wonderfully cosy fantasy adventure. O'Neill has created a world packed full of British folklore, legends, magic — plus, a lot of heart! If you enjoyed Sorcery and Small Magics, Legends & Lattes, Someone You Can Build a Nest In, and/or The Teller of Small Fortunes, you’ll love Greenteeth!

The narrator did an incredible job of immersing me in the story. The characters had distinct voices and accents, none of which grated.

I adored this book! British folklore, dark fairy tales and humour are a combination I love to read and this was the perfect combination for me. Jenny Greenteeth is a fantastic character and along with her unlikely companions - a goblin and a witch, made this story very enjoyable. The trials they have to endure to achieve their goal were exiting and emotional to read about, and I was rooting for them to overcome the obstacles they faced.

The twists that were uncovered towards the end of the book were fantastic and I thought the story had a great conclusion. The writing was very good and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

I listened to the audiobook of this title and the narrater was excellent and really added to my enjoyment of the story.

If you liked T. Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bone you will love this book.

I read about 60% via audiobook and then did a tandem read with the audiobook and ebook for the last 40%. The narrator did a great job with this and I enjoyed the way she voiced Jenny. It's definitely a great way to consume this story!

This was a delightful read. It's cozy but also very interesting because it leans on a lot of English folklore, so it's a kind of historical take on a fairy tale. I was excited about it not only because the premise sounded good and it's told from the perspective of a "monster," which is unusual, but also because it says it's for fans of T. Kingfisher and they also blurbed the book. I'm an easy mark. Thankfully, this does deliver. It's not perfect, in my opinion, but it was a good time.

Basically, it's a quest adventure where, Jenny, a reclusive monster who lives in a lake, saves and joins forces with a witch, Temperance, who was thrown in said lake by her village and left to drown. The goal is to save the village from an evil influence and, to do so, they team up with a goblin and they're sent to find certain items. They meet a lot of magical/mythical creatures along the way and we see Jenny kind of find herself through this journey out of her comfort zone and the relationships she develops with the other characters.

All that said, some things prevent me from giving this higher than 3.5 stars. It loses steam somewhere in the middle (the first 30 to 40% is better than the rest, IMO), not all characters are as interesting as Jenny, and it doesn't do anything exciting with the quest adventure story structure; they're sent to do or get something and they do or get it, very straightforward.

Also, because it's all from Jenny's perspective, the writing style is kind of matter-of-fact. She's not particularly in awe of all the magical/mystical creatures they encounter or taken by the different settings they visit. I think this would've maybe benefitted from a few chapters from Temperance's POV to add some of that charm. It still had some whimsy and humor, but not as much as I'd like from a cozy fantasy.

Where this really shines is the use of folklore. This author played with a lot of different stories and that's what made it interesting despite the issues I had with it. And I don't know many of the stories it references so, if you do, you'll enjoy this even more. Overall, a book to check out if you love quest adventures, fantasy mixed with folklore, and found family.

A lake monster, a witch, and a goblin go on a reluctant quest to save their village in this delightfully cosy fantasy.

Jenny has spent centuries in her lake, avoiding humanity except for the very rare snack and she's content to stay in her lake, thank you very much.

So when a witch is thrown into her lake Jenny is outraged. But once she finds out that the new Parson ordered the drowning of Temperance the witch Jenny is done. This is her village, not some hateful man's.
Unfortunately for temperance and Jenny it's not so easy to oust this evil, it'll take a journey to the High Fae king and a weapon only ever dreamt of. It also means teaming up with Jenny's Goblin frenemy.

🌿 What You'll Find Inside:
- Unlikely Friendships
- UK Mythological creatures
- A grumpy/Sunshine friendship dynamic with some top tier blunt humour.
- A mother as one of the main characters (I'm loving reading older characters in fantasy).

The Narrator did a fantastic job of not only bringing the characters off the page but by also making the story feel magical.

If you need a Criss crossing the moors quest, with a large amount of character Growth and respect for people you may not always agree with than this charming book is just the thing you need.

While it did feel a little bit too formulaic and honestly a bit longer than I thought it needed to be this book is just right for cosy fantasy fans whole also enjoy Arthurian legends.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

Headlines:
Fantasy friendships
Monstrous kindness
Historical times

Greenteeth was the book I didn't know I'd like and found that I loved. Who knew that a lake hag with green scales and many teeth would be such a delightful, lovely and complex character. Jenny (aka Greenteeth) was a custodian of the lake and observer of the world around her. She found herself saving a witch who had been ducked and sank. From there, the friendship started between Jenny and Temperance, this was also the start of a quest to get Temperance back to her family.

In the background of this whole tale was the story of ebbing magic from the world. I didn't expect some of the later reveals in terms of what the little town truly was and I loved how the story navigated different parts of Britain.

The fae baddie of this piece was the true monster, wrapped up in seemingly good robes. The interaction with the fae world was both helpful in terms of aiding the quest but also bringing that darker vibe and peril to the plot.

It took a very short time reading this book to become a Jenny fan and my overall feeling at the end is what a fantastic character creation Jenny was. I would love to read more by this author. You really should pick this book up!

Thank you to Orbit Books for the review copy.

A cozy fantasy I can only compare to T, Kingfisher’s stories and that’s the reason I wanted to read this one. It’s a debut novel about a witch, a hag and a goblin taking on an adventure to complete missions and find a way to save their village from an evil creature. The vents are presented only from the POV of Jenny Greenteeth - the lake creature and the lore behind her story is very interesting. I listen to the book on audio and the narrator was phenomenal, Catrin Walker-Booth was music to my ears. The humor lacks a bit in my opinion, I expect from something that it’s cozy to be also very funny. Here is more to be desired from that aspect but I really enjoyed it and I can recommend it if you are looking for a fairy tale with a bit of blood here and there. I highly recommend choosing the audio version, it flows very well and the voices are distinct. Overall it’s a wholesome story with cute characters and side quests, magic and friendship. 3.75 stars
Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette UK Audio and Little, Brown Audio for providing me with the audio ARC of the book.

Billed as historical fiction/fantasy, I expected more of an adult read, but I found the ‘voice’ of this story to be on the younger side. The language and somewhat macabre content may make it unsuitable for young readers, but it certainly hits the YA bracket comfortably.
There’s some Arthurian legend woven into this story, which is beautifully told. I listened to the audio narrated by Molly O’Neill who has an impressive range of accents that span the British Isles.
The three main characters are charming and endearing, with our title character, Jenny, being deliciously grumpy. While it lacks some of the suspense and tension that I’d expect from an adult read, it reads more like a fairytale, and it bounces along at a nice pace.
Thoroughly enjoyable and beautifully written, it’s a solid five stars from me, with thanks to NetGalley and Hachette UK audio for the chance to read an ARC.
Greenteeth publishes in audiobook format on 25 February.

4.5 stars rounded up

WONDERFUL. British legends and fairy folklore at their finest, I’d recommend for other fans of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies. Fey lake creature Jenny Greenteeth sets out with a witch and a goblin to get rid of the evil spirit inhabiting the village’s parson. There wasn’t quite as much emotional interiority as I prefer (there is lots of material for it, but often we got to see it through negative space, the things not said, rather than having it made clear) but it was still fun to watch Jenny learn to get along with people after so long alone in her lake. I loved the way it all tied up at the end.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from NetGalley in return for an honest review. The narrator Catrin Walker-Booth did a great job balancing all the accents, although some of the non-English creatures suffered from English proninciations (looking at you, afanc).

4.5 stars

GREENTEETH is a charming debut that brings together folklore from across the British Isles with a monstrous protagonist.

I liked how this book focused on ordinary people. Temperance, the witch, is a farmer's wife (and with a loving, understanding husband.) She's a mother and not a princess or anything like that. Brackis, the goblin, is widely travelled but not anyone of especial note. They set off determined to save not a country but a small village. Though they rub shoulders with the lord of the wild hunt, it's ultimately focused on "ordinary" people and the impact they can have.

This book weaves together folklore from across the British Isles, taking the reader from Cornwall to Skye and beyond, bringing together kelpies and unicorns and even King Arthur. It's such a nice collection of tales woven seamlessly into one, letting all these creatures exist together and focusing on a lesser known one - Jenny Greenteeth herself.

The main character, Jenny, is a monster in the traditional sense. She has sharp teeth and eats things like drowned puppies. But by seeing through her eyes, she's far less monstrous - she has a fey outlook on the world. I liked how she was used to poke fun at human oddities, an outsider thinking that things we might take for granted as "normal" are very bizarre indeed.

Catrin Walker-Booth narrates this book so well. I was in somewhat of a listening slump (too many audiobooks in too short a time) when I picked this up, but I raced through this tale. She really brings the slow, subtle magic of this book to life.

You can often tell within a few pages/minutes of a book when it's going to be a really good one, and that was the case with 'Greenteeth', a debut fantasy novel set in medieval England. The story is told in the first person by Jenny Greenteeth, a river-hag who has lived a quiet life in a lake for many centuries. One day she rescues a young woman from the nearby village from drowning during a witch-trial. It turns out the woman, Temperance, actually is a witch - albeit the helpful, good kind - and the parson who condemned her is possessed by an ancient evil spirit intent on destroying the village, lake and eventually the country. So Jenny, Temperance, and a goblin friend set out on a series of quests with the ultimate aim of saving all they love.

Jenny is an instantly likeable and interesting character, and I quickly came to love her and her companions. I was fully invested in them and their success, which always makes for an exciting and transporting read. As if things couldn't get any better, O'Neill even throws in a cute dog to accompany them. The writing is very evocative, the kind where you feel as though you are actually there, and can almost smell the lakewater, feel the bite of the cold, see the stars - even when you're sitting in a modern house or train.

The story is full of incident and the pacing is very good - it never becomes slow, but never races too fast either. The structure of companions conducting quests is a classic fantasy set up, and for good reason because it works so well. I liked the fact the story was based on British/European folklore - whilst I do love originality and 'world-building', it can make for tiring reads as you try to absorb lots of new information and concepts. There was no need to do that here. Anyone familiar with the basics of such folklore (and it features so heavily in fantasy writing and media that most people who enjoy the genre will be) can get straight into it. It was really refreshing to read a story where I could just focus on enjoying it and not on understanding what underpinned it. However it wasn't predictable - in fact there were surprises at the end even for me, and I'm not often unable to see things coming in a book.

It worked well as an audiobook and I liked the narrator, who read clearly and at a good pace, did good voices, and never became 'shouty' or shrill. I was able to follow the story easily in audible form.

All in all, this is a really excellent fantasy novel that I'd highly recommend to those who like the genre and even those who only dip in occasionally. If Molly O'Neill can keep writing novels like this she's going to gain a large following fast.

Great wee story. An old-fashioned mythical quest with loveable characters. I predict a sequel and I’m here for it (as long as it’s centred on Jenny again!).

Loved this book! From the very beginning, I was drawn into the world of Jenny Greenteeth. I love a story from the monster’s perspective. Her relationship with Temperance and the goblin really makes the story. It was great to see the characters grow with one another, and form a bond slowly throughout the book.

4 stars because at points in the middle it dragged. But on reflection those parts were a useful part of Greenteeth’s character development.

A story about a bunch of misfit banding together to safe a village.

I enjoyed the characters, their dynamics and the way the story progresses.
Dare I say this book is a "cosy" fantasy. The story itself isn't cosy but the group dynamics of the characters and the writing made me feel like I was going along with them.

Jenny Greenteeth is a fearsome, charming, powerful, wholesome lake-dwelling monster as her mother before her, and her mother before her. Jenny has never spoken to a human until a witch from a nearby town is thrown into her lake and something tells Jenny she has to save her. The witch, Temperance, has lived in peace her whole life not hurting anyone until an ominous new pastor came to town and turned everyone against her, culminating in her attempted execution. With Jenny’s healing and nurturing, Temperance is sure she will get back to her husband and children to resume her life. This proves to be more complicated than first expected when Jenny discovers a malevolent force in Temperance’s village that must be stopped. The pair of women and a travelling goblin salesman of metaphysical goods, that likes to visit Jenny from time to time, must team up for a quest to find a way to rid their world of this new threat.

I absolutely love the characters in this book! Jenny is a fabulous example of a misunderstood monster and I loved the exploration of her species and history. She was very well written and her motivations were clear throughout the story. I was very empathetic towards Temperance and her mission to get back to her babies and I loved how she embraced her magic slowly throughout their quest. The side characters were also very enjoyable and brought some humour to the book, but the relationship between Jenny and Temperance definitely takes centre stage.

At about the halfway point the quest is well and truly underway and there are some great action scenes and unexpected revelations, but I definitely found myself zoning out a little bit and less interested than the beginning of the book. I’m happy to say it does end on a high and it made my heart swell. This is perfect for fans of quest fantasies and folklore enthusiasts.

I really enjoyed the narration and the accents added to the fun.

Greenteeth is a cozy folklore tale that is told from the monsters perspective (Jenny), who is a delightful and vivid character. I loved the lore behind the story, the historical context and the actual setting. You really are in the lake with Jenny and I loved that immersion. The story is well paced for a cozy atmosphere with that mild peril. The adventure aspect is well done, the found family is great and of course there’s a trusty animal companion. What more does one need from a fantasy folklore? This is one for fans of Someone You Can Build A Nest In.
I always feel like the books I enjoy the most I write bad reviews for and I feel this is the case here. I apologise now as I literally have no words for this cast of characters that swept me into their magic world.
One another note the audiobook really gave Jenny a voice, created that immersive feeling and was an utter delight to listen to so I would highly recommend this format.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I loved this book. Listening to the audiobook was a magical fun experience. I really enjoyed the story. A fantastic paced story. The characters are all great

Greenteeth is a wonderful adventure tale and a fantastic romp through the realm of British mythology, touching on myths and legends both familiar and less so. Its ragtag band of adventurers put me in mind of the works of T. Kingfisher and TJ Klune, though its choice of titular lead character elevates Greenteeth to a new level of creativity and depth.

Making Jenny Greenteeth, a lake-dwelling monster, the lead POV character of this novel is an absolutely inspired choice. Safer options were definitely there, but I admire Molly O’Neill for taking the plunge and focusing the book around a character who’s been around for hundreds of years and never spoken to another human. As the story progresses we get to explore the clash between Jenny’s monstrous habits and her strong sense of morality, and see how even a monster can have a heart in the right circumstances. Jenny’s interactions with Temperance, the unwilling new occupant of her lake, are some of my favourite bits of character work I’ve read this year.

The worldbuilding in Greenteeth has a quaint feel, but covers a lot of ground through old English folk tales. The village of Chipping Appleby is simply delightful as a focus point for the story, though the author somehow even manages to make the bottom of the lake cozy and homely in a weird way! I can’t delve too much into the plot for fear of spoilers, though the story was far more extensive than the blurb suggests, and was cleverly structured and paced to draw in more mythological tales without feeling rushed.

A word on the audiobook narration: Catrin Walker-Booth does a great job at simply and subtly distinguishing the main characters, as well as capturing the quaint worldbuilding throughout. As the lead trio go through their ups and downs through the story, the emotion is carried through in the narration to keep the story exciting and pacey. The range of British accents was also to be commended!

No os voy a engañar, la razón por la que leí Greenteeth es porque comparaban a Molly O’Neill con T. Kingfisher y ahí ya saltaron todas mis alarmas, porque una es víctima del marketing como todo hijo de vecino. Afortunadamente, aunque quizá la comparación con la estadounidense es un tanto exagerada, sí es cierto que la novela de debut de O’Neill es refrescante (no sólo porque esté protagonizada por una náyade) y muy entretenida de leer, así que ha sido un acierto.


El libro está narrado en una primera persona muy directa y veremos toda la historia a través de los ojos de Jenny Greenteeth, la náyade de un lago situado cerca de un pequeño pueblo inglés, que un día, tras siglos de soledad, decide rescatar a una mujer a la que han lanzado al río por bruja, siendo esto el origen de una hermosa amistad. Y es que esa es quizá la mejor definición de Greenteeth, que es un libro sobre la amistad inverosímil y cómo no se debe prejuzgar por los orígenes de cada uno.

He de reconocer que me hace mucha gracia que todas las náyades se llamen igual, Jenny Greenteeth, porque me imagino a “las Jennys” juntándose para irse de fiesta y me río yo sola, aunque el libro no se extienda mucho por el campo humorístico. Esta es una de las grandes diferencias con Kingfisher, pero como digo la comparación es inadecuada, aunque comprensible.

Jenny y Temperance, la joven rescatada que resulta ser una bruja, investigarán las razones de su intento de asesinato y tendrán que partir de viaje para cumplir tres misiones que les encargarán las hadas. Hasta aquí, todo muy convencional, ¿verdad? Molly O’Neill no está innovando en el género ni falta que hace, porque el libro está narrado derrochando ternura y bondad, no me extraña que lo etiqueten como cozy. Y es que hay veces que no hace falta crear todo un nuevo subgénero o inventar alocadamente, si no que basta con tener las ideas claras y ganas de escuchar un relato agradable.

A esto también contribuye y mucho la narración de Catrin Walker-Booth, que vuelve totalmente creíble el punto de vista de un ser feérico acuático en su relación con los humanos. Incluso se permite el lujo de poner acentos específicos cuando las andanzas de las amigas y su acompañante las llevan a Gales. Todo un acierto en la elección de la narradora.

También me gustaría destacar que el libro tiene un giro final que me parece que da un nivel más de complejidad (sin llegar a ser ecuaciones diferenciales, que nos conocemos) al relato y que justifica ciertas reiteraciones que al principio tomé como pecados de juventud de la autora, pero que luego vi que estaban colocadas a propósito.

Un libro entretenidísimo y perfectamente disfrutable, de esos que te alegran el día. Muy recomendado.

This was absolutely delightful! Greenteeth is a story about a lake monster, a witch, and a goblin going on a heroic quest. Along the way, they fight monsters, chase unicorns, and learn to trust each other. Like any good modern fairytale, it has a lot of heart, a lot of humour, and a lot of adventure - and a terrifying villain who must be defeated at all costs. I loved the atmosphere of it: the story takes us from the south of England to Wales to Scotland, and I could tell the author had a lot of love for all these places. The moment they crossed into Scotland and could tell because of the midgies was one of my favourites! The setting and the magic reminded me a bit of Pratchett's Witches, and while it felt gentler, more fairy-tale-like than Pratchett's biting satire, I also appreciated how the story wasn't all light-heartedness, but it had its moment of darkness too. This one was definitely a highlight!