cozysabie's profile picture

cozysabie 's review for:

Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill
4.5
adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
"A Witch, a goblin and Jenny Greenteeth are off to seek the King of the Fairies,' he said. 'What a delicious disaster this could be."

GENRE: Cozy Fantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc from netGalley

Would I recommend to others?: Yes! This book is perfect for those who enjoy cozy fantasy, found family and folklore! It is cozily eerie and goes on an adventure with three different people to defeat an evil that threatens their village and lake.

Long Review:
Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill is definitely a top read of 2025 for me, with the fact that it combines alot of my favourite tropes: Found Family, historical fantasy, cozy fantasy, witches and other folklores. I had so much fun reading this book and got invested into all of the characters and wanted to know the outcome. It is also a funny book and has many instance where you will be laughing with the characters and at the jokes & the way they maintain each other.

This book follows Jenny Greenteeth, who is a monster in the lake with sharp teeth and is meant to be hungry and consume whatever comes into her lake.
"I've never been quite sure what it is that I am; apart from a Jenny, that is. Jenny Greenteeth, that's my name. And it's my mother's, and her mother's, all the way back upstream to the source of all the rivers and lakes in the country."


We delve into the folklore of Jenny Greenteeth and the style of writing in here definitely captivated me and put me in the mood to read more about Jenny Greenteeth:
"I'm sure your own mother or grandmother told you about Jenny Greenteeths. We make a good story for a winter's night when the wind is howling down the chimney and the fire is casting long shadows on the wall. That's the best kind of night for stories. I bet you liked to curl up with a blanket and listen to tales about the bogeymen, the pixies and the hobgoblins. Jennys belong in fairy stories, and like the other fae creatures, we're more real than your mothers would like to believe."


Additionally, we get to see how Jenny battles with her own feelings about how Temperance views her. This is seen throughout the story, where Jenny states that she is not necessarily bad, but she isn't good either.
"I frowned. That certainly wasn't the lesson I wanted her to learn from our collaboration. I might not have eaten her but I certainly wasn't good. I wasn't bad either, I simply was.

There's bad magic and good magic just like there are bad humans and good humans,' I said, picking my words carefully. 'Most of us low fae aren't either one.'"


However, when Temperance, a witch & a human, is dumped into her lake by her village, Jenny saves her and takes her into her cave. Mind you, Jenny's cave is organised and filled with collectibles she has gathered or bought from a goblin that we get to know, Brackus.
"I like to keep the lake looking neat and tidy. You wouldn't know it from the surface,
but my lake is spotless, with excellent water circulation and the best crop of brown trout in western England."


Obviously Temperance is afraid of her in the beginning, but as they get to know each other, they find out that Temperance was thrown into the lake by an evil pastor. Jenny goes to investigate this and they find out that there is a bigger evil threatening their village & lake so they band together to work against the evil creature.

Jenny is bonded to Temperance in the fact that Temperance is a mother and Jenny has her own daughter, also named Jenny. The way Jenny Greenteeths make daughters are quite interesting:
"Any Jenny can make another Jenny, but it doesnt happen very often. We dont give birth to our own babies. There aren't any male Jennys and frankly the idea of human reproduction makes me feel a bit sick. We make our children from the unwanted offspring of others."

Throughout folklore, there are many instance where unwanted children are turned into creatures and since this is the first time I have heard of Jenny Greenteeth, it was quite interesting to see the same theory apply here.

We also see the flourishing of found family and watch the main characters build a bond throughout the months that they spend together:
"I was surprised at how happy it made me to think of future company. I had always thought I was content to live alone in the lake."


There is a bit of a conflict too (no major spoilers here) that basically shows why different "species" do not mix together as Jenny & Temperance deal with a fall out. Jenny then tries to convince herself that she has been okay for years alone and that she does not need her new companions.
"Well, I didn't need them anyway. I had been doing find on my own for a thousand years, I would do fine again. Maybe I would be gone by the time they came back for me; if they came back at all. people rarely did in my experience - they left and didn't return."


All in all, this book addresses the different tropes and themes in a unique way and yet remains to be cozy fantasy in a lovely way. You'd love it if you enjoy retellings & cozy fantasy together with found family there!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this eArc in exchange for my honest review.