Synopsis:
Sometimes you want to eat the ones you love…right? In this gorgeous horror-romance, river monster Jenny Greenteeth stalks a handsome academic through Boston after a chance encounter leaves her hungry and curious about the world she’s been hiding from.
Jenny Greenteeth prefers to keep her own company beneath the streets of Boston, where she’s lived for hundreds of years. With a conviction that she is far superior to humans—who are petty, dangerous, and fragile—she has no qualms about satisfying her hunger with their flesh. That is, until she comes face to face with a human man who, for the first time, she doesn’t want to eat (but also…she kind of does). Confused by these conflicting feelings, Jenny is intrigued.
So, when two city-dwelling cryptids take up residence in her station, she (begrudgingly) asks them to help her find this mystery man. Along the way, Jenny experiences the modern world for the first time—discovering catcalling, pigeons, protests, fashion, friendship, and Dunkin’ Donuts. On her quest to find the man she couldn’t eat at first sight, Jenny finds herself falling in love. And as she falls in love, two conflicting hungers grow within her—the hunger to be seen and understood and the hunger for human flesh.
Review:
It can get a little heavy in this genre sometimes, and every now and then there comes a time where one wants teeth and claws, without the sweaty palms or existential crisis upon completion. Gillian Daniels’ “Jenny Will Eat You Now,” was the answer to my prayers- gruesome and a little freaky, certainly, but also utterly charming. A monster rom-com just makes sense, with horror and romance being two sides of the same coin, and there being so very little breathing space between making someone laugh and making someone uncomfortable- one need only look to Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” a gap Daniels occupies perfectly. In fact, in this ‘meat-cute,’ Daniels nails all three aspects. It’s a bloody, gnashing creature feature, with a compelling romance that teeters precariously and perpetually upon the edge of a massacre, and also rather funny- its titular main character an outsider ushered into the pretty baffling human world. It’s out from Gallery September 29th in the US and September 24th from Solstice on my side of the pond.
Jenny Greenteeth lives in a near abandoned subway where she snacks on rats, and if she’s lucky, people. It’s shaping up to be a very tasty evening when she comes face to face with a rather scrumptious looking man who strolls into her subterranean kingdom. She pounces, and as much as she’s overdue a hearty meal, Jenny Greenteeth, millennia old, ruthless stuff-of-legends, hesitates. The man escapes and, unable to stop thinking about him, Jenny enlists the help of two other local cryptids to track him down. She enters society, where you really must wear clothes and restrain from chowing down on others, intent upon properly acquainting herself, and maybe still eating him.
I’ve alluded to this already, but I have an enormous soft spot for an outsider perspective. A big chunk of the comedy stems from Jenny’s navigation of our bewildering customs, clothing and conversation for example, in addition to romance, which is an unnecessarily complicated business at the best of times. Flirting typically involves a lot of talking, and so little biting, which is both frustrating and confusing for our leading lady. It’s also, in my humblest of opinions, one of the best perspectives an author can undertake for great social commentary, with most preconceived notions either absent, or simply wrong. Jenny’s point of view is incisive, and what did seem normal to the reader, when viewed from the outside, becomes pretty silly.
And you’ll be pleased to know, Jenny really does not change all that much. On the advice of her wing-men (wing-cryptids? wing-monsters?) whatever the terminology may be, she tries to drink coffee, and wear clothes, and pluck out her fangs so that a less pointy set of teeth can grow through, but ultimately she can’t be anything but herself, and that’s for the best. Jenny is, eating habits aside, a very endearing protagonist. She is strange and ancient, a little bit terrifying, but just like you and I, and everyone else, her happiness should not be dependent upon acting a certain way or smoothly integrating into society- we really root for it. This book has a touching sentiment at its heart, of which there are no doubt 7-8, and that’s that we all deserve to be loved for who we are, quirks, peculiarities, pointy green-tinged teeth, scales and all.
The perfect ratio of bloody to lovely, Gillian Daniels’ horroromcom is dripping with gore and romance and sentiment. If I’m awarding it, the title of feel-good-read of the year may be a pretty low bar, however, if you’re looking for something light and sweet and fun, that doesn’t skimp on decapitated heads and hungry cryptids, or even if you’re not, “Jenny Will Eat You Now,” is worth the read.
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