Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill

“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. Even my frogs look smarter than those in inferior lakes, though they taste much the same. I may not be human but that doesn’t mean I can let standards slip. Good lake maintenance is important for fish stocks and water quality, quite apart from the fact that I never could abide mess. A penchant for tidiness is not my most haggish feature to be sure, but then I’m not technically a hag. I’ve never been quite sure what it is that I am; apart from a Jenny, that is. Jenny Greenteeth, that’s my name.”

Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill

Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill is an incredibly written fantasy novel with elements of coziness, friendship, magic and adventure. It is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in a long time (I say that a lot, but it doesn’t make it any less true). Jenny is a lake monster, happily having lived in her lake for thousands of years, keeping it tidy, looking through her treasures dropped by the humans and occasionally seeing other Fae that she can chat with. One day, she finds a witch in her lake, one who was chained and sunk to the bottom, as the village she lived in shall not suffer a witch to live.

Temperance is a witch, but she has only used her magic for good. With a husband and two children, she does not want to die and luckily for her, she just happened to be tossed into the right lake. Jenny rescues her, taking her into her cave and helping her get better. Temperance and Jenny take to each other pretty quickly, a friendship blooming between the two as they realize despite being a witch or a monster, they have quite a bit to bond over. Temperance implores Jenny to help her clear her name however possible so that she can return to her family. Jenny, who has been alone for quite a long time, enjoys the company and for reasons of her own agrees to help Temperance. With the help of another Fae, a goblin named Brackus, the three set off to defeat a darker power than they ever expected, learning more about each other and themselves than they ever could have imagined.

This book is stunningly told. I was immersed from the very first page, loving Jenny’s humorous and biting (yet kind) tone. The story is woven with myth and legend, magic and power and how far we are willing to push ourselves for the sakes of our family and friends. I also loved the found family element of this story. Jenny, Temperance and Brackus may have been thrown together by fate, but they all realized how special and important the others were.

I don’t want to spoil certain aspects of the story that I wasn’t expecting because the twists and turns made this story unputdownable. This is a perfect story to cozy up with on a cold winter day, when you have hours ahead of you and a good cup of tea or coffee nearby. Jenny Greenteeth is one of my favorite new characters, and her story is one I will hold with me for a long time to come. Massive thanks to Orbit Books for sending me an early copy. Greenteeth releases February 25, 2025.