Horror comedy with a kick! C K introduces us to Olivia a teen that has already had some significant trauma in her life. She is invited to her cousin's, that she's never heard of before, birthday party for 25,000. So of course she goes, Expect darkness, gore, splatterpunk, blood, a spot on portrayal of teens, and some semblance of hope--all laced with comedic tones. Can't wait to read more from C K.

A Twisted Family Reunion in the Woods
In this eerie and suspenseful horror novel, we follow Olivia as she reconnects with an estranged family member who offers her a generous sum of money to attend a birthday celebration at a luxurious cabin tucked away in the middle of nowhere. Intrigued and perhaps a bit wary, Olivia brings along her sister and boyfriend—but what begins as a seemingly innocent getaway quickly spirals into a nightmare.
From the moment they arrive, strange occurrences begin to unfold. The cabin harbors dark secrets, including a terrifying basement where an inbred family member roams freely, adding a grotesque and chilling layer to the story. The atmosphere is thick with dread, and the remote setting amplifies the sense of isolation and danger.
This book delivers strong The Hills Have Eyes vibes, blending psychological tension with visceral horror. The pacing keeps you engaged, and the storyline is both creepy and compelling. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to keep the lights on—and maybe rethink any invitations to remote family gatherings.
A perfect pick for spooky season, this novel is sure to satisfy fans of unsettling horror with a twist of family drama.

1⭐️

This was not for me… I’m want to throw up. This book needs trigger warning. It started out fine but the further I read, it got more disturbing and disgusting. I’m not into extreme horror and I wish I had know that this was a borderline extreme horror. I don’t mind the gore but the other disturbing scenes….. the characters were meh, more on the annoying side. The only good thing was the pacing.
Think Crude Until Dawn with The Hills have Eyes. Sweet home Alabama..



SPOILERS!

Again this book needs trigger warnings.
When chapter 18 happened, with Keenan getting raped by the inbred. I didn’t sign up for that. And the grooming inbreeding….

Overall, this book was not for me.

Horror and laughs?! Yes, please! This book had me genuinely scared and laughing out loud at the same time. Can’t wait to read more from this author—they’re officially on my radar!

3.5 STARS
A fast paced thriller with dark family secrets, cult behaviour and promises that are too good to be true.

The pacing of this book was it's best quality. It was fast paced and constantly intriguing, it was one of those books that keeps you on the edge of your seat as things just keep happening.
The plot was something I've seen in media quite often, an isolated family in an isolated setting that have perhaps gotten into all the wrong things. But it was fun to read regardless, it's one of those tropes that's cliche because it's so interesting and I found that I wasn't bored.

The biggest downside was that I found a hard time tolerating the characters. The whole premise of the book involves the main character, Olivia, choosing to attend her long lost cousin's birthday for the money. I understand that it's a plot device but throughout the book, i couldn't help but constantly think about how avoidable this was and how suspicious the whole thing was from the very beginning. This made it a bit difficult to root for the characters' survival because it felt like they had brought it upon themselves for the most part.

Still, I overall enjoyed the plot and the fucked up elements involving the extended family and learning what the title even refers to.

This book was absolutely crazy and not even close to how I saw this story developing in the best way possible.

Olivia is a bit of a loner and an outcast who never really fits in with the kids at her school. She’s introverted, introspective and has dreams of moving after high school to break out into a career in the movie industry. She still manages to make a connection with the most popular boy in the school, Keenan. She doesn’t understand why he wants to date her but he loves that she’s authentically herself.

In direct contrast to Olivia’s rather surly temperament, her sister, Amy, is everything she’s not. She’s popular, smart, and wants to fit in more than anything.

While the sisters couldn’t be more different, they still share a strong bond after an extremely traumatic incident from their childhoods.

Out of the blue, Olivia receives an invitation to go to a long lost cousins birthday party. She knows very little about the other side of her family, as they’re estranged, but she knows that they are very wealthy. In fact, her cousin, Eleanor, is so desperate for her company and to have someone attend her birthday party, that she offers Olivia $25,000 to come. Olivia talks about it with Keenan and while they feel the odds are likely that it’s not a sincere offer or Eleanor isn’t who she says she is, Olivia can’t pass up the opportunity to receive 25k when she so desperately wants to start her life.

Olivia ends up also convincing her sister to attend this party at their cousins remote home in the mountains and Keenan agrees to drive them there. Immediately upon arrival, they start to sense something is wrong with their cousin, and something is very wrong in her house.

This book is absolutely not what you think it is and all I can say is sit back and enjoy the ride.

Well, that was CREEPY.
Kinda simple writing style, but very atmospheric. It got dark. I feel like this would be a good read at a cabin, or on a dark rainy day. Fast read with enjoyable characters, specially the MC was quite good.

The Shadow Family - C.K. Morris
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis:
Olivia escaped a kidnapping at the cost of losing one of her legs. Now, at 17, she’s somewhat of a local celebrity due to the tale.
When a long-lost cousin reaches out to invite Olivia to her birthday party, Olivia is not interested...until her cousin discloses her wealth and offers Olivia $25,000 in exchange for her attendance.
With her sister, Amy, and boyfriend, Keenan, in tow, Olivia hesitantly accepts the offer in hopes that this will help to fund her filmmaking dreams. Keenan is strongly opposed and Olivia soon finds he was right: some offers really are too good to be true.

Review:
“The Shadow Family” is a thoroughly terrifying read that really shocked me to my core. I wish I could’ve seen my face while reading some of the scenes! The body horror is truly disgusting in the best way. I loved the disability representation from our main character and how it was depicted. She didn’t think of her disability as a super power; she is still haunted by her past but uses her experiences to her advantage. At 222 pages, this was a fairly quick read but wow, does it pack a punch.

“The Shadow Family” is out now!

❗️Content warnings: SA, animal death, gruesome depictions of animals, gore, body horror, death of minor, kidnapping

I want to highlight a heavy content warning for SA. If that is something that bothers you, it is quite intense in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and C.K. Morris for a ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I loved that this is a horror book but was also funny. Like I literally laughed out loud at times. I really enjoyed that. Overall, it was a great book. I am excited to read more work from this author, so they will definitely be on my radar.

This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review………..

Oh wow!

Stuck in a remote cabin in the mountains with your estranged creepy cousin. What could go wrong? Not sure how Olive was so naive, but her choices were enraging throughout.

The story definitely is creepy but also has some stomach turning incest and gore that made me cringe.

A lot of the descriptions used in this book were long winded and seemed to go off track quite a bit. It made me want to skip whole paragraphs to get to the point.

All in all, a creepy & quick read but while I enjoy horror, this one had some scenes that I could have done without. .

This is an excellent debut horror novel, reminiscent of the 2017 horror-thriller film, Get Out (with an emphasis on eugenics and generational trauma rather than racism) - it was fun to read, emotionally heavy at all the right places, intricately plotted and with a strong, satisfying ending! In fact, it doesn't even read like a typical debut as far as pacing and characterization are concerned; though the rather weak premise and its awkward execution may put some people off from staying with the book after the first third. Indeed, for the basic idea to work (that is, a group of people exploring the impact of their abruptly discovering a horrible family history), the main character, Olivia, has to somehow accept the email invitation of Eleanor, a little known. estranged cousin living in the Colorado mountains, literally in the middle of nowhere. If one can get over Olivia's bizarre thought processes in this part of the story, there's a huge treat waiting right after: a story full of tension, mystery and suspense, incredible twists, and scary monsters! and that's just the tip of the iceberg: Olivia herself carries her own trauma (psychologically and physically both), and her choice to bring her boyfriend and her younger sister along complicates the story so much, one can hardly put the book down! By the time I realized what "the Shadow Family" actually is, I was already hooked!

It's easy to recommend this book to horror readers: it checks all the right boxes, leaves no questions unanswered, interestingly plays with different story formats, and delivers exactly what it promises: an entertaining adventure full of horrifying secrets, terrifying revelations, and enormously relatable characters.

Did I read this book because my name is also C Morris? Maybe! But I also loved the cover, so I thought those reasons alone were good enough to request it on NetGalley.

The Shadow Family is a fun little horror story. It's like The Fall Of The House Of Usher meets Us which I loved. Dark family secrets, a gothic house that's rotting from the inside, a touch of a body horror, and characters willing to sacrifice absolutely anything.

At only 199 pages, this is the perfect length for an entertaining horror like this, keeping you on your toes, but wrapping up quickly enough to keep you fully engaged.

At times I found the dialogue quite "youthful" and almost like a teenage boy had written some of the dialogue. I didn't enjoy this YA feel to it at times, but this was my only negative, and fortunately it wasn't used too often.

Other than that, I had a lot of fun with this book. A great read if you like a quick, fun and effective horror.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY!!!! I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH I CAN'T EVEN FORM WORDS

I have no Idea what attracted me to this book, I just remember seeing the cover and was like WOAH I NEED TO READ THAT ASAP! Almost a month after it debuted I found it and read it all in the same day i was Approved! & OMG I'm so glad i did !!

I could NOT read this book fast enough, from the start i was completely immersed into this book, I could not put it down, I was literally reading it while I was cooking and would not let myself fall asleep until it was over, then I just couldn't fall asleep after because in my head i was going over everything that happened!

Ok for one I love when an author can write in the horror genre and it not just be STAB STAB STAB the entire book like this corny 90s slashers! (2nd I loved when the author actually brought up the horrible 90s horror scene and made a joke out of it! We compared everything we did to a horror movie back then for like no reason and it was so so fun) I Absolutely love when a horror or thriller (or whatever type of writer) can pull off making us laugh also, the slow build between you know it's about to get creepy and the cheesy funny one liners is just artistic! The writing in the book is the best type of "Slow Burn" You can ever feel, I love when everything isn't just corny jump scares and blood/guts but it builds up to being creepy, when you can build a good foundation to a horror story, it's like being at the top of a roller coaster and knowing what's about to happen is going to be the best/scariest thing that's about to happen to you and being so fricken excited nothing exists but that feeling!! I am trying my hardest here to describe what I loved about this book but there's just something about the way he writes that I can not put into words! The line "I bet it wasn't even her birthday" Is going to be so famously iconic I'm going to use it for everything! The back story on the sisters, the way they kept referencing the man in yellow, and The character build on creepy long lost cousin Eleanor- AHHHH I just can't!! YOU just have to read it and experience it for yourself!!

I shared it to everyone I know on goodreads and I Want to make a tiktok about it so bad screaming for everyone to go read it But Idek how to use tiktok!!! I have to find out how just to get this book noticed more!

I know this book just came out but I am here for this author's writing and I am so excited to see what he does next! "If the universe hands you a passion—write novels and scare whoever’s willing to read them" I AM SO WILLING PLEASE SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME FOR LIFE!!! Give Willow all the treats for supporting you on your writing Journey <3

Trigger Warnings for Sexual Assault and Child Abduction

Teen Oliva is not like the other girls her age, she’s certainly apart from the crowd measuring key moments in life against Romones lyrics and aware the botched attempt to kidnap her has a kid (which resulted in the loss of a leg), is used as a cautionary tale for others. She is a stark contrast to her sister Amy the cheerleader and all-round popular girl and Olivas boyfriend a handsome school sporting legend.

When Oliva receives an email from a long-lost cousin asking to connect and offering 25k for the pleasure, Oliva finds she can’t resist. This results in the trio taking a trip to a remote stormy mountain where the story of the Shadow Family begins to unfold.

This is a gory and in places explicit read, loved the use of news articles to underpin the story and the banter between the trio, also apricated that there were no real heroes just a group trying to survive.

This could have been just another teen led horror, I definitely got Point Horror vibes at the start, but it quickly matured and became more like a Point Horror and Richard Laymon love child.

I get what the author was trying to do, but it just wasn’t my thing. So far-fetched and ridiculous + snarky humor isn’t what I love in horror. So this is not a bad book, but a not my thing. I’m the problem it’s me.

This is exactly what would happen if you were to respond to an email from that Nigerian prince who is looking to leave you a big inheritance. The fact that anyone would fall for this scam is beyond me, and maybe if the FMC looked more in need of money, I would've understood. Let's not forget that it is mentioned in the book that she has been offered a movie deal about her kidnapping, but she refused. So now what, she wants some easy money just by going to a birthday party? This seems silly even thinking about it, but this was the first reason this story did not click with me.

The other reason is that the ending felt so flat for me. Without giving away any spoilers, we have no conclusive ending, and don't get me wrong, I am not looking for a happy ending, I am just looking for an ending. This one felt like there was more to the story, and I would be okay with a book two, but as a standalone, I feel like I read this book for absolutely no reward at the end, no answer to my questions, no nothing really.

These two reasons are why I deducted 2 stars from my rating, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this crazy ride. I really enjoyed the creepy vibes and the weird atmosphere, and I love cults, so this was a perfect read in this sense.

I just started reading horror, and this is splatterpunk horror, which is something I've really enjoyed lately, so if you are in the mood for that, give this book a go. I promise you won't be disappointed. There is tension and weird vibes throughout this whole book, and I felt like I was transported right next to the characters, and I love it when a book does that, when it has that immersive writing style.

All in all, this was an interesting read, perfect for Summerween if you wanna read it in the Summer, or perfect for the cold Autumn days. I'm really happy I picked this one up.

Thank you NetGalley and C.K. Morris for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion! Needless to say, as always, all thoughts are my own and I have not been influenced in any way.

A wild adult horror mystery ride. This one is enjoyably dark. The story has a mysterious start which turns out to be central to understanding the whole story. But then you are led down dark corridors to an ending that I certainly didn’t expect. Thank you to C. K. Morris and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

People’s self-interest will usually prevail. Out of nowhere, Olivia is contacted by a long-lost cousin, Eleanor, inviting her to her 18th birthday. While all the red flags should be screaming at Olivia not to go to the middle of nowhere in the mountains, Eleanor has offered her 25 grand and money speaks louder. What ensues is something out of a nightmare.
Overall, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
TW: rape

#ThxNetGalley #C.K.Morris #TheShadowFamily

The Shadow Family by C.K. Morris was obtained directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before and I would read more by them if given the opportunity. This book starts kind of slow but once it get going it is a quick read and a wild ride. Some of the scenes were surprising in that they went above and beyond in terms of horror and gore than I am accustomed to in todays writing style. I say that in a very good manner. If you or someone you buy gifts for likes gore and horror and all things 1980's horror, give this book a read. The horror season is fast approaching us as well.