Toxic Maternal: The Beginning

by C.A. Baynam, Chisto Healy

In the twisted depths of the House of Horrors, young Caroline's childhood is a nightmare of unspeakable horrors.

Abused and neglected by her cruel parents, she seeks solace in the shadows, unaware of the darkness that lurks within her soul. When a sinister pact is forged with a dark witch,

Carolines's fate is sealed, and she is thrust into a world of forbidden magic and unrelenting despair. As she descends deeper into the abyss, Caroline's thirst for power knows no bounds, and she will stop at nothing to claim her rightful place as queen of darkness.

118 pages, ebook

First published June 30, 2024

Reviews

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, my first C.A. Baynam, it won’t be my last. I don’t know what I was expecting if I'm honest by a smexual scene with a table leg wasn’t it...I mean who’d have thunk it? I laughed and urged myself to be serious about the entire thing. I’m listening ma’am, honest I am!

I've recently read Sam &Milo aka S&M: A splatter comedy and it's incredibly easy to see the dry wit pouring forth. Chisto Healy creates characters that seep into your frontal lobe and set up residence.

I haven’t read the original Toxic Maternal, but I will be asap. P.s. you don’t have to have read the original either to follow what’s occurring in the story.

This book is unhinged. Toxic Marriages. Evil mothers. The table leg. Murdering spouses. An ancient power. There’s loads in this book to keep an extreme horror fan entertained. She’s delivered on an actual story being weaved through the violence. The theme’s investigated in this story was quite frankly brutal. Giving your daughter up as a sexual sacrifice has got to be up there!

[Paige Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨The Prequel everyone has been waiting for 😉✨

And DOUBLE SURPRISE! Chisto Healy co-wrote this one with C.A. Baynam!

🩸🩸🕷️🕷️🐍🐍🪱🪱🧠🩸🩸

“The demons eyes bore into hers, filled with a dark, malevolent hunger. You are mine, Caroline, it whispered, its voice a low, sinister growl. And through you, my power will be reborn.”

Toxic Maternal fans will DEVOUR this prequel! All of those questions we had about Caroline are finally answered in “The Beginning.” 

Baynam and Healy knocked this one out of the park and fully exceeded my expectations and then some! We are given all the insight of Caroline’s upbringing and what ultimately led her to all of her actions and choices. 

If I could give this story more than five stars I would. These two authors poured their souls into this story and it shows. Not a detail is missed and this story was executed perfectly and flawlessly. Buckle up and get ready for one depraved and vile ride into “The Beginning.”

Just so y’all are aware this one is totally UNHINGED. Lots of blood, guts, spiders, serpents, maggots and absolutely FILTHYYY sex scenes that will make you feel things but also have you questioning yourself, much like Caroline feels in the story 🤣

The kills are BRUTAL AF and VERY descriptive 😅😂 monster smut included 👀👀👀

That’s all you get folks… read and find out for yourself.

Toxic Maternal: The Beginning releases on June 30th, 2024.

[William Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

gratuitous - something that is unwarranted, uncalled for, or unnecessary. Something that anything in the extreme horror has constantly been at odds with. Horror, at least in my eyes, has always been about pushing boundaries, and extreme horror by extension is the ultimate degree of subversion of said boundaries. For readers and writers such as myself, it's a very intense form of escapism, dwelling in things that are so far removed from the monotony of reality that the extreme nature becomes something of a comfort. That's not to say the content is in fact comforting, quite the opposite: it's usually gross and vulgar. Extreme horror by definition usually calls for some degree of gratuity. The joyful art of the process is towing the line between meaning and being gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous.

Toxic Maternal, a joint novel between Chisto Healy and C.A Baynam, is extreme from the very first pages. Centering around a girl named Caroline, who is savagely abused by her mother, Elena, and her father, Gerald, it was immediately clear that I was reading something darker than oil on a cloudy night. Gerald is a stereotypical drunk who cheats on Elena and beats every member of his family, and while Elena isn't innocent in terms of the physical and verbal abuse of Caroline, her motives lie somewhere even darker. Without spoiling anything, Elena serves a demon-worshipping cult that is hell-bent (pun-intended) on enacting its revenge.

This sparks a novella full of graphic rape and violence of various flavors. There's demons and a lot of really twisted sex. A lot. This brings me back to my original point of being gratuitous. While there are a lot of rape scenes, they are written from a very sexualized standpoint that at times, felt like I was reading pornography. I have no issue at all with pornography, mind you, and I'm aware that was partially the intent, but it became repetitive at points. Additonally, Elena and Gerald are practically mustache twirling villains that tick nearly every box of being abusive. They're so stereotypically horrible that it often is hard to believe. We learn very little about their characters beyond the fact that they are horrible people and hate everything.

Don't let this review fool you though, there's lot of things I really enjoyed and admired about this novelette. The creativity and absurdity is top notch, almost like Agony the game was turned into literature. Also, the ending is incredible and really neatly ties together the cycle of abuse and the central message. I won't spoil anything but I really appreciated how tightly wound the ending was with the beginning. It is very poetically symmetrical and made the horrible journey worth it, in my mind. I'm glad I read it

3/5 stars

[Danielle Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but I find it quite rare that the second book of a series is better than the first. But wanna know what?
This. One. Is. 🙌🏼

When I found out a prequel was happening, I was beyond pumped. The first one was amazing but if you read it, I’m sure you were left with a few questions… Toxic Maternal: The Beginning, answers them all. 🤌🏼

It’s quite beefier than the first, and way more unhinged. 😅 Likeeee, true story, when we were discussing the trigger warnings etc— I quite literally said, “Idk, but I would put a disclaimer about not trying this at IKEA.” 🤣 and I promise once you read it. You’ll know exactly what I mean. 😂

It’s no secret Crystal Baynam and Chisto Healy are two of my favorite people in this community. So am I slightly bias? Probably. But if you’ve read any of their work, it’s hard to deny what incredible writers they are, and let me tell you, they went HARD in this book. Like way harder than I imagined. 🤭

Honestly, my overall review is that this book is freaking perfection. It truly is. 🤩

It will be available on June 30th, but is available for preorder now, so mark those calendars and make sure to grab this one… you definitely will not be disappointed. 😈

[Veronica ☠️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline lives a really hard life at home. Her mother despises her and her drunk dad beats her everything he fights with his wife Elena. Caroline's only escape is in her own darkness and with the spiders.

Elena loaths her husband and she seeks revenge for all the cheating and pain he's caused her. Especially for giving her a daughter who she can't stand. One day she meets a witch named Abligal and she promises her dark power. She just needs to give up a sacrifice, which she glady hands over.

I felt really bad for Caroline. She was super innocent in a household that just hated her for just existing. She goes through some shit but it's all for a reason. Elena is awful, nasty, and cruel but just wait 😏 There was a lot of sex and I wasn't mad at it. Devil worshipping and lots of evil in this story. This is a prequel and I'm excited to read the first book that was made! If you love the Occult, sex scenes, pure evil, check this one out!

[Asher Dark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I loved the first one and love this one too. It was interesting to get the backstory on Mother. You kinda feel bad for her but then you hate her. I loved the character development in this. Certain scenes had me saying holy crap a couple of times. The plot was fast and super interesting. The snakes ....shewww. I highly recommend this.

[Dawn Colclasure · Rating 5 out of 5]

They say that a sequel should be better than the first book. Maybe this applies to prequels as well. The prequel to Toxic Maternal, Toxic Maternal: The Beginning by C.A. Baynam and Chisto Healy, is an eye-popping, jaw-dropping and spinetingling read! I would not say it is better than TM, but it definitely gets awful close to it!

In Toxic Maternal by C.A. Baynam, readers got to meet the mother from Hell, one who sexually, psychologically, verbally and physically abused her children, Sarah and Andrew. In this book, the prequel, we learn just what it was that made Mother, whose name is Caroline, into the kind of monster that we see in the book. Toxic Maternal: The Beginning shows the kind of horrible life Caroline endured in a home with an alcoholic and abusive father, along with a likewise abusive mother. However, her mother’s anger and hatred come from her dissatisfaction with her marriage and her life in general. Readers get to find out the shocking secret behind what it is that turns her into something else entirely, and just how it affects the young Caroline!

Just as with the other book, there is a lot of extreme gore, violence and sex in this story. However, some of the sex acts in this book are otherworldly, having a lot to do with the driving force that turns Caroline’s mother, Elena, as well as Caroline herself, into dark, evil and sinister forces. It happens a lot faster for Elena than it does for Caroline, and for this, Caroline ends up suffering through this horrifying transformation.

If you feel the need for some good blood and gore, you’ll find it in this story as well. There was one scene in particular where a character was murdered and it was so gory with lots of detailed slaughter, I loved it! I enjoyed reading this part of this story, and not just because that particular character deserved what he got but because it was written so well. It’s not “one and done” but a slow killing, with the character suffering from each blow.

And I must add that the character, Johnson, is so resourceful. I mean, he just suddenly appears with a machete. LOL He’s definitely a keeper!

So, is reading this prequel to Toxic Maternal recommended? I would not force it on anyone, but reading this story helped me to understand why what happened in Toxic Maternal happened. As I read through one scene that explained it all, I was like, “Oh. Well, now it makes sense.” What kind of mother would do such things to her own children in Toxic Maternal? If you ever wanted to know, you will find out by reading Toxic Maternal: The Beginning!

[Thomas Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, all I can say is good God!

I’ll be honest, when first I read C. A. Baynam’s magnum opus, “Toxic Maternal”, it was one that made an impact on me. One that managed to shock me while I had just come off the heels of another horrifying read. That’s all to say, I was satisfied with it.
That’s not to say I wasn’t willing to accept seconds. Not by a long-shot. When I heard of the Prequel in the form of “Toxic Maternal: Beginning”, I couldn’t help but jump at the chance to read.
This story follows little Caroline as she’s grown into a broken home, abused horribly by two quarreling parents. This story follows two primary perspectives: that of little Caroline, and that of her mother.
The mother’s story is one of a dutiful housewife that’s had more than enough of her husbands antics; infidelity and drunkenness. In her desperation, she turns to a revered and feared witch who promises her power in exchange for servitude.
The mother accepts, and part of the bargain is her own daughter, sweet, sad little Caroline.
She is to foster the future generations of a demonic entity known only as “The Master”, as her offspring will do the same.
This story does a lot actually to shed light on the character of “Mother” from the first one, as we now see just WHY she hated her children as so. We get to see the utter tragedy that leads her to becoming the wicked witch we Saar before, and wonder if, had the children’s births been under better circumstances, if she could have better loved them.
This is one of a few instances, I feel, where, even unexpected, this is a necessary read for those that loved the first book as I did!

Rating: 💀💀💀💀/💀💀💀💀💀
(4/5)
#horrorbookstagram #horrorauthor #unholycorpsechild #extremehorror #ToxicMaternal #cabaynam #corpsechildssanctuary

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Toxic Maternal The Beginning by CA Baynam and Chisto Healy is a gratuitous book about a little girl named Caroline, but she’s not that little because they say she 17 so little… Not little? Either way she’s abused by her mom and her dad her dad abuses her because he takes abuse from his wife for cheating being drunk, etc Caroline is so lonely. She bonds with the spiders because in her words the spider is the only good mother she knows. then her mom takes her for a visit with the woman who clearly is some kind of demonic witch and wants to turn Eileen, the mother into one as well her price is Caroline. something Eileen is more than happy to give but first she will have sex with a demon, the witch lady, the witch lady and the demon then the witch lady again and then she gives her daughter to the demon so he can rape her. I just want to say I love horror stories, no holes barred a free-for-all of dismemberment, decapitation bodies on fire, etc, but something I cannot atone with is a book that seems to be written just for pornography sake, and especially pornography with children, I was excited to get these books from the summary because I also got the other book toxic maternal but I just can’t. This book seems to be written for people who love suffering and more suffering, I can take it when it’s adults, but not children. It was just all too much sex, and although the sex was horrific cause most of it was rape I just couldn’t with this book. with a book like this, you want to see revenge and watch the bad guys get their do, but there was just too much sex to get through to get to that moment. Not a book for me I mean, who thinks yeah I’ll have a demon rape a little girl that sounds cool?

[Alexandra Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a very fascinating read. After reading Toxic Maternal, I had to find out more about Mother and how she came to be as evil as she is.

Mother had her own traumatic childhood filled with abuse from both of her parents. She sought comfort in the company of spiders and shadows.

Her own mother had reached out to a witch in order to realize her own powers. The witch summons a demon to begin their power ritual, only not fully realizing the demon's own agenda and his plans for Mother.

My only real complaint is that there are a number of editing issues that, at some times, distracted me from the story.

[Angel Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an intense book of revenge and the consequences of an abusive childhood. I have to warn you, this is an intense book, check your triggers.

I'm shocked that this is a prequel in the series. Now I must read the actual book in the series. I can't spoil much but revenge can be more than cold, it can be dark as heck.

Who said demons couldn't be born from those with lure souls?

This is a fast read and gets me excited for when I dig into the actual first book. It gives a good idea of what will probably be a villainous character.

[Desiree Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book blind, and Oh. My. God. It was so good! Talk about an amazing villain backstory! And the spiders broke my heart. Seriously well written. I don’t think I’ve read anything that quickly or voraciously in a while. I will probably read it and the sequel again in the next month. Crystal knows how to tell it!

[Amethyst Maxey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you for the ARC. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this as it’s my first book by this author. It had some jaw dropping moments but also so demonic entities and witches which aren’t typically my thing.