Good Home Cookin'

Our Family Recipe #1

by Christian Burch

The year is 1987. Running a restaurant can be a difficult, stressful venture, but the Rifflet's have it all figured out. Decent location with no other real competition, right off of Alligator Alley, steady flow of customers, and they receive numerous compliments about the food they serve. If only the people dining in knew where the meat came from that they were consuming...

Dylan Masterson, lead singer of the rock band Forbidden Fruit, seems to have it all but is battling his own inner demons. Little does he know that he'll be fighting some real life monsters who have different plans for his future.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Fiction, Ebooks, Adult

89 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2022

Reviews

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh there wasn't enough there to make me interested in the story or characters. I will end my journey here.

[destiny ♡ howling libraries]

DNF @ 25%

I'm bored. :(

———
bookstagram | booktok | blog | storygraph | twitter/x

[Badseedgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great short read if you are interested in body horror. It ended abruptly and felt more like a chapter book, then a short story.

[Jamie Wesner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise

An interesting novella about family, cannibalism, and mental illness. I’m intrigued and am eager to read the next story. Well written and the characters are well developed. I’ll definitely be purchasing the next one. It’s amazing and terrifying how humans can do this to each other. Not particularly scary but the true horror is the psychological effects of “would you? Could you?”

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was cute.

[Christopher Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story with some twists that will make you think twice about your choices of stops while on the road. Will check out more of this authors work in the future.

[Joe Gerl · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish this book is riveting. Characters are well crafted , and balanced(in regards to portrayal :p). The care that Burch puts into his characters is top tier. With pacing like Patterson, details like King, and cliffhangers like you get in the Expanse, this novella hits a home run from start to finish. I consumed it all in one sitting, and just so happened to receive my copy of For Here or To Go the same day, and ate that one up as well. You can read my review of that one there!

Top tier read, there is no fluff in this story, just a tasty horror/thriller, and deserves more praise than what the platforms will actually allow me to give!

[Diane Ploussard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gross, interesting, horrible. LOL

I loved this book.. But I love the genre. Don't know if I'm weird but I thought that the whole story was great. I am ready to read the next
Book about depraved people. If that if that is what Christian if planning.
Rather like him I also tend to read 3 books at a time..
I can't wait for your next one.
If you love good gross stories, this one is for you. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[stwdscrwdntat2d · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. It reminded me of The Devil's Rejects. It ends on a cliffhanger and book 2 is available on KU as well or .99 on Amazon.

[Vicki Garthwaite · Rating 3 out of 5]

PRETTY TWISTED

and just what I normally read. So far A little slow, but looking forward to it speeding up a bit

[Shannon D. Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick Read

I really enjoyed the short read. I look forward to reading more. This a new to me Author. On to the next book.

[Kristin Scearce · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[LaWanda Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy, deranged.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

SICK!!!

Is this family related to Jeffrey Dahmer? This author has to be one sick person to write a book like this! I couldn’t get through the book without getting sick to my stomach. But it sure makes you wonder what goes on behind a restaurant’s closed kitchen doors!

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well the beginning of the book didnt out and out tell what the book was about. The more you read you could figure out whats really going on. This restuarant was run by his mom and dad , sister and him . They all did their share of work. Now you may read some yucky sentences as you get more into the book part get grosser. Not pleasant to think about.

[Kristen Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

you’re in for a nutritional treat

From the start (the appetizer) the writer draws you in wanting more and doesn’t disappoint. His story make you want to turn to the next page to see what is going to happen next. Just when you think you have it figured out, watch out there’s a turn. Can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next

[shanreads4lot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little story but the ending was so quick I didn't even know I was there. It was pretty easy to read and I enjoyed how the characters all came together at the end. Very clever. I will definitely be reading the second one to see where this goes.

[Victoria Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of the trilogy and it was enjoyable enough to pull me in so that I couldn't resist buying the second one.

[Bryan Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story felt a little rushed and short, but I still saw a great story unfolding. As the first of three parts, at this point, I feel they should have all been put together as one. However, the shortness of this doesn't take away from the actual writing, which was quite good. As the appetizer for the story, I'm going to have to get the rest to see how this all unfolds.

[Leslie Marie Kitchens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!!

This is the craziest book that I have ever read & I loved every bit of it!!! I have to finish this series!!!

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really finding this story hard to review. It was a nice start of a series, but I feel like it was just enough to tease me. Just when I felt like the story was beginning, it ended. I'm almost tempted to buy the second book, but this one wasn't quite as bloody as I expected. It's a short read.

[Ranjana · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most gruesome schlock horror books I’ve read this year.

[Zara Harper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this wasn’t extreme horror sadly! Barely class it as horror. Very disappointing ending too.

[Richard Longmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm suspicious about book series. Sometimes it feels like the story in the novel you are currently reading is not fully fleshed out - that ideas are being kept for future installments. Whether it's an accurate statement or not, it's something that comes to my mind at times, so I rarely dip my toes into that pool.

Between the low price (Kindle edition), short page count and some of the reviews pointing out how "extreme" and "horrific" it is, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Let's start with positives. It is short and it sets up a story. Characters are introduced and there are some gross scenes (though I'd probably not classify it as "extreme horror") to keep the reader's attention.

You may have guessed my big complaint though. It felt like there was no story here. No beginning, middle, and end where we see a full tale play out in front of us. Instead, we get introductions, including some people who I assume will be important in future books but have no real importance here. Then, as the story appears to be gaining tension, the book ends. Without a real arc for any character and no closure to any aspect of the story, it doesn't feel like a cliffhanger - it feels like an attempt to make the reader buy the next book to get any details on the story.

I hate giving low scores to independent authors who are trying their best to stay afloat in a difficult career path. However, I didn't really see a story here, just an introduction to one. If you enjoy "series", then please add a star or two, but if you want to read something that will catch your attention and give you a full, satisfying story while leaving characters open to further world building, you'll likely end up frustrated.

[Dusti Falgoust · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this novella from Kindle Unlimited because I wanted a short horror story to read and to be quite honest, I did not expect much. I mean, just look at the cover. It does not shout "well-written story". That being said, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I actually really enjoyed this author's writing style and I think the story was well done. It is less than 100 pages so I, of course, don't expect the same level of detail or character development that I do from a full-length novel, but I am pretty happy with what the story does deliver.

I did glance over some of the reviews and some of them did make me laugh. Someone rated it low and said that the author has to be really sick to think up something like this... If that is how you feel, chances are that you are not the target audience anyway. Is this story gruesome, dark, and incredibly messed up? Absolutely! But it is also a horror novel with a bloody man with an axe on the cover.... what else would you expect? It is no worse than most other horror novels. In fact, this is about on par with most of the horror novels I have been reading lately.

Overall, this is a nice quick horror read for those who don't mind murderous families, alcoholic rockstars, and a lot of gore. I plan to read the next novella in the series.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that ended.

I don't mind series of books. I really don't, I read a lot of them. But endings are GOOD. Wrapping things up a bit is good. Just ending a book randomly at what feels like the middle of a chapter is not good. It doesn't make this a series. It makes it a book cut up into chunks.


Otherwise it was a pretty decent story. I'm just not willing to buy and read any more from the series because I really dislike non-endings.

[LORRIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly creepy

This was a fantastic book it wa an adventure, creepy, and gross. I absolutely loved reading this. I can't wait to read the next book

[Annemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unpleasant, but not the stuff of nightmares. A great introduction though. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.