I enjoyed this novel, which I would call "light horror"... I liked that the book blurb doesn't go into too much detail about the plot. Honestly I probably wouldn't have picked it up if it did. But it was a quick read and I liked the writing style.
I would definitely read more by this author, especially after several reviews saying that her other books are better.

This might have taken the throne as my favorite yet of Rachel Harrison's books. I went into it pretty blind and enjoyed this story about a young woman who has left her deeply religious community only to be pulled back in by a wedding invitation. It's clear early on that there is something deeply unusual about everything, but it rolls out deliciously. It's smart, quickly paced, and unexpected.

A lot of people can rightfully claim (or blame) dysfunctional family backgrounds. Vesper's situation has got to be unique. Yes, her famous Scream Queen mother could out-freeze a solid Arctic glacier. Yes, the disappearance and subsequent "permanent" absence of her adored father while Vesper was still a young child left an aching void. Neither of those circumstances alone makes her heritage unique. An emotionally or physically absent parent is unfortunately not that uncommon.

However, growing up in a devoted Satanic cult is much less common. Even less so is a father who claims to be Lucifer. And a father who ACTUALLY IS "the Father of Lies?" Yes, I think that qualifies as unique.

Some readers may dislike the setting and premise. I found author Rachel Harrison's insight into her characters, their arcs and evolution (devolution) fascinating. She admirably excavates family life, close friendships, stand-ins for absent family, and one's inability to feel or to express repressed emotions. Also talentedly demonstrated is the difficulty of choosing in order to please versus choosing what is right action.

And then there's the whole "daughter of Satan" burden....

**4.5-stars**

Rachel Harrison is one of my go-to authors in the Horror space. I feel like she brings her own special brand to the genre that I would generally classify as Cozy Horror. Black Sheep is very similar in feel to her earlier works that I adored, Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth. Even though I enjoyed both of those ones a bit more than Black Sheep, this is still incredibly well done.

In this story we are following Vesper Wright, a cynical 20-something, who is estranged from her family and working as a waitress at a job she hates. Seriously, if she has to sing that birthday song one more time...
Sometimes things can go from bad to worse though, and Vesper ends up losing said job after an incident involving very hot nacho cheese. Don't ask.

Unfortunately, worse is about to get even...worser? Vesper has received an invitation to her cousin, Rosie's, wedding. Vesper dropped her family like a hot potato the minute she turned 18 and hasn't looked back.
Sure, she couldn't stand them, that's why she left, but she was also told if she did leave their staunchly religious community, she could never return. Thus, she hasn't. But this invitation; this could change things.

Is Vesper ready to return? Is she ready to face her past and her family's dark secrets? Why not? She's certainly not doing a heck of a lot of anything else.

Feeling like something inside her is compelling her to go, Vesper packs her bags and heads home for the first time. The toxic environment she left hasn't changed much and Vesper quickly begins to question her choice to return. Her mother, Constance, a former Horror film star is just as terrible, no maybe even more terrible than Vesper remembers. It's not just her mother though. Everything seems more dangerous and sinister than before. The house, the community, what exactly is going on here?

This is such a great story. It was surprising. I definitely can't say anything else about the plot without risking giving something away, which I don't want to do. I expected this to be a particular type of story and Harrison succeeded in flipping my expectations on their head. This was such a unique take on the poisonous family drama. I really loved the choices Harrison made in telling this story.

One of my favorite aspects of Harrison's books are her believable and relatable main characters. They just feel so well developed and realistic to me. Even though the things her protagonists go through are horrific, or even supernatural, in nature, they often make me shake my head in agreement and sympathy. I feel like I am connecting with them on a level that shouldn't be possible.

Vesper's experience in this story is vastly different than what any Reader will ever experience, trust me on this, no matter how bad you think your family is, but I still think so many people will be able to relate to her story.
I also love how Harrison brings a level of humor and candor to her stories that keep you chuckling, while simultaneously grimacing in disgust, or horror. That's a talent.

As mentioned above, this isn't my favorite one of her stories, but it's still top notch. I just loved Cackle and related to it so much that it would be hard to beat, and I felt very similarly about Such Sharp Teeth.
I would recommend this to any Horror Reader, but particularly those who have enjoyed Harrison's work in the past. This is 100%-true to her narrative style and offers up some stunning commentary on home and family.

Harrison has such a creative gift. I hope she keeps on cranking out stories like this for years to come. I will absolutely be picking up each and every one of them. Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Harrison never disappoints. This was a fantastic read!

Berkley Pub has so many good spooky season releases and Black Sheep really brings the darkness with this storyline! This book is about Vesper and as we learn more about her leaving home and her unconventional upbringing, it brings chills to a reader’s spine. There are twists and turns along the way and some really sinister things happening behind the scenes that all come to a head in a pretty dramatic fashion. Overall, I liked the story and read it pretty quickly, but at times it felt a bit repetitive. The twist was just okay for me after a lot of build-up, but it was still a fun, spooky read for the season.

Thank you @berkleypub #berkley #berkleypartner for this free copy of Black Sheep. Also, thank you to @prhaudio for access to the audiobook version of this one, the narrator did a great job with conveying how sinister this storyline was! #prhainfluencer

Another stunner by Rachel Harrison I swear, she had me at Cackle but her stuff just keeps getting better and better.


There’s a big twist early in the story so because of that I’m going to avoid talking too much about the storyline allowing you to experience that big reveal for yourself. Just trust me when I say this book is extraordinary without giving a lot of details because I think it will be best to go into it without knowing too much in advance.


Black Sheep is everything I love in a horror novel–it’s weird, snarky and darkly funny which I’d say is pretty much on brand if you read any of Harrison’s other work. I loved everything about it, the pacing was excellent, the premise was wholly original and I felt invested in this long strange trip.

A fun spooky read!
This was such a fun read!
My first Rachel Harrison book and I am about to pick up one of her others on my kindle.

Vesper is the MC, she's snarky, somewhat apathetic and disassociated from her self proclaimed and very real baggage aka trauma from growing up in a religious cult.

Her mother is a horror movie star and her dad she hasn't seen since she was 9.

Vesper left her hometown/cult 6 years ago right before she turned 18. She hasn't been back until she receives a wedding invitation for the wedding of Rosemary and Brody,

Vesper never planned on returning , however she wasn't going to let her cousin and boyfriend get married and causally invite her without making an appearance... also Rosemary is basically her bff and sister . The sweetness to her saltiness.

Black Sheep is darkly funny, creepy and fast paced. Once I picked this up I read in 2 sittings before bed.
I want a sequel !

This was an easily given 4.5 stars!
L
Thanks #Netgalley !

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of Black Sheep. As a horror fan, I absolutely loved it! It is unpredictable and creepy throughout.

"A cynical twenty-something must confront her unconventional family's dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel."

I love Rachel Harrison's books, and they always make for the perfect fall/spooky season read! This one was really fun, and I enjoyed the dark humor. I loved Vesper and thought it was so funny when she would describe what her mothers house looked like. I can't say much else without spoilers, but I definitely recommend this one if you like dark humor with a little gore in it!

Thank you, @netgalley, @berkleypub, and @rachelharrisonsghost for the #gifted e-arc of this book!

I don’t read many horror books; and now I still will not read many horror books. This just seemed kind of silly to me and I couldn’t really get into it. I will say however the pace of the book and the writing was well done, which is why I am rating it 3 stars. I think for the right reader, this book could be more enjoyable and I would be open to reading more by this author. I was interested enough in the storyline to want to finish this book and see how everything ended up! I really liked the main character but this plot just wasn’t what I was expecting. I will say I did not see the twist coming!

*Thank you Netgalley*

Rating: 3.11 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3/5
-Cover: 4.5/5
-Story: 3/5
-Writing: 4/5
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Cult, Contemporary, Thriller
-Horror: 1.5/5
-Cult: 5/5
-Contemporary: 4/5
-Mystery: 2/5
-Thriller: 1/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Eh, I guess

Hated|Disliked|Meh|It Was Okay|Liked|Loved|Favorited

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

This was a weird book, as in weird how I got to the end. I was reading it and it had caught my attention but I was going to possibly DNF it because I just couldn't stand how I called what I did. Then I notice I was at 52% and told myself just a little more... and I kept doing that till the end. It seemed to go by so fast.

Besides that the story was just... okay. I called one of the major plots in the book. There were a lot of repetition. I notice a lot of Rachel's characters are up their own asses. Secondly how she has her MC describe themselves is wrong, like dead wrong. Vesper isn't what she claims to be in the beginning of the book.

Also Rachel, if you are going to pick a name for a character and then have the MC call her by her nickname most of the time, please fucking stick to it. The first time that crap happened I was confused as fuck. Make up your damn mind on a name and stick to it please.

I was conflicted about MC's past love interest. Like yeah, I get it you left and by that right you don't really have a say BUT... I get it hurts. I just wish Rachel would have made Vesper go ALL in or just not fucking at all. This have a fence up her ass was NOT IT. The whole wedding shit was just that... shit.

In this book, I don't think I had this problem in the last one I read, what the hell was up with the random inserts of crap that def didn't belong? It threw me off and took me out of the scene so fast.

This is my second book by Rachel and I don't know if she is ever going to get better with her writing. Her editor needs to slow their reading and really pay attention because they have missed some big ass mistakes.

Even with all my bashing, I think the fact that it went by fast and the story not being so awful I rated it a 3.11.

Some say that you can always go home, but that isn’t necessarily the case for Vesper Wright. Escaping from her family and her religiously devoted community at eighteen, Vesper never really planned on returning to her childhood home ever again–after all, she was told not to return if she left– but when she receives an invitation to her cousin’s wedding she finds herself returning to the family farm, wondering why she has been allowed to come home. It soon becomes apparent to Vesper that not only is this olive branch not all it's cracked up to be, but that family secrets have a way of revealing themselves in the end.

Black Sheep was a dark and twisted novel that was not at all what I expected it to be after reading the synopsis; thankfully I did not look closely at the cover, otherwise I think I would not have had the jaw-dropping reaction that I eventually did. I really liked Vesper. Not only is her character well-developed, she is presented as a woman with honest emotions and reactions to the situations that she faces within the narrative; she is resilient and tough. Vesper and the other characters, the humor, and the story itself created an edge-of-my-seat page-turner that I could not put down. There were a couple of plot holes and sections of the narrative that seemed to drag a bit, plus some parts of the ending were so-so; nevertheless, I enjoyed Black Sheep.

Absolutely loved this. I enjoyed Rachel Harrison's other book Cackle, so I figured this was probably going to be good, and it was.
I surprisingly didn't hate any character here which is VERY rare. I'm like 1000000000% obsessed with Constance. I felt a weird pull towards her for some reason.
When Vesper let's us in on her secret, the 'cult' she was raised in, I was like wwhhhaaaaaaaaa. Get some chips, a soda and your phone charger cuz it's going to be a long night.
The big 'twist' I did not see coming. Not sure how, maybe I was just too engrossed in the rest of the book, but while explaining the story to my mom and fiance they were both like, 'duh, saw that coming.' I was blindsided though.
Wasn't a fan of the ending though. Could have ended the book after the climax IMO. That being said, I was kind of sad when I finished the book, because I missed the characters and story. Strange, I know, lol. 10/10 would recommend.

I am a Rachel Harrison devotee--I'm going to read anything that woman writes--BUT this just didn't hit for me. Maybe after two very solid five star reads with Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth (Loved The Return, but it's not quite on the same level) I expected more?

Vesper is estranged from her family and is barely hanging on. She is a waitress at a cheesy family restaurant, she doesn't really have any friends and in general, she's unhappy. And then a wedding invitation arrives. Her childhood best friend and her ex-boyfriend are getting married. So in spite of herself, Vesper goes home, even though she knows most people that leave aren't welcomed back.

Even though I didn't love this, I read it under 24 hours. Vesper was very unlikeable and she just didn't have the same smart wit that I've come to expect from Harrison women. There weren't very many sharp zingers, or tender moments and I didn't highlight a million passages the way I normally do. I also felt like the plot was pretty obvious and risk-free--there wasn't anything very surprising or novel here. All in all, this is a fine read, but not one I loved like I wanted to. I will still read anything Harrison writes, but maybe next time I won't expect quite as much.

4.5. I like my horror with a comedic twist, so Rachel Harrison's quickly becoming my go-to author during Spooky Season. This is the second book of hers that I've read, and I've grown to love her dark, twisted, sarcastic sense of humor; she reminds me of Grady Hendrix in that way. She also creates jaded, snarky, smart heroines that are easy to root for as they get themselves into increasingly weird, terrifying situations. I'm also a big fan of how Harrison makes a familiar trope feel original and fresh; this is the case with this trope of going back home to one's estranged, extremely religious family only to have something creepy happen. (Don't read any synopses before you start this book--I've had issues with marketing blurbs before, but the publisher did a solid job being informative yet cryptic with this one.) Also, don't be put off by the slower pacing in the beginning--it REALLY picks up later, especially in the last quarter of the novel.

This is the year of humorous horror stories! And I love it.

This was perfect blend of satire, horror, and cults/slashers/nostalgia over 70s+80s horror movies. Definitely had its hilarious moments, and some weird vibes, but I really appreciated this story. Nothing to share - go into it blind, and do trust the process - the gloomy MC, is definitely NOT crazy. Maybe just a bit, but you just have to find out why.

Thank you PRH Audio for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Berkley for the gifted copy!

I've had Rachel's previous 2 books on my tbr for quite some time, and let me just tell you, I bumped them up to the top of my spooky season reading list. Black Sheep was such a fun read, and although it wasn't completely what I expected, I still really enjoyed it!

Vesper leaves her family and the religious organization (dare I say, cult) that she grew up in days before her 18th birthday. She has spent the following years trying to move on with her life, but when she receives a wedding invitation in the mail, she decides to pay a visit to her home and family.

Of course, nothing has changed, and things are actually getting weirder. As the story unfolds, we find out why Vesper wanted to leave, and why she is the proverbial "Black Sheep" of the family. It definitely wasn't what I expected, and the ending had me saying WHATTTTT a couple times.

There are parts that are a bit corny (what horror story isn't?) and parts that are beyond creative. Making Vesper's mom a horror movie actress was brilliant, because I couldn't tell what was an act and what was her real personality. And the creepy props around the house both made me laugh and then glad I don't have them at my house!
I'm glad I saved this one for spooky season!

The story is fine. Most will love it. This author has a distinct style that I’m just not excited about: campy horror-lite. It felt more like silliness to me than dark comedy.

There are big themes of church trauma and toxic relationships. It was a tough read for me from the halfway point on, just from the perspective of someone deconstructing. I don’t want to spoil anyone’s good time here, truly, but I had a tough time separating my Pentecostal childhood upbringing from the content of the story and as a result, it was a stressful and unsettling reading time for me. More so as the book progressed. Just being transparent here 🫣

Rachel Harrison's style shines through in her latest release. She manages to keep you engaged in eerie, uncomfortable horror while managing to pop in humor at the same time.

Vespar is a flawed MC, who struggles with her upbringing and how to engage with her family after being essentially excommunicated. Vespar's return is complicated by the unraveling of family secrets.

This was a delightfully fun and quick read just in time for spooky season! It's giving me chilling adventures of Sabrina meets paranormal activity next of kin vibes and I’m here for it. Vesper is not your average woman. She's left her family because of religious differences and you're thinking oh, they must be amish or something but nope, that's not it lol. I won't say much because spoilers but this was great read!