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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
dark
funny
fast-paced
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It made me squirm. Not always in a good way. But the humor carried me through.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was hilarious and actually had me laughing out loud while listening to the audiobook. The narration was excellent, best I've heard yet, and the story had me hooked from the very first page! Can't wait for the next one!!
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Audiobook 🎧
I'm conflicted. I enjoyed this book in some ways but not in others.
It definitely requires a suspension of disbelief - how is there no acknowledgement of how easily they get away with their crimes? They might be killing criminals and fellow serial killers, but they're also serial killers!
There was a lack of solid introduction to both characters in the beginning. We are dumped straight into the action, but that left me feeling like I wasn't really invested in either of them.
However I did find them both really likeable, which actually makes the lack of introduction a bit frustrating, I would have liked to get to know them both better!
The gore was a bit too much sometimes, but that's probably because I'm a baby -especially when Rowan is having his skin flayed off by a mandoline, and the corkscrew was twitching to his heartbeat -that was a struggle to listen to.
I did enjoy the humour, and the romance between the two MCs. The twist towards the end had me hooked.
5* for the audiobook performance, I'm a sucker for an Irish accent 🥰
I'm conflicted. I enjoyed this book in some ways but not in others.
It definitely requires a suspension of disbelief - how is there no acknowledgement of how easily they get away with their crimes? They might be killing criminals and fellow serial killers, but they're also serial killers!
There was a lack of solid introduction to both characters in the beginning. We are dumped straight into the action, but that left me feeling like I wasn't really invested in either of them.
However I did find them both really likeable, which actually makes the lack of introduction a bit frustrating, I would have liked to get to know them both better!
The gore was a bit too much sometimes, but that's probably because I'm a baby -
I did enjoy the humour, and the romance between the two MCs. The twist towards the end had me hooked.
5* for the audiobook performance, I'm a sucker for an Irish accent 🥰
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My friend got me this book, and I tried, I really tried to love this book, but I'm just not into dark romance...I want to giggle and smile at sweet rom-coms.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail
Butcher & Blackbird is a dark romance about two serial killers falling in love and the first book in the Ruinous Love trilogy. When a chance encounter brings two killers of murderers Rowan and Sloane together, they form an unlikely friendship and hold an annual competition who can identify and take down their target first. And amidst the blood and carnage, their friendship turns into something more, but can two psychopaths make it work in real life?
This book was not for me. I am not sure what I was expecting given the premise, but I did not like this book. I just didn’t “get” not did I think the book was particularly well written. Except for the subject matter, the story and writing itself felt very juvenile. The interactions don’t feel natural, the serial killers aspects not well researched, and the twist really silly. The best thing about the book is the smut, and I rarely ever feel that way even about the spiciest books. Their romance had the semblance of depth but it is never felt.
Sloane’s serial killer signature seemed entirely nonsensical. (What do you mean you made a 3d web-like map with weird clues that no one can figure out with clues like biceps=B-named victim?) Meanwhile, Rowan came across incredibly incompetent in being a serial killer throughout—I mean, he loses control, he is drugged, he cheats and just follows Sloane, and he is captured. It just doesn’t work. I do have to give it to the book though because it made me incredibly uncomfortable in one scene—the mandoline one.
It may be down to personal taste, but Butcher & Blackbird does not work.
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is not something I would have picked out for myself but it was our book club’s pick and I was actually surprised by how much I liked it and how quickly it read.
It was giving Dexter.
Also… a little of It Ends With Us (Boston, the restaurants, the hyper-independent from childhood trauma FMC.)
So it definitely felt like a combination of stories I’d heard before but overall it was an enjoyable read.
As someone who doesn’t really do horror or gore, I did fine with this book. There was only one scene at the end that got visual enough for me to really scrunch my nose. The rest of the book was laced with enough humor and spice to keep it pretty lighthearted.
I also went out and bought the second book, if that says anything.
It was giving Dexter.
Also… a little of It Ends With Us (Boston, the restaurants, the hyper-independent from childhood trauma FMC.)
So it definitely felt like a combination of stories I’d heard before but overall it was an enjoyable read.
As someone who doesn’t really do horror or gore, I did fine with this book. There was only one scene at the end that got visual enough for me to really scrunch my nose. The rest of the book was laced with enough humor and spice to keep it pretty lighthearted.
I also went out and bought the second book, if that says anything.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No