Reviews with content warning for Murder - Bloom

Damn. I may have predicted a few things but there were still a couple surprises. Didn’t take away from how hauntingly beautiful and disgusting this was. Man I loved this so much.

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eveningjaye's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this book was written kind of as a sapphic homage to the NBC series Hannibal and as a fan of the show, i can assure you that that shows and it reads a lot like some fanfics for the series that i've read, so this is a fun read if you also like the show. i had a lot of fun 'bingo' moments where i noticed that Dawson was referencing the series.

however, Ash is more clearly a 'bad guy' in the book than the show paints Hannibal--that doesn't have to be a negative thing but since Dawson tells us that she wanted to write a hot female serial killer to show her daughter that they don't always have to be men, i think going in a more morally grey direction with Ash and Ro's relationship would have worked better because Ash is an abusive partner and, unlike in Hannibal,

Ro doesn't choose to be with her but instead gets physically trapped.

you root for both Hannibal and Will in the show, but in the book you're really only rooting for Ro because of how the relationship and Ash are framed. Ro is clearly a victim of Ash whereas the show subverts that dynamic in the following season. so if you're expecting or hoping for an ending like Hannibal or Killing Eve season 3, you will be disappointed.

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just as a footnote, i know quite a few people in the reviews are complaining about how there are no sex scenes but just fading to black and wondering why that is and i just wanted to add that if an author is writing an adult novel and does not want to write sex scenes, they don't need to justify that. if you are writing adult fiction and aren't comfortable with writing sex, it's perfectly fine to not. you don't need sex in your story just because you're writing books for adults. there's plenty of sensuality between the two characters and you know that they're sleeping with each other. the lack of sex scenes did not bother me at all and it's not homophobic to simply cut to black.

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c_leen_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

So good. Not usually a horror fan but this did it for me. The writing sometimes pulled me out of the story and the ending was a little hamfisted/villain monologuey, but still thoroughly enjoyed it.

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peakoldladylife's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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daffodilcherry's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Impeccable novella that is quite literally a cottage core lesbian horror. There is an unmistakable tension throughout the entire book, masked by gorgeous writing. It perfectly captures obsessive love, how easy it is to wave away red flags (but girl there were some red flags) and the romantisation of cottagecore/how real life rural living is a bit different. Also a master class in how to gorgeously describe things without purple prose. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but it fitted the story.

Wheelhouses: obsessive lesbian love, beautiful descriptions of food/gardens, "something is messed up here and the main character can't see it.", horny lesbians.

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