A review by measlibrary
Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was EVERYTHING. I honestly do not know how I did not read this sooner, as it has a lot of my favorite things. We have horror, we have serial killers, we have romance, we have humor, we have SPICE! I literally flew through this book and needed to force myself to pace myself because I knew I would not be able to go to the store to get the second one until the weekend. I LOVED this book and cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

Sloane just might be one of my favorite FMCs ever. I genuinely loved getting to see such a badass female serial killer. There really is not enough female serial killers in media — they are usually men. Although this checks out, the TYPE of serial killer that Sloane was iconic and reminded me of a female Dexter. I fully supported it. We love a badass, terrifying, queen serial killer who gets rid of terrible people. AS DESERVED — MUAHAHA!!

I also loved Rowan, as he was an interesting take on another vigilante-styled serial killer. Although he was terrifying, it was so intriguing to see his double life as a chef and owner of restaurants. I ate that up and loved to see him thrive so much in his normal life. He also very much reminded me of Dexter (if you cannot tell I am currently rewatching the series, lol) because he was such a good man and always took care of his woman, Sloane.

Getting to see the game carry out between Sloane and Rowan was so much fun but also it was so scary! It was one of those “I want to look away but I cannot” situations. Every time that we got to the annual competition, I was like “Oh boy, here we go…” and braced myself for the craziness that I knew was bound to happen in the next pages. Brynne did not disappoint when it came to these scenes. The gore of the scenes, the high stakes surrounding the killers they were after, the execution of the actual murders — it was everything a horror fan could have asked for. I LOVE both reading and watching the horror genre, and she really did an incredible job at mixing this genre with romance. I have genuinely never read something like this before. I was not sure if it would be able to be executed well — to have a healthy mix of romance,hot spicy scenes, and just flat out horror, gore, and murder. But hey, I can confidently say that Brynne Weaver achieved the perfect mix of these genres and wrote an incredibly fun, sexy, scary, and flat out revolting book.
The ice cream scene and that whole dinner scene will forever be imprinted in my brain. Also lil orzo pastas hahah.


I could really continue writing all of the things that I love about this book, but I have already written a small novella here, so I will wrap it up. I really truly enjoyed myself while reading this novel so much. It successfully fueled my love for both romance and horror in one book. It was right up my alley and everything that I could have asked for. I will happily be reading Leather & Lark now, then the last book in the trilogy, and everything else that Brynne ever writes. I rate this book 5/5 stars! 🌟

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