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A review by shaysshelf
Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver
3.75
I loved most of this book, but it was no Butcher & Blackbird. I'm not sure if I went into this with unrealistic expectations, because I loved how unique B&B was, but there were parts of this one that fell flat for me.
First of all, the pizza scene. The content warnings made it sound like the pizza scene was going to be worse than the cookies & cream ice cream scene, and it just didn't shock me the way the cookies and cream scene in B&B did? Maybe because it wasn't directly related to either of the MCs?
I really liked the way this book started out - it truly set the unhinged scene and the enemies to lovers vibes I was excited about. Also, marriage of convenience is always a trope I will get excited about, because I love the creativity or humanity behind the reasoning for getting married.
That said, once Lachlan and Lark actually got married, all the delicious tension and chemistry established just completely fizzled out for me. There seemed to be a long stretch where nothing really happened and the story felt unnecessarily dragged out. Even once the spice hit, I wasn't convinced they had any chemistry anymore, so it felt kind of forced. They ended up convincing me and pulling me back in towards the end, but I do feel the middle was missing some vital components to make this book truly what I hoped it would be.
What I really loved was that Lachlan had no idea how deranged and unhinged Lark was until after he found her trophies. I liked that she caught him off guard and was the furthest thing from what he expected. I also loved the dichotomy of her love for all things pretty, sparkly and crafty and how polarizing it was to how vindictive and vengeful she could be.
I also found there were less moments where the comedy really hit the way it did in B&B. I found myself laughing frequently while reading/listening to B&B, and I don't recall really laughing much at all in L&L except perhaps in the fireworks scene at the beginning?
This sounds like a lot of criticism, but Butcher & Blackbird truly set the bar high. I still really enjoyed this book, but it doesn't compare to B&B in my mind, and it definitely could have been shorter or built up in the middle.
When discussing this book with a friend, she mentioned she felt this could have been a situation of an indie author going trad and losing their voice, and although I seriously hope that's not the case, I can't help but think she may be on to something with that point.
As is expected, the duet narration by Samantha Brentmoor and Eric Nolan was great. It was particularly risky that Lark was such a musical character and loved to sing, but Samantha didn't shy away from singing when required. I'm not 100% sure if it's because I listened to the audiobook at 2x speed or if it was intentional, but there were many times where Samantha was laughing or giggling to portray how the interaction played out, but every single time she laughed it sounded absolutely unhinged - even in moments, where an unhinged laugh wasn't necessary, that's how it came off and I didn't always love it when it wasn't warranted. But, take that with a grain of salt - as I said, I listened at 2x speed and that could have been part of the reason it sounded that way.
First of all, the pizza scene. The content warnings made it sound like the pizza scene was going to be worse than the cookies & cream ice cream scene, and it just didn't shock me the way the cookies and cream scene in B&B did? Maybe because it wasn't directly related to either of the MCs?
I really liked the way this book started out - it truly set the unhinged scene and the enemies to lovers vibes I was excited about. Also, marriage of convenience is always a trope I will get excited about, because I love the creativity or humanity behind the reasoning for getting married.
That said, once Lachlan and Lark actually got married, all the delicious tension and chemistry established just completely fizzled out for me. There seemed to be a long stretch where nothing really happened and the story felt unnecessarily dragged out. Even once the spice hit, I wasn't convinced they had any chemistry anymore, so it felt kind of forced. They ended up convincing me and pulling me back in towards the end, but I do feel the middle was missing some vital components to make this book truly what I hoped it would be.
What I really loved was that Lachlan had no idea how deranged and unhinged Lark was until after he found her trophies. I liked that she caught him off guard and was the furthest thing from what he expected. I also loved the dichotomy of her love for all things pretty, sparkly and crafty and how polarizing it was to how vindictive and vengeful she could be.
I also found there were less moments where the comedy really hit the way it did in B&B. I found myself laughing frequently while reading/listening to B&B, and I don't recall really laughing much at all in L&L except perhaps in the fireworks scene at the beginning?
This sounds like a lot of criticism, but Butcher & Blackbird truly set the bar high. I still really enjoyed this book, but it doesn't compare to B&B in my mind, and it definitely could have been shorter or built up in the middle.
When discussing this book with a friend, she mentioned she felt this could have been a situation of an indie author going trad and losing their voice, and although I seriously hope that's not the case, I can't help but think she may be on to something with that point.
As is expected, the duet narration by Samantha Brentmoor and Eric Nolan was great. It was particularly risky that Lark was such a musical character and loved to sing, but Samantha didn't shy away from singing when required. I'm not 100% sure if it's because I listened to the audiobook at 2x speed or if it was intentional, but there were many times where Samantha was laughing or giggling to portray how the interaction played out, but every single time she laughed it sounded absolutely unhinged - even in moments, where an unhinged laugh wasn't necessary, that's how it came off and I didn't always love it when it wasn't warranted. But, take that with a grain of salt - as I said, I listened at 2x speed and that could have been part of the reason it sounded that way.