A review by oxfordcommas91
Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

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

3.0

I think I must have watched too much Dexter and Criminal Minds as a teenager because I was honestly expecting the gore and violence to be far more intense than it was. Yes, they are serial killers. They kill people. There were a few scenes that are probably too much if you don’t have a strong stomach, but I didn’t find any parts overwhelmingly gross… except maybe the vanilla ice cream, that was a bit much. 
I liked the concept here and it was an incredibly fast read that I found myself (embarrassingly) a bit hooked to. I liked the second half of the book a lot better than the first - understanding the motivations of both butcher and blackbird made me connect to their stories and actions and added a level of depth that wasn’t there at first for me. 
The spice was…. Spicy. I’d give it at least 3-4 🌶️ which is a bit spicier than I typically enjoy. The spice had a BDSM/kink hint to it, which is also not my favorite genre of spice. It got a bit much for me and I found myself skimming parts of the spicy scenes because it felt a bit overdone. 
At the end I was a bit like “okay what did I just read?” But no regrets and I enjoyed it enough that I will likely pick up the sequel, Leather and Lark, for when I need some more mindless fun. 
(I appreciate this author's writing style and also appreciate her insistence on checking and listing the content warnings for her book. Please do so before reading, for sure!)
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