A review by robinwritesallthethings
Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: When one serial killer who only kills other serial killers rescues another with the same mandate, they decide to play a game to see who’s the best at their dark vocation. But even serial killers can fall in love. It’s just a little more dangerous when they do.

Spice Level: Off the charts dirty and off the charts hot. Like, you have to wait a while for it, but it is so worth it.

Realism: It seems ridiculous to talk about realism in a serial killer romance, but honestly, this story is more realistic than a lot of romances I’ve read. I love how even though the characters are unmatched killers, they also both have insecurities that hold them back in many ways. And I was stoked that the author addressed cleaning up all the evidence these two leave behind, which I find often gets skipped over, but seems rather crucial, considering.

Trope Alert: Friends to lovers and I’m pretty sure a bunch of other ones that didn’t exist until now, but are awesome.

Trigger Warnings: Okay, this is a book about murderers, so there’s, you know, a lot of murdering. Specifically, though, if you don’t like gory stuff having to do with eyeballs, skip this one. Um, what else? Cannibalism. Those are the two really big ones. There’s a list of more at the beginning of the book, which was very nice, but also very enticing, at least for me.

Final Thoughts: This was one of those books I didn’t know I needed. A friend asked me to read it because it was blowing up on TikTok and she wanted to know if it was really as good as everyone was saying, and I can now confirm that it is. It’s unhinged, funny, emotional, sexy, and so romantic. It takes huge talent to pull off a combination like that. I bet even Brynne Weaver’s grocery list is tantalizing. As long as none of the triggers she lists turn you off, you should read this book. Just do yourself a favor. I cannot wait for the second one.
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