I checked this book out on KU months ago and it sat there for quite some time and today I finally read it.

I feel like a dork for waiting so long to read it because this book was flippin’ fantastic!

Serial killers falling in love plus morbid comedy? Tell me a combination I love more. (There’s not many).

Unsurprisingly, I loved the morbid comedy more than the love story. I have a love/hate relationship with straight-up MF contemporary romances. They either have to be really funny or really dark for it to work for me. This one only works because of that perfect blend of morbid humor and violence. I ended up highlighting quite a bit of phrases, and all of them were funny ones, because I’m just not sentimental. Brynne Weaver has a great sense of timing with her writing, though, because she seems to sense when’s a good time to lighten the mood and when’s a good time to let everything settle for a little while.

Weaver just also has an impeccable writing style. It’s almost cinematic. Butcher & Blackbird could almost be a screenplay for how creative and vivid it is. I’d buy a ticket to see this movie (well, given my social anxiety I’d rent it).

It is a slow burn (at least in my opinion), but it’s well worth it when you do reach the spice. I wavered between whether this was medium or high on my spicy scale, and in the end I went with high because of the number of spice scenes and how enthusiastic those scenes are once they get there.

If you can handle the laundry list of TW/CWs Weaver warns you about at the beginning of the book, then I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a fun, engaging read.

All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Book Series/Contemporary Romance/Dark Comedy/Dark Romance/Romance Series/RomCom/Serial Killers/Spice Level 3