Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne WeaverStar Rating:
Spice Level:
Series: Ruinous Love #1
Also in this series: Leather & Lark
Published by Zando on 10/23/2023
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Romantic Suspense, Thriller & Suspense
Format: Kindle (355 pages)
Source: Purchased
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“I want to ruin her so that she’s mine, my beautiful disaster. My wild creature. My goddess of chaos.”
When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, they find something elusive—the friendship of two like-minded, pitch-black souls who just happen to enjoy killing other serial killers.
From small-town West Virginia to upscale California, and from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.
But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love.
Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves?
Or have they finally met their match?
Butcher and Blackbird is a dark romantic comedy about two serial killers who only kill other serial killers. Think: a sweet, protective Dexter meets an artsy, sassy female Dexter—but make it a rom-com. There’s pining and piercings, a little light stalking, some cooking, and, of course, killing, dismemberment, elaborate crime scenes, lobotomized butlers, and mildly inappropriate use of a mummified corpse. Basically, it’s a lot of messed-up serial killer chaos. It’s pretty awesome.
Oh—and every year, they play a rousing game of who-can-identify-hunt-and-kill-the-serial-killer-first—you know, for funsies.
Sloane and Rowan, our serial killer couple, meet by chance when they unknowingly go after the same bad guy, Albert Briscoe—the Beast of the Bayou. Sloane finds him and stabs him in the neck with her favorite knife—the one she got from Etsy. But before he bleeds out, Albert kicks her into one of his cages, locks the door, and falls just out of reach—with the key around his neck. Rowan shows up three days later expecting to hunt and kill this sicko himself but instead finds a very dead Albert Briscoe and a dirty, sick, and starving Sloane cowering in the back corner of a cage. Rowan has a major fangirl moment when he discovers that Sloane is the infamous Orb Weaver, but Sloane plays it cool when Rowan tells her he is the Boston Butcher, the Massacre of Mass, the Ghost of the East Coast—take your pick. She knows who he is but won’t let on, rightfully unsure of the like-minded serial killer before her. Much to her surprise, Rowan lets Sloane out of her cage, tells her to shower and find some clean clothes, helps her burn the house down, and then takes her for BBQ. As you do when it’s Tuesday, and you are a serial killer.
Over lunch, Rowan and Sloane bond as much as two untrusting people can, and Rowan finds himself more and more smitten the longer they are together. Sloane is the epitome of independence. She doesn’t trust anyone and is always ready to run. Rowan knows he needs to do something to keep them connected, so he proposes a yearly hunting competition so that he can see her again.
Annual August Showdown
Seven days
Tie-breaker by rock-paper-scissors
Best of five
Winner takes the Forest Phantom
Competitive to a fault, Sloane agrees to Rowan’s game, and over the years, they become best friends—something neither of them knew they needed but desperately wanted. Rowan has his brothers, Lachlan and Fionn, and Sloane has her best friend, Lark, but they are family—family that was there for the first kill, knows the REAL monster within, and stands by them anyway. But Rowan and Sloane have never found a lover they could confide in—a partner who genuinely loves and understands them despite their murderous flaws. They never dreamed they could find someone to love their REAL selves. Rowan falls first and pines after Sloane for years before she catches up. But when she does, OH BOY! Buckle up. Because it’s GOOD!
Rowan and Sloane are both lovable and relatable characters. Despite their extracurricular killing activities, they are normal people with regular jobs—Rowan, a chef at his restaurant, and Sloane, training doctors to run clinical trials. They both have survived some horrific stuff, and their shared coping mechanism just happens to be killing evil people. I never thought I’d find myself wanting to be friends with and swooning over serial killers, but here we are. And for a book about two tormented souls who rid the world of some seriously demented killers, it was downright hilarious. The tongue-in-cheek humor was utterly delightful, even though it revolved around things like plucking/gouging out eyeballs, orzo pasta-looking maggot marches, and (no, I’m not going to let it go) accidental cannibalism.
This book is not for the faint of heart, so read the trigger warnings and decide for yourself. I will say this, though: when I saw “accidental cannibalism” on the list of triggers, my interest was piqued, and then I read the dedication:
For those of you who read the trigger warnings and said, “Accidental cannibalism?! Count me in!” This one’s for you.
From that point forward, I was all in. And I’m glad I decided to give it a chance because it was as delightful as a book with a very interesting and disturbing take on cookies and cream ice cream can be (IYKYK). I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Leather and Lark, when it comes out on June 4, 2024.
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