Every serial killer needs a friend.
Every game must have a winner.
When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, 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 & Blackbird is the first book in the Ruinous Love Dark Romance trilogy of interconnected stand-alone dark romantic comedies. This dual POV novel ends on a HEA.
Book Info: 351 pages. Publisher: Piatkus on 31 October 2023
My Thoughts:
WARNING : GRATUIOUS & GRAPHIC VIOLENCE: GRATUIOUS & GRAPHIC SEX
Oh my days.. I picked this book to read alongside 100 members of my Book of The Month online book club as it had been recommended on Facebook and was reduced to 99p, and I will admit to NOT reading the reviews and just concentrated on the blurb which said “hilarious, fresh, different and a funny irreverent version of Dexter”!
What it should have said is simply “IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED DON’T READ THIS”, which in all honestly would NOT have put me off at all, but it might have stopped me from subjecting 100 sweet, innocent and lovely readers from reading it too.
So, where to start? We have two main characters in this book, Sloane, AKA The Orb Weaver AKA Blackbird, a serial killer of serial killers finds herself in a sticky situation when she is trapped in a cage alongside the rotting corpse of her latest victim. Enter Rowan, AKA the Boston Butcher, AKA The Massacre of Mass, AKA The Ghost of the East Coast who not only rescues Sloane, but is also a serial killer of serial killers and thus begins a romantic, sweet and funny rom-com… who am I kidding?
This is a book of two halves. The first half of the book follows Sloane and Rowan navigate their friendship over a four year period, hiding their true feelings for each other and competing in an annual competition of who can find and kill a targeted serial killer first. I will say I don’t mind the odd bit of gruesome gore, but seriously, some of these scenes are absolutely HORRIFIC, don’t get me started on the cannibalism or the ice-cream. However, despite the disgusting murders and violent atrocities, I absolutely LOVED the banter between Butcher and Blackbird and the constant will they/won’t they get together throughout the first half.
Now this is where it gets tricky to review as the second half of the book takes their relationship to a whole new level. Now it doesn’t take much to make me blush, but boy am I glad I wasn’t listening to this on audio or reading it in public because this part of the story is really GRAPHIC and at times really UNCOMFORTABLE to read. I will admit that I did want to skim read some of the sex parts as it does become a bit repetitive and seriously, how Sloan didn’t get a yeast infection is beyond me!
Anyway, you will be delighted to know this is a trilogy and the next book in the series is called Leather & Lark and features 2 of the other characters in this book, Sloane’s Best Friend and Rowan’s brother.
Would I recommend it? Yes but with the express caveat that it probably will offend everyone and I don’t want you to judge me just because I loved it!
