Reviews with content warning for Stalking - Butcher & Blackbird: The Ruinous Love Trilogy, Book 1

This book is EXPLICIT. Both in the murders and in the sex. I initially wasn’t sure how I felt about the book as I was getting a bit squicked out. (I can do gore. I can do sex. Both together was challenging.) However, I really enjoyed the characters of Rowan and Sloane and the voice actors performing the audiobook did a spectacular job. That said, it definitely was still an audiobook I turned down as I drove through town because I didn’t want to audio detectable outside of my car.

Content Warnings

fairytalefootnotes's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Tropes, etc: Serial Killers, Competition, Friends to Lover, He Falls First, Boy Obsessed

POV: Dual, 1st Person

3rd Act Breakup?: Yes

Cliffhanger?: Yes

Song Association: Work Song by Hozier

Notable Quote: “We’re not normal people. We are monsters. But if we’re monsters, we’ll thrive in the dark. Together.”

The Praise: Butcher & Blackbird was the perfect blend of dark, funny, and sweet. The characters were well developed and easy to root for. Rowan was so sweet and down sooooo bad for Sloane. This is my second Brynne Weaver book and I loved it just as much as I loved Marrow.

The Critique: I don’t love when epilogues don’t focus on the book’s main couple. I wanted more of Sloane and Rowan!

Final Thoughts: Hilarious, sweet, sexy, and dark. I can’t wait to read about Lachlan and Lark!

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allisonkhenson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this was fun but I wish some elements were more fleshed out

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grace33's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

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sunflower_13's review against another edition

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I should’ve listened to the warnings in the front of the book. I kept reading because I thought it might get better, but unfortunately it did not.

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justinekorson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-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

4.0

This was interesting. I didn't know anything about the book but a friend bought it for me so I thought I'd give it a read. It was a lot more fun than I was expecting and less gross. I can't say I'm a dark romance girly in the traditional sense because when most people talk about dark romance I feel like they're talking about all these bad things happening to the FMC by the MMC against her will. Like I'm all for the dark romance being like "oh he's a killer" "he's unhinged" "he's scary" but as long as he doesn't hurt the lead character then I'm cool with it! Like why are you trying to hurt the object of your affection? That should be the exception to the rule. BUT IDK THAT'S JUST ME. Either way, this was funny because the two of them were so unhinged but like functional??? In everyday life??? Which I guess is true for sociopaths but I also don't think sociopaths are capable of love so I don't know what to call them. The FBI apparently calls them vigilante's so I guess that??? But something Rowan said at the end about her evolving and not devolving like most people believe killers would do really got to me. Like I know this was fake but it was really stretching some truths here.

REGARDLESS!!! Rowan and Sloane were really cute together and I enjoyed their banter. I'm really looking forward to reading about the rest of Rowan's brothers. Their stories are already kind of built up so I think they'll both really exciting too.

Content Warnings

balladeer_rabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

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