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A review by marimoose
Leather and Lark by Brynne Weaver
emotional
funny
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? No
4.5
I love that the start of this book was Halloween night, and I am actually finishing this on Halloween night. There's poetry in reading about two murderers in love 😂.
This was another banger of a dark romantic comedy. I said what I said! I knew going in that it'd give me the hate to love trope and I was already eager to read about the enigmatic assassin that is Lachlan Kane after his introduction in Butcher and Blackbird. But damn, we got forced proximity AND arranged marriage on top of that too? Did Brynne Weaver bless us with this trifecta? Why yes. Yes she did.
And unsurprisingly, I ate it all up. Lark has a lot of damage behind her usually cheerful facade, and I support all her wrongs (because fuck all those guys to hell). And I support all of Lachlan's wrongs that help support Lark's wrongs. Because these two are absolutely adorable. Freaks, but still adorable.
To be fair, I did find the beginning to be slow, and it took maybe the 50% mark for me to get fully invested in the story. I thought the overall plot outside of the romance--the mystery behind the killings, the reveal of the big bad, etc--felt a bit rushed. Unlike L&L's predecessor, we already did have an idea who the true antagonist was, which took away the suspense that was still fairly prevalent in B&B up until the story's climactic breaking point. Instead, it felt like a forced conflict that carried over from B&B. I did love that there was no third act breakup, and the spice? Once again, the spice was top notch.
Also, tattooed Lachlan Kane cursing profusely (or reading smut out loud) in his Irish accent with his glasses on. That's it. That's living rent-free in my head forever.
This was another banger of a dark romantic comedy. I said what I said! I knew going in that it'd give me the hate to love trope and I was already eager to read about the enigmatic assassin that is Lachlan Kane after his introduction in Butcher and Blackbird. But damn, we got forced proximity AND arranged marriage on top of that too? Did Brynne Weaver bless us with this trifecta? Why yes. Yes she did.
And unsurprisingly, I ate it all up. Lark has a lot of damage behind her usually cheerful facade, and I support all her wrongs (because fuck all those guys to hell). And I support all of Lachlan's wrongs that help support Lark's wrongs. Because these two are absolutely adorable. Freaks, but still adorable.
To be fair, I did find the beginning to be slow, and it took maybe the 50% mark for me to get fully invested in the story. I thought the overall plot outside of the romance--the mystery behind the killings, the reveal of the big bad, etc--felt a bit rushed. Unlike L&L's predecessor, we already did have an idea who the true antagonist was, which took away the suspense that was still fairly prevalent in B&B up until the story's climactic breaking point. Instead, it felt like a forced conflict that carried over from B&B. I did love that there was no third act breakup, and the spice? Once again, the spice was top notch.
Also, tattooed Lachlan Kane cursing profusely (or reading smut out loud) in his Irish accent with his glasses on. That's it. That's living rent-free in my head forever.