“Butcher & Blackbird”, Brynne Weaver
Published August 15, 2023 • Book 1 of The Ruinous Love Trilogy
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?
“I didn’t gouge them out, Butcher. I plucked them. Delicately. Like a lady.”
The trigger warning of “accidental cannibalism” in a Tiktoker’s video did it for me.
I picked up Butcher & Blackbird at the height of its popularity, right after Lights Out, when quirky good-guy serial killer romances (think Dexter but swoonier) were having a moment—and this one delivered on all fronts. Sloane and Rowan’s relationship is built on one of the most unique premises I’ve read in romance: two killers who form a strange alliance, walking that razor’s edge between partners in crime and partners in something much deeper. Their constant will they/won’t they dance made the book impossible to put down.
What sets this apart from the usual dark romance is how much fun it has with itself. The subject matter is twisted, but the banter between Sloane and Rowan makes it addictive. Their relationship evolves from competition to companionship to something far more tender, all while never quite letting go of their shared darkness. It’s sharp, funny, and unexpectedly warm in moments. The romance feel earned, not just a gimmick riding on the shock factor.
Butcher & Blackbird fits perfectly into that quirky-serial-killer-romance niche that BookTok couldn’t get enough of, but it also stands tall on its own. It’s dark without being joyless and romantic without being saccharine. If you like your love stories laced with danger, witty banter, and a knife’s edge of moral ambiguity, this book scratches the itch perfectly.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
cannibalism • murder • stalking
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