Butcher & Blackbird (Ruinous Love #1) by Brynne Weaver

So the trigger warnings at the beginning of this book obviously prepared me for the wild ride ahead but wow, this was totally unhinged and I had the absolute best time!

I tend to avoid books with Irish main characters that aren’t written by Irish authors. I imagine this is fairly common for a lot of readers, it’s sometimes a little too cringe reading characters who are supposed to be from your country talk in a way you know they’d never talk and mention things from your culture that are just factually wrong. This happens a lot with Irish characters and I just prefer not to put myself through it. So why did I pick this book up then?

Well, I didn’t actually know that the brothers were Irish and by the time I realised I’d already started. This should teach me to do more research when it comes to my reading but I won’t learn. I also needed a book for this Romanceopoly prompt and I don’t love the ‘villain or morally gray character’ trope. I was struggling to find a book to fit this prompt so when I saw it was a dark romance comedy I just had to give it a go.

Turns out, Brynne Weaver did a really good job with Rowan, Lachlan and Fionn. There were a few moments that did not land well, like “Then we eat cake, have a little dance, a bit of a craic, take bets on whether Lark and Lachlan will hook up…” not to be pedantic, and maybe this was an error, but it’s never ‘a craic’ just craic. Like have a bit of craic!

There was also a few too many ‘feckin’s’ going on, I mean feckin is used but fuckin is much more common, especially when calling someone an eejit! But honestly that was about it, which is impressive. I also enjoyed that they were from Sligo and not Dublin, everyone is always from Dublin, a lot of people live in Dublin but the whole of Ireland doesn’t reside here. It’s always nice when another county gets a look in and Sligo is a good choice. 😀 So this all means I can read the rest of the books! YAY!!

Rowan and Sloane were hilarious, like from the second they met, to their yearly meet ups, and everything in between. I mean they were actually really stinking cute and that’s very impressive given they are both cold blooded serial killers. They only kill really bad people though so that was nice! 😀

I enjoyed how compatible they were and they obviously both had a lot of issues, like A LOT of issues, but they were so perfectly matched and the banter was on point! Sloan was so concerned that she was too broken to ever be loved and Rowan was just out here loving absolutely all of her, gouging (sorry I mean plucking) eyeballs and all!

And then there was how sexually compatible they were, when they finally did the deed, oh my goodness me, Rowan was an animal and Sloan was all about it. Phew, they were total fire! The sexy times were really bananas and utterly unhinged and it was awesome!!

I can’t wait to read Lachlan and Larks book, in fact I’m diving right in and I also have Fionn and Rose on deck and ready to go. I love the chaos!

Adding Brynne Weaver to the ‘need to check out the backlist’ list.

Synopsis:

“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?