Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

★★★⯪☆

Sloane Sutherland is a data scientist. Rowan Kane is a restaurant owner. They are both serial killers who kill serial killers. Match made in heaven…or hell? 

Writing: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Darkness: 4/5
Spice: 4/5
Editing: 5/5

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver is a tale as old as time: boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy challenges girl to a murder-off contest as their first pseudo date. Wait.

When Rowan—a serial killer who kills drug dealers, murders, and predators for fun—catches up to his latest would-be victim, the target is already dead. Rotting on the floor. Someone beat him to it. There is also a malnourished woman in a locked cage who claims to have done the deed three days ago. He frees her and learns that her name is Sloane, AKA the Orb Weaver AKA Blackbird AKA another serial killer who only targets creeps and criminals. 

Instead of asking her out on a normal date, Rowan suggests they race to kill the same target next time. Like a fun little game. And this begins the rivalry-cum-romance between Butcher and Blackbird. 

The book is dual first person, with some chapters being from Sloane’s POV and others being from Rowan’s. This is far from my favorite narration style, but dark romance books have taught me to acclimatize quickly to the trend. The good news is that both characters are likable, interesting, and fun to watch. And I almost never say that. 

Sloane is particularly fascinating. Finally, a heroine who isn’t just a submissive damsel in distress. She kills people! For fun, even! And plucks their eyes out! Also, she can count her close friends on one hand (er, finger); is a professional hacker and data science nerd; and finds revenge killings easier than opening herself up to love. 

Her love interest, Rowan, is more of a cardboard cutout “romance” male MC, but still enjoyable to read. He flirts, jokes around with his brothers, rides a motorcycle, oozes sarcasm, and does romantic little things like cooking together over the phone and carrying Sloane’s bags. He gets dark enough to scare her but not so dark as to push her away completely. You know, the usual. 

He also kills people by pummeling them with his fists and then crudely disposing of the evidence. Which is a fun little peppery twist. We love some raw fury. 

Watching them fall in love is made interesting in that their proximity to one another means they are hunting the same target. Otherwise, they live apart—Boston, Massachusetts and Raleigh, North Carolina. This means that their very occasional “date nights” span years, and each event centers around their intimate race to murder a murderer. Never a dull moment. 

It’s a slow burn. They crush on one another from afar, but are too dumb to see the other feels the same way. Pretty typical “when will they” dark romantic subplot trope. This does mean that steamy scenes happen much later in the book, and there isn’t even a kiss until halfway through. 

It’s worth the wait, though. Plus, I appreciate that their first kiss is on a chainsaw-wielding serial killer’s property while Sloane has a dislocated shoulder. Vibes. With all the murder and gore, it’s hard to be bored, even if the characters don’t suck face until chapter 14. 

Plus, Sloane is awesome. She is not a self-insert (unless you can envision yourself plucking eyeballs for fun). She is 5’8” with raven hair, has genital and nipple piercings, and has a backstory that makes your chest constrict. She is a whole person, and she holds her own adjacent to Rowan. It makes the sex scenes better, too. Dark romance authors need to learn that I don’t want to “be there,” many readers are fine with the cuck chair. Give me fully fleshed out characters who I care about until I ache. 

The book doesn’t hit you over the head with it, but it subtly addresses the real danger Sloane puts herself in by taking on men twice her size. Right when you think she is going to melt into Rowan’s “touch her and I’ll kill you” mold, though, she pulls out a different dangerous trick. She knows how to use her sexuality to her advantage. Men want her, and they underestimate her, and she knows it. 

I love dynamics like this: real world issues filtered through the absurd and even the grotesque. It’s one of the things the dark romance genre does best.

In the end, they both save each other. Literally…although figuratively/poetically, too, I’m sure. Each one has their moments and no one is helpless, hapless, or otherwise one-dimensional for the sake of melodrama.

I enjoyed my time with Butcher & Blackbird. It was well-written, spine-chillingly gory, and had a unique premise. It will go down in dark romance history as one of my favorite reads. The narration was equal parts witty and heart-breaking. Sure, I’m not a serial killer, but I related to the themes of self-isolation, fear of attachment, and wondering if someone can love you for all of you, rough edges and all.

Butcher & Blackbird’s answer to that last part is a resounding: Yes. Funny how the most uplifting stories can be found in the strangest of places.

But that’s why we’re all here, isn’t it?

___

Butcher & Blackbird vibe quotes: 

“I renounce my wicked ways,” I say after the song disintegrates among the dust motes and the hum of opalescent insect wings.
“That’s a shame. I bet I would like your wicked ways.”  – Ch 1

“I need to get my shit together. She’s the Orb Weaver, for Chrissakes. If she catches me ogling, she could pop my eyeballs out of my head and string me up in fishing line before I say the words no bra.” – Ch 2

We’re both monsters, after all. Different monsters, thrust together in the cage I’ve created. – Ch. 7 

I should just leave. This is dumb. Dumb and so stalkery. Not in a sexy stalker way either. More like a weird, creepy serial-killer stalker way, which tracks. – Ch 8

“Boobs plus murder don’t equal a relationship, Lark. That math ain’t mathin.’ ” – Ch 12

“I don’t look back as I focus on making it up the front steps alive. My chest burns to turn to Rowan, to stay with him and hunt by his side, but I don’t.” – Ch 13 

Check out more of my favorite dark romance love quotes here.

The Next Chapter…

Find your next dark romance read:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *