Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver
pages: 355
released: August 2023
publisher: Zando
cover love: ♥♥♥

Summary:

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before. When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. 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? (from Goodreads)

Review:

So, according to Goodreads, I’m part of a very small percentage of people that gave this book a one star rating!

Lol.

Honestly, not shocked at all, seeing how I usually don’t fair well with popular literature. Butcher & Blackbird is advertised as being a “Tik-Tok” sensation. Not having the social media platform myself, I had to take their word on this. But I did see this book wildly promoted on a subway train I was riding a couple of months back. So I decided to give it a chance. It had quite the high demand at the local library, my hold time was 16 weeks!

Unfortunately, this book was not worth the wait.

Let’s look at the premise, shall we?

Here we have two serial killers…that like to kill other serial killers.

(ok, ok, I’m interested)

Rowan (the Boston Butcher), meets Sloane (the Orb Weaver) while coming to her rescue as she’s trapped in a dangerous and very cramped position. Afterwards, they realize they each know who the other is…and that both are after the same type of of “prey”. So Rowan challenges Sloane to a game. Annually, they will meet in different cities and go after the same killer. Whoever takes them down first, wins. The game starts out fun but naturally, things become complicated when the pair realizes they are growing feelings for each other. Sure, they both share similar hobbies (hacking up human flesh and sexual fetishes) but can these two sick minded people fall in love?

Did this book live up to its hype?

For me personally, it did not. The beginning had a strong kick, but the story started to lose its stride shortly after. The book is not as “pulpy” as suggested. The gore I was promised was mild at best. I was expecting a blood bath but…it was more like a bird bath. I mean, we have two SERIAL KILLERS! Shit could’ve went down…just saying. Sloane didn’t seem like much of killer to me. When push came to shove, she’s actually quite weak. And Rowan…he was a bit more interesting, but we only see him get crazy once. I felt like the author held both characters back from unleashing their full potential.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with the serial killer choices on the menu during this so-called “game”. Two killers were copied and pasted straight out of popular horror films (Hi, Hannibal! Hey, Leatherface!). To be honest, it was just lazy and uncreative on the author’s part. The game Rowan and Sloane were playing felt insignificant, as there didn’t seem to be any worthy reward for winning. It left me, as the reader, confused and underwhelmed.

Another tribulation I had with B&B was the writing! The writing in this book was awful. For example. the author wrote sentences kinda like this: “the blue worn out couch sat next to the old mahogany splintered wood clock with a mournful gray cat sighing at the foot of its base”. Omg…I wanted it to stop. When it came to facial expressions or the like, it’s a whole lot of eye rolling and blushing. The author used the word “blush” 23 times. And Rowan mentioned Sloane’s very interesting “dimple” about 17 times. The author also decides to omit a fleshed out back story on the two main characters, which was very disappointing. You will catch snippets of their childhood memories, but you start to feel like there’s so much more beneath the surface that you’re craving to know about. Especially with Sloane. Having those details could’ve helped lend an emotional hand that the story needed for readers to feel empathy towards the characters. Without it, the story felt flat and caused more of a disconnect.

Now, let’s look at the romance side of things. I didn’t buy into this love story. The attraction, yes. But not the falling in love. The “love” moves in quickly and unnaturally, like on cue cards. I wasn’t feeling it. It’s not shown how these two individuals would have something beyond sexual chemistry. Over the years, they see each other once, maybe twice a year, in person. Most of their “connection” is via text messages and sending memes. And their conversations, whether it was irl or virtual, never rose beyond the surface level. You can’t just tell me they’re in love. You’ve gotta make it believable.

So Butcher & Blackbird also promises to be spicy…

I will give the author credit, it was spicy! And yes, I had to google wtf a fourchette piercing was. But that first sex scene? I’m sorry, but that broken arm had to GO! The whole time I was reading this very dirty, gritty sex scene, I kept thinking, “she’s doing all that with a freshly broken arm?” Like, this man waited until your arm was in a sling to shoot his shot (and his load)? Come on…

Rowan is also the type of guy who thinks he can solve all his relationship problems with sex. He literally said something along the lines of “Sloane seems sad. I know what will cheer her up, my penis!”

I could complain about this book all day, but I will spare you and just stop here.

Butcher and Blackbird, you had me at the beginning, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be!

This book is part of a trilogy, but I will not be continuing the series.

1.5