Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver: A Book Review

I gave this three stars. I am also on the waitlist for the next book in my library queue. So, read into that how you like!

Synopsis

Butcher & Blackbird is the first book in Brynne Weaver’s Ruinous Love trilogy.

Sloane Miller, aka Blackbird, is a serial killer who exclusively targets other serial killers.

Rowan Kane, the Boston Butcher, the same.

When they cross paths at the scene of a shared target, a rivalry ensues. Each year they compete in a deadly game, hunting the US’s most dangerous monsters, their chemistry and love building along the way. It is a dark romantic comedy.

My review

Brynne Weaver self-published Butcher & Blackbird in 2023 without even setting up a pre-order. It was quiet until TikTokers and Bookstagrammers found it, when it exploded.

The Ruinous Love trilogy has since been picked up for a film adaptation, with Weaver serving as executive producer. The kind of publishing story that is inspiring and a reminder of how unpredictable the industry is.

I came to it with 200-plus people ahead of me on the Libby waitlist. Libby offered me the chance to jump the queue if I committed to finishing within two weeks, which I did while travelling abroad, listening. Nine hours is a manageable ask.

The writing, I will say directly, is not the reason this book works. Lines like “my thoughts swirl with the force of a hurricane” make me cringe.

And the trope of an FMC who, despite overwhelming evidence of Rowan’s feelings, including a drugged confession that could not be more explicit, continues to doubt whether he likes her in later scenes; that became tiresome. I find FMCs that are in one moment brave, strong, and violent, and in another timid, self-conscious, and full of doubt, a bit tiresome. 

But, in this instance, it matters less because the audiobook is doing something the prose alone cannot. Joe Arden narrates Rowan, and his Irish accent is the single most compelling reason to experience this in audio rather than print.

It is not simply that the accent is attractive; it is that Arden brings a warmth and a specific kind of gentle goofiness to Rowan that makes the character land in a way that is genuinely affecting. Rowan gives golden retriever energy, akin to Josh in Lights Out by Navessa Allen (gentle, devoted, and surprisingly tender beneath the serial killer exterior). Lucy Rivers narrates Sloane with equal conviction.

I’m not alone. There is a pattern among readers who tried the ebook first, got stuck early, and then tried the audio and found themselves devouring it. I suspect I would have been in that category – I would have DNF’d. I suspect the audio production is the reason this book is so successful.

My one structural complaint is that the book is too short for what it is trying to do. Nine hours sounds like a reasonable commitment, but across that runtime the story is covering significant spans of time: the annual meet-ups between Rowan and Sloane, the villains they encounter, the supporting characters who orbit them. None of these gets enough time to breathe. The antagonists arrive and are dispatched before you have formed any real feeling about them. The gaps between Rowan and Sloane’s meetings are acknowledged rather than felt. It has the shape of a much larger story told at a sprint. I can see why other readers enjoy the pace, but for me it meant I never quite settled in the way I would have liked. 

The dark romcom genre is a particular flavour that requires tolerance for graphic violence alongside. The banter is good. Rowan is an easy character to like. The competition structure is ridiculous but fun, if you let down your expectations for realism. Just go along with it and have fun.

Three stars. Will absolutely listen to the next two.

What I liked / what I didn’t

What I liked

The audiobook production is exceptional. At nine hours, it is a completely manageable listen.

What I didn’t

The writing has moments that don’t hold up to scrutiny . Some of the writing and a persistent doubt trope wore on me.

Ultimately, the prose is doing less work than the narration.

Final verdict

Butcher & Blackbird is a three-star book with a five-star audiobook.

The audio is the only format I would suggest.

If you are a fan of dark romance, can handle graphic violence alongside genuine warmth and humour, and have nine hours to give Joe Arden’s accent, this is worth your time.

I am already on the waitlist for Leather & Lark.

Where can I read it?