Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver: A Book Review

I reviewed Butcher & Blackbird earlier on this site and gave it three stars, noting that the audiobook was carrying the writing. Leather & Lark is the same situation. Three stars. Same conclusion. I will not be reading the third.

Synopsis

Leather & Lark is the second standalone in Brynne Weaver’s Ruinous Love trilogy. Lachlan Kane is a contract killer who wants out of the business. Lark Montague is an indie singer-songwriter with her own sideline in vigilante justice, hunting down predators and making sure they can’t hurt anyone again. When Lachlan botches a job and finds himself in danger, Lark offers him a deal: she will help secure his freedom if he uses his skills to help her. The catch is that they must convincingly marry to protect themselves from her family’s suspicions, a real marriage, not a fake one, because apparently nothing else will do.

My review

This Goodreads review sums it up for me:

Weaver has over five million copies sold across twenty-five countries and is now a number one New York Times bestseller. The Ruinous Love trilogy has a film adaptation in the works, with Weaver serving as Executive Producer. 

The audiobook narrators on the Spotify version, the same actors from Butcher & Blackbird, are again the best thing about the book. Hearing familiar voices return is initially jarring, as we recognise them as previous characters. You adjust. But it becomes awkward again when characters from the first book reappear, and the actors are suddenly required to play multiple characters, particularly the Irish brothers simultaneously, while keeping them distinct. 

Note: Butcher & Blackbird is no longer available on Spotify (though it is on Libby), as it now appears to be exclusive to Audible, which I find genuinely disappointing. I chose to listen to Leather & Lark on Spotify, where it is included in a premium membership. I use Libby for free audiobooks and Spotify for the 10 hours included in my monthly membership—Audible is not part of my listening ecosystem. I understand why authors accept exclusivity deals; the money involved is presumably significant, but from a listener’s perspective, having a sequel available on Spotify while the first book is locked behind a separate subscription is a frustrating situation.

The premise of this one is the main structural problem. The forced proximity device, the reason Lachlan and Lark must marry, is tenuous. Her family suspect him of something; she could simply tell them what actually happened, but instead they must enter into a real marriage because nothing else will convince anyone. 

And it is slow. The smutty scenes, which are, let’s be honest, a significant part of why we readers come to this genre, do not appear until well past the seventy per cent mark. That is a long time to wait when the chemistry between Lachlan and Lark is not fully convincing. The banter is there. The antagonism is present. But I did not feel the pull between them the way I felt it between Rowan and Sloane in the first book.

When the smutty scenes do arrive, they are fun. The book finds its footing in the final third. But by that point the audiobook had already done most of the heavy lifting to keep me there.

This is the same pattern as Butcher & Blackbird: writing that does not quite hold up on its own, rescued by performance. I enjoyed the first book enough to attempt the second. The second has not given me enough to attempt the third.

What I liked / what I didn’t

What I liked

The narrators. Again. The final third, when the chemistry finally arrives, and the smutty scenes deliver what the genre promises. 

What I didn’t

The forced marriage premise is too tenuous; the chemistry between Lachlan and Lark takes too long to arrive and is less convincing than Rowan and Sloane’s dynamic in book one, and the returning characters create an awkward challenge for the actors.

This is a book that would have been a DNF in any other format.

Final verdict

Leather & Lark is a three-star audiobook that is a two-star book. If you loved Butcher & Blackbird and want more of the Kane family, this delivers, but it delivers it less effectively than the first book did. I will not be continuing to Scythe & Sparrow.

Where can I read it?