Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 355

Publisher -

Source - Wishlist rak

Blurb from Goodreads

Every serial killer needs a friend.
Every game must have a winner.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. 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?

Butcher & Blackbird is the first book in the Ruinous Love Dark Romance trilogy of interconnected stand-alone dark romantic comedies. This dual POV novel ends on a HEA.


My Review

Ha absolutely NOT for the faint hearted guys, duo viewpoint, his (Butcher) and hers (Blackbird), serial killers who come upon each other, they hunt other serials, and make a competitive game. As they hunt together and get to know each other they are drawn to each other, between karma, retribution there is spice, romance and murder galore!

So the idea of killers going after killers isn't new but this is a different spin, two deadly killers who go after others and then come upon each other and have a spark takes us on a different path. If you struggle with gore, body fluids, adult spice scenes you will struggle with this one. There are some very questionable scenes/circumstances and for me, I will struggle to look at ice cream in the same way again LMAO.

For me the book kind of fell into two main things, the whole serial killing/hunting/competition between the two and then their feelings for each other but approaching with caution cos obvs they are who they are. The other different thing is they have someone in their lives who actually know, love and accept who they are and what they do. I would have liked more exploration into that. There was a fair amount of their relationship, budding and then established, enter the body fluids and messy (and for me cringe) scenes but I know some folk loved it. I would have preferred more of how they found/tracked their targets or when they got their hands on them. We did get one episode that we spent a bit more time with them, that is the night of ice cream gate, BOAK.

I am sure this is a series and everybody seems to love it, a decent start for me so 3/5 for me for this one.

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Fire and Blood by George R R Martin

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 29 days (from re starting)

Pages - 737

Publisher -

Source - I think I bought it

Blurb from Goodreads

With all the fire and fury fans have come to expect from internationally bestselling author George R. R. Martin, this is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros.

Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.

With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the ultimate game of thrones, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.


My Review

You guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuys. I started this in 2022! I knew the dragon badness was coming and I think that is what made me stop back then. I started re reading it for a fundraising charity book challenge, this month, 24.5 pages every day and I have finally finished it.

If you know Game Of Thrones you know what he is like, do not get attached to characters because noone is safe. This covers the history of the Targaryen's, from way before the families we come to know in House of the Dragon (tv show) and after.

Dragons, skullduggery, abuse, poison, murder, betrayal, lust, love, and the longing to rule the iron throne. It isn't an easy read, some of the most ghastly people, behaviours and betrayals ooft. Weans aren't even safe and some of the murders are beyond barbaric. Incest, in house marriages, public consummation of the marriages - war, people rising up, beautiful but deadly dragons.

There are so many characters told over lifetimes, it is really interesting and if you like Game of Thrones you will like reading the back history of the dragons and families but yeah just prepare yourself cos it gets hella dark, body parts cut off and displayed, wars, families wiped out, actual wild madness, 4/5 for me!

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