CJ Leede: Maeve fly

In her debut novel, CJ Leede has a love letter to Los Angeles and the horrors that happen there:

Maeve Fly knows that she has to hide her true self from everyone else in the world. By day she works as the Ice Queen at the happiest Place on Earth and she LOVES her job. Being a Princess helps keep her grounded. By night, Maeve likes to haunt the seedier areas of LA, but still keeping her mask in place. When she meets her best friend's brother, Gidion, something shifts, something changes, something new, a new person and Dynamic Maeve has never had before but one that might just be deadly.

I will admit I went into this book almost blind, the cover drew me in and I saw some review that stated it was dark and disturbing but the first half of the book I wasn’t sure if we were reading the same book as everyone else. Yes, Maeve is a little odd but it felt like I somehow ended up in a hockey romance, a weird one I will give you that but still a hockey romance. However, one you get to the 75% Leede finally lets the gloves off.

Once you get to the 75 % part, this book becomes unhinged deranged and psychotic, honestly Leede does not hold back past that mark. Part of me wishes that it would have been this dark from the beginning but I get that Leede was trying to show how much Maeve has been pretending to be the Monkey the whole time but I wish the mask had come out a bit sooner.

Maeve is such an interesting character. She loves working as a Disney Princess and that is how she wants people to see her and it such a juxtaposition of what she thinks and what does with Gideon and then when the mask fully comes off later in the book it’s pretty crazy.

The romance aspect with Gideon sweet at times, as he just seems to get Maeve (or at least what she shows him) but also messed up and they have some same kinks and weirdness in the bedroom but to each their own. As I said I was not expecting so much romance in this book. I also wish there was a chapter or two or a new book that was Gideon’s POV to see what he truly thought of Maeve and his motives with her.

What an ending. It is one of those that you either like or dislike, and for me I liked the ending as it was not so typical but at the same time I want to know more. What will Maeve do next?

This book was a bold move for a debut novel, but I am here for it. I enjoyed the character Leede created n Maeve and I look forward to seeing what Leede comes out with next.

Enjoy!!!!

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Brynne Weaver: Butcher & Blackbird

Brynne Weaver shows what happen when two serial killers find each other:

Sloane and Rowen have a darker side and one that they do not share with other. In a chance encounter, sparks fly and a competition ensues between the two of them. The competition where they are given a name of someone who needs killing and the person who hunts and kills them win that round. The more they interact the more a friendship is born and then more. But can two serial Killers really make it in a real relationship or is it just a matter of time before they are on someone else's hit list. 

Alright, I will admit that I read this because I was fully influenced by social media, with all the praise (honestly, I think I saw maybe one bad review and the person didn’t like the triggers in the book) I was seeing and how dark and different the books was. I am pretty sure this book will hook most people right from the beginning, the first sentence even. I know I felt invested, wanted to know how it was going to play out and I thought this was going to be a darker read based on what happens at the beginning. But for me, this book was only good read as it totally missed on my expectations of how I thought a Serial Killer romance play out.

I don't know if it is me (alright it is probably me, I’ve read some dark stuff) but where was the dark and disturbing parts of this book. Am I the only one who thought this book was going to be darker than it was? I mean there were some dark elements but with a list of trigger warnings a page long I thought I was getting something dark and twisty, but this was more along the lines of comedic dark than anything else. I feel if one is going to include a page of triggers or warnings in a book that book better delivery on the darkness aspect. Maybe it is just me, and yes, the cannibalism does happen, but more in a creepy way than a dark way, I don’t know I was here for the darkness, and it felt more like a light grey to me.

I liked the relationship between Butcher and Blackbird. It's really cute actually for two serial killers to find each other and admire each other's work and support each other in their chosen field/way of said work. I mean you take the serial killer aspect out of it and isn't that what a healthy relationship is supposed to be. I also enjoyed the banter between the two of the and of course the competition between then is great and just how they go about their killing in different ways.

This book does not get spicy until the latter part which surprised me. I wasn’t mad about it, more shocked than anything else when people were talking about how spicy it was I was expecting it to be constant aspect. And to be totally honest there are spicier books out there.

Once I got past this not being the book I wanted it to be, I did enjoy reading it. Enough to continue on in the series, I don’t think so though.

Enjoy!!!

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