Scythe and Sparrow

In this final book of the Ruinous Love Trilogy, Doctor Fionn Kane and circus performer Rose Evans, who had previously seemed like the least murdery characters in the trilogy, reveal themselves to have murdery tendencies. Because of course.

When she isn't doing death-defying stunts with her motorcycle, Rose does tarot readings. More specifically, she is a mysterious woman known as the Sparrow who will, after doing readings for abused women who want to escape their abusers, provide those women with the means to kill their abusers. However, after one of her attempts to help has unintended consequences, Rose decides that it's time for her to take more direct action. This, unfortunately, also does not go as planned, leaving Rose with a broken show more leg and a very angry pursuer who is now minus one eye.

Fionn is no stranger to violence. He helps Rose get her leg taken care of and, skeptical of her "I was in a motorcycle accident" explanation, offers her a place to stay while she heals up. He's more than a little stunned when Rose immediately starts befriending neighbors he has barely spoken to since he moved to the area to get away from his almost-fiancee. He can't help but find himself charmed by and attracted to her. At the same time, he's worried about what might happen if the monster inside him, the one even his brothers don't know about, finally gets free.

Just like the second book, this one has some overlap with events from the previous books, although it's still its own story. I enjoyed the progression of Fionn and Rose's relationship even though I kind of wish, same as with the second book, that the author hadn't felt the need to work murder into the entire trilogy. Sloane was, hands down, the trilogy's best killer, both in terms of successful kills and her likelihood of staying out of prison. Lachlan didn't actually do much on-page killing, but he'd probably be #2 after Sloane. Everyone else only managed to stay alive and out of prison due to luck or connections to people with better self-control and/or planning skills.

Rose's first attempt at murdering someone went terribly. Her second should have gone terribly, and her third only turned out okay due to dumb luck. I still preferred her efforts to Lark's, I think because there wasn't much effort to present her actions as anything other than murderously poor choices born from good intentions. In a different romance, she'd have been a "wacky hijinks" kind of character.

In her acknowledgments, the author wrote "While writing Butcher & Blackbird was joyful, and Leather & Lark was challenging, Scythe & Sparrow felt healing." I think that came across in the writing as well. Leather & Lark was decent enough, but Scythe & Sparrow felt smoother and easier, and Butcher & Blackbird was easily the best book in the trilogy.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

4.25 True Rating | “I will always find you, Rose.”

Rose (FMC) is honestly so fun and hilarious because 1. She wants to kill for all the “right” reasons but 2. She can’t stomach it and 3. She somehow has both the worst and bad luck lol
Fionn is just, well, so precious and deserving of all the love.

The plot is definitely the strongest in this book, the explanations of the colorful/chaotic circus scenes were so vivid, and it the strong long-plot makes the romance have even more yearning. Love itttt

At 74% I thought it was going to end but THEN oh boy. Where is this going? It slowed down a bit but then picked up again with even more going on. Are we sure this is this the end of the series??? Is this trilogy turning into a show more nine-book-series-turned-movie or is that just my wishful thinking? I mean there WAS like at least two parts at the end that just didn't make sense to me so there SHOULD be another book to wrap that up, right? 😅

Also, can I just say that I usually hate epilogues so the fact that there were TWO epilogues PLUS a bonus chapter afterwards and I WASN’T MAD ABOUT IT?? Just shows that I really enjoy this series and the writing style. I didn’t want it to end and it didn’t, at least for a few more pages lol

Also, the audiobook is so well done! I love the female narrators so much. show less

“Ta da, motherfckers!” I love the quirkiness of Rose. She felt like a genuine good soul living her best life and trying to help other women along the way. I loved the comparison between her and Giulia Tofana, the notorious woman who helped women poison their abusive husbands. Everything about the story was so good for me up to about 50%. Once time started skipping ahead, that’s when I started to struggle. Instead of experiencing what the characters were going through and doing… we had to get a recap. I enjoyed delivering in Rose’s head and watching her process her plans. I wanted to see more of Barbara’s mayhem at the circus. I wanted more time with these characters. But instead, about half way through, Rose is healed up and show more goes back to the circus life with occasional visits from Fionn. There were so many parts during the first half that I absolutely adored and ate up but the momentum changed after that.

3.5⭐️ show less

If there were an award for the most accident-prone unaliver, Rose would win it hands down!

If you love morally questionable heroines, protective heroes with a good bedside manner, and hot chemistry, then this book is for you.

Loved the friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, and hot doctor protector vibes this book gives.

Talk about a slow burn. When the main characters hadn't kissed 45% of the way through the book I wondered if it was worth finishing, but I am glad I hung in there. This book is vastly different from Butcher and Blackbird, but I enjoyed the read. And now I want to know who the mystery girl is!

Scythe & Sparrow is the happy ending to the Ruinous Love trilogy by Brynne Weaver. The series is dark romance / serial killer romance. It is comedic and fun, yet dark and gross with multiple trigger warnings. The trilogy focuses on three brothers who are quite different from each other despite one thing….a pension for death and an attraction to lethal women.

The last book focused on the youngest brother, a doctor who thinks they’re more morally stable then their brothers, and his patient who broke her leg and is staying with him during her recovery. It turns out that she was hunting down abusive men and killing them off so their significant others could safely escape the abuse.

As much as I liked this series I am glad that they show more ended it with this one. The chemistry between these two were not as strong as the relationships in the first two novels. Three books was enough for this concept and I’m glad she didn’t do more as the series would’ve gotten drawn out. I am interested in seeing what else Weaver will write in the future.

★★★★ Fun series. Definitely recommend listening to the audible version. show less

I love her writing style. This book has similar elements as the other two but it's completely different at the same time. I enjoyed both reading and listening to this story.
I love the banter and the personalities of each MC. I love how they compliment each other in so many different ways. Rose is a woman not to be trifled with for sure. I think my favorite thing is how realistic she's portrayed and things don't go right but she's hard headed enough to go with what she's given.
Also mad kudos to the narrators. I thought Lights Out was my favorite audiobook but this one makes it a tie.