The Mercenary and the Mortician: A Dark Paranormal MM Romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 – Dark, Dirty, and Emotionally Addictive
Synopsis:

The Mercenary and the Mortician is a filthy, violent, and beautifully twisted MM paranormal romance that delivers hurt/comfort in the most unhinged way. This isn’t your typical enemies-to-lovers — it’s trauma-to-trauma with knives, guilt, ghosts, and toe-curling smut.

Callum Walker is a mercenary with blood on his hands and ghosts in his head — quite literally. He’s cold, calculated, and emotionally shut off, carrying the weight of every life he’s taken even if he won’t admit it. He thinks Ryan Fairview, a quiet mortician, is responsible for a missing child and shows up at his doorstep prepared to do what he does best — kill.

But Ryan isn’t the show more monster Callum expected. He's a medium who talks to the dead, including Callum’s victims, and he’s been living in isolation with their voices haunting him every day. He’s snarky, blunt, and tired of being afraid — and when Callum enters his life, something broken in both of them clicks into place.

Spoilers Ahead:

Callum spares Ryan, but not before tying him up, breaking into his home, and threatening him — and somehow that's foreplay in this book.

Ryan’s ability to see ghosts forces Callum to confront the emotional aftermath of his work.

Their sexual chemistry is filthy, raw, and full of power play and control — all consensual but definitely pushing limits.

What begins as mutual distrust slowly unravels into something real: Callum finds safety in Ryan’s honesty, and Ryan finds peace in being seen by someone for the first time.

Ryan's sass and brutal honesty chip away at Callum’s icy shell, leading to some of the most tender hurt/comfort scenes in the middle of absolute chaos.

“You can’t scare me with your knives. I live with your victims whispering in my ears. You’re not the monster you think you are, Callum.”

“You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to come home to, even if I come home covered in someone else’s blood.”

Trigger Warnings:

Graphic on-page violence

Torture and bloodplay

PTSD, emotional trauma, and grief

Ghosts/mediumship and dark paranormal elements

Consensual non-consent, bondage, rough kink

Discussions of past child harm (non-graphic, but heavy themes)

Final Thoughts:

This book is dark romance perfection. It's got teeth and tenderness in equal measure. Callum and Ryan are two broken men who shouldn't work — but somehow they fit together like a blade and its sheath: dangerous, sharp, and perfectly matched.

If you’re looking for soft love and redemption arcs… keep scrolling. But if you want your romance twisted, dirty, and so emotionally raw it leaves claw marks? This one’s for you. show less

Aw Call & Ryan are the cutest