Scythe and Sparrow by Brynne Weaver | Audiobook Review • Ana's Attic Book Blog

Scythe and Sparrow (Ruinous Love Book 3) by Brynne Weaver

Narrated by Samantha Brentmoor and Eric Nolan

Book 3 in the Ruinous Love Trilogy | Dark RomCom that can stand alone

I loved Butcher & Blackbird, the first book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy. It was unlike anything I’d read before, and it completely lived up to the hype. Leather & Lark, on the other hand, didn’t quite hit the same for me—I liked it, but the plot felt thin. I had planned to reread it before diving into Scythe & Sparrow, but I couldn’t wait. Ultimately, this one landed somewhere between the two, though that may have been due to my lowered expectations.

I’m terrible at remembering secondary characters, so Rose didn’t stand out much for me from the earlier books. Fionn, though—the third brother, the Doctor—I definitely remembered. He fled to a small town in Nebraska to be a good doctor and escape the dark thoughts that have plagued him for years. With two brothers who embrace that same darkness, staying out of trouble isn’t easy. Now, he runs a small-town clinic, watches reality TV, and crochets with the local group, the Suture Sisters (who may have been my favorite part of the book).

“I started it.”

Rose reads Tarot cards and rides a motorcycle in a cage for a traveling circus. She has a side gig—helping women rid themselves of their abusive husbands—but she’s not great at it. One such attempt leaves her with a shattered leg in Nebraska. Fionn immediately knows her injuries are no accident, but he can’t let a woman who can’t walk—and may have a dangerous man after her—stay alone in her RV. So, he moves her in with him.

“It’s okay to love your darkness and still love yourself. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you a whole one.”

The first third of Scythe & Sparrow was great. But then… not much happened. The plot meandered with time jumps and check-ins with the previous couples, but it didn’t have the same sharp pacing that worked so well in Butcher & Blackbird. Things picked up at the end, but now it feels like there’s still more story to tell.

Likes:

I really loved both characters.
Rose making herself sick whenever she murders (or tries to).
Visiting with the previous couples.
It stood alone well because it ran concurrently with the other stories, making me want to reread the series to see what I pick up now.
The crazy raccoon.
Brynne Weaver’s obsession with eyeballs makes me laugh.
I love her content and trigger warnings.
The surprise epilogues.

Dislikes:

There wasn’t that much plot.
There seemed to be a lot of filler.
The spice was meh.

The Narration:

Absolutely fabulous. Eric Nolan’s Irish accent was hot (and it’s real), and Samantha Brentmoor is always a favorite, making me love the heroine even more. The duet narration was so smooth I had to go back while writing this to make sure it actually was duet. Sometimes duets can feel jarring when narrators interact, but this performance felt completely natural.

The Down & Dirty:

Scythe & Sparrow was fun. I loved the characters, and I laughed several times. It just didn’t stand out the way Butcher & Blackbird did. Maybe that’s because B&B was my first dark romcom (I think), but this one was missing the gore, the guts, and, well… the accidental cannibalism. I usually separate narration from my review, but the performances were so good they may have elevated my overall rating. That said, I’ll be buying the fourth book (or spinoff) the day it releases.