Grad student Phoebe Walsh is in Florida helping to clean out her deceased father's house after his sudden death. Her parents had an acrimonious divorce, and she left with her mother. She has very mixed feelings about her relationship, or lack of a relationship, with her father. But she is helping her younger brother Conner.

Phoebe is also writing her dissertation which focuses on how serial killers are written about. She has something of an obsession with the topic of serial killers. Every new acquaintance is a potential serial killer in her mind.

When she meets her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, her first thought is to rate him on her serial killer scale. He also seems to be behaving mysteriously in her glimpses of him going about his daily life. He acts like a genuinely nice guy, helping her when she's unloading a large desk, mowing her lawn, helping her when her car battery dies. But can she trust him?

Between cleaning out her father the borderline hoarder's house, helping her brother come up with a creative way to propose to his long-term girlfriend, working on her dissertation and preparing her resume, Phoebe doesn't know if she has the time or the courage to begin a relationship.

This was an entertaining romance with a unique main character. While I had to look up some of the acronyms used in this first-person narrative, I enjoyed getting to know this serial killer obsessed young woman.

Phoebe Walsh knows a lot about serial killers. If only she knew as much about love!

After her dad's unexpected death, she's come home to Florida to help her little brother Conner get their dad's house ready to sell and to use the time to wrap up her PhD dissertation on true crime and serial killers.

After a difficult childhood that saw her dysfunctional parents divorcing and she and Conner living with the opposite parent, she’s grown up largely alone and emotionally guarded. She’s also developed an almost obsessive interest in true crime, which makes her more than a little paranoid about how some men look and behave at times.

Take, for example, Sam, the young, attractive barefooted guy who appeared the night she first arrived and offered to help her unload the heavy desk strapped to the roof of her car. In a reverse scenario, serial killer Ted Bundy asked a woman for help with something in his car and look what happened there. Is this guy another Ted Bundy? Good looks CAN be deceiving.

That's the hook. It's up to the reader to find out if this guy is friend or foe, but it's a romance soooo ... duh. C’mon.

I'm going to start with the positives:

It was well-written with good diversity and representation among the characters. It touches on deeper themes of childhood trauma, family dysfunction, grief, body positivity and overcoming emotional obstacles to intimacy, and does so with the humor and balance you'd expect from the genre.

The plot follows a pretty standard rom-com arc with the comfort of typical tropes and predictability, so I could just sit back and relax without worrying about an unexpected ending.

It has a cat. Enough said. 😺

Here’s where I struggled:

That cover oozed "Pick me!" vibes and perhaps a more fun read than what I experienced.

I didn’t like Phoebe. At all. She was prickly, rude, sarcastic, crass and emotionally distant for a good chunk of the story. Despite her emotional transformation arc, even her nicest manner kept me at a distance I could never overcome. I should’ve been rooting for her to “get the guy”, but instead I was rooting for him to come to his senses and run!

The bedroom stuff was WAY too anatomically descriptive for my preference. Eww. One more reference to “aching nipples” and I was going to lose my lunch, and that’s a tame example.

All that said, my biggest complaint was the sheer number of slang and pop culture references. It would’ve been fine if I’d known ALL of the movies, shows, literary references, true crimes, acronyms, etc. that the author used, but since she didn’t explain most of them, it felt like she kept winking and nudging me with her elbow to laugh at her jokes, which I then had to Google for understanding. It pulled me out of the story too often.

It’s a good book, but maybe just not the right one for me!

★★ ½ (rounded to 3)

Thanks to Berkley Publishing, Netgalley, and author Alicia Thompson for the digital ARC to honestly review. It’s due to be published August 16th, 2022.

Phoebe Walsh temporarily moves into her late father’s home to clean it out, settle up. When a mysterious neighbor helps her with a desk, her shields go up. With her true crime obsession—so obsessed that her PhD dissertation is on it—she begins to suspect other things. Between rebuilding a relationship with a brother she knew she had but never actually knew, caring for a stray cat, and falling for her 3rd grade music teacher neighbor, Phoebe decides that life is too short to go through it alone.

Found family. Found friends. Found cat. Found love. That was how I read LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS. True crime-obsessed Phoebe Walsh was the perfect heroine for her story. I appreciated the themes, the steam, and the characters that complimented Phoebe’s adult journey to opening herself up to love and support.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. This was such a delightful read. A story with a plus size heroine that is obsessed with serial killers and is working through grieving for the sudden death of her father. I loved Phoebe's active imagination as it relates to serial killers and her interaction with Sam. I adore Phoebe's relationship with her brother.

Thanks to Berkley and LoveARCtually for the gifted copy of this book.

Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this one. It was just really slow and I felt like not much was happening. It also read more on the YA side, which is not my favorite genre. I think a lot of readers will enjoy this, but it just wasn't for me!

Thank you for an advanced copy of this book!

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pub Date: August 16, 2022

I was super pumped for this book because it featured a female main character getting her PhD, and it is so rare to find stories about people in PhD school. I WISH books like had been around when I was PhD school (which wasn't really that long ago) because, well, misery loves company. 😂 I also really liked the premise of the main character getting her PhD focused on past serial killers. It was edgy and still managed to have romantic elements, and I liked that!

What I didn't like and what ultimately made me rate the book three stars was the pacing and the sometimes tedious writing. I felt like I read a lot of pages for nothing much to happen at times, and that was frustrating. I also didn't care for the MCs brother or his girlfriend, so that put a damper on their interactions. It also seemed that a lot of the story was the MCs internal dialogue, and that got old fast.

Overall, though, I think my dislikes boiled down to personal taste, because this book still has a lot to offer and I'm glad I read it! It was a refreshing, at-times unique romance that I enjoyed a lot. I liked the two main characters and was really invested in their journey. This is a solid, three-star romance that I think a lot of my followers will enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley Books, and Alicia Thompson for the eARC of this book.

“I’m tagged in this image, and I don’t like it.”

That’s what I call a slapper. I’ve been a romance reading slump as of late. Call it cynicism; call it wedding season. Whatever rocks your personal boat. I just haven’t been vibing with any romances lately.

But this book… this book called to me wth it sort of pulp fictiony cover design and promise of true crime obsession. Our main character, Pheebs as she loves (read: hates) to be called, drips sarcasm and cynicism to a fault, and that applies to everyone she meets.

Enter her (dead) dad’s neighbor: Sam. Now, does Pheobe know that the chances of her neighbor Sam being a serial killer are pretty slim? Yes, of course, but can you really blame her suspicions from manifesting into casual surveillance when she spends 90% of her day binging true crime content and the other 10% wondering why Sam has an extremely sound proofed garage? No. No you can’t.

Throw in a loveable cast of characters - Conner (brother), Shani (brother’s girlfriend), and Alison (librarian whose anecdote about children petting her feet during storytime hit a little too close to home for me, a youth librarian), and you’ve got the perfect formula for forced emotional growth but like… in a healthy and supportive environment. Wild.

You will learn to open yourself up and you will like it!

While I found myself, as a romance reader, silently screaming at all the places where Phoebe was clearly self-sabotaging, I also found myself saying “well hold on a minute” more than once to justify a lot of the things Phoebe was saying/doing. Moreover, I really related to the way Phoebe processed her anxietie, for good or for ill. I also really enjoyed that not everyone was forced to be weighted down with some stunting drama, as is often the case in these types of novels. Thompson manages to give all the characters depth by acknowledging they all have sore spots from their past without letting that stop them from moving on with their life… unlike Phoebe.

Overall, a slapper of a romance novel. Healthy relationship devlopment overall, although the classic moving a bit fast is there, but hey, it’s a romance novel. You’ve got like 50k-60k words to fall in love, thinks tend to speed up a little. Just part of the territory.

5 stars. Slapper. Will be buying a copy for my personal collection after desperately poking around to see if any of the preorder places are doing signed copies.

DNF at 60%

I just could not get into this book. The pacing is so slow and nothing really happens. I found Phoebe really unlikeable and got tired of her constantly self-sabotaging and being incredibly rude to people.

When Phoebe and Sam finally got together, I just didn't feel the sparks or attraction. I can't root for them as a couple,

What a fun read! Love in the Time of Serial Killers is a contemporary romance that combines grief, finding yourself, falling in love, and true crime in weird and wonderful ways. The characters are all great—I especially loved Conner and Shani!—the emotions are real and raw, the references are macabre but fun, and the romance is sweet. This one will definitely be a hit for readers who enjoy their romances with a little bit of wackiness but a whole lot of heart.

4.5 stars rounded up. I breezed through this book. Here’s a little bit about the main characters:
Phoebe Walsh - PhD Candidate who moves back to her estranged father’s house to prepare it for sale following his death, who struggles with emotional connections to friends, family, and romantic partners.
Sam Dennings - sweet (and spicy) music teacher, really caring and thoughtful, and possibly my new favorite book boyfriend

I also loved the side characters – Conner, as the optimistic younger brother who is oozing with love and adoration for his sister, and Alison, the former best friend who forgives Phoebe for losing touch and turns out to be a great pal during the summer, and–of course–Lenore/DTC the spunky cat that Phoebe takes in.

I personally found this to be a fun spin on the traditional romance, with the fear and skepticism that comes along with meeting new people and framing everyone as a potential threat. I really appreciated watching Phoebe move past her self-destructive ways and break down her well-established walls to let in people who cared about her. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I’m so glad it’s coming out on my birthday – what a nice little treat for me!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I liked Phoebe, a lot. I connected with her in more ways than one. She's plus size, quirky, and completely enamored with true crime. She's hilarious and grumpy, which is my favorite combination.
Sam is a boring love interest to be frank. He didn't really wow me, so I felt a little underwhelmed with the love story. I think I was more invested in Connor and Shani's story than anything. Connor should have been the star of this show.

Overall it was a decent read. Not my favorite, but not the worst either. Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy. This review is being left voluntarily, all opinions are my own.

Phoebe is a little neurotic, but it's endearing. She moves back to her dad's house after he passes away to get it ready for sale. She is reunited with her brother, whom she hasn't been close with in years. Ever since "the incident" she didn't spend too much time at her dad's house and stayed with her mother. Her brother chose to stay with her dad and they just seemed to lose touch. Just like she did with most people in this town.
She is working on her PhD and has a dissertation to get done, among other things, but wants to make time for her family. She is obsessed with true crime and always has been. Some people find it weird, but that's why she doesn't get close to people. She knows that they will inevitably leave and let you down. So when she runs into her new neighbor at 2 AM, she is convinced he is a serial killer, until she isn't.
Phoebe has a lot of baggage to unpack, just as she is packing up her dad's house. As she starts to get closer to the people she left behind, and some new ones, she has to figure out if she is capable of having a lasting relationship and if the problem isn't her, but the ones she trusted long ago.
Sam, the non-serial killer neighbor, is such a patient cinnamon roll hero. He is willing to help her through all of life's challenges she needs to navigate and I loved how kind and sweet and silly he was. I also loved her brother and his girlfriend; constantly pushing Phoebe to open up and want more for herself. Alison, the friend she left behind, was also a great side character. Phoebe needed proof that not everyone leaves and you can have love, and these people showed her what she was missing.
Thank you to Alicia Thompson, Netgalley and Berkley for an early copy.

I love rom-coms and I love serial killer stories so I figured this would be perfect. Nope. Nuh-uh. Not even close. I kept hoping that the main "heroine" would be horribly slaughtered... I DNFed so maybe she did, but I doubt it.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Meh. This one is tough for me to rate. It’s not that it was necessarily a bad book — I think it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel anything for the main characters (Phoebe and Sam) AT ALL. If anything, I more so fell in love with the book’s side characters (Conner and Shani), which I feel like shouldn’t be the point of a book?

Early on, it’s clear to the reader that Phoebe self-sabotages all of her relationships. But instead of making me feel bad for Phoebe, the author just made me hate her. Like seriously, Phoebe SUCKED. I just couldn’t wait to be done, honestly. 😂 A two star read, bumped up to three because Conner and Shani’s story kept me from clawing my eyeballs out in boredom.

I went into this one completely blind. I am not sure if that was better or not for my enjoyment.

I liked the story and the progression of both the relationship between Phoebe and Sam; as well as Phoebe’s understanding of why she holds people at a distance.

It was fun to get Phoebe’s love of true crime and see her analysis of the genre.

I also really enjoyed Phoebe’s relationship with her brother. And how she helped him throughout the summer.

This was an enjoyable listen.

Oof. I had such high hopes for this one, but boy did it fall flat. I found the MC to be entirely insufferable! She was so negative and constantly being a downer! And just because she is in to true crime shouldn’t make her this eternal pessimist. The love interest in this one was NOT made for her at all. He was WAY too good for her and frankly should have never been involved with her in the first place. Not my cup of tea and definitely don’t read if you’re actually in to true crime and don’t have an Eeyore attitude towards life.

“I totally thought you were a serial killer when I moved in, you know.”

First things first, major props to the author for capitalizing on what had been a lot of us ladies’ dirty little secret pre-pandemic when we all decided to let our freak flags fly and openly declared our love for Murder Shows. This title was certainly a “you had me at hello” moment. And it’s probably my fault for reading this wrong, but I spend a solid chunk of my time reading about things like satanic killers and chopped up bodies and sex cults so when I’m promised a blurb where Phoebe who has returned to the familial home in order to prepare it for sale after a parent’s death thinks her neighbor might be a serial killer, I want a little more of the serial killer part. Even if neighbor Sam didn’t end up being a killer himself, another neighbor could have been. Worked for one of my favorite all-time films about peepin’ the ‘hood – Disturbia. Instead the “serial killer” thing was a very brief awkward meet/cute which quickly morphed into a summer session of hiding the salami. I think most will like this more than me, but I’ve become pretty hard to please when it comes to Rom Coms and despite the clever title this one ended up standard fare with an unlikeable (because of “reasons”) leading lady who meets a cardboard cutout magic peen and ends up with a happily for now.

Phoebe is finishing her doctoral dissertation on the genre of true crime when she has to go back to Florida where she grew up to clean out her father’s house after his sudden death. Since she constantly has serial killers on the brain, when she meets her neighbor Sam, barefoot and seemingly lurking in the middle of the night, she dubs him someone to watch, but not necessarily in a good way.

Over time, she realizes Sam may not be a serial killer, but something much scarier—a good guy that she really likes. But Phoebe is too busy for love and is convinced she doesn't even know that that is. She doesn't want anything serious, but can't help wanting to spend more and more time with Sam. Sam, on the other hand, pretty much only does serious - he's steadfast and caring and Phoebe really doesn't know what to do with that. It would have been much easier if he was a serial killer...

I enjoyed this book so, so much! As a true crime fan myself, it was fun to have that woven through this romance story. Phoebe is so clever and charming, even though she doesn't know it, and Sam is the perfect foil for her tough outer shell. I would recommend this book to any romance lover, whether true crime freaks you out or it's what helps you fall asleep at night.

Phoebe is a grad student working on a dissertation pertaining to True Crime as a drama. She’s been immersed in her writing and studies, so it’s no wonder when her mind conjures dark thoughts about her new neighbor.

But…could she be on to something? Is her imaginations going wild with these suspicions, or is there truly a undercover psycho murder next door?

All Phoebe knows for sure are the facts: He’s kinda sexy, he’s friendly, and he stays up late doing mysterious things.

The writing in this book is witty and fun. Basically, it’s a quirky romantic comedy. I liked that it made me chuckle and had tons of true crime and pop culture references. I also liked that the main character was unique and authentic.

It did begin to drag toward the end, and I began to get a little frustrated with the characters BUT it was still cute.

Overall, Love in the Time of Serial Killers is a smooth, easy read. Perfect for fans of books like the Finlay Donovan series and those who enjoy dark humor.

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4 for this review

A girl can’t be too careful, nowadays!

Many women ignore their gut feelings, worried about how they will be perceived by others -but not our protagonist, Phoebe Walsh!! She would rather be seen as a little bit rude, than risk being abducted and taken to an unknown location!

Of course, she is a PhD candidate analyzing the “true crime” genre for her dissertation. She is fascinated by an author’s relationship to the subject and our fascination with serial killers as a Culture.

Naturally, she initially thinks the worst of the barefoot guy who appears out of nowhere offering to help her carry her desk into her deceased father’s house, late one night, as she is arriving to move in temporarily, tasked with clearing it out to get it ready to sell.

And, that is despite the fact that she KNOWS that there haven’t been any unsolved murders around there which appear to be connected….She has done her research!

When I initially spotted this ADORABLE book cover and INTRIGUING title, I just knew I had to read it!!

As a woman who reads MOSTLY psychological thrillers and mystery/suspense with an occasional ROM COM thrown in, I thought it would be the perfect combination for me.

BUT-I wasn’t the right demographic for this story!

I dated a man MANY years ago who had a five year old OBSESSED with the CRASH BANDICOOT video game and these characters are those kids, now in their twenties and still playing that game in this story! Literally.

So, needless to say, this read very young for me. (Or made me feel very old!)

Initially, I really disliked Phoebe and her political views, (not a good sign for a ROM COM, where you must like both leads and root for them to get together) but as the book goes on, you realize that a lot of what she says and does is because she has a protective wall up around her. She isn’t your typical leading lady, as she has what she views as body flaws and some insecurities.

Not as bad as she first appeared-I tried looking at her through Sam’s eyes-to try to see what he saw in her.

After all, isn’t that what love is all about?

It was nice to see her personal growth as the story progresses, and to witness how a homeless cat exposes her softer side.

Also REFRESHING was that both Sam, and her “hopeless romantic brother” Connor were both genuinely “good guys”.

If you are in your twenties you will probably relate to this one more, especially if you enjoy steamy “open door” bedroom scenes, in your ROMANCE novels.

But, Sam- If Phoebe let’s you down…..my friend has a daughter I would like you to meet! 😂

Expected publication: August 16, 2022

Thank You to Berkley books for the gifted ARC. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!