Phoebe is a phD candidate working on her true crime dissertation. Sam is her next door neighbor. Of course, upon a late night first impression, Phoebe thinks Sam is a serial killer. Once she gets to know him, however, they actually become more than just neighbors.
The idea of this book was great, but the execution of the plot was lacking. The romance was predictable and cringe-worthy. Phoebe sees serial killers everywhere to an annoying degree; she thinks Sam is a serial killer simply for being out past midnight and for hanging out in his garage. But then, as soon as she changes her mind about his potential as a criminal, they jump into a sexual relationship so fast. The supporting characters’ storylines, Phoebe’s brother, his girlfriend, and Phoebe’s old friend were more interesting than Phoebe and Sam’s relationship. This book had so much potential, but, unfortunately, it left much to be desired.

I liked this book, but It wasn't anything special. I can't say anything bad about it, but I also can't say anything particularly good either.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the arc of this ✨✨✨ it’s a 3.5 ⭐️ for me.
The premise of this story is Phoebe who is writing her PhD on true crime. I think all the true crime /romance overlap girlies will love this book. It’s really a sweet, heartfelt and easy to read story.
Phoebe is a little bit all of us (at least me) and imagines the ways serial killers could break into her house and kill her albeit a bit more extreme since true crime is literally her area of expertise.
I found phoebes relationship with her brother and with her past to be well written, sweet and meaningful to the story. Ofc the romance was there too and we definitely got the spice ✨.
To me this was such a great book to unwind from reading other really intense stuff and I really think the book will find its exact audience.
Recommend (:
Reviewed at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4743824865

By far one of the best books I've read in 2022, and not just because I'm a true crime junkie. Phoebe, our MC, is smart and prickly, and flirting with that line of "unlikeable heroine"...which made her all the more likable to me because she felt real. Watching her come to terms with her father's death, grieving for a man whose role in her life was inconsistent and oftentimes antagonistic, while also reconnecting with her younger brother was engrossing and emotional. And Sam. Sweet, gentle Sam was the perfect opposite of Phoebe, and despite how vulnerable he made himself for her, he was a never a pushover. He never allowed Phoebe to walk all over him, and yet his steady presence and acceptance of her, flaws and all, was what Phoebe needed to move forward.

I adored Alicia's voice and her dry, witty humor, and I will read whatever she writes!

First, this cover is everything!!! I loved the MC in this book and all of the thoughts that go through her head. This was a fun ride! Funny, spunky, romantic and scary all rolled into one. A new genre for me but I really enjoyed it and will have to check out more.

I was kind of primed to dislike this book - I was a longtime true crime lover who began to realize the really problematic aspects of the genre a few years ago, which I talk about a little more in this review. And do I wish that Thompson had taken some of her thoughts about true crime a little further? Yeah. But did I have a fantastic time reading this book? 100%!

My overall sentiment towards the book is really just “see it through,” honestly. I would have liked to see Phoebe’s relationships with her parents fleshed out a bit more, I would have liked to see some more meat to Sam, I would have liked a little more critical thinking about true crime and the way it affects the way aficionados build relationships, but this is a debut, and it is a great one. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Love in the Time of Serial Killers is an absolute diamond of a book.
The romance is absolutely adorable. Phoebe and Sam have become one of my favorite book couples, and they take quite a journey to get to the happiness they deserve. It isn't easy, and that is one of the things I enjoyed so much about their story.
As a reader, we could see just how good they could be together, but there were so many self-imposed obstacles that needed to be cleared, which I enjoyed about this book. Phoebe is flawed; she has struggles and is judgmental, and is so incredibly closed off, which affects all of her relationships. The books showed us how the hurts of Phoebe's childhood, along with her journey through grief, have laid the foundations of who she is today. Watching her navigate her grief was such a beautiful and heartbreaking experience.
Love in the Time of Serial Killers is such a fun read! The characters are well-rounded and honest, the true-crime easter eggs are intelligent and exciting, and the story is filled with growth, family dynamics, and love!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved this darkly funny, deliciously steamy book! I rooted for Phoebe as she learned to let her guard down a little and realize she deserved to love and be loved by both humans and adorable tuxedo cats.

4.5 stars. Phoebe is finishing her doctoral dissertation on true crime books when she has to go back to Florida to help her younger brother clean out their father’s house. Since she’s constantly reading and thinking about serial killers, when she meets her neighbor Sam in the middle of the night, he scares the bejesus out of her.

Over time, she realizes Sam may not be a serial killer, but something much scarier—a nice guy. She could get a job teaching some place across the country—now is simply not the time to fall for anything serious.

This is funny and fun. Recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES AUGUST 16, 2022.

What a fun debut by Alicia Thompson! A+ banter, endearing side characters, laugh out loud moments, main character growth, a happy ending and a cute cat- this one left me with a smile on my face. I was impressed by the sharp + witty banter and found the true crime/serial killer theme to be refreshing and creative. My only hesitation was that I wasn’t fully invested in the love story from the beginning because I was too worried he was actually a serial killer haha. I did end up enjoying the swoon + steam and their chemistry as the story progressed. A really fun read, thanks Berkley and Netgalley for my copy!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
I definitely love true crime and romance, so this book was perfect for me. I really enjoyed all the references to true crime books and shows that I have loved in the past. I was also born and raised in Florida while my husband and in-laws are from North Carolina, so I really felt connected to her references to driving to and from North Carolina and Florida. I thought that the story had a great pace and flow. The main character was very relatable to me. Phoebe’s relationships between Sam, Conner, and Alison were so well written. I love Sam's character as well. He goes from a potential serial killer to charming, nerdy, and adorable. And I am definitely all here for someone like that.

Rating: 4
Author: @aliciabooks
Publication Date: 8/16/22

This book was exactly what I needed. If you enjoy true crime and lots of pop culture references then this book is for you. The romance is slow burn and might have been a little too slow for me but luckily that didn’t take away my enjoyment from the overall story. This book was so much more than just a romance. Phoebe and Sam were cute together and it was nice to see their relationship build from strangers to something more. Both characters were charismatic and added a lot of humor to the story. I loved that both characters weren’t your typical main character. Phoebe was plus size, wore mostly black, and loved talking about anything creepy or eerie, especially serial killers. She was perfectly fine with being who she was and never felt self conscious about how she looked or what she was into. Also, she gave so many different pop culture and true crime references and I think this is the first book I read where I knew every single reference! Some of the references even brought me back to childhood.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and would definitely recommend it. This book will have you smiling from Phoebe’s quirkiness, the banter between the characters, the references, as well as Phoebe’s paranoia with her neighbor being a serial killer. The writing was well done and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you so much @berkleyromance for the #gifted copy on #netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was such a treat! A true romcom in that it was a romance that was actually funny. No... it was freaking hilarious!! So many LOL moments. I loved Thompson's writing style and cannot wait to read more by her!

This cover of LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS is quite eye-catching. So is the title. However, I originally passed on this book because I thought it was a book involving serial killers. I love mysteries, but I thought, meh, pass. Then I saw a lot of posts about the book on Instagram and realized it was a romance about a true crime fan who suspects her father's neighbor is a serial killer. She finds out quickly he's not and instead he is an amazing and kind man.

There were quite a few things I liked about LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS. I enjoyed how Phoebe was perfectly fine with her size, she liked wearing black clothing, she had no problem talking to people about serial killers.

I loved Sam, the non-serial killer neighbor. He was incredibly patient with Phoebe. Maybe too patient.

Phoebe has a LOT of issues. Maybe too many for one character. On top of grief for her (mostly) estranged father, she was trying to finish her dissertation, be there for her brother, clean out her father's house, prepare for interviews after graduation and try to figure out how to be in love without being in love.

The story was slow-paced and Phoebe seemed to ruminate on the same problems the entire book. Sometimes she'd move forward, most times she didn't.

She kept self-sabotaging herself. For the final break-up/break-off with Sam her reasoning didn't make a lot of sense by that point.

This would be a good read for people in their 20s and 30s who have a penchant for true crime (not in a morbid way, but in a 'wow, these people really did hide the bodies for a while way').

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an e-book copy of LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS to review.

ehh..

this premise was great, and i loved the title, but it was so.. bland. the serial killer plotline (which was the funniest/most interesting part) was resolved way to quick, and the rest was just super cliched.

Wow, wow, wow, I do not believe that I have ever felt so seen until I read this book. Phoebe was a great window in this book because she felt exactly like me! Any murderino, crime junkie or true crime fan will genuinely love this romance and hopefully like me wish there was more. Also as a native Floridian, I loved the representation - especially as a Disney adult! Sam was a sweet, and authentic - very rarely do I read books about a man who was as shy, sensitive and well-adjusted as him and think it was a great refreshing change of pace. It seems like this is this author's debut novel since I couldn't find any others by her and it is a perfect debut - in my opinion, can't wait to see what she does next.

I didn't quite know what kind of book this was. Based on the reviews, my assumption was that it was a romance where the heroine thinks her neighbor is a serial killer, and humorous antics ensue.

That was kind of true, but it resolved itself within the first 10 percent. Then it was part defense of the true crime genre and people's fascination with it, part romance where the MC has God-awful communication skills, and part...finding yourself? I write that hesitatantly because our MC doesn't really achieve any character growth or have any particularly poignant epiphanies. She just...misses the guy and then realizes that she wants him. It's one of those situations where we could have all saved ourselves some time if we had an adult conversation.

And it was...fine in terms of humor. I personally didn't find it as rip roaring funny as some other readers did, but it's not <i>awful</i>.

1.5 stars, rounded up because of the true crime book mentions that I will (one day, maybe) get around to read.

<i>NetGalley gave me an ARC of this in exchange for a review...I get the feeling one day my privileges will be revoked, but thank you to the three people who read this.</i>

The premise of this book worked a lot more for me than the execution. There were plenty of parts I liked! But it mostly made me feel anxious? Phoebe is a likable character but a lot of her internal monologue sort of spirals into nothingness and anxiousness. It wasn’t a very easy reading experience at times. The romance was good and parts of it were very funny. I’d read this author again!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was funny, it was light, it was easy and breezy in spite of the true crime, but I felt like there were too many problems Phoebe was trying to overcome (self sabotage, parent death, house clean out, dissertation, future jobs, family connection, abandonment issues from teen years, repairing a friendship, facing fears of her old neighborhood). Yes, sometimes that’s life, but obviously it wasn’t as focused and didn’t really make me feel for Phoebe. I appreciated the diverse representation (a couple characters were BIPOC LGBTQ+) and showing the lead girl as plus size, with the struggles she goes through, but the love interest is described with so many stereotypically attractive qualities, including thinness and muscles, and I’m disappointed that those qualities weren’t more broad. So overall, it was okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Berkley Books, and Alicia Thompson for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This was such a fun romantic comedy that made me laugh out loud a couple times. It’s a heartwarming novel with brilliant dialogue and characters.

This book follows Phoebe Walsh, a PhD candidate fascinated by true crime, as she moves back into her childhood home to get it ready to sell. She meets Sam, her neighbor, and is originally a little weirded out by him, but then begins to learn that he’s a normal person and starts to develop feelings for him.

I loved the relationships in this book! Especially between the two main characters, but also Phoebe and her brother and his girlfriend and her childhood best friend. Phoebe’s development throughout was great to read about and I loved the diversity and references to mental health.

The emphasis on true crime was also really fascinating and I think true crime fans would really love this one! I highly recommend it to romance fans as well as true crime fans because it’s cute, funny, and original.