I thought this was a really cute romance and I loved our hot topic heroine so much! As a true crime junkie, I loved how serious our heroine was about this subject and that she was so smart and well educated! I can't wait to see what else this author puts out there.

Phoebe Walsh has traveled to Florida to help her brother, Conner, clear out her late father’s house so they can sell it. Phoebe is a Ph.D. candidate who is working on her dissertation dealing with the cultural fascination with serial killers. Coming back to her father’s house is churning up some complicated feelings, adding to her anxiety about her dissertation.

Aloof and distrustful, Phoebe tries to keep to herself, but she spies on the comings and goings of her neighbor. Her outgoing brother introduces her to Sam, and she is chagrined to find out that he is a music teacher who seems to be a truly nice guy who sees beyond her snarky exterior.

The longer Phoebe stays, the more she becomes closer to Sam. At first a prickly character who is not very likable, Phoebe’s efforts to conquer past hurts and anxieties make reading about her emotional growth satisfying.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. The very first thing that grabbed my attention was the title. I'm pretty sure there's more people like me out there but I have a deep love for romance novels and also thrillers and true crime. I spend my free time from adulthood and books, listening to true crime podcasts and occasionally watching documentaries. So, when I read the title I said ''I need to read this asap". I think that our main character in this novel is an odd ball, which is why I love her. The very first thing she thinks when a handsome stranger offers her help is that "He probably wants to murder me". She even gave him a news-worthy-serial-killer name. It is truly hilarious.

I felt the whole story to be wholesome and clever. There are a lot of facts about crimes included, which is incredibly good. No one want just random lines written about something that truly happen and that it was devastating to a lot of people.

The romance portion was incredibly good. Spicy when it had to, swoon-y when it was appropriate. I would love to read more from this author and definitely will be looking forward to it.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity.

🔪𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬🔪

Looking for a lighter romcom with a twist of true crime? This is your book!!! I went into this one completely blind and I think in doing that, made me like it more haha I didn’t even realize it was a romcom at first😂

What’s the last book you went blind into? Did you end up liking it?

Ps. I did the audio and I loved the narrator so can confirm this book is great on audio🎧

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Romantic Comedy
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞: the title of the book should give it away haha
𝐏𝐮𝐛. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: August 16th, 2022
𝐌𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4 stars
𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3.49 stars

Quick synopsis:

The book follows Phoebe Walsh, a PhD candidate who is writing her dissertation on true crime, as she explores dating and friendships and how her obsession with true crime, impacts both!

LITTOSK is the first book I read from Alicia Thompson. This romance novel dives into slow burn romance, strained friendships, sibling bonds, and new beginnings. Overall, this book didn’t work for me. The plot was interesting, but I couldn’t get myself to be invested with the story. Based on the plot, I think I had different expectations and this just wasn’t it at all. The only part I liked about the story was the sweet sibling relationship that Phoebe and Conner had despite their seven year difference. In terms of the romance, I found the chemistry between Phoebe and Sam to be odd. I wouldn’t recommend picking this one up.

I liked this book! I thought that the pacing was a bit weird though. The transition from her being afraid of him to liking him was a bit rushed, but other parts felt like they dragged on. I did like the plus size rep throughout, and I was rooting for the main characters to get together. I wish there was a little bit more of an exploration of the side characters. I loved the cover art for this book as well!

This book was pretty good. I thought the premise of the book was interesting because the main character was suspicious of the love interest also possibly being a serial killer since she was super into true crime podcasts. Even though she was suspicious they built a friendship that developed into even more. I felt like there was something missing and wanted more from the book. But I still enjoyed it overall.

The jokes and puns are getting darker and funnier the deeper you're immersed in this book. It was enjoyable but not an exceptional reading experience overall.

3.5 stars. You know how the world starts to take on the character of whatever you're watching, reading, or learning about? PhD candidate Phoebe is definitely spending too much time alone with true crime, and it makes her suspicious of everyone--especially her neighbor Sam, whose late-night activities might just be serial killing. Or maybe he's a genuinely nice elementary school music teacher who just wants to help her move heavy furniture. Either way, can't be too careful. No matter how cute he is.

This was an entertaining premise but I didn't love Phoebe's actions. Her childhood definitely made her wary of developing any close relationships, which makes sense, but she was frustratingly oblivious to the consequences of her own actions at times. Sam was a nice foil but his character was less developed.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

This book I purely picked up because of the cover and title and I have to say it didn't dissapoint. I thought this was really fun and silly sometimes but never really over the top. I really loved the cast of side characters. They brought the story to live in a great way. I also quite liked the little side plots in this book. I've seen a lot of reviews being annoyed by the true crime refference and I do understand that because there's A LOT of them but I thought they were quite fun and I liked looking up the different refferences to learn more. Like I said before I do understand how people would think it's annoying because you shouldn't constantly need to look up refferences to understand the jokes but I personally didn't mind. The romance was also great but I do think the love interest deserves better than the main character. He was a sweet cinnemon role and she just played with his emotions for a bit too long for me to fully root for them. Having said that we have arrived at the main reason I didn't end up loving this book. I don't like our main character. She was incredibly annoying. In some way she gave me the vibe that she felt superior to everyone else but also at the same time she gave me the vibe that she was full of self hatred. On top of that she also felt so out of touch from reality and like she has never interacted with a single other human before. I did like the writing though so I'm definitely open to reading more by this author but I don't absolutely love this.

This is the book I have been waiting my whole life for. Alicia just writes such amazing and realistic characters and I two would love a meet cute where I am suspicious of my neighbor. Thank you to Alicia and Berkley for the ARC for my honest review.

I'm going to add this to my- the insides don't match the outside category.

This romance is a lot more emotionally complex and thoughtful than the cutesy pink cover communicates.

That's OK though because I really loved this novel. (And I love the cover too!) Phoebe is a vibrant character with a complex background, deep emotions and a great wit. The other characters- her brother, her estranged best friend, and of course her love interest all felt very real and likeable.

I enjoyed that this was a romance that also featured the true crime genre so much. Phoebe is a doctorate student studying the genre so there are lots of discussion in the book about the true crime, mentions of titles, and visits to the library which were all so fun for a librarian like me who loves to read romance and is also a fan of true crime.

I also very much appreciated the story-lines about dealing with family trauma, mending friendships and growing to accept love - both romantic and in family relationships.

I will definitely read more books by this author.

Ph.D. candidate, Phoebe Walsh, has always been obsessed with True Crime. It's a great way to focus her attention and avoid thinking about her own life for too long. Phoebe and her younger brother, Connor's, parents divorced when the two were kids. After that, Phoebe went to live with Mom and Connor stayed with Dad in their childhood home in Florida. Needless to say, it is a complicated family history.

After their father passes away, Phoebe agrees to live in his home and help prepare it for sale. It will be nice for her to have some privacy to continue working towards her degree; she has a lot of writing to do. She's also looking forward to reconnecting with her brother.

They don't know each other as well as you would assume siblings do, just due to the circumstances of their upbringing. Additionally, it can definitely be hard for Phoebe to let down her defenses to connect with people. At this point, she is willing to give it her best shot. Truth be told, most people make her a little uncomfortable.

She arrives at her Dad's late at night and is just deciding how much she wants to unpack in the dark, when a strange man pops up out of nowhere and offers his assistance. A serial killer. That's where Phoebe's mind goes first.

This story begins there and then follows Phoebe as she grapples with her feelings involving her family, being reunited with an old friend and her quest to discover the truth about the mysterious neighbor, Sam. There's a lot of exploration of Phoebe as a character and why she views the world the way she does. I actually really enjoyed Phoebe. I liked her dry sense of humor and sort of cynical way of viewing life and love.

I also enjoyed Sam as a character. He would be the perfect golden boy of any romance. I mean, if he wasn't a serial killer that is. Even though I liked the characters individually, I wasn't super sold on the two of them together. My interest waxed and waned over the course of the story and I wound up just being underwhelmed.

I liked it. It's a good story. I did like Phoebe's general sensibilities, but for me it just lacked like...I don't know, heart, maybe? It's like when someone sings something technically very well, but there is zero emotion in it. That's how I felt about this book.

It even took me two tries to get all the way through. The first time I stopped around 30%, deciding I just wasn't in the mood and I would wait for an audiobook copy to come through from my library. When the audiobook hold came through, Spooky Season was officially over, so I figured I would give it another shot. I'm glad I finished it, but it definitely wasn't a memorable experience for me.

With this being said, just because this story didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. If the premise sounds intriguing, you should definitely give it a go. You could end up absolutely loving it. I know many Readers did.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate it!

<i>Thank you so much to the publisher and the author for this review copy in exchange for an honest review</i>

I went into this book with no expectations, and it was highly entertaining. I feel like one reason I loved this book was because the main character reminds me of one of my closest friends I have had since high school: kind of awkward and blurts out random facts, loves fiercely even if she doesn't know how to show it, loves true crime to the point everyone is probably a serial killer and strong in what she stands for. She was even more relatable (to me) when she talked about her round curves. You just don't see a lot of main characters like this and I was so happy to read her story!

So our main girl's dad passed a few months ago that she was estranged with, and she moves in for a while to pack, so through it and get it ready to sell. Enter boy from across the street who seems suspicious, possibly a murder or a stalker.. all bets are off, he could be anyone.

This is a rom com, so I won't go into depth about this one either, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one and have already recommended it to some people!

I enjoyed this book. I am a true crime junkie and had a lot of fun with the references thrown into the book about shows and non-fiction books. I loved the idea behind her PhD topic. I feel like societies exposure to true crime in all varieties totally lead to thoughts of bodies being in trash bags that you see along the road or the sketchy behaviors people may have.

Phoebe moves into her father's house after he passes away and notices the new neighbor across the street. A man about her age who seems to be doing some sketchy things in the middle of the night. When she starts to insert herself into his life in order to prove he just might be a serial killer, she realizes that her past and personal obsession with true crime may be leading her to some seriously misconstrued thoughts.

I liked the way the story shows her grief for a relationship with her father that she never really had and the struggle Phoebe has with herself when it comes to building new relationships. She's used her education as a way to keep people at arms length. I thought this was going to be a lot darker given the content warnings at the beginning but it was well done and the story ended up being really good.

I am glad I had the opportunity to read this one and will be looking into more books by Alicia Thompson!

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.


This was a cute romance involving the current popularity of true crime. I think it could have added another level to the story to have an active serial killer investigation going on in the background of the story.

As someone who often finds herself at the intersection of romance novels and true crime novels this was a fantastic place to meet in the middle! So fun and clever, the story followed a woman finding her life outside of her life’s work. I saw myself so much in the main character Phoebe and her obsession with true crime, and simply not trusting when love entered the picture. The supporting characters were a hoot, and the romance was one you can’t help but root for from the start!

I related so hard to true-crime-obsessed Ph.D. candidate Phoebe Walsh. She’s spending the summer writing her dissertation (on true crime, of course) and cleaning out her old childhood home. She’s also watching her neighbor, Sam Dennings, who she is pretty sure is a serial killer. Pay no mind to the fact that he’s been nothing but kind and helpful since she moved in. And he is oh-so-handsome.

I love that the author included non-fluffy topics and adore a smart-yet-flawed female lead. True crime fan or not, if you’re looking for a romance with a little spice and a lot of fun, you’ll love this book!

Funny, charming, a wonderfully flawed protagonist. More academia in romance is always good for me. I kind of wish she had been a little more convinced he was a serial killer before falling in love, but I still really enjoyed this one.

This is one of those unique finds. It is different, it is funny. I highly recommend this book. The chracters were some of my favorites I have read in awhile. This book is just good.