This was such a fun and unique romance. I really enjoyed the character development that happened throughout the novel.

I can see why this has mixed reviews. It's absolutely not for everyone - but it was absolutely for me. This falls into the Emily Henry side of romance where the romance is there, there's some steam, but really it's more about people processing their trauma. I didn't love how our MC pushed people away all of the time, but the book did a great job at actually having adults talk about their feelings.

It was a little heavy on some of the non-true crime references for me, but still a super enjoyable read.

Absolutly loved this one. I devoured it in a day. The plot, the characters, the setting. Really really enjoyed it.

This book is definitely for the romance/ rom-com lover and not so much for the true crime fan. What I liked about this book was how real and relatable the main character is. She has just moved into her dads house after he passed away and she is (understandably) apprehensive of the nice neighbor guy because who is actually helpful and nice in this day and age? He must be up to something and Phoebe isn’t going to let herself be tricked. I this is is a good book for the romance AND true crime lover or anyone who wants a good romance novel.

This book tells the story of Phoebe Walsh, who is working on her English Ph.D on how authors relate to true crime in their books. She has to go and clean out her childhood home after her father dies and knows she will have to face that and her crappy childhood.

As she arrives, she is scared by her neighbor, a man named Sam who offers to help her. Her true crime research is really getting the best of her and she doesn't give him a chance but rather sees him as a possible serial killer threat. She begins to watch him and sees that he is not what she thought and continues to theorize he could be a killer.

Her brother Connor believes she has taken up with watching this neighbor too much so she begins to use the library where she runs into an old friend. Phoebe is now desperate to get away from this friend and her possible serial killer neighbor but begins to find that perhaps if she just opens up a little, these new/old friends might not be so bad.

I love true crime, I love books, I love romance but the first half of this book was painful. It just dragged and dragged. The second half was better but the first half ruined it for me. It was a slow romance and sloooooow it was. Needed a faster pace and less annoying characters for me. Connor was immature and there was too much focus on him and his girlfriend, Phoebe was just annoying in general. Sam was the only one I liked.

There were times where this book had me laugh out loud, and times where I felt literal butterflies in my stomach. As for characters, the MC, Phoebe, I loved her character. There were a few political opinions throughout the book I thought didn't need to be there. I get it was to make her more relatable, but it's a novel. It didn't need to be included. The LI, Sam, was super cute and swoon-worthy. I liked the whole arc of Sam and Phoebe and how Phoebe was initially turned off, but grew to like him.

The cover and title drew me in but I was ultimately disappointed. I struggled to connect with, or even like, the main character Phoebe whose paranoia around true crime quickly grated. I appreciated the author's attempt at touching on themes of body positivity, trauma, family dynamics, and grief but the story itself wasn't successful.

This was one of my first October reads - I figured the true crime vibes would fit in with my spooky TBR nicely. From the first time I read the synopsis for this book I was excited - unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat for me. The biggest pain point for me was that I just couldn't feel chemistry between the two leads. I was more invested in the brother's relationship than that of the two leads, and while it was a good exploration of childhood trauma, it just didn't nail it as a romance novel for me.

This was really cute! I thought Phoebe and Sam had a lot of chemistry and I was definitely rooting for their relationship to work out. The build up with them getting to know each other and spending more time together was really well done and realistic and i think it just added to the relationship for me and made me want them together even more. I'm a huge fan of books where the author's take their time to build up a relationship that makes sense instead of just making them jump each other 5 seconds after meeting, and this one definitely checked that box for me.

I do have to say I loved Sam way more than Phoebe. Not to say I didn't understand Phoebe and where she was coming from, but some of her actions frustrated me a bit because Sam was clearly all in on the relationship and it just felt like she was playing with his feelings for a while there, although I do believe it was unintentionally and I understand why she was hesitant when it comes to starting a relationship. and i felt like her growth throughout the book was really touching.

I also loved her reconnecting with Alison! Loved their friendship.

This was great and i definitely look forward to reading more by Alicia Thompson in the future!

I was so excited to read this book as a true crime lover and romance reader. It ticked all the boxes I was looking for. Phoebe the main character is really into true crime and serial killers which makes her overly cautious when it comes to love. This book not only has sexy scenes but also touches on intense topics such as grief, and childhood trauma.

There's nothing like a well-crafted prickly, grumpy heroine, and this book definitely delivers! There is so much humor and heart in this book, readers will love watching Phoebe's heart melt.

Entertaining contemporary romance with a difference. Good character development, funny, not your typical kind of romance plot. All in all, good read.

2.5 stars

A twisted romcom following true-crime obsessed PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh, as she returns to clean out her childhood home with her annoyingly upbeat brother. Phoebe is challenged byy her childhood wounds, grieving her estranged father, and the armour she's built up around her heart.

This book has a fun and heartfelt premise, but it scarcely scratched the surface of its potential. The relationship between Phoebe and Sam felt rushed, as did Pheobe's friendship with Allison. I would have liked to see a deeper exploration of Phoebe's backstory which was driving her character progression forward. I enjoyed reading but this one fell flat for me.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and #NetGalley for the arc!

Love in the time of serial killers is the perfect romance with just the right amount of comedy. The main character loves true crime, is a grad student, and extremely confident. The characters are incredibly compelling and you find yourself rooting for them the whole time. Perfect Halloween read!

I loved this book!! I feel like as much as romance is such a common theme, this book was an entirely new plot that I have yet to read. This book kept me hooked throughout it all. The chemistry and the references were gold. I completely enjoyed this and loved this for one of my fall / Halloween reads.

This is the rom com I’ve been searching for! The female lead is quickly and hilarious! She is so relatable to the reader. I also love that she is a curvy female lead, which I would love to see more of this become more normal! I fell in love with the boy next door trope and the character growth throughout this read. I would definitely recommend and hope to read more by this author!

Cute and twisted romcom about a girl obsessed with true crime and the difficulty she has accepting love. It was a bit long winded and overly detailed while she was off on her tangents but I appreciated her character arc. Kind of a play on grumpy/sunshine

I absolutely adore this book and it's definitely one of my top read this year! Phoebe and Sam are an incredibly adorable couple made up of imperfect people. Phoebe is quite the main character - she is suspicious, wonderfully quirky, insecure, and knows. far too much about serial killers. I found her both wonderful and infuriating, which tends to mean we have some good character growth coming - and we definitely saw that here! Sam is the weird next door neighbor who, despite Phoebe's suspicions, is not a serial killer. I highly recommend this book!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for a post-publication review copy! All opinions are my own.

I actually really enjoyed this book. As someone who loves true crime, the way the main character is introduced to the love interest is freaking wonderful, and the way their relationship evolves and transforms is great. And I loved how the main character was incredibly educated and smart, and how her intelligence was one of the reasons why he falls in love with her.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, the author, and NetGalley for the free gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I should have listened when I saw someone describe this book as written like a fan fiction book, but I chose to believe all the 5-star reviews I saw on bookstagram.

I thought the idea of this book was great because these days there are a lot of people obsessed with true crime but I felt like this extreme was just a little too much for me. I read a review that said this almost read like fan fiction and that was spot on.

I was still able to finish the book but there was absolutely no romantic connection at all and it was so random when they actually ended up together. Like when they said they loved each other they hadn’t even had each other's phone numbers yet? It was all just a little too weird for me.

I did see a lot of people rave about this one and give it 5 stars on Bookstagram so I thought I might be in the minority for the dislike.