Leigh’s review ~ Love In The Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson
Published by Penguin on August 16, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, eBook, Paperback
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Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn't exactly conducive to modern dating—and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she's used to suspecting the worst.
 
PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analyzing the genre in her dissertation—if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years.
 
It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he's clearly up to something). It's not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier—a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.

Phoebe and Sam were not the typical romance couple. They were not popular or muscular or over the top. They were normal people, living normal lives and finding what happiness they could in that, and there was something very charming and sweet in their relationship that I came to love. ~ Leigh – Simply Love Books

 

 

It took a little while for me to warm up to this story, but once I did I found it truly adorable. As odd as “adorable” is to describe a love story where the main character is obsessed with murderers and true crime.

Returning to Florida to handle the estate of her estranged father, Phoebe is forced to confront her past while working on her future. As she wades through fixing up her childhood home for sale, she needs to continue to work on her PhD thesis on serial killers while at the same time navigating the reconnection of a relationship with her brother, and the budding attraction with her neighbor, Sam…. who seemed very suspicious at first. Because who had large vats in their soundproof garage, and wore coveralls while secretly working in there until all hours of the night?

At first, I didn’t truly like Phoebe. She seemed very harsh and unforgiving, relishing in her status of not needing anyone or anything. She was socially awkward, abrasive and frankly, odd. But as the reader got to know her, it was clear that she was more scared of the connection with other people than anything else. Rather than having to confront the newness of it, and possibly be disappointed, she found it easier to push people away than to let them in. But as she slowly opened up to her childhood friend, her brother and his girlfriend, and the slightly less suspicious neighbor that always seemed to be around, she found that the craving for the connection outweighed the fear.

Phoebe and Sam were not the typical romance couple. They were not ravishing, flashy or high powered. They were not popular or muscular or over the top. They were normal people, living normal lives and finding what happiness they could in that, and there was something very charming and sweet in their relationship that I came to love. Characters I found to be annoying started to grow on me just as they grew on each other, and in the end, I felt that I had journeyed with them in the life they carved out for themselves.