I had a feeling this would be good, but my god it was more than good. Two of my favourite past times marry beautifully in this - serial killer documentaries and romance novels. Phoebe is one of the best female protagonists I’ve read in a long time. I want to be her friend - I laughed out loud at her narrative so many times. I actually enjoyed reading the development of her relationship with her brother as well, it was so endearing. I just so wanted her to accept and feel love, I genuinely rooted for her throughout. And Sam was just 🥰

Had potential
The first half of the book was great but then it didn’t go anywhere

I got really bored


3 ⭐️


Thanks netgalley

As a self confessed true crime addict with a dark sense of humour, going into this I was hoping that I would find a character who I could relate to and have a few morbid laughs with along the way. I'm very pleased to say that this was what I got!
From the start I liked the main character of Phoebe and could completely identify with her. I loved the relationship she had with her brother Conner throughout and their banter was great.
The introduction of Sam (who is an absolute sweetheart) and the whole romance storyline had me hooked and I was rooting for them for the whole book.
Also that cover is so stunning, I love it!
This was one of my most anticipated reads going in and thankfully I really enjoyed it!
I recommend this if you are looking for an alternative contemporary romance that has a dark sense of humour.

No Rose Tinted Spectacles…
Can Phoebe Walsh overcome her cynical nature and learn to love? This PhD student is not easy to break, a true crime obsessive and a little in mourning, she sees life through jaded eyes and most definitely not rose tinted spectacles - and is new neighbour Sam really a serial killer or will he to be the catalyst which will move to expel Phoebe’s demons? Well crafted characters populate this feisty but fresh Romcom and with a likeable and relatable protagonist in Phoebe whose natural cynicism, dry wit and sarcastic personality propel the narrative snd the plot swiftly forwards and upwards.

This book had two defining keywords - Romance and Mystery, so I picked this book up hoping to find romance with body count, but the only carcasses to be found here are the ones Phoebe is reading about for her PhD and then the murdered reading time, never to return. :)

Phoebe has been reading about serial killers since she was a child, so she sees potential true crime characters everywhere, and in every shadow she sees a hand pulling her into the shadow to strangle/stab/drag her to the basement. She's only lived her life for college, but now she has to go back to her childhood world to pack up what her father left behind to put the house up for sale.
When she goes back, she remembers things she doesn't want to remember; she has to associate with people she would not like to associate with; write a doctoral thesis that does not want to progress; ask for help from a neighbor whom she doesn't want to trust and deal with a cat that doesn't want to leave.
There is no peaceful moment. There's always something going on. But the most interesting moments are still when Phoebe talks about the topic of her doctoral thesis, what is the purpose of the work, how she came to this topic, why she approaches this topic from this particular angle. These are the places where the story comes alive for me, where the story has depth and excitement. The rest of the story is like an ordinary romantic novel.
From the title and introduction and keywords, I expected much more from this book than the usual story about enemies becoming lovers. Readable, but nothing special.

This was a really ingenious and interesting take on the romance genre, incorporating lots of true crime tidbits!

I feel like if you enjoy true crime podcasts (and I think we can all agree that we bring some associated anxieties into our real lives) like Sounds Like A Cult or My Favourite Murder this will be perfect for you. It also tackles complicated familial relationships and how adult friendships aren't always straightforward....

I hope romance novels continue to be this inventive - one of the best I have read in years!

"Fuck that. I'd rather be seen as a little rude than risk being taken to a second location."

This book filled the Dead Romantics shaped hole in my heart! Clearly I have a type.
Love in the Time of Serial Killers follows true crime obsessed Phoebe as she spends the summer clearing out her childhood home and trying to come to terms with the loss of a parent she did not have a great relationship with. She becomes convinced that her neighbour, Sam, is a serial killer (lol).
Phoebe and Sam get to know each other, sparks start to fly and we get to tag along on Phoebe's journey of learning to accept/feel worthy of love.

First off - major points for how funny this book was! It's pretty rare to find a rom-com that actually makes me laugh and this had me cackling!
I ADORE Phoebe! Normally not a huge fan of characters that are this pessimistic in a romance novel but Phoebe was balanced out with witty cynicism and sarcasm and I was so invested in her.
Sam... an absolute SIMP of a man!! My only real issue with this book is that he felt a little one dimensional, he really only existed to help Phoebe overcome her issues but he was still a joy to read.
Plot was a LITTLE jumbled but the story was more character driven so I really didn't mind.

Overall a very solid read (very happy to be back in my romance era)!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Love in the Time of Serial Killers' by Alicia Thompson.

This was on my anticipated reads on GoodReads for ages so I was excited to receive this book as an Arc. Sadly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. It wasn't what I expected, which I guess is my fault. Would I still recommend this? Yes, to a particular audience. But sadly this book had no favourite moments for me.

This was a difficult one to rate, because by the end I loved it, but the kick off was great but then most of the first third I was seriously considering DNFing this, it was so good once I got into it, and for the most I adored Phoebe, but she did grate on me at times as well. That’s why I didn’t enjoy this one, but then she would go from grating me to following her gut and I adored her again. I think most people will enjoy this one, as it is so funny when you get to know the story and what is really going on.

I liked this book, it was a cute read and I understand why people enjoy it however all it was to me was another fluffy romance, I didn’t think the true crime part of the story really added anything, it felt a little unnecessary to be focusing on it that much, and I found the side characters annoying and just wasn’t really rooting for any of them. Cute but average

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Love In The Time of Serial Killers
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Alicia Thompson
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Contemporary Romance
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 16th August 2022
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬/𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: Neighbours With Benefits, Grumpy v Sunshine, Dysfunctional Family, Grief
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3/5

“It sounds like a tense way to grow up, and I’m really sorry you had to go through it. But, Phoebe, your parents were just two people. Ted Bundy and whatever his girlfriend’s name was were two people. Hell, Bonnie and Clyde stayed together until the bitter end, and even they were only two people. You can’t extrapolate your worldview from such a small data set.”

The cover and title took me hostage with this book! If a creepy, dirty white van swung around the corner with its wheels screeching, kicking up dust and stones, and stopped in front of me with a picture of this cover and title, I’d climb in the van.

That tells you as much about my self-preservation just as much as it tells you about my love for books.

Love in the Time of Serial Killers is a bit weird, pretty morbid and honestly, it did not live up to my expectations. There were a few things I found frustrating about this book.

Honestly, I recoil when authors use text slang in their novels like ‘gtfo’ or write memes, please just leave that stuff for the internet where it’s use/humour is justified. I wanna read a book, not a thread on Twitter.

Also, I am going to sound creepy saying this, but I do wish Sam was portrayed as more of a serial killer 😂. Otherwise, the meeting between him and Phoebe just came across as paranoia bordering on delusional. And since she’s such a dislikable character, she needed all the help she could get!

To be honest I found this whole book lacking and I simply cannot put my finger on what it is! All I know is I needed more! More conflict, a steeper redemption arc, more development of relationships, anything! As it stands, I liked this book but I didn’t love it. It didn’t help that the formatting on the eARC was terrible.

The true crime of this novel is how a book about a girl being obsessed with serial killers and finding her love connection next door could be… boring?

There were things that I liked too. I did enjoy the romance, it made for an easy read and coupled with the dark sense of humour, I could really relate to it. I also liked how academic this novel was, it showed me a new perspective on true crime that I’m grateful for.


𝑲𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉 @ 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒉 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚
🧚‍♀️🤍

4.25/5 stars! Ok; as a woman in her 30s who listens to way too many crime podcasts and double-checks everyone I meet, the premise of this story was right up my alley. Phoebe's stream of consciousness was hilarious to follow. I wouldn't say this book quite fits its premise because it felt like the potential serial killer storyline resolved itself too quickly, but it was a sweet and fun contemporary romance. Plus, I love the cover for this book. Will be reading her next book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review

This book was a cute romance that didn’t quite live up to the title. I loved the beginning but felt myself wandering away from the story the further into it I got. For some reason I thought the book would be more about a serial killer than a romance so my expectations were wonky.

Wanted so much to love this - the title and concept are PERFECT, but I really struggled.
Phoebe didn't grab me at all, and I was hoping for more true-crime and less 'cuteness', but that's just my tastes rather than necessarily a reflection on the book.

There are some funny moments, but it fell flat overall for me, and tbh I thought the JKR comments, whatever you feel about her, were unnecessary and unprofessional.

Sorry, I tried to love it!
It's not you, it's me.

I have had this book on my shelf for long, but never got around to reading it. I saw it on Netgalley UK recently, and took it as a sign that it was time.

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did - true crime is NOT my thing. I am a scaredy-cat through and through. However, I really like how the author wrote Phoebe's character and her obsession with true crime. I found myself laughing reluctantly (not sure how funny it was meant to be) at how she always brought everything back to that. I loved her dry wit, and her repartee with Sam. Sam gave me the "one person you'd always want to have in your corner" vibes. This story is definitely one of a kind!

3.5 stars for overall enjoyment of the story, +0.5 star for how unexpectedly some of Phoebe's reflections were relatable and made me feel seen.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley UK. All opinions are my own.

In all honesty I found it really hard to get through this one. It started of well and I really wanted to enjoy it but the plot just could not keep me interested. I found myself wondering away from the story a lot.

If I had to rate the novel on the title alone, it would get 5 stars. The title is brilliant! We love a good word play.
The reader follows Phoebe who is a PhD candidate and very cynical. She describes herself as fat and I like that this was included in the novel and how Alicia Thompson dealt with it. It never was a big deal and Phoebe didn't struggle with her weight and I applaud this kind of fat representation.
I really enjoyed the way Sam and Phoebe met and the novel has many funny moments. The novel is definitely cute, but I think I expected more. More about her PhD (which was not always represented in the most realistic way), a more critical take on true crime, ... I really appreciated Sam, but Phoebe could be quite rude to him which bothered me. All in all a cute romance which I would recommend.