Book Review: Scythe & Sparrow

This past week I read the third and final book in The Ruinous Love series by Brynne Weaver, Scythe & Sparrow. I’m sad the series is complete, but this was such a great book and ending.

This novel follows the youngest Kane brother, Fionn, and Rose Evans. We’ve met both characters in the previous books and something I love about this book is that it spans the time frame of before Butcher & Blackbird, Leather & Lark, and beyond. In Butcher & Blackbird we meet Rose when Rowan and Sloane go to Fionn’s in a small town in the middle of nowhere and Rose is staying with him while she recovers from a broken leg. When we see them again in Leather & Lark we know that Fionn and Rose love each other, but the details of their relationship are unclear. We get to see how the two meet and everything unfolds in their book, Scythe & Sparrow.

Fionn is the youngest Kane and a doctor. Wanting something different than the lives his brothers live (contract killer/leather worker and chef/serial killer of bad guys) he settles down in a small town in Nebraska. Rose is performer and tarot card reader for a traveling circus that she’s been with since she was a teenager. On the side, she helps abused women who come see her for tarot readings to get rid of their husbands. When she goes after one of the abusive husbands one day, things go wrong and she ends up badly injured. Fionn finds her and when she is released from the hospital he has her stay with him to help her recover since her RV is a no-go with her broken leg and she can’t travel with the circus until she is healed. What follows is the two getting to know one another over time, trying to make sure no one realizes Rose is the one who got into the fight with that local woman’s husband or any other unsolved crimes, and trying to fight their feelings/attraction to one another.

The novel takes place over a few years and I loved following Rose and Fionn’s friendship to friends with benefits to more evolve over the course of the book. It is just as hilarious and unhinged as the first two books, but there was also something calm and full of love about it. I think Butcher & Blackbird was chaotic fun, Leather & Lark was a beautiful slow burn, and Scythe & Sparrow just filled my heart while still being crazy and murder-y. In the previous books, the little we saw of Rose always made me feel like she was going to be this crazy, unhinged character (in the best way), so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I felt that she might be the most normal one out of all of them?!

I loved this book from start to finish and adored Fionn and Rose. I also loved the epilogue and how it all wrapped up for these beloved characters. My B&N copy had a bonus chapter told from a new character that was seen in Butcher & Blackbird and I wonder if it was just a one-off or if it’s a preview for a spin-off?

Anyway, I loved this series and am sad it’s over!