Love in the Time of Serial Killers

Phoebe Walsh has stolen my heart. I am wholly in love with this book and her love story. Let me tell you about it!!!After the death of her semi estranged father, awkward, nerdy, PhD student Phoebe moves to Florida for the summer to get his house market ready. While she’s there she plans on working on her dissertation, an analysis of the true crime genre and how it’s affected the zeitgeist. That’s until there’s a cute, neighbor sized wrench thrown into her plans; Sam, the elementary school teacher who lives next door and sets off all of Phoebe’s serial killer alarms in what is probably record time.Spoiler alert, Sam isn’t a serial killer. He’s something worse: cute, kind, and a viable love interest for Phoebe if not for the combination of her affections for true crime, a PhD she desperately needs to finish, and a deep rooted fear of commitment (ayo, relatable child of divorce moment) preventing her from feeling real feelings for basically anyone in her life.Thankfully and unsurprisingly, considering it’s a romance novel, Phoebe is able to heal multiple relationships from her past and commit to a new one all in one summer. I loved her personal growth and always enjoy a book where the growth isn’t overnight and isn’t perfect. Phoebe acknowledges that she has a ways to go before she’ll be a completely healed person.<i><b>“I’m still afraid of a lot of things, most of them very specific scenarios involving being taken to a second location. But I’m not afraid of this, of loving you or being loved by you.”</i></b>As an older sister from divorced parents, I knew I would love this book. Really, any “big sister has big feelings about big life change” book wins me over. Add in a love interest who loves the protagonist more than the protagonist loves them, said protagonist who basically embodies “This is Me Trying” by Taylor Swift, and a stray cat and <i>Love in the Time of Serial Killers</i> is the perfect book for me.I wish we had more of Sam and Phoebe being happy and domestic because I loved them more than most romance book couples and I would’ve loved more of Phoebe in her academic world but I’m not mad at the pacing or the ending at all. I thought it was really funny and didn’t mind the pop culture references but could’ve done with a bit less of them. 4.5⭐️ rounded all the way up!!!!CW for death of a parent, lots of mentions of death/murder, and explicit sexual content

4.5 stars, actuallyIt was a little hard to like Phoebe Walsh in the first chapter-- not only does she treat her obviously affectionate brother with a slightly chill manner, but she instantly interprets everything, including her sweet, helpful, nerdy ruffled-hair neighbor as the overture of a serial killer.Of course, she'd been studying true crime for her dissertation for years. And her off handed reference to various famous serial killer habits are fascinating, but doesn't make for a sympathetic character.But then, little by little, her brother and neighbor wear her down with their unending obliviousness or forgiveness of her hard edges and cranky says, and suddenly I really liked her. We dig into her backstory, and while there is no major trauma, only an age-old story of divorce and a father who can't give children the attention they deserve, she is obviously wounded.And Sam is soooo, soooo sweet. And there's a stray cat who adopts Phoebe, and a librarian friend who is snarky but also loving, and a flash mob.This book is so easy to read, Phoebe pulls you in, Sam makes you want to stay, and the various serial killer references have you Googling like crazy. Super sweet, contained story with emotional development.

This was a fun read, filled with sweetness, humor, and heat. I loved our leading couple! They gave me all the sighs! I don't think you'll ever find a sweeter pair. All around an adorable story. 💕

Phoebe Walsh is a literature doctoral student who returned to Florida to clean out her father's house. Her thesis is about the true crime genre, her passion, but she tends to view everyone around her as potential serial killers. So, when her new neighbor, Sam, appears in the middle of the night as she arrives, she's very suspicious of him.This is Phoebe's story, told by her, and she is a riot! She's a loner but immersed in pop culture, so there are frequent references to video games, tv shows, and music that are laugh-out-loud funny. Sam is shy, but it's not long before the two banter back and forth. Phoebe goes through a lot of personal growth; her parents divorced when she was a teen, and she went with her mother while her younger brother stayed with her father. She has lots of unresolved trauma from even before the divorce; her parents were unhappy for a long time, and the kids got the brunt of the emotional upheaval.It's a fun story and a sweet romance. Sam is a sweetheart, and it was nice to see Phoebe change and grow up. This book was recommended to me by my son who thought it was something I'd enjoy - he was right!

This book is quite badly written, the protagonist is like a pantomime version of a complex female character, just being rude and unsubtle. Also lame repetition of misogynistic terms of abuse levelled at JK Rowling. Very poor effort and a waste of time and money. I abandoned the book after a few chapters.

I don't like book where the character are supposed to be in there 30s yet lack basic skills of conversation.I stopped reading this book about 3/4 way through.

It was a bit boring in places...had to really force myself to finish some chapters....has absolutely nothing to do with serial killers