Red-Haired Ash Reads

Somehow when I read the Spooky Boys series earlier this year, I missed that this book was a part of it. So of course as soon as I realized, I had to dive right in. This was another fantastic, adorable, and very emotional book!

Marshall is a serial killer living in a tiny town. When he sees his recluse neighbor carrying a body out of his house, he doesn’t report him, instead he helps him. In doing so, he becomes fascinated with the uniqueness that is Felix Finley. He quickly becomes attached and finds himself falling for someone for the first time in his life. 

I adored this! This takes place over the course of many months, then at the end, a couple years. It’s a slow burn of a romance as they two get to know each other and set their own pace. They both have secrets that they are keeping from each other and we see them build their trust in each other before they come out. Quin does a fantastic job with a slow burn romance. 

“For the first time in my life I knew why people spent all their time fantasizing about relationships, about love, about partners and families. I understood why they’d struggle through dating, through the awful Google searches, and the existential crises. Why they’d learn the social cues, the order of the bases—not goals. Because if this was at the end of that—I could suffer through more dates like this. And we all know I wasn’t suffering.”

Marshall has never wanted a relationship or been attracted to someone so this is a bit of a queer awakening for him. He realizes he is demisexual and demiromantic, but only with Felix. We see Marshall struggle with all the feelings that come with falling for someone and the intimacies involved. I just loved how clueless he was about relationships and that he worked so hard to learn everything about every step of a relationship so he could be prepared. It was especially amusing when it didn’t work out like he thought it would. Also, I just loved how obsessed Marshall became with Felix and that Felix had no problems with his obsession. 

“Felix was…so much more than I’d expected. An accidental killer, a cat wrangler, a crocheting maniac. A prince. A hero. A man who never wanted others to feel lonely, despite being alone himself.”

Felix was adorable, sweet, and lonely. He lives his life as a recluse and struggles with the loneliness of it, especially after he lived his life in the spotlight before he was a vampire. I love how he tried so hard to prepare for their dates, but Marshall kept unintentionally impeding his ability to feed. Also, I kind of loved how clueless Marshall was about Felix being a vampire, especially when there were quite a few signs of it. He just accepted that it was part of Felix’s quirks and went on loving him. It was adorable. 

“I’ve never seen a star that shines as bright as you do,” I admitted, and it was the scariest thing I’d ever said.”

I only have two issues with this book. One, I wanted Felix’s POV. I really wanted to know how he was feeling about falling in love with Marshal and his struggles with his bloodlust. I adored Marshall’s pov, but I would have really loved to know Felix’s thoughts during some of these scenes. Secondly, I wanted more backstory on why Marshall is a killer and why he targets bullies. It’s hinted that it is because of his dead sister, but I wanted to know more about what happened to her that pushed him to target bullies. 

Overall, this was another fantastic Spooky Boys story. I love this world and really hope we get more books in this series. Also, I am really loving Fae Quin’s slow burn and very emotional romances. 

TW: death; blood; death of mother and sister mentioned; 

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Previous books and reviews for the series:

#0.5 There’s a Monster In the Woods
#1. Bite Me! (You Know I Like It)
#2. Possess Me! (I Want You To)
#3. Hunt Me! (I Crave the Chase)