Delicious by A.J. Merlin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I followed the sound of a chainsaw into the woods, I should’ve known it would end poorly.

But when I end up in the killer’s house instead of chopped into little pieces, I don’t know what to think. Not when he promises me that he won’t hurt me, and especially when he tells me that I can’t leave. 

Not unless he can trust me. 

He can’t, of course. I’ll tell anyone that will listen that this monster cut up some man in the moonlight, even if he promises that it had been deserved. 

He’s lying, because there’s no way anyone deserves what he did. 

Earning his trust is an act, but when the lie starts to fail, I find that the man underneath the terrifying mask is something altogether different than I could ever expect. He’s charming, sweet, and his obsession with me is dangerous enough that I know I should run far and fast before either of us can act on it. 

Can a monster like him ever love a girl he found in the woods, or am I destined to become Sunday dinner for a recovering cannibal and the family he swears to hate?

Delicious

A super sweet serial killer!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🩵🖤❤️💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☺️😍🥰😁

The heroine: Saylor – she has some mental health issues, is prone to self-sabotage and is usually triggered by calls from her stepmother. She sees a therapist for her issues but can’t always control them. She is a photographer by trade but is sick of doing only weddings and headshots. When the chance to do some nature photography presents itself, where it could change he entire career, she jumps at it. The Morton Swamp Nature Preserve is asking for new photos for their website, she drives right out there to try and get some great shots of the plant and animal life in the swamp.

The Hero: Jed – he is a serial killer, who hangs out with other serial killers, like Virgil, Wren and Gabriel from the first three books in this series. Like them (and Dexter from TV), he tries to only kill people who deserve it, very bad people. He had an extremely non-traditional upbringing and doesn’t have a good relationship with his family (cannibals).

The Story: Saylor loses track of time in the swamp preserve while taking photos of the flora and fauna. Soon the sun begins to set, which is when two separate men run into her. Well, really only one runs into her and right by her and the other, a gorgeous guy with blond hair and blue eyes tries to help her by making sure she isn’t lost and can find her way out before dark. Saylor tells him she knows the way out and is leaving soon, but again gets caught up in her work and doesn’t realize how late it has become. She runs into the men again and everything goes wrong.

Jed can’t let her go after she saw what he did, since he doesn’t want to end up in jail, so he takes her to his cabin deep in the forest. I like the fact that Jed is so incongruous for a serial killer. Saylor doesn’t know what to think of him, since one minute she sees him with a chainsaw, covered in human blood and another he seems to be almost OCD in the cleanliness of his house, going so far as to wash her things without her asking. Plus, he is a nice host to her and even cooks fantastic meals from scratch. She keeps thinking about how he does things for her and treats her better than any boyfriend she has ever had.

Of course there are some huge red flags in this relationship, and a bunch of things that are not fleshed out enough in this story. For a long time, I kept thinking, I just wish Jed would clean his shed as well as he cleans his house. At the very least, in case the cops came calling and wanted to search his place. Though overall, I liked how nice and sweet Jed was with Saylor and the intimate scenes were so hot!

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