Review--Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

 

Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss’s biggest client, Lachlan knows he’ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a deal: use his skills to hunt down a killer and she’ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first. 
 
And they can’t stand each other. 
 
Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend’s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she’s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend’s happiness on the line, she’s willing to make a vow to the man she’s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be. 

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomes impossible to discern their fake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them. 
There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep. 

And this one has come for blood.

Brynne Weaver's second installment of The Ruinous Love Trilogy, Leather & Lark does not suffer from middle book syndrome at all! In fact, I think I liked it even more than I did the first book! This is series is definitely shaping out to be where the books just keep getting better and better!

We were left with just the slightest teaser at the end of Butcher & Blackbird that would set a course for Leather & Lark. A mysterious person being called The Phantom is out for revenge for what Rowan did to his brother and he's set to take away everyone Rowan loves, starting with his own family and for whatever reason, that means he's gunning for Lachlan first.

We have a bit of time warp going on in the first part of the book. We get a prologue with Lark and her secrets--which no surprise, she's a killer of killers too--then we jump to an event in the past and then we jump to periodic moments from when Sloane and Rowan were just getting together. We get a little insight to the tension that was running between Lark and Lachlan throughout the end of the first book.

Lachlan is looking to get out of the killer-for-hire business. He was taken in by his "benefactor" when he and his brothers needed it most and now, he just wants out. But since he lost a contract for his boss the previous year, he's stuck. Unless he works with Lark who in turn needs his help. Lark knows that her stepdad has some shady business going on and when his business partners are being murdered and he suspects Lachlan of being involved, Lark cooks up a mutually beneficial idea.

Lark and Lachlan will get married, that will put protection around Lachlan from her father and in return, he helps her find out who's killing her dad's partners, and then in another return, she will help him get out of his contract with this boss. Lots of turns going around there, but it makes sense when you read it! Lol.

What made this one a little more intriguing for me was that we continued to get the mysterious Phantom's point of view. It's not a lot, just every now and then, but it made for curious developments along the way. And of course, we still got both Lark and Lachlan's point of view to see how the two began to hopelessly fall in love.

I was definitely a bit surprised by Lachlan's character. In the first book, I found him to be broody and a grumpy Gus. But getting his point of view totally changed my opinion of him and omg, so far, he's my favorite of the brothers! Lol. That might change with the final book, but we'll see!

I feel like the tone of this book was a little different than its predecessor. The elements are all still there to keep them connected, but I guess I felt like it was less focus on the uncontrollable lust between the two lovers. For there was no love between these two in the beginning and I think that's maybe why I enjoyed it more. Yes, there was some mutual attraction, but other issues put up a solid wall between them that took awhile to break. Both Lark and Lachlan were a bit flawed and broken, but together they helped one another heal past wounds and grew closer.

Of course, as far as the romance went, you can still expect some of the same heat and tension and "activities" that we saw from the first book, too! Lol.

Truly, there's nothing I love more about a series of standalones that are interconnected. I love that we get to see new couples and familiar faces throughout. We stay in the same world, so the territory is familiar but following new characters each time is such a trip! Definitely looking forward to Rose and Fionn's story next!

If you're a dark romance fan, and have a thing for Dexter and vengeance, then this will be the series for you...of course, I'm late to the game, so you've probably already read it! Lol.

Overall Rating 4/5 stars