Another warm August evening, another iced coffee sweating beside my Kindle, and somehow I’ve ended up in a seaside town where flowers hide bodies and serial killers flirt instead of running from each other.
Tourist Season follows Harper Starling, who will do anything to protect the strange little haven she calls home, and Nolan Rhodes, a man driven by revenge who arrives in Cape Carnage expecting to kill his next target—only to find someone just as dangerous as himself. With a true-crime investigator digging dangerously close to the truth, dark secrets, razor-sharp banter, and unexpected chemistry begin to bloom in the most delightfully twisted place imaginable. I already had a feeling this one was going to be chaotic in all the best ways. 🌊🔪🌺📖
The premise completely hooked me. Harper arrives in the bizarre little town of Cape Carnage—a place that lives off tourists from spring through autumn and somehow wears its name a little too well. She’s become the caretaker of an elderly man whose Alzheimer’s is slowly stealing his memories, a man who was once a notorious serial killer known for hunting other killers. One name still lingers over the town: La Plume, the elusive murderer everyone seems to fear.
Harper herself is hiding a devastating past. Years earlier, she survived a horrific car crash that killed a young man. Believing the driver responsible deserved justice after escaping punishment, she took matters into her own hands and disappeared, reinventing herself in Cape Carnage. But the past has finally caught up with her in the form of Nolan Rhodes—the dead driver’s brother. He arrives convinced Harper is the monster responsible for destroying his family, determined to hunt her down and make her pay. What he doesn’t expect is to discover that the woman standing in front of him isn’t the Harper he imagined… and that she’s every bit as lethal as he is.
Watching two serial killers circle each other, flirt, lie, and slowly fall in love while a murder investigation closes in is probably the wildest concept I’ve read in a while. It sounds absolutely ridiculous on paper, yet somehow Brynne Weaver makes it entertaining enough that you just keep turning the pages.
That said, I still have mixed feelings. Personally, I don’t think murder mysteries and dark romance always blend together perfectly. Sometimes I wanted to fully immerse myself in the mystery, while other times the romance took over, and I wasn’t always convinced the balance worked. The book definitely leans more into the crime, investigation, and action than the spice, which honestly surprised me.
I went into this because of the incredible Goodreads rating—even though I’ve stopped trusting ratings blindly over the years—and I was curious to see what everyone was raving about.
In the end… I had a good time. The chemistry between Harper and Nolan worked better than I expected, the humor landed, and the murder plot kept me engaged throughout. Would I recommend it? Maybe. I’m not desperately rushing to pick up the sequel, but I’m genuinely glad I met Harper and Nolan and experienced the wonderfully unhinged world of Cape Carnage. It’s weird, bloody, funny, and unlike anything else I’ve read this summer.
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