Standalone
Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 | 📱
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read So My Ex Boyfriend Is a Serial Killer yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
OPENING HOOK
Imagine your ex boyfriend gets convicted of murder, and society, as a whole, collectively decides you were in on it. Not only that, but a good chunk of them think YOU framed your boyfriend and they’re not quiet about those opinions. That’s Sidney’s life now, years later. She didn’t kill anyone, but a strand of her hair on a body and a shared hiking trail were enough for the court of public opinion to convict her right alongside him. This book digs into what that actually does to a person, and somehow still manages to give you a sweet love story in the middle of it.
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
Sidney’s ex, Ryan, is in prison for murder, but with only a fifteen year sentence because they only found one body. Based on the places her took her in the wilderness and the time her spent enjoying certain locations, she’s spent years since convinced there are several more victims out there, and she’s not wrong to think it. Ryan liked to take her on hikes, camping trips, all these little outdoor excursions, and now she’s trying to create a mental map of every stop they ever made, wondering which ones might be dump sites for the other missing women who fit his pattern.
So alongside two friends, Hana and Muriel, this becomes their side project, coordinating searches and cadaver dogs, desperately trying to build a case for more charges before he is released. Meanwhile Ryan is still writing her letters and is still very much fixated on her from behind bars. The public has decided she’s either a monster or an idiot, people scream at her in the street, and she can’t even grocery shop without a hat and sunglasses like she’s the one who did something wrong. A poor lapse in judgement at 19 can unknowingly destroy your life, and it breaks your heart to think about the crushing weight on her at all times.
Then Noah moves in next door. He’s a chef, and appears to be a great guy by all accounts; most importantly he quickly sees exactly what she’s dealing with. The harassment, the isolation, all of it, and as he gets to know Sidney he decides he’s going to help keep her safe. No hesitation, no back-and-forth about whether she’s “worth the trouble”, He just shows up and makes sure she knows she can depend on him. For someone who has kept herself from trusting again, it’s a huge relief to have him prove himself with actions alongside those words.
And she needs people showing up, because it gets worse. There’s a whole Free Ryan movement, complete with a prison pen pal fiancée who is convinced Sidney is the real killer and he’s the one being wronged. She starts stalking Sidney, which is unsettling, to say the least; we don’t always think about women being the ones capable of that kind of menace, so that was an unexpected thread.
It all comes to a head when Ryan escapes. He goes after Sidney to finish what he apparently meant to do the night he got arrested – he had showed up that night with a kill kit, planning to kill her because she’d stopped being useful to him, and was interrupted strangling her when the police arrived. This time, she knows what’s happening and manages to kill him first. Noah gets there as it’s happening, and she worries that seeing her kill someone will be the final straw to drive him away, but he assures her that he’s there to support her as they call for the police.
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
Sidney’s support system. She meets Hana and Muriel through true crime chat rooms, and the three of them basically set up a war room in the back of her house, mapping out possible search sites together. Between them and Noah, watching her build a found circle of people who actually believe her when the rest of the world doesn’t, was one of the best threads in the book. When you’re a public pariah, that kind of support can make all the difference when it comes to mental health.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
Watching how easily the public narrative gets twisted. Ryan gives an interview basically asking Sidney to confess and take the fall for him, and getting a front row seat to the horror of hearing that while knowing she had nothing to do with any of it, knowing he showed up at her house with a kill kit the night he was arrested… that’s hard to process. Watching a woman stalk and threaten her in his defense, watching her lose the ability to date or leave her house without a disguise… for someone who did nothing wrong, it was upsetting to think about. There’d be so much guilt wrapped up in that too, wondering if you missed signs, knowing everyone assumes you’re capable of it.
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN
🔥🔥🔥 Sits around a 3 on the flame scale. There is open door explicit sex. The romance with Noah is a real thread running through the book, not just a side note, but it’s balanced against a lot of heavy true crime material, so it never tips the book into being romance-first.
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Satisfied. Ryan escapes and comes for Sidney, she kills him before he gets the chance to finish what he started, and Noah arrives right as it’s happening. It closes the loop in a way that felt right for the story.
LD’S TAKE
First off, I am so excited to finally be able to give my opinion on one of CJ’s reviews. Our tastes don’t overlap often but I love she read this one.
My experience is slightly different as I listened to the audiobook, of course, and that is narrated by Andi Arndt- a personal fav for narrators. SO the narration is excellent. Now I love the twists in this book. I would give it a slightly higher rating than CJ at a 4.5/5 but I loved the experience of reading (listening) the book.
The ending is what I loved most. It’s scary to think that the night he was arrested he was in the middle of trying to kill her. You would think instantly he is guilty, but the public seems to forget that. The creepy fiancée adds another layer to an already uncomfortable story. And just when you think she is safe and has done everything she needs to keep herself safe, Ryan manages to get in anyways- proving you can do EVERYTHING and sometimes it still isn’t enough. Now would I re-read this book? Yes. I will. Because I am a fan of Kylie Scott books and because it was a good plot. This one kept me engaged until the end.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Probably not, but not because it isn’t good, just that the subject matter is heavy enough that I don’t feel a pull to revisit it. Kylie Scott has plenty of other books I’d reach for a reread before this one.
THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE
The stalker groupie girlfriend. Easy to hate, and if I didn’t feel a little sorry for how manipulable she clearly was, I’d hate her almost as much as I hate Ryan.
A MOMENT THAT STOOD OUT
Noah leaving his own party to go to Sidney after watching how people treated her that night. That’s the moment they finally stop dancing around the connection between them, and it was the perfect next step for the book.
WHO IS THIS FOR
True crime readers who want a look behind the curtain at what happens to the people left in the wreckage, plus anyone who wants a sweet love story woven through something heavier. The mix is what makes this one work.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📖 Physical Book
Amazon | Bookshop.org
🎧 Audiobook
Audible
📱 Ebook
Amazon Kindle
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Plot Twisted. 🔥
📱 | Genre: Thriller/Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥