Review: Tourist Season (The Seasons of Carnage Trilogy, #1) by Brynne Weaver

Tourist Season (The Seasons of Carnage Trilogy, #1) by Brynne Weaver ★★★★★ Read: January 21, 2026 400 pages

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I went into Tourist Season completely blind and ended up with my heart in my throat, laughing at wildly inappropriate moments, and falling hard for a gardener-serial-killer in flip-flops.

This is a serial killer x serial killer romance set in a small coastal town that leans all the way into the spooky-tourist-trap vibe. Harper is the town gardener, the soft, quirky girl who talks to her plants and feeds snacks to her pet crow, and also quietly disposes of “bad people” in a wood chipper and uses them as fertilizer. Nolan is the man who comes to town with a very personal grudge and a meticulous revenge plan, fully convinced he knows exactly who she is and what she did to him. I adored Harper. She looks like sunshine and pastel cottagecore, but her moral compass is sharp, and the way she protects her town and her old man, Arthur, is so fiercely tender. Nolan took me longer, but watching this very rigid, trauma-locked man slowly unravel around her, get possessive in completely wrong but delicious ways, and then have his entire worldview shattered was extremely satisfying.

The tone is my favorite kind of dark. The deaths are grisly, there is a lot of on-page violence and past trauma, but Brynne Weaver balances it with genuinely funny dark humor and a cast of weirdos that feel alive. There is a crow who eats human bits and says “pretty murder bird,” a murder-grandpa with Alzheimer’s who still has fangs, and a small town full of oblivious locals and true-crime “investigators” who are much more dangerous than they think. The romance slides from enemies and wrong-person revenge into obsessive partnership, with plenty of banter, consent woven into the dirty talk, some intense pain-and-pleasure play, and a couple of scenes that absolutely wrecked me emotionally without ever feeling gratuitous.

Plot-wise, it’s very engaged with identity, survivor’s guilt, and what you become when the world has already tried to consume your trauma once. I loved the way secrets are layered: everyone is lying about something, but not always for the reasons you expect. My favorite parts were the high-stakes scenes where that glossy, jokey tone falls away and you see how far Nolan will go to save Harper and how far she will go to protect the people she loves, even when she believes she’s already lost him. There is a near-death sequence that had my eyes swimming and a quieter hospital stretch that made me fall for them as a couple, not just as chaos gremlins with murder kits.

Important to mention: this is very much book one of a trilogy. You get a full, intense arc between Harper and Nolan, but the larger mystery and some pieces of their relationship are left unresolved on purpose. You are not walking away with a neat bow or a completely safe feeling; you are walking out knowing the real monster is still out there and that their story is far from over. Personally, I liked that. It felt like the right place to pause, even if it left my stomach a little twisted. If you need a perfectly wrapped HEA in one volume, you might want to wait until the series is complete. If you’re happy to dive into a sharp, bloody, darkly funny serial killer romance with a crow, corpse compost, and a heroine who refuses to be a perfect victim, Tourist Season is absolutely worth the ride.

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by Tynga at Monday, July 13, 2026

 Brynne Weaver, dark comedy, Dark Rom Com, Review, secret identity, serial killer, small town  Leave your mark

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Review: Psycho Pack (Ghost Alpha Unit, #3) by Lenore Rosewood

Psycho Pack (Ghost Alpha Unit, #3) by Lenore Rosewood ★★★★☆ Read: February 27, 2026 616 pages

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This one clawed in deep and refused to let go. Psycho Pack is the brutal, breathless payoff I didn’t know I was starving for—darker, messier, more tangled than the first two combined. The stakes aren’t just higher; they’re personal, vicious, and every single bond is stretched until it either snaps or finally holds.

At its core, this book is about choice—who gets to make it, who gets to take it away, and what happens when a pack of broken alphas finally has to decide if they’re willing to bleed (or kill) to keep the one person who sees them whole. Ivy’s not just surviving anymore; she’s claiming, commanding, setting rules in the middle of chaos, and every time she does it lands like a fist to the chest. The ghosts? They’re not clean heroes. They’re fire and loyalty and jagged edges—Plague unraveling from stoic control to raw, crying vulnerability; Whiskey loud and jealous and stupidly tender when it counts; Wraith refusing to become the monster he was made to be; Valek earning forgiveness one painful inch at a time; Thane carrying the weight of every failure and still choosing to pull the trigger when it matters.

The intimacy here is feral and healing in the same breath. Every touch, every knot, every quiet moment in a cave or a garden rewritten with love instead of blood—it peels back layers without ever feeling gratuitous. The power shifts are delicious: Ivy turning the tables, setting challenges, deciding who gets marked and when. The relational tangles are thick—brothers fighting, betrayals that cut to the bone, redemption that hurts more than rage. And the sex? Hot, but it’s the emotion underneath that wrecks you: claiming, trusting, choosing again and again even when the world keeps trying to rip it apart.

The final act moves fast—almost too fast after all the slow-burn tension—and the big victory lands cleaner than I expected from a story this bloody. I wanted more teeth, more cost, more pages of them clawing through hell. But the epilogue gives them the soft landing they fought for: a cliffside house, a clinic, jealous bullshit, laser treatments, white veils, and marks that bind them forever. It’s completion. It’s peace. And after everything they bled for, it’s earned—even if part of me still craved one more feral fight.

4 stars. This pack has me by the throat and I’m not mad about it. I’ll miss them, and I’m already thinking about the next group picking up the war they left behind.

Tropes you’ll find: why choose, masked men, non-verbal MMC, heavily scarred MMC, found family forged in trauma, broken alphas learning softness, power dynamics that flip hard, touch-her-and-die turned touch-him-and-die too, Burn the world down for her, medical + lab trauma, caretaking, sword-crossing, feral protectiveness, redemption arcs that hurt, quiet claiming after chaos.

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by Tynga at Thursday, July 09, 2026

 found family, Ghost Alpha Unit, Lenore Rosewood, masked MMC, MM, non-verbal MMC, Omegaverse, Review, touch her and die, why choose  Leave your mark

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Review: Unhinged Alphas (Ghost Alpha Unit, #2) by Lenore Rosewood

Unhinged Alphas (Ghost Alpha Unit, #2) by Lenore Rosewood ★★★★☆ Read: January 25, 2026 572 pages

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Unhinged Alphas picks up right where Feral Omega left off and then cranks everything darker. We are still in omegaverse territory with one feral omega, her pack of lethal alphas and a corrupt system that sees them all as tools. This book leans much more into the dystopian side of the world, with labs, experiments and government games, so it feels heavier and grittier than book one.

My heart completely belongs to Plague and Wraith in this one. Plague is still the calm in the storm, the medic who pretends he does not care but absolutely does. Every time he drops that controlled exterior and turns into a filthy, focused alpha, I melt. Wraith’s arc just wrecked me. He is nonverbal, scarred and treated like an object by the people who created him, but he will literally endure anything if it means getting one more chance to protect Ivy. There is so much devotion and heartbreak in the way he moves through this book and I loved him even more for it. Ivy herself grows a lot. She is still prickly, stubborn and desperate for freedom, but she starts fighting back harder and showing real compassion toward the other “monsters” around her. She feels less like a victim and more like someone actively choosing who she is going to be.

Valek is where my feelings get complicated. I loved him in book one, but here he makes some choices that rubbed hard against my personal lines around consent and control. It is clear he believes he is doing the right thing and the author keeps him in that morally gray space rather than turning him into a pure villain, but I am not rooting for him romantically the way I was. I am still fascinated by him as a character, just wary now.

The worldbuilding takes a big step forward with more of the lab program revealed, more players introduced and the sense that this conflict is much larger than one pack and one omega. The downside is that the ending is very much “middle of the arc.” Nothing is neatly resolved, the pack is scattered and Ivy is not safely home when the book stops, so you close it feeling wrung out and very ready for the next installment.

If you like dark omegaverse with found family packs, traumatised lab rats, a feral omega who refuses to be tamed and alphas who are as broken as they are devoted, this is an intense and addictive read. Just be aware of heavy themes like captivity, medical experimentation and non consensual drugging and go in knowing you are signing up for a multi book journey, not a tidy ending here.

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by Tynga at Thursday, July 02, 2026

 found family, Lenore Rosewood, masked MMC, military, MM, non-verbal MMC, Omegaverse, Post-Apocalypse, Review, why choose  Leave your mark

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Review: Feral Omega (Ghost Alpha Unit, #1) by Lenore Rosewood

Feral Omega (Ghost Alpha Unit, #1) by Lenore Rosewood ★★★★☆ Read: January 16, 2026 382 pages

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Feral Omega drops you into a brutal post-apocalyptic omegaverse where betas run the show, alphas are weaponised, and omegas are treated like property. Ivy is a feral, deeply traumatised omega who has survived a “correction” centre that is anything but corrective, and she’s handed over to a misfit alpha strike team called the Ghosts as a last resort. From there the book becomes a mix of dark, violent worldbuilding and very intense hurt/comfort, as this pack of broken men slowly re-orient their lives around the one girl they were never supposed to care about.

Tropes wise, this is why-choose omegaverse with found family, damaged antiheroes, feral heroine, forced proximity, and heavy trauma recovery baked into the romance. The Ghosts are essentially a suicide squad: a haunted leader who is trying very hard to do the right thing, a masked medic with ice in his veins and way too much control, a pretty boy with a big mouth and a bigger heart, a charming little psycho with a violent streak, and one hulking “monster” everyone is half afraid of. Watching each of them soften, in their own reluctant way, as Ivy claws her way back from survival mode was my favourite part of the book. My top moments were almost all built around Plague and the boys, especially when their hostility or banter cracked open into something a lot more charged.

Ivy herself is easy to root for. She is stubborn, feral, and understandably wary of every alpha in a world that has only ever used her. This is not a sunshine heroine. She bites first, she runs when she can, and every scrap of trust she gives the Ghosts feels earned. The story never forgets what she has been through, and when things finally turn from survival to pleasure, it feels like a reclaiming rather than a gloss over.

I landed at four stars. I loved the pack, I loved Ivy’s spine, and I loved the way some of the intimate moments were used to rewrite her history with touch and heat, but a few emotional beats felt a little rushed for me, like the trauma curve and the sexual escalation were not always perfectly aligned. That said, the character dynamics completely hooked me, especially the tension between certain alphas, and the quiet ache wrapped around the one everyone treats like a monster. I closed the book feeling satisfied with the arc we got and very curious to see how their bond and the wider conspiracy evolve in book two.

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by Tynga at Monday, June 29, 2026

 found family, Ghost Alpha Unit, Lenore Rosewood, military, MM, Omegaverse, Post-Apocalypse, Review, why choose  Leave your mark

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You Don’t Have to Be Artistic to Keep a Beautiful Reading Journal 📚

    You are green with envy over the beautiful handmade reading journals you've seen on social media, but you don't feel artistic enough to create your own? Let me hold your hand while I say this — and not in a sarcastic way — you can do it. And I'm gonna help you!

What does your reading journal actually need?

That one is fairly easy, and it depends entirely on your own interests. The possibilities are endless, and Pinterest is full of inspirational spreads you can borrow ideas from. Don’t let all those options cause decision paralysis though, start with one or two and add them as you go.

Some of my favorite features include:

• A colorable reading log (very easy to draw! We can all draw rectangles 🙂‍↕️)
• Reading Challenges (Read the Rainbow, A to Z, Favorite Tropes, and so many more options!)
• Bookish Bingos (You don't even have to come up with your own ideas, there are premade ones available online, you can even get a free one from me when you subscribe to my newsletter)
• Yearly favorite book brackets (Once again, you only need to draw rectangle, and you can draw inspiration for layout on Pinterest)
• A DNF log 

But Tynga, what about the review page itself? 

You only need to ask yourself, "which information would I like to know — at a glance — when revisiting the books I've immortalized in my journal?"

I would say the basics are:

• Space for the book cover image if you want to print them
• Title and author name
• Series title and number
• Page count / listening time (for audiobooks)
• Format — Print? E-book? Audiobook?
• Dates read — I like to include both the start and finish dates.

As for the more interesting bits?

• Genre
• POV — Single? Duo? Multi?
• Favorite Character
• Tropes — This helps me soooo much when creating content! 
• Favorite moment
• Favorite Quote
• Ratings, of course! Stars is the go-to, but I also include tears and spice in mine 🤭
• Audiobook narration—solo, dual, or duet?

I have a confession for you... The task of hand-drawing a journal from a bullet journal seemed daunting to me. I'm good at graphic design, but not so good at free drawing. So I started looking at pre-made reading journals, but there was one feature I absolutely wanted and couldn’t find anywhere: a checkbox for audiobook narration type.

I have a very active lifestyle and I read a lot of audiobooks. To me, the narration style is super important, it influences my decision to read the sequel in audio or not, and it's important when I create content. I couldn't find a reading journal with that feature on the market though, so I created my own. 😅

But what if you have limited time on your hands?

Journal keeping doesn't need to consume your time and become your entire personality. You don't need to spend hours scrapbooking and decorating spreads to keep a record of your reading history. If you love art & crafts and it's your vibe, more power to you, but if you're a busy gremlin, a pre-made journal might be just the thing you need. 

A tip I can give you is to keep your reading journal near you while reading. You can fill in the basic book info when you start it and write down anything you want to remember while reading. I note things like tropes and micro-tropes as soon as I encounter them (otherwise I forget! 🤣), a quote that I need to keep, a moment that made me swoon... That way, when I finish reading my book, my review page is basically already filled in. 

Your Reading Journal Only Has to Work for You

Start small. Choose the information you genuinely want to remember, add one or two trackers that make you excited, and let your journal grow alongside your reading life. Your first pages do not need to look like the elaborate handmade spreads you see online — and they certainly do not need to be perfect.

If drawing, decorating, and scrapbooking are part of the fun for you, browse Pinterest shamelessly and make the ideas your own. If designing every page sounds like one more task your busy life does not need, a pre-made reading journal can give you the structure and aesthetic without all the setup.

The point is not to prove that you’re artistic. It is to preserve the books that made you laugh, cry, swoon, rage, or stare silently at the wall for several minutes after finishing them, and remember those feelings when you flip through the pages 5 years from now.

So grab a notebook, open a printable, or choose a journal that already feels like you — and begin with your next book.

Need a place to begin?

Browse my guided reading journals, or join the newsletter to get the free printables to get you started!

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by Tynga at Thursday, June 25, 2026

 For Beginners, Journaling Tips, Printables, Reading Challenges, Reading Journals, Reading Life  Leave your mark

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Review: Sinners Retreat (Slaycation #1) by Lauren Biel

Sinners Retreat (Slaycation #1) by Lauren Biel ★★★★☆ Read: April 19, 2026 366 pages

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I went into this knowing absolutely nothing except "serial killers on a tropical island" and honestly? That's the only context you need.

Sinner's Retreat is the most unhinged premise executed with complete, deadpan commitment — and that commitment is everything. This isn't a book that winks at the camera. The murder resort activities are treated with the same logistical seriousness as any luxury retreat itinerary, and somehow that makes it funnier and darker simultaneously. Lauren Biel built a world with its own internal logic and never once apologized for it.

Kendra is a protagonist I didn't know I needed — sharp, competent, perpetually exasperated, and carrying a grief she doesn't know is built on a lie. Her dynamic with Cat is worth the price of admission alone. Cat is an absolute disaster of a human being and I would die for her. The way these two women orbit each other — Kendra's eye-rolls audible from space, Cat blissfully unaware — is comedic gold that somehow also builds into something genuinely warm by the end.

Ezra though. Ezra. The Abattoir Adonis who has been obsessing over a serial killer he's never met, who ends up sitting next to her on a plane without knowing it's her, who falls completely apart the moment she enters his orbit — he's exactly the kind of morally grey MMC I will follow into any disaster. And this is a disaster of his own making, sustained over an entire island vacation, held together by stubbornness and oxytocin and increasingly poor decision-making. The dramatic irony is merciless in the best way.

The spice is filthy and earned. The banter is sharp. The tonal balance between dark comedy and genuine romantic tension holds remarkably well throughout. And the ending — I was not expecting to feel things at a pumpkin carving scene but here we are.

If you're looking for a perfectly normal romance novel, keep walking. If you want something that makes you laugh out loud at things you probably shouldn't be laughing at while also being genuinely invested in whether two serial killers will figure their situation out — this is your book.

If you loved the Ruinous Love trilogy by Brynne Weaver, you will love this one!

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers · secret identity (double) · obsessive MMC · he fell first · found family · kinky spice · accidental (and not-so-accidental) cannibalism · forced proximity · touch-her-and-die · morally grey everything · dark comedy

Side note: Audiobook is duet narration with a full cast!

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by Tynga at Sunday, June 21, 2026

 cannibalism, dark comedy, Dark Rom Com, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, found family, he fell first, kinky spice, Lauren Biel, morally grey, Review, secret identity, serial killer  Leave your mark

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