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