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Beware the Rosemond Ripper

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Cole has everything he could want; a respectable job, loyal friends, a new girlfriend whenever he pleases. Cole is charming, a perfect representation of modern masculinity.

None of that satisfies his bloodlust and fury. What Cole truly needs is blood on his hands. Having gone from murdering women, he turned his attention to men after learning the love of his life & best friend Luna was abused by an ex-partner.

He reasons with himself that he is helping her by removing such people from the world but has made a promise to himself not to go after that specific ex… Yet.

Little does he know that Luna is not innocent or helpless. She too is hiding a deadly secret.

Luna’s life has imploded. A survivor of domestic abuse and sexual violence, seen as weak and a nuisance by all. They do not realise that she is the Rosemond Ripper, a serial killer on a depraved rampage. She is bringing her own brand of justice to those she believes deserve to die. Luna is rage and fire, completely unstoppable.

Beware the Rosemond Ripper follows two deeply flawed individuals over years while dealing with their failing mental health, miscommunication, lying, avoidance, and lust.

Can two serial killer psychopaths get themselves together and finally communicate? Make space for one another as they ask the question; are they capable of giving or receiving unconditional love without destroying one another?

Follow Cole and Luna as they navigate their friendship throughout the years as the lines blur between madness, desire, and love in this chilling and unhinged standalone horror romance.

449 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 31, 2025

54 people are currently reading
157 people want to read

About the author

T.L. MacRae

9 books22 followers
T. L. MacRae is a fairy warrior princess from Fife, Scotland. Told too often that her head was in the clouds, she lost touch with reality somewhere around tea parties and chasing unicorns & faeries. She created realms of her own and lives there instead.
She writes unhinged horror, spicy romance, devastating poetry and a little non-fiction. As a survivor she wants to raise awareness of domestic abuse and mental health issues. She believes that writing gives her a voice otherwise silenced by those who benefited from that quiet in the past.
Find her on social media @tlmacraeauthor

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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Annie .
99 reviews6 followers
March 28, 2025
I've finished reading my ARC copy of 'Beware the Rosemund Ripper' written by T. L. MacRae. This is a horror romance.

"I am a serial killer, I have killed 27 people, and she frightens me. And she knows it."

So first of all.. Why did I not now that a horror romance was a thing? I mean.. it's just genius. Its not for the faint of heart, thats for sure, but I loved it. So if this intrigues you.. read the triggerwarnings and blurb before doing anything else. Still interested? Than I hope you will love the wild ride as much is I have.

"Psychopathy is a wonderful mix of being hereditary and environment based. Nature and nurture indeed."

The story is about Luna and Cole who have known each other since they were young. Both had there own unbringings that caused 'damage' to them and problems later in life than made the damage even worse. What they dont know is that they are more alike than they have ever known and there is no reason to push the other away.

"Rage or lust, it's always one of the other, swinging violently back and forth in a dangerous equilibrium that is never at peace."

There are a lot of background themes you can discover in this story. Things that are real in the current society, what makes this story more intriguing to me.
This story is about the impact of how you were raised, the changes you make after being treated badly over and over again. The consequences of not having someone to lean on and the fair of being yourself because you will be judged. Okay.. now are Cole and Luna both psychopaths, but still.

I really enjoyed this book and I tell you, if you are not afraid of blood and spice, you will too. I give it five stars!
Profile Image for Angela Pearse.
Author 16 books83 followers
April 8, 2025
‘She is the sun in the sky, the thing that blinds me and burns me.’

‘I have a lot of fun with men, I like to make them cry and question their existence.’

Is Beware the Rosemond Ripper crazy and unhinged? Yes!
Did I enjoy it immensely? Also yes!

Make no bones about it, this book is daarrk. Think Butcher and Blackbird x 10. It’s a story of rage and revenge, especially for Luna who has been mistreated by men all her life. Cole is the only one who seems to ‘get’ her but he’s apt to ghost her without warning, which sends her into a psychotic rage. But he’s ghosting her to protect her from who he really is, a serial killer who’s racked up 28 victims. Little does he know that Luna is the Rosemond Ripper and she’s a psychopath.

Despite all the sex, gore and miscommunication (which is done well btw), at the heart of BTRR are two broken people desperately in love and trying to connect. For that reason, when the HEA comes it’s immensely satisfying and totally amazing. I’m still not sure how I was rooting for two serial killers to get together but there you go, and I'm still reeling from that epilogue. Hats off to the author for writing such an unashamedly raw book.

Anyone who likes splatterpunk horror, dark romance, female rage and 5+ chilli pepper spice should definitely read this one. But please do check the long list of trigger warnings at the front first!
Profile Image for Elanor Miller.
Author 3 books66 followers
April 10, 2025
A spicy and bloody romp about 2 terrible people who fall in love with each other. What’s not to like? BtRR was dark, gory and quirky. Not my usual genre but it was an engrossing read with a great story at the core of all the madness. I’d recommend reading the trigger warnings before you start!
Profile Image for Susan.
288 reviews12 followers
March 29, 2025
I actually don’t know what to rate this book. I’ve given it a three to sit on the fence. It should probably be a four. But my Christianity feels like I can’t get that on board with something this extreme. Even though I actually really like it.

I’ve read it as an ARC and was totally stoked to be gifted this. The premise is AWESOME! For the most part it’s well handled. But there are issues. One being that SO MUCH smut makes me feel uncomfortable, and how graphic that smut and violence is also was a bit much for my tastes.

I feel like this book is either right up your alley or it isnt.

I’d say it’s more splatter punk romance than horror romance too. But it has psychological elements in that it deals very heavily with psychopathy and narcissism, but in a way that isn’t in your face, but just weaves it’s way through the story. It deals with abuse but from a view of someone choosing strength and power (albeit unhealthy power and strength) over being a victim. And it demonstrates extremely clearly a (surprisingly) healthy relationship and consensual sex. But this is all so naturally written and is still sexy as heck.

No part of this felt like it came from outside this world or outside these characters.

There are issues (in my copy) where spelling is wrong, punctuation is wrong, and there is an entire couple of paragraphs that have copied and pasted right after each other. And this was honestly disappointing because it made me feel the story had been “edited” only with a spell check (none of the words were spelt wrong, but rather were wrong words. Ie they completely couldn’t belong where they were).

I can’t say the characters were likeable. Because they weren’t. And realistically they shouldn’t be. But you did start rooting for them. Although there’s a moment and you’re like yeeeah girl go kill him. And I giggled. Then felt HORRIBLE for giggling and getting happy about some of the disgusting things being done. Honestly. I feel like I need a lake of holy water to cleanse myself in. And I know for some people they LOVE that feeling. If that’s you, this book is 100% for you.

I definitely recommend reading and taking heed of the trigger warnings. Because this one doesn’t just touch on the triggers it warns you about. It graphically depicts them in second by second detail. And when I say detail, I MEAN d-e-t-a-i-l.

Another issue I found was the media articles didn’t read like media articles. And any reference to police and investigations was like yeeeeah. I dunno if you’ve REALLY been sneaky enough to get away with this for a decade (plus I feel like cole kept upping his body count…. But I could be wrong). And the police were non existent in this story. This literally was about a romance between two psychopaths. And their mental health journey and journeys in general to becoming who they are. It hits in past traumas, genetics, upbringing, anger, friendships. Lots of subjects and actually has so many gems that hit you. Even with so much sex and guts everywhere.

Despite all the crazy stuff happening. It’s actually an incredibly sensitive story dealing with some incredibly difficult topics.

Really really good.

Ps. DO NOT READ THIS AT A WORKPLACE!! Seriously. Don’t.
Profile Image for Donna Brown.
561 reviews15 followers
March 24, 2025
PLEASE CHECK TRIGGERS FOR THIS BOOK..... There is some messed up stuff in here.... I really enjoyed it but please keep in mind your mental health matters!! This is a very disturbing story..... Serial Killers, Horror and some very questionable kinks ....

"you can have my dick to practice on"

"My Lord Lucifer, I want this one to keep"

"or I could pretend to be dead for you"

This book had me laughing, feeling extremely angry, a little bit gooey and ill at certain times 😅🤣

I loved Cole straight away ... typical me 😬😅

Luna grew on me, the more I read the more I loved her!

Both characters are not good people, they know they are not. I loved being in their heads while thinking of each other, while killing and when everything falls into place!!

The only thing that made me angry was the miscommunication.... I seriously wanted to smash their heads together on several occasions!! I get it, I get they have insecurities because of what they do and their past trauma but it also made me angry the back and forth.... just when I finally thought they were getting their acts together ....boom ...nope 🤣🤣

The devotion and care that man has by the end is phenomal.... the way he treats her after everything she has been through 🫠🫠🫠

I had such a laugh with the author while reading this ... from the random theories to the discussion of how a body would be cut up 😅

I can't wait to see more books from her
Profile Image for Mel .
40 reviews
April 3, 2025
**ARC REVIEW**

Sorry to say it was a no for me, I actually DNF’d it.

I was really looking forward to this one, Scottish writer and horror/romance was a big draw. I’m a massive horror fan, so this was ideal for me.

I thought be along the same kind of lines as like butcher & black bird.. but it wasn’t.

First off I really struggled to like either character, they both kind of just went on and on. Nothing likeable about them at all. They were just boring to me 😣

Then it was all over message (at least from what I read), there was maybe once they had a physical meeting but it wasn’t much of one.

There wasn’t much interaction with any other characters either.

There wasn’t really a lot of murder/gore up to the point I had gotten too. It was finally getting a little more interesting but the necrophilia put me right off. I know it was in the triggers, but I honestly didn’t expect THAT much detail. 😣😣

I’ve read and watched some weird horrors in my life but Jesus this was.. I don’t even know it just weirded me out. I tried to power through but I just stopped reading, I was already not connecting with the story anyway so 🤷‍♀️

Also, my dad’s a mortician, I was a funeral arranger and there was definitely some inaccuracy with details of the body after death that also made it a little difficult to read.

I hate giving a negative review but it was just so difficult to read and get into for me personally.

Again, a no from me. Sorry!😔
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kamiye.
267 reviews8 followers
March 22, 2025
/!\ I'm starting this review by saying: READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS! Your mental health matters.

Thank you to the author for providing me with an e-ARC of their book. I'm leaving this review voluntarily, this review is my own.

What happens when 2 psychopaths love each other? Well...This book is what happens. It took me a few chapters to get the rhythm of it, we move from past/to present/and back. It makes sense as you read it, but it took a few pages to get it. Depending on the chapter you are reading, you tend to forget (a bit), that this is still a horror book, and then the blood is here and it feels like you can paint the walls of a castle because there is quite a bit of it.

I felt invested in knowing more about Cole and Luna's story, so I wanted to get through to the end. At times, some chapters felt a bit on the longer side.

There is a mental health aspect in this book we cannot ignore. Both characters are unhinged in their ways and for their specific reasons.

It was a change from the sweet, contemporary romance I can read sometimes. I would recommend it if you like horror and have read some dark romances before. It might come as a shock if your only reads are fairytales. You have been warned!

Thank you again to the author for the opportunity to read this book.
Profile Image for R.J. Rogan.
Author 5 books39 followers
March 24, 2025
Before I start, I am incredibly thankful to T.L MacRae for sending me an arc copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

If you plan to pick this book up, READ. THE. TRIGGERS. It is a horror romance, and while other “horrors” I have read have not left me feeling uneasy, this book had a profound impact on me and severely tested my ability to hold down my dinner.

It is a wonderfully written, engaging and entertaining novel exploring the life of two very real, very interesting characters and their relationship with each other. Their on-again-off-again dynamic was so well written and incredibly realistic. Both of the main characters are fundamentally fucked up and probably two of the most entertaining characters I’ve read in recent months.

The triggers are there for a reason, and while I do not think myself easily triggered by blood and gore (my childhood favourite movie was Saw, for goodness sake.) the gore in this novel was just that - GORE. It was raw and messy, and verged on slightly too much even for me. Take the warnings as exactly that, but if you do decide to pick it up - enjoy! Every second of this book is worth it!

I bloody loved this book, and the characters within it. Very well done! 👏🏻
Profile Image for Abhijeet Kumar.
Author 4 books22 followers
April 8, 2025
"Dear diary, the boy I like doesn’t like me so now I murdered two men who I don’t even know if they fit my silly little code or if they were just men and being men made me angry enough to kill them both."

That’s the Rosemond Ripper for you. And this is my spoiler-free review of the book as an ARC reader.

Beware the Rosemond Ripper by T.L. MacRae is a chilling, dark romance set in the fictional town of Rosemond in Scotland. The story is about two serial killers, Cole and Luna, who are still unaware of each other’s identities.

The book is both disturbing and compelling. It’s unapologetically graphic. I liked the maniac the Rosemond Ripper was.

It’s part horror and part smut. And gory scenes are as visual as the spicy scenes. But long inner monologues got tiring after a time. Also, skipped several scenes that seemed repetitive.

The book has background themes of trauma and mental health as well. Touching on things that are considered “inappropriate” to talk about (but practised often).

Beware the Rosemond Ripper is thrilling as well as thought-provoking. If you love intense romance and are comfortable with extreme violence and blood, you’ll love it.
Profile Image for Beyond_thebookcase.
34 reviews
March 22, 2025
First of all, you MUST READ TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS BOOK!!

Truthfully I wanted to rate it a 3.75 not because of anything bad about this book just because it has some topics in that after reading are definitely not for me and that’s okay. We learn these things, however I will say that this book is wrote in a deliciously unhinged way. The characters Cole and Luna have such a twisted romance that it makes sense for who they are individually.

The relationship development is something I have felt before not with the serial killings but in terms of pining for someone who couldn’t accept that there was something there or could move into a relationship for whatever needs so that did resonate with me and made me feel closer to Luna. When they finally got together it made my heart so happy for them in the twisted way it could ever be for two psychopathic serial killers but that’s the fun I guess.

Overall I did enjoy this read and again some aspects weren’t for me but I wouldn’t knock it until you read it for yourself.
Profile Image for Gemslilbooknook.
182 reviews2 followers
April 11, 2025
Well this was a little more f*cked up than I am used to 🤣 for the first time in a long time I've finished a book and im not sure what to say about it.
Did I enjoy the book, yea I guess I did. Were the characters likeable, eh maybe not...I mean they are completely narsassistic, self absorbed phycos so that's not surprising. I liked Luna's forwardness though, she's to the point with zero cares given. For the most part of this book the romantic relationship is digital due to the nature of the MC keeping his love interest at arms length and pushing her away. I did find myself struggling with this aspect as it made me feel the story was just dragging on with nothing else really happening other than sexting.

When it came to the horror plot there was plenty of graphic gore but I can't help but feel there could have been some additional plot twist or close calls with the authorities or heck even each other crossing paths stalking the same target would have been cool and kept it interesting.
26 reviews2 followers
April 2, 2025
This book has everything a messed up book girly needs:
revenge, gore, spicy(!) scenes, previous traumas, female rage and protective (but psychopatic) main characters on a killing spree.

This book is a sloooow burn. 🔥 My adhd brain did struggle a little bit, because I need to know that everyone will live happily ever after; apart from the dead (s)cums obviously. 💁🏼‍♀️ But the dual point of view combined with spicy scenes and an actual depth to the story makes this a brilliant read.

If you’re not into reading extreme gore, brutal violence and a lot of explicit scenes, this one most definitely is NOT for you. But if you’re a bit of a mental case like me? You’re gonna love it!! 💅🏼

Please read all the trigger warnings for this book before reading though. There’s a lot of heavy subjects and your mental health, like us ladies, should always come first! 🫶🏻
Profile Image for Chante Heaven.
878 reviews20 followers
March 31, 2025
Luna and Cole stand out as two of the most darkly humorous and entertaining psychopathic serial killers I've ever come across. Their interactions are filled with an edge of hilarity that makes the narrative compelling and engaging.

It's important to note that this story falls firmly within the erotic horror genre, so readers should be mindful of the various trigger warnings that accompany such an intense theme. The novel's approach to horror intertwines seamlessly with its erotic elements, creating a unique blend that's far from a typical sweet romance.

While Luna and Cole grapple with significant communication issues, their misunderstandings lead to some of the most amusing moments in the tale. The humor is sharp and often unexpected, providing a counterbalance to the darker themes that run throughout the story.

The pacing of the novel is relatively brisk, and while there are certainly spicy moments, the romance unfolds slowly, allowing for a deeper exploration of the characters' psyches. This slow burn adds to the tension and intrigue, making it an enthralling read for those who appreciate a mix of horror, humor, and heat.
Profile Image for Dayton.
501 reviews5 followers
March 31, 2025
PLEASE CHECK YOUR TRIGGERS!!!

The stuff in this book is not for the faint of heart.

Cole and Luna, twisted is one word I’d use to describe them but even that doesn’t do them justice. Maybe twisted psychopaths work better? This book, this book is full of stuff that had me sitting there contemplating life 😅 there are kinks in this book that were very interesting and scenes that are very very detailed so be prepared. These two MCs are not good people but they could end up being good together….

Serial killers, tons of miscommunication, narcissism at its finest; but a story that touches on relevant topics if you pay attention; it’s a good book! Just check your triggers.
Profile Image for Malicious May.
111 reviews9 followers
May 7, 2025
✨This book is wildly overwritten and boring✨

It has potential, but it’s bogged down by excessive exposition. The pacing is sleep inducing. It’s mostly tell and very little show. It needs developmental editing desperately because it should be half the length it is.

I DNF’d because I can’t take the excessive inner monologues, descriptions, unnecessary information, and pointless scenes anymore. These characters aren’t interesting or profound enough to justify this much time being spent in their heads…AND THEY’RE KILLERS FOR FOOKS SAKE.🤨

Where is the action? The tension? The dialogue?
Over 600 pages for what? W A T??

Also, and without context: “Jesus fucking fuck me Christ” 🙄Edgy.
Profile Image for Larah .
3 reviews
May 8, 2025
Beware the Rosemond Ripper starts with promise but ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying experience. The two main characters, despite being serial killers, are dull and lack depth outside their violent actions. This one-dimensional portrayal makes it hard to engage with their story.

Additionally, as a horror romance, it disappoints with minimal romantic interactions and a notable absence of gore—elements that are expected in this genre.

I found myself losing interest and had to stop reading midway through. Overall, the narrative misses the mark, resulting in a lackluster experience that leaves much to be desired.
Profile Image for bookowlcourt.
105 reviews1 follower
April 5, 2025
Amazing Take on a Horror Romance

This was such an amazing read! Extremely well-written. An amazing take on a Horror Romance. I love how the main characters matched each other’s freak 😂 It was kind of a slow burn but not really. The spice was spicy! Overall, I love how this was all put together you get some romance, a bit of a mystery, some horror, and some really good spice!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️


Profile Image for Heather.
100 reviews3 followers
September 27, 2025
What a random read

It is a random read but I did enjoy it in the end. It certainly was different and when you finally get to the moment (you'll know which one if you read it) and you finally think, about damn time! There are trigger warnings so be cautious of that.
Profile Image for Visionary Impart.
461 reviews30 followers
October 15, 2025
Dark, seductive, and deeply unsettling Beware the Rosemond Ripper by T. L. MacRae is a gripping horror romance that masterfully blends love, violence, and obsession. A chilling, unforgettable read for fans of dark psychological thrillers.
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