What do you think?
Rate this book
Meat Cute
A dark, spicy romance novella
Dean Campbell is reformed.
He hasn’t killed anyone in years.
He keeps his head down, drinks his coffee black, and follows the rules. The Butcher of Black Lake is old news, and Dean plans to keep it that way.
Then June Whitmore moves to town.
June is a librarian with a sharp eye, a bad past, and zero tolerance for dangerous men. She wants quiet. Safety. A fresh start. Falling for the town’s most unsettlingly polite man was not part of the plan.
When June’s abusive ex resurfaces, Dean knows exactly how to handle it.
June knows exactly what kind of man she’s sleeping with.
The only question left is how far they’re willing to go for each other.
Darkly funny, sexy, and unapologetically morally gray, MEAT CUTE is a slow-burn romance with sharp dialogue, high tension, and a hero who’s trying very hard not to relapse.
Perfect for readers who
morally gray men
dark romantic comedies
obsessive protectiveness
librarians with teeth
spice with consequences
He stopped killing for love.
He might start again for her.
Please read trigger warning list and move appropriately. Thank you.
This story is just a silly little idea I had and is not meant to be taken seriously. Enjoy!
Dean Campbell is reformed.
He hasn’t killed anyone in years.
He keeps his head down, drinks his coffee black, and follows the rules. The Butcher of Black Lake is old news, and Dean plans to keep it that way.
Then June Whitmore moves to town.
June is a librarian with a sharp eye, a bad past, and zero tolerance for dangerous men. She wants quiet. Safety. A fresh start. Falling for the town’s most unsettlingly polite man was not part of the plan.
When June’s abusive ex resurfaces, Dean knows exactly how to handle it.
June knows exactly what kind of man she’s sleeping with.
The only question left is how far they’re willing to go for each other.
Darkly funny, sexy, and unapologetically morally gray, MEAT CUTE is a slow-burn romance with sharp dialogue, high tension, and a hero who’s trying very hard not to relapse.
Perfect for readers who
morally gray men
dark romantic comedies
obsessive protectiveness
librarians with teeth
spice with consequences
He stopped killing for love.
He might start again for her.
Please read trigger warning list and move appropriately. Thank you.
This story is just a silly little idea I had and is not meant to be taken seriously. Enjoy!
- GenresDark Romance
129 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 6, 2026
16 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 2, 2026
This was just... awful. From start to finish, the FMC and MMC had no chemistry, decisions made no sense, and the writing style made my eye twitch. Let's break it down fully:
1. The writing style
- This was extremely amateur, in formatting alone. No idents in paragraphs, and there was NO spacing between paragraphs until at some random page around 15%.
- The prose was SUPER dramatic when it wasn't necessary at all, and it made it the whole story feel stiff and impersonal. Very "it's not x-- it's y."
- There was a bunch of metaphors in this that made no sense at all. What do you mean "charming like a warning label on a pill packet" or "knew it like a gunshot in a movie." ...What?
- Repetitive to a point of pain in a few parts. It got to a point where if I read the word "confident"/"confidence" again, I was going to throw my phone across the room. Find another word!
- I think the author had a hard time keeping track of details. It's mentioned that June has 2 cats, Marmalade and Jelly, but Jelly is BARELY mentioned in comparison to Marmalade, like the author forgot until halfway through that she gave June 2 cats.
2. June
- There's a lot of, quite frankly, useless information inserted into this that just makes June seem whiny, and is clearly the author's personal opinion. There's a whole paragraph during her and Dean's first date about how much she hates paper straws... first of all, miss ma'am, you're like 30. Grow up. Secondly, what the hell does that have to do with their date? It felt like a super contrived attempt to give her a personality.
- I straight up don't buy that a DV victim, who was beat so badly she has a scar on her face, wouldn't even blink when told her boyfriend used to be a serial killer. Like shouldn't that feel like a massive betrayal of trust?? Especially since he'd slept with her 3 times before confessing, and even then he didn't mean to tell her.
3. Dean
- He's a little funny in the beginning, and then his character just completely falls flat. He feels like a cardboard cut out of every 'morally gray, obsessed' MMC.
- His 'justification' for being a serial killer is just stupid. Yes, I understand childhood violence leaves scars, but 'Daddy didn't love me enough' is not justification for killing strangers. It's not even like he killed genuinely horrible people or anything, he killed people for... *checks notes* running red lights. This like if John Kramer was a fucking loser.
4. Story
- All of Dean and June's dates follow the same script. They get coffee, Dean almost swallows his tongue, June is ridiculously vulnerable to a stranger, they kiss, and then for the last half of the book, they have sex. Every. Single. Date. Is like this.
- Dean luring June's abusive ex to Black Lake to kill him felt so. fucking. contrived. He goes on and on about how it's for June's safety, but if anything, luring him to WHERE SHE LIVES actively puts her in danger. You can't be morally gray and stupid. It just felt like a lazy way to drive the plot forward when there was literally a million other options.
- The ending confrontation drove me up a goddamn wall. June just HAPPENED to magically know where Dean was gonna kill Paul, and just HAPPENED to show up at just the right time, and SO CONVENIENTLY had good enough aim, under duress and with ZERO prior experience, to shoot Paul instead of Dean on accident.
- Then we go from "oh i'm gonna read some smutty books to have moves for Dean" the morning after finding out he's a serial killer, to HOLDING A GUN TO HIS HEAD? You either have a problem with him being a serial killer, or you don't. Choice #6758395 that could not have felt more contrived.
- After committing murder, they're going to stand in this street, body cooling behind them while June holds the murder weapon, and have a dramatic conversation about Dean's childhood... Babe, someone had to have heard a gunshot, what are you doing just standing around? I don't think the author understands how loud gunshots are.
- June threw such a tantrum about Dean being a serial killer, only to... fuck him the same night? What are we DOING??
Anyways... don't read this. I only finished it because it was so short.
1. The writing style
- This was extremely amateur, in formatting alone. No idents in paragraphs, and there was NO spacing between paragraphs until at some random page around 15%.
- The prose was SUPER dramatic when it wasn't necessary at all, and it made it the whole story feel stiff and impersonal. Very "it's not x-- it's y."
- There was a bunch of metaphors in this that made no sense at all. What do you mean "charming like a warning label on a pill packet" or "knew it like a gunshot in a movie." ...What?
- Repetitive to a point of pain in a few parts. It got to a point where if I read the word "confident"/"confidence" again, I was going to throw my phone across the room. Find another word!
- I think the author had a hard time keeping track of details. It's mentioned that June has 2 cats, Marmalade and Jelly, but Jelly is BARELY mentioned in comparison to Marmalade, like the author forgot until halfway through that she gave June 2 cats.
2. June
- There's a lot of, quite frankly, useless information inserted into this that just makes June seem whiny, and is clearly the author's personal opinion. There's a whole paragraph during her and Dean's first date about how much she hates paper straws... first of all, miss ma'am, you're like 30. Grow up. Secondly, what the hell does that have to do with their date? It felt like a super contrived attempt to give her a personality.
- I straight up don't buy that a DV victim, who was beat so badly she has a scar on her face, wouldn't even blink when told her boyfriend used to be a serial killer. Like shouldn't that feel like a massive betrayal of trust?? Especially since he'd slept with her 3 times before confessing, and even then he didn't mean to tell her.
3. Dean
- He's a little funny in the beginning, and then his character just completely falls flat. He feels like a cardboard cut out of every 'morally gray, obsessed' MMC.
- His 'justification' for being a serial killer is just stupid. Yes, I understand childhood violence leaves scars, but 'Daddy didn't love me enough' is not justification for killing strangers. It's not even like he killed genuinely horrible people or anything, he killed people for... *checks notes* running red lights. This like if John Kramer was a fucking loser.
4. Story
- All of Dean and June's dates follow the same script. They get coffee, Dean almost swallows his tongue, June is ridiculously vulnerable to a stranger, they kiss, and then for the last half of the book, they have sex. Every. Single. Date. Is like this.
- Dean luring June's abusive ex to Black Lake to kill him felt so. fucking. contrived. He goes on and on about how it's for June's safety, but if anything, luring him to WHERE SHE LIVES actively puts her in danger. You can't be morally gray and stupid. It just felt like a lazy way to drive the plot forward when there was literally a million other options.
- The ending confrontation drove me up a goddamn wall. June just HAPPENED to magically know where Dean was gonna kill Paul, and just HAPPENED to show up at just the right time, and SO CONVENIENTLY had good enough aim, under duress and with ZERO prior experience, to shoot Paul instead of Dean on accident.
- Then we go from "oh i'm gonna read some smutty books to have moves for Dean" the morning after finding out he's a serial killer, to HOLDING A GUN TO HIS HEAD? You either have a problem with him being a serial killer, or you don't. Choice #6758395 that could not have felt more contrived.
- After committing murder, they're going to stand in this street, body cooling behind them while June holds the murder weapon, and have a dramatic conversation about Dean's childhood... Babe, someone had to have heard a gunshot, what are you doing just standing around? I don't think the author understands how loud gunshots are.
- June threw such a tantrum about Dean being a serial killer, only to... fuck him the same night? What are we DOING??
Anyways... don't read this. I only finished it because it was so short.
February 3, 2026
bumping down to 1 star. author has no issues calling other authors a bitch online and bashing them for what they write. never reading this author again.
First off when I open the book I can only scroll down to the end of the list of chapters. If I click on the TW page it comes up a blank page. But if I click on the first chapter it let's me read the book (again if I scroll up I can only scroll to the beginning of the trigger warning page and not to the beginning of the book)
On to what I felt was wrong with it.
The writing was stilted, lots of random metaphors thrown in constantly that made no sense and could have easily been taken out.
The formatting could use an overhaul. For the first 16% it was all smashed together, there was nothing separating the paragraphs or the dialog. Randomly at 16% is when the formatting got better.
The characters had like no chemistry. Their relationship felt forced. The spice was not spicing. It felt more like a classic romance beginning before an author sinks their teeth into writing real smut.
June was supposed to be a DV survivor yet she instantly accepted Dean. As a DV survivor myself, this definitely would not have happened. She even saved him and then fucked him that night after both of them killed her ex. Her character just felt all over the place and not in a good way.
I did like Dean, he seemed like he was actually trying not to be a serial killer anymore. But like did he have a job? How did he afford all these expensive burnt coffees without a job? I know its a novella and I'm thinking too much into it but even June thinks about if he had a job. His reasoning for killing is so lame in my opinion. "Oh daddy wasn't home and didn't love me" 🫠🫠🫠
First off when I open the book I can only scroll down to the end of the list of chapters. If I click on the TW page it comes up a blank page. But if I click on the first chapter it let's me read the book (again if I scroll up I can only scroll to the beginning of the trigger warning page and not to the beginning of the book)
On to what I felt was wrong with it.
The writing was stilted, lots of random metaphors thrown in constantly that made no sense and could have easily been taken out.
The formatting could use an overhaul. For the first 16% it was all smashed together, there was nothing separating the paragraphs or the dialog. Randomly at 16% is when the formatting got better.
The characters had like no chemistry. Their relationship felt forced. The spice was not spicing. It felt more like a classic romance beginning before an author sinks their teeth into writing real smut.
June was supposed to be a DV survivor yet she instantly accepted Dean. As a DV survivor myself, this definitely would not have happened. She even saved him and then fucked him that night after both of them killed her ex. Her character just felt all over the place and not in a good way.
I did like Dean, he seemed like he was actually trying not to be a serial killer anymore. But like did he have a job? How did he afford all these expensive burnt coffees without a job? I know its a novella and I'm thinking too much into it but even June thinks about if he had a job. His reasoning for killing is so lame in my opinion. "Oh daddy wasn't home and didn't love me" 🫠🫠🫠
January 12, 2026
This kept me hooked from start to finish! I really liked it, but there were a few things that could have been better with some edits. That being said, it made me laugh out loud multiple times and the writing was actually kind of tender and beautiful despite being about a retired serial killer. 😅 4.5⭐️
January 14, 2026
Not a bad book but it wasn't excellent either.
3.5 stars
Acknowledging this is a novella I feel the author did a lot with very little page real estate, but I felt this book could have honestly benefited from another 50 to 100 pages to fill out the ending. To me there was a lot that was almost summarized and glossed over just to get the book finished. I feel the author could have greatly expanded on this to further the story, and it wasn't even an instance of glossing over to get to the character development instead I feel the character loss out in the ending as well.
Dean was incredibly well fleshed out for a novella character and his motivations and the driving aspects of his personality stayed for the entire story, June was another matter. To me this made June seem very two dimensional in that we had June at the beginning of the book and June at the end, and they were two different characters. I can understand if the author was trying to portray a two side sides of the same coin approach but I just did not get that feeling.
Overall as I said above this not a bad book, but it wasn't excellent either, it did manage to make me laugh with some of the dark humor but ultimately didn't meet the mark in terms of storyline or believable romantic subplot.
3.5 stars
Acknowledging this is a novella I feel the author did a lot with very little page real estate, but I felt this book could have honestly benefited from another 50 to 100 pages to fill out the ending. To me there was a lot that was almost summarized and glossed over just to get the book finished. I feel the author could have greatly expanded on this to further the story, and it wasn't even an instance of glossing over to get to the character development instead I feel the character loss out in the ending as well.
Dean was incredibly well fleshed out for a novella character and his motivations and the driving aspects of his personality stayed for the entire story, June was another matter. To me this made June seem very two dimensional in that we had June at the beginning of the book and June at the end, and they were two different characters. I can understand if the author was trying to portray a two side sides of the same coin approach but I just did not get that feeling.
Overall as I said above this not a bad book, but it wasn't excellent either, it did manage to make me laugh with some of the dark humor but ultimately didn't meet the mark in terms of storyline or believable romantic subplot.
February 15, 2026
Ok, where to start. I Loved loved loved Dean he felt stilted enough to actually feel like he was hiding something which he obviously was. His little quirks and methodic note taking and tallying sealed it for me
June is the quintessential not crazy cat lady. Just another woman trying to find whimsy after years of being ignored.
The ending felt a little rushed unfortunately but that comes with the territory with Novellas and Short story's which is why I generally dont read them unless im swamped with work.
I enjoyed this little break into the world of Black Lake and its just a nice little read when you dont want to much seriousness.
June is the quintessential not crazy cat lady. Just another woman trying to find whimsy after years of being ignored.
The ending felt a little rushed unfortunately but that comes with the territory with Novellas and Short story's which is why I generally dont read them unless im swamped with work.
I enjoyed this little break into the world of Black Lake and its just a nice little read when you dont want to much seriousness.
February 22, 2026
I’m obsessed with June and Dean. This book sunk its claws in and didn’t let go. The way Dean treats her is perfection. He’s gentle and sweet and an absolute consent king! Their banter and dry humour was great and the fact that he’s constantly reminding himself he’s a reformed ☠️ is kinda hilarious. I enjoyed this so much. And the 🌶️ was well written. We love when a man worships her like a goddess. I think I need more of these two. I need to know what their future murder he’s looks like.
January 8, 2026
This was a cute little novella that had me giggling like a school-girl. Really loved the concept of this story, and flew through it quickly. Both characters are flawed, and I loved the little rituals that Dean had. June was glorious as a character too, and I connected well with her. Absolutely loved this story, and the author hasn't done me wrong, yet.
Can't wait for more!
Can't wait for more!
January 15, 2026
Left me wanting more!
June and Dean are the couple I never knew I needed.
June's starting over after leaving an abusive husband. Dean is a retired serial killer.
When they meet, she brings out protective urges that might bring him out of retirement.
The burn is slow and the spice is gentle. But it is oh so good!
June and Dean are the couple I never knew I needed.
June's starting over after leaving an abusive husband. Dean is a retired serial killer.
When they meet, she brings out protective urges that might bring him out of retirement.
The burn is slow and the spice is gentle. But it is oh so good!
February 1, 2026
Love all Millie’s book! I love quick reads and this one hooks you right from the start?! I mean how could you not want to read a book bout a reformed serial killer? It was perfect and had the perfect amount of spice and I can’t say what I really want to avoid spoiling the book! But ooh is this come with the perfect little twist!! Can’t wait for more by this amazing author !!
January 7, 2026
A perfect novella
A perfect fast paced read for someone looking for a quick escape. The characters are flawed and I hope I get to read more about them in, maybe a follow up. (Not giving spoilers here! The author, and anyone who reads this will understand what I mean)
A perfect fast paced read for someone looking for a quick escape. The characters are flawed and I hope I get to read more about them in, maybe a follow up. (Not giving spoilers here! The author, and anyone who reads this will understand what I mean)
January 15, 2026
Honestly loved everything about this. The humor, the romance, the characters, THE ENDING??? Really well-written and well-paced too. Just chef's kiss all around. 🤌
If you’re into dark romcom vibes and looking for a quick and fun read, I highly recommend this one!
If you’re into dark romcom vibes and looking for a quick and fun read, I highly recommend this one!
January 19, 2026
It’s a super cute read- but it left me wanting more. It felt like the ending was rushed- I’d love to have more time with Dean and June and a more in depth murder plot.
I’d definitely read more from this author and hope to see more in the future!
I’d definitely read more from this author and hope to see more in the future!
January 24, 2026
A nice spooky, slightly romantic, novella. June makes a new beginning in Black Lake. She meets Dean, a local resident with a quiet, steady energy. He makes her feel safe. Then he shares his secret.
This is my second read by this author and I'm very much looking forward to her third.
This is my second read by this author and I'm very much looking forward to her third.
January 26, 2026
Fun & Quick
This was a fun story & quick read. I ended the characters. And honestly, the MFC being plus sized was icing on the cake. Plus-sized baddies exist. They love, too. So I really appreciated that this was incorporated.
This was a fun story & quick read. I ended the characters. And honestly, the MFC being plus sized was icing on the cake. Plus-sized baddies exist. They love, too. So I really appreciated that this was incorporated.
January 12, 2026
A great quick read that made me laugh multiple times.
January 18, 2026
Quick easy Read
Fun quick book to read. Enjoyed the quirkiness of Dean and Junes relationship. If you’re looking for a quick fun read this is it.
Fun quick book to read. Enjoyed the quirkiness of Dean and Junes relationship. If you’re looking for a quick fun read this is it.
January 19, 2026
I just hate 3rd person POVs 😭😭😭 however the premise is cool and I 800% pictured Dexter Morgan while reading 😻
January 21, 2026
this was fantastic and almost feel sad that Deah and June story was very short...well written straight to the point and story keeps you entertained until the very last page.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews