Book Review for Grave Love by Audrey Rush

I received this book from Book Sirens for free. This has not impacted my review by any means.

Grave Love, by Audrey Rush, is a dark, erotic romance about two individuals who are bound together by their lust for death, and inevitably, their lust for each other. Blaze is a serial killer who hunts for women for the thrill of it. After seeing a woman engaged intimately with a corpse at a morgue one night, he becomes with obsessed with controlling said woman’s life and death. That woman, Ren, is an embalmer who thinks about dying everyday but is too cowardly to take the first steps. After an intimate encounter with the mysterious groundskeeper, Blaze, at the morgue, Ren agrees to be Blaze’s next victim, in exchange for teaching him how to dispose of her body without getting caught. In this dark, twisted romance, Rush delves deep into the complex relationship love and death have with one another, as well as the depraved beauty such as love cradles. 

I have to admit; this book is so fucked up in such a good way. The psychology of how these characters alone draws readers in like a moth to a flame. You have a woman who engages in intimate acts with corpses, and a man who is in love with violently ending life. They’re both addicted to death; Ren as an escape from her shame, Blaze to confront his. As I kept reading, I can’t help but be just a bit enamored with their world, however sick they may be. It’s almost cathartic, seeing them find comfort in one another. It reminds readers that in the end, love and death are inextricably intertwined; there’s a reason why the world’s greatest love stories end in tragedy, why love and infatuation are even considered addictions. It’s codependency at its finest, and while Rush does not glorify it in any way, she does a damn good job of writing it. 

Rush shows that, in the end, Ren and Blaze were two sides of the same coin. It was also quite a surprise that Rush flips age old stereotypical gender roles; usually in romances, it’s the woman who is trying to change the man. In this case though, it’s Blaze trying to breathe life into “his little corpse”. It’s Blaze who teaches Ren how to stand up for herself. It’s Blaze who gets her to understand how tempestuous life can be. It’s Blaze who becomes protective of Ren, and would do anything to keep outside forces from hurting her. I do feel the ending of the book is a bit odd, especially since the rest of the book’s tone is so morose. It even detracts from it, to say the least.

Even so, I enjoyed it. I’ve always had a soft spot for dark romances, and this book is no exception. As such, I would give the book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

You can buy the book right here.