Scythe & Sparrow

Brynn Weaver’s dark romance, Scythe & Sparrow (2025), is the third and final installment in the Ruinous Love trilogy. Preceded by Butcher & Blackbird and Leather & Lark, the novel combines elements of erotica, violence, and action, alternating between the perspectives of Rose Evans and Fionn Kane to weave the story of their friends-to-lovers romance. 

Rose, who tours with the Silveria Circus, first meets Fionn, a doctor, when she breaks her leg and ends up at his clinic. When Rose’s boss insists that she remain behind to recover while the circus returns to the road, Rose stays with Fionn in his Nebraska home. Their evolving relationship inspires the novel’s explorations of The Quest for Home and Belonging, The Redemptive Power of Love, and the journey of Achieving Self-Acceptance through Supportive Relationships. 

This guide refers to the 2025 Slowburn paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: Both the source text and guide include descriptions of sexual content, physical abuse, child abuse, graphic violence, cursing, and addiction.

Plot Summary

Twenty-six-year-old Rose Evans has been on tour with the Silveria Circus ever since she fled her volatile home life at the age of 15 and begged the show’s operator, José Silveria, for work. Her recurring performances in the show include driving a motorcycle in a metal cage and pulling tarot cards in a private booth. 

Now, as the circus performs in Hartford, Nebraska, Rose pulls tarot cards for a client named Lucy Cranwell. Noticing Lucy’s bruises and fearful demeanor, Rose suspects that Lucy’s husband Matt Cranwell is abusing her. After their session, Rose finds Matt’s address, races to his house, and attacks him. (Under her pseudonym, Sparrow, Rose habitually seeks vengeance on behalf of abused women. Her mission is motivated by the fact that her own father abused her and her mother years ago.) However, Rose doesn’t kill Matt because he fights back and breaks her leg with a baseball bat. Now desperate, Rose races away from the scene and ends up at the clinic of local doctor and heartthrob Fionn Kane. Fionn calls her an ambulance and accompanies her to the hospital.

Upon discovering the link between Rose and Matt, Fionn insists that Rose stays with him at his own home while she is in Hartford. (José doesn’t want her staying on the road because he fears that she won’t recover, and Fionn has treated Matt before and knows of his violent tendencies). Rose reluctantly agrees to leave her RV and temporarily move into Fionn’s house. Over the following days, Rose and Fionn realize that they are attracted to one another, but neither of them articulates their feelings. 

One day, Rose, in her vigilante persona as Sparrow, kills her hospital nurse Naomi’s abusive husband Eric Donovan but cannot dispose of his body with her broken leg, so she calls on Fionn for help. He is shocked by the scene but helps Rose without question.

The narrative reveals that Fionn grew up with Callum Kane, his abusive father, who had an alcohol addiction and became violent when he drank. One day, Fionn found Callum beating up his older brothers, Rowan and Lachlan, yet again, so he stabbed and killed Callum (Rowan and Lachlan feature as protagonists in the first two books of the Ruinous Love trilogy and are both killers). The fact that he murdered his father continues to haunt Fionn in the present. The incident with Eric reminds him of the person he used to be, and he doesn’t want to be that person any longer. (Ever since moving to Nebraska, he has devoted himself to his medical practice and has avoided social interactions in order to keep out of trouble.) Now, he worries that he might hurt Rose if they get any closer.

Despite Fionn’s hesitation and Rose’s imminent departure from Hartford, the two begin a sexual relationship, agreeing not to put labels on their dynamic or become too affectionate with each other. However, as the weeks pass, their sexual connection gives rise to an equally intense emotional connection. When Rose gets her cast off, she leaves Hartford to spend some time in Boston, but she and Fionn stay in touch and meet up intermittently over the next year, renewing their sexual relationship each time.

During one such reunion, the lovers encounter Matt again. Matt tries to kill Rose, but Fionn stabs and kills him first. Then he and Rose have sex. Afterward, Fionn fears his lapse into violent behavior and sends Rose away. He calls his brothers’ criminal boss, Leander Mayes, to help him clean up the body. Leander agrees to help, but only if Fionn agrees to take on a seven-month contract-killing job with him in Croatia. When Fionn agrees, he is horrified to discover that he is not allowed to tell his brothers or Rose where he is going or what he is doing.

As a result, Fionn leaves Rose without explaining why, and Rose is heartbroken. Unsure what to do, she rejoins the circus. Just when she has given up on Fionn, she starts receiving love letters from him. Almost a year later, Fionn asks Rose to meet up with him in Ellsworth, Maine, if she is interested in renewing their relationship. Rose talks to José about the issue, and he encourages her to follow her heart.

Rose and Fionn spend an intense three weeks in Ellsworth, talking, laughing, crying, yelling, and having sex. By the end of their trip, they make amends and decide to become an official couple. They leave their inn and meet up with Lachlan and his partner Lark, as well as Rowan and his partner Sloane at a cabin in the woods. During this trip, Fionn proposes to Rose, and she accepts.