The Harvester (The Burkes #1) | A Fake Dating Dark Romance | Alexandra Burnett

“Anger was boiling hot inside him as he continued his destruction. He couldn’t give his angel her present until she was back…

‘Don’t worry, angel. I’ll bring you home. ‘“

Combining two genres without compromising either, The Harvester is thrilling in more than one way! Your heart will be racing, whether from the twists and turns of a murderer that circles ever closer to your heroin or from the naughty dreams and scenes she shares with her cranky saviour.

The author’s strengths are voice— with realistic banter and a spine-tingling POV from the serial killer as above— and character. The killer’s profile is reminiscent of NBCs Hannibal with the murders a visual representation of obsession showing the author’s understanding of the subconscious. The killer becomes distinct long before he’s named. I look forward to future works and am keeping my eye on the sequel.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This was such an unexpected, enjoyable read… enjoyable might be an odd word for a book that is filled with murder BUT the story behind it all is so captivating. 😮

This ticked all the right boxes for me as I have a love for crime thriller and romance. This was the best of both worlds. ✅🌍

It is a slow burn read, so you do need to prepare yourself for that if you’re not used to those type of reads but the description throughout is phenomenal. It felt like I was a fly on the wall for all scenes… especially the sex scenes 🥵🌶️

You will forever second guess yourself about whether you think you’ve identified the killer before it’s revealed. I was gripped to finding out towards the end, to the point that
I just kept reading and reading - forgetting the time 😂

& to top it off nicely, there is a music playlist at the back which I just absolutely love and now have added to my car tunes 🎵🎶

There is a book 2 which is 100% going on my TBR pile. I look forward to reading more of Alexandra Burnett work 😍🤩

“𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐… 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎.”

I won’t lie, it was a bit challenging to get through the first few pages because this book is written in third person. Being so accustomed to first-person POV, it took me a while to get into the story, but once I did, it was fantastic.

"The Harvester" is a murder mystery with a spicy romance twist, where the investigator has to go undercover as the lover of the sole witness to catch the murderer. It leans more towards a murder mystery than a dark romance, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! The story strikes the perfect balance between romance, murder, and banter. It’s gripping, dark, and full of tension—an absolute wild ride! If you enjoy dark romantic thrillers with high stakes, a complex villain, and a slow-burning romance, this book is for you.

“𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝, 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝙸’𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝. 𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚎.”

Burnett’s depiction of the spicy scenes is unlike anything I’ve read before. It wasn’t just sex; she managed to translate passionate love-making into words. How she did it, I have no idea, because passionate love-making is something one that is difficult to get on to paper. And I felt it in this book.

"𝙸𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚓𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎. 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞!”

The suspense around the villain, The Harvester, is deliciously creepy. His obsession with Danielle escalates in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat, and the way the protagonist mirrors this obsession is brilliant. The tension between the characters is tangible, and I couldn’t wait to see who would prevail.

“𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜.”

I really enjoyed this story, my first book by Burnett, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the sequel.