Darling Bud by C.J. Skuse review: A must-read for Sweetpea fans
Forget Rhiannon Lewis: it’s her daughter’s time to shine.
Darling Bud by C.J. Skuse: Key details
- Publish date: 4 June 2026
- Genre: Dark comedy/thriller
- Publisher: HQ
- Available formats: Paperback, audio and ebook
- Series/standalone: Book 6 of the ‘Sweetpea’ series
- Length: 352 pages
Blurb: Sixteen-year-old Ivy is your average teenager. She’s annoyed by the scratchy labels on her school uniform, old men who wolf-whistle, and her mother the serial killer.
Ivy was raised far away from the shadows of Rhiannon Lewis, the Sweetpea killer, but when the local predator – better known as Ivy’s football coach – is found dead, could it be that she has discovered a taste for blood?
As suspicion grows deeper, Ivy’s only way out is to get some motherly advice. But when the internet’s unlikeliest vigilantes determine that Ivy must be punished for her mother’s crimes, she must decide whether to control the rage burning inside her.
Darling Bud by C.J. Skuse: The review
What a treat it is to revisit the world of Sweetpea! But rather than focus on serial killer Rhiannon Lewis this time, Darling Bud takes us into the future with our protagonist being 15-year-old Ivy, Rhiannon’s estranged daughter. She knows who her birth mum is, of course, and now she’s old enough to start asking questions.
The presentation of Darling Bud is what makes it stand out: Over the course of the novel, Ivy reads the Sweetpea novels, learning about Rhiannon in the very same way we did. She has a lot to deal with: the Sweetpea Killer is just as famous as ever, so Ivy has to deal with reporters at her door, police questioning her about copycat murders and a whole lot more. But she’s not like her mum. She’s determined she won’t turn out like her.
Darling Bud feels more like a character study than an action-packed thriller like the books that came before it. It isn’t filled with grizzly murders and high-stakes hijinks: just the worries of a 15-year-old girl coming to terms with who she is. Because of that, it feels more like a young adult novel than the Sweetpea series, which may alienate some fans. But I enjoyed the change of pace here; it provides a very welcome companion read to the series, and it’s very interesting to consider Rhiannon from a different perspective.
Rather than being the anti-hero, as she was positioned in the mainline series of books – reading from her perspective naturally made us more sympathetic to her character – this time, I found myself being much more critical of her, seeing her as the dangerous killer she is. It’s an interesting juxtaposition, and it really helps to empathise with Ivy and the feelings she has towards her birth mother.
You’ll certainly get the most out of Darling Bud if you’ve read and loved the Sweetpea series. Without knowledge of Rhiannon, you might feel a little lost here. But for Sweetpea fans, consider this a must-read.
I loved the ending, and I hope it means we’ll get more from Ivy’s perspective in the future… 👀
Thanks to publisher HQ for providing a copy of the book to facilitate this review.
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