Salt Kiss; Lyonesse #1
(#1 within a series)
Publication Date: September 12, 2023
Genre/Tropes: Trilogy/Antihero/Dark/Billionaire/Menage/Forbidden/BDSM/MMF/Suspense-Intrigue Romance
Author: Sierra Simone
Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars
Review/Synopsis:
Review:
Enraptured. I was completely enraptured by Salt Kiss along with Tristan Thomas’ point of view in the steamy and messed up Lyonesse world.
Tristan comes across so very innocent, even with all of his years in the military. His view is very black and white in the beginning, but it quickly changes the more he’s around Mark and the grey world he lives in. Tristan was very easy to fall for and his open good-natured heart made him very easy to love. On the flip side where I wasn’t sure how I felt about Mark or Isolde as a couple, but I’m 100% all in now that Tristan is there with his soft heart and open loveliness. ❤️ I can’t wait to see how this all plays out going forward.
Salt Kiss is told only from Tristan Thomas’ POV. He is hired as Mark Trevena’s bodyguard, Mark owns Lyonesse – an ultra secret club that the rich and elite are members of. It doesn’t take long during his employment for Tristan to fall for Mark, and given what we know of Tristan, he’s a man who falls quickly and pretty easily, but also in the past he seems to scare people away with his intense obsession there afterward. This time around Tristan knows not to let his feelings show, especially since Mark is an intense Dom and basically upfront told Tristan that he does not get attached. While Tristan struggles internally a lot of the time, he is also having the time of his life for the first time ever. Sweet, sweet, lovely Tristan. The hotness level between Tristan and Mark are off the charts…oh my, sweet baby Jesus…it has to be the hottest thing Sierra has ever written.
Until…
Tristan meets Isolde. At first he wants to hate her. She’s Mark’s fiancée after all and will be the one basically taking his place, taking Mark away from Tristan. Little does Tristan know the real history between Isolde and Mark since everyone lives in secrets and in this shady land of grey. Everyone except Tristan and his open, beautiful heart. Isolated on a yacht Isolde and Tristan grow close and once again Tristan’s obsessive heart grows for Mark’s fiancée. Tristan knows he’s in a pickle, he knows it’s all kinds of wrong, but what does he do?
The story was just getting oh so good….and it will be continued in the next book. I can hardly wait to find out how sweet, beautiful, Tristan will do when pitted between Mark and Isolde.
Synopsis:
Tristan Thomas is lost.
After leaving the Army, the young former soldier is in limbo. Until, that is, he’s hired by Mark Trevena, the owner of Lyonesse—DC’s ultra-secret club—to be Mark’s new bodyguard. He’s drawn into Mark’s dark, seductive world of power and desire, and slowly drawn to Mark himself, even though Mark is everything Tristan knows he shouldn’t want: cruel and wicked and shamelessly amoral.
But protecting Mark isn’t Tristan’s only duty: soon, Mark asks him to guard his soon-to-be bride as she travels home from Ireland on Mark’s yacht. Tristan is jealous—and hurt to learn that the object of his obsession is engaged—but the soldier in him is made to obey orders, and he goes to fetch Mark’s bride for him.
Isolde Laurence is nothing like Tristan expected, however. Young, quiet, and sharp, she’s being pushed into this marriage by her family, and as the two travel back to America, Tristan finds himself fascinated with Isolde and the glimpses he gets of the lonely but determined woman behind her reserve. And the fascination is mutual: one night, while sailing under the cold stars, they share a searing kiss.
From there, it’s a fast fall into the forbidden.
But in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…
The Lyonesse trilogy is a queer, kinky contemporary retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, set in the same world as the New Camelot series. Readers will not have to read New Camelot to enjoy Lyonesse, although readers who enjoyed New Camelot will find all the things they loved about the trilogy here: MMF ménage, plenty of the angsty forbidden, and a sweeping retelling of a familiar story.
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