REVIEW: Bitter Burn by Sierra Simone

OUR REVIEW:

It's been a long time coming and was well worth the wait. The resolution to this series had all the things, action, emotion, conflict, and an ending that felt complete. By the end of it all, they'd all been villains and heroes and found a way to get through the distrust and hurt to an understanding and realization that what may have started out like a game of pawns on a chess board ended in all of those carefully laid plans upended for a new and better reality. 

After reading this series, I think I've learned that I either need to do a full rereading of prior linked texts or just hold off on reading everything until its all released because as much as I loved and adored this series, and everything Sierra Simone has written, I feel like I didn't fully appreciate all of the Easter eggs because it had been so long since I'd read the series that led into this one and the first two books of this series felt like a pleasant but hazy memory. That's a me problem and not an author problem--I realize she writes as quickly as she writes; I also know that my memory isn't what it used to be and I want to really get the full experience.

All of that being said, I wholeheartedly recommend this series, and everything else she's done.

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SYNOPSIS:

I think it's important that you know this about me, that you understand this: I'm not sorry. I'd do it again.

After Mark Trevena's husband died eight years ago, he made vengeance his only purpose, his religion, his destiny. But to get to his enemy, he had to make himself like his enemy. Mortimer Cashel had a kingdom of secrets? Then Mark would make an empire. Mortimer Cashel had blood on his hands? Then Mark would bathe in it.

But Tristan and Isolde changed everything. Mark hadn't counted on wanting them, needing them; he hadn't counted on how it felt to watch the two of them fall in love. He'd thought he had everything under control―he'd thought he was safe from his own long-dead heart. He'd never imagined that the wronged husband, the jealous king from his childhood fairy tales, would be played by none other than himself.

It no longer matters what he used to believe. His enemy is ready to finish the game, and for the first time in eight years, Mark has pieces on the board he can't afford to lose. He'll burn the entire world to keep Tristan and Isolde safe. He'll scorch the earth―but as any good assassin will tell you, fire will only get a man so far, because there's always something left in the ashes. And for Tristan and Isolde, what's left in the ashes is the cold, bitter bones of the truth: their story begins and ends with Mark.

And every story needs a villain…
 

REVIEW: Honey Cut by Sierra Simone

OUR REVIEW:

OHMYGOD. I loved this book even when I wanted to throttle Sierra Simone for torturing her characters and her readers in the way that she did. It hurt so good. And now?!Now we wait for the final novel to be released months from now and try not to die from curiosity about how she's going to get us to that HEA. I suspect it'll be the most beautiful torture ever ...and I cannot wait. 

But I digress, you should know a little, but not too much, about Honey Cut. 

The thing about a middle book in a series of 3 books is that it's really hard to write a review that doesn't spoil things too much. So of course, I'll remind you that you absolutely need to read the novella and the first book, Salt Kiss, to understand everything in Honey Cut. In this novel, we pick up right where we left off; Isolde and Tristan have finished their yacht trip and Mark is there waiting. They must somehow pretend that they mean nothing to each other while being in the presence of each other and Mark, a man they both want (and don't want) to love and want him to love each of them. It's a mess. It's torture. It's lovely and painful and angsty and messssssy. I loved it. And I loved all the things that happened with all of them after the wedding. MESSSSSSY. So messy. So tortured and loving and sweet and terrible. It's like the latest Taylor Swift album. Angst filled, hope filled, loved filled, hurt filled. And all alone that would have me hooked, but then Sierra Simone had to go and throw in the whole subplot of intrigue with Isolde's work for her uncle and Mark's mysteriousness too. 

Sierra Simone is just too good, y'all. She absolutely ruins me for weeks. Every novel that comes after hers are never as good and always leave me unsatisfied because all I want is her next thing and it's never ready right then. It's the problem with reading her novels as soon as they're released, rather than waiting until the full series is out; you are DYING for your next fix. You want to be fully immersed in the worlds she's built and all of the emotion and angst that fills you as you're reading. I never ever finish her novels slowly; I devour them and then just suffer until I get a little time and space and distraction. Kudos to Sierra Simone for all that she does, and especially for writing the middle book of a series so well. I know it must be hard to write just enough and give us just enough to keep us hungry without giving it all away, and she did it. That ending. All I can do is shake my head and try not to wish my life away waiting for the final book. 

The end. 

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SYNOPSIS:

I have one job in this arranged marriage, and that’sto seduce my husband.

It should be easy; I’m the heiress to a transatlantic fortune, bred and raised to make a good match. I’ve spent a lifetime building up my endurance, my discipline, my dedication to my god and my church. The danger lies in falling for the devil who put his ring on my finger—a mistake I made years ago, and can’t afford to make again.

There is one more danger: handsome and green-eyed, emotionally wounded. Tristan Thomas, former soldier and my new husband’s bodyguard. A hero who stole my heart with salt-soaked kisses on the sea.

But Lyonesse is not like other places, and this isn’t like other marriages. Soon Tristan, Mark, and I are tangled in a knot of vicious jealousy and gorgeous wickedness, where suspicion is an aphrodisiac and secrets and vows are one and the same.

And there is something far darker at play than my real purpose, than the machinations of the Church I serve. Darker even than the twisted longings of my own heart. Because my husband has secrets of his own, and the reason he’ll stop at nothing to possess me could slice my soul deeper than the honeysuckle-hilted knife he gave me once upon a time.

Because when it comes to Mark Trevena and his games, the first cut is more than the deepest—it’s the sweetest.

And he always leaves you begging for more…

Honey Cut is the second book in the Lyonesse Trilogy.

 

REVIEW: Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone

 

  SALT KISS BY SIERRA SIMONE 

Release Date: September 12th   

  Prepare to Be Seduced by Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone! 

The First Sizzling Installment in the Captivating Lyonesse Series!   

 Welcome to a world of desire, temptation, and irresistible attraction in this scintillating MMF romance that will leave you breathless.   

  Get your copy now and experience a romance that's as forbidden as it is irresistible: https://www.thesierrasimone.com/salt-kiss

    

  Add to Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75296599-salt-kiss 

OUR REVIEW:

Before you read the next sentence, make sure that you know that you really really really should read the prequel, Salt in the Wound, before you read Salt Kiss. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's chat. 

In Salt in the Wound we see everything through Isolde's point of view, whereas in Salt Kiss it's from Tristan's point of view. As you'll come to know via synopsis or reading, Tristan is Mark's nephew-in-law and his newly hired bodyguard. From the beginning, we come to know Tristan as honorable and smart and kind, loyal, and haunted from his recent military duty. We see him trying to process that while processing exactly what his new job entails: the kinky-f***kery that is Lyonesse. And we see him begin to discover more and more about himself and his wants and desires. And of course, because Sierra Simone loves to torture her darlings, she has him fall in love with the person he really shouldn't: Mark. The conflict he feels about his feelings only deepen when he finds out about Isolde and the further intensify when he gets to know her and fall in love with her too. This poor boy. Only Sierra Simone could cook up something this delicious, and yet so wrong, and have us all know that we should just go with it because, while she'll torture us all a lot more, eventually she'll make it all better in a really wonderful and twisted way.

I really appreciated that we got to see Tristan in almost equal parts with Mark and Isolde-nothing felt rushed or slow. I loved seeing a different side of Mark (I won't lie--he really pisses me off sometimes, especially when I think about how he treated Isolde versus how he's treating Tristan) and I know he's up to things and I can't wait to see what those things are. I still have many questions about Isolde and Rome so I'm looking forward to more of that, too. And now with the incident that happened at Lyonesse, I really am eager to see where that goes.

Definitely a 5/5 read for me and as eager as I am to have book 2, I'm okay with waiting because I know that it'll be well worth it. 

   Blurb:   After being a soldier, working as a bodyguard should have been simple: Keep the owner of DC’s ultra-secret club safe. Don’t think about his midnight eyes or his devil’s smile. Don’t surrender my body to his wicked desires. But I underestimated Mark Trevena and the power of his dark, seductive world. I underestimated the hold he’d have on me, the way I would do anything for him, anything at all. And so when he asks me to escort his soon-to-be bride home, I can only—miserably, broken-heartedly—say yes. Isolde is nothing like I expect, however. Quiet and lonely and sharp, a girl who likes knives and God, a girl whose nightmares echo my own. One night while sailing under the cold stars, we share a reckless, tear-soaked kiss. I’m doomed. Falling in love with Mark was one thing, but his bride too? Being in love with a husband and wife at the same time? Torture. Misery. A tragedy if tragedies came with bruises, sweat, sighs. But it isn’t enough to merely fall into the forbidden. Because in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…  

    

  Read the Lyonesse Prequel, Salt in the Wound, for FREE 

 Tropes: Anti-hero. Age gap. Arranged marriage

   https://www.thesierrasimone.com/saltinthewound     About the Author: Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.

   

  Connect w/Sierra Simone: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSierraSimone/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SierraSimonesLambs Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSierraSimone Amazon : http://amzn.to/1PDR4K4 Goodreads : http://bit.ly/1oo9WEh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesierrasimone/ Website: http://authorsierrasimone.com/   Subscribe to Sierra's newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/sierrasimone

REVIEW: Salt in the Wound by Sierra Simone

 

OUR REVIEW:

OHMYGOD. Ughhhhh. I hate it when I do this. 

I knew going in that the minute I finished reading this novel, I'd be dying for the next installment and SURE ENOUGH I NEED IT NOW. Just a while ago I finished Salt in the Wound and I feel salty at the idea of having to wait until September to get my hands on the Isolde, Mark, and Tristan. (and I have zero doubt that I'll be feeling the exact same way at the end of each of the books in this trilogy...I also suspect that I'll get to the end of the trilogy and feel like I want more and more and more) 

I'm writing this review more for myself than anyone else (all two of you who read these reviews), to help me remember all the things I'm thinking, feeling right now and because of that there may be spoilery things so just do with that what you will. 

First plot things: Isolde is put into an arranged marriage with Mark because her dad wants the family bank's legacy to continue and Mark had leverage on people to continue the bank's tradition. Mark gets street cred (I guess....I'm not really sure what he gets from this other than Isolde) for his powerful, kink club Lyonesse that he's the owner of. Isolde initially feels completely sold out (as she should) by everyone because she wants to take vows to be a nun once she goes to college (solely to make her dad happy) as a major in art and finance/business. Her cardinal uncle convinces her that agreeing to the arrangement will put her in the room with powerful people who have secrets that she can leverage for the church and when the time is right, he'll help her annul her marriage and she can become a nun. ALLLLLLL of this is so fishy and all of the men in her life are so sketch. They treat her like a chess piece that they can just move around as they see fit. And bad ass that she is with her classes in karate (?-is that what it is?) and her powers of observation, I hope that all of these idiots have underestimated her. 

Anyway.

At the end of this prequel, Isolde has just finished college, has a job with her uncle, and hasn't seen her soon to be husband since he acted like a cowardly bastard (so practically two years ago). It's on this very last page that we meet Tristan (read the myth if you want the back story to these three). This last page is dripping with all sorts of foreshadowing between these two and god, I can't wait for this disaster to happen.

Feelings: these men are garbage. All of them. Her dad-gross. Her uncle-manipulative. Her fiancé-coward. I know we're not supposed to like them very much so A+ 100 on that one Sierra Simone. Mission Accomplished. I'll be very curious about how you go about deepening these feelings or eliminating them--which means I'll have to be all twisted up inside as I'm reading and I'd be lying if I didn't say I love to hate that feeling. 

Isolde-I appreciate that she's observant and a badass fighter and yet she's also unwilling to use her powers of observation on herself...or maybe it's more fair to say she's just young and unable to feel the feelings and use them to empower her, instead she suppresses them and tries to hide from them (and when does hiding from our own feelings and fears and curiosity ever really work?!). By the end she tries to make her hurt into armor to shield her from her feelings about her soon to be husband (and I'm assuming her father and whatever is going on with what happened in Rome and her uncle) but I think we all know that at some point there will be a crack in that armor. All that to say that I'm looking forward to her toughness and seeing her power moves....and also to see how Tristan plays into all of this. 

Questions:

What happened to Isolde in Rome?

How long will it take us to see behind Mark's facade (we all know he really meant all the things he said that night in her father's home)?

How/why did Mark even come to want Isolde? 

What does he gain from being with her, other than power? (and eventually, love)?

How much does Mark know about Isolde and her uncle's plans?

Will her father play into much of this or will he fade into the background and why did he turn into such a dick?

Is her uncle as manipulative as he seems or is he salvageable?

How will this work with Tristan and how do they not all get hurt?

Who will try to bring them down? And how?

How long will she be able to be mad and resist Mark and how long will Mark try to ice her out?

How many times do we get to see her be a badass (hopefully a lot)?

How long will it take for her to fully renounce her wish to be a nun--will she use it as her constant plan B?

What is she doing with all the information she's gathering, besides giving it to her uncle...surely we can make her more of a baddy than that.

I can't wait to see where all of this goes next....

CURRENTLY FREE

SYNOPSIS:

The first time I meet the devil, he knows my name.

The second time I meet him, the truth becomes clear: Mark Trevena is to be my husband.

No matter that we don't know each other. No matter that he's older than me; shameless and sinful; the owner of a secret club where the powerful come to play. My father has spoken, and I'll be the devil's bride the minute I graduate from college.

Except my future husband has one condition for this arranged marriage: we have to pretend it’s real.

He’ll teach me, he says. How to pretend to be his in pain and pleasure both. How to pretend to arch and writhe under his touch. But his lessons are teaching me something else entirely…

…that Mark Trevena wants me in a way that's not pretend at all.

And no matter how I might fight it, the devil will have his due.

REVIEW: A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone

 

A Merry Little Meet Cute is a cute romp that follows a disgraced former boy bander trying to rehabilitate his image and a porn star trying out an acting gig in a mainstream Christmas film. Both Nolan and Bee have secrets to keep while doing this film and it's those secrets that we know will be their downfall, if they're found out.

Bee never stood a chance at keep her secret truly secret; Nolan knew who she was from the moment he saw her, seeing as he's her biggest fan. Nolan's secrets, while less salacious, took longer to be revealed but as you'd expect, they do all come out to play at some point. In the meantime, their getting to know each other, the building chemistry, and the general shenanigan of the crew and their families keep things interesting. 

All of the characters in A Merry Little Meet Cute were fun--I could easily see all of them having their own short stories or full length novels. Murphy and Simone have definitely created a world that would be easy to revisit with some of the secondary characters and while nothing in this novel was earthshatteringly new, it was a fun comfort read. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3WuJt7O

Cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone—a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with.

Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.

Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhilewhen she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.

But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around—and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.

And if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.