Salt Kiss: Lyonesse, Book 1

This book is intoxicating and absolutely dripping with tension. The passion is fierce and every chapter pulls you deeper into a web of desire and emotional unraveling. And that ending? A cliffhanger that had me already reaching for the next book. It is not just spicy though, there is such an emotional aspect to the story that I could not put it down. The chemistry is electric in every direction: Tristan and Mark are explosive, consuming, and dangerous in the best way… while Tristan and Isolde, being inexperienced, carry a softer, more vulnerable connection that adds unexpected sweetness to all the intensity. I have a weakness for morally grey characters, and Mark delivers flawlessly. He’s dominant, calculating, perceptive… and unapologetically infuriating at times. The kind of man you want to argue with, resist, and fall for all at once. Tristan, on the other hand, is open-hearted, sincere, and quietly adrift. When Mark offers him a job, it becomes more than employment — it’s a doorway into a world that tempts him and forces him to confront parts of himself he never truly faced before. And then there’s Isolde — stronger on the surface after years of rebuilding herself, yet still carrying the ache of a heartbreak Mark left behind. Her pain, resilience and lingering connection add another layer of emotional gravity to her story, while she is still determined to uphold her calling to work for her uncle. Secrets coil through every interaction. Desire blurs the lines between…

I read the Kindle version of this book last year and I listened to the audiobook this time to remind myself of the plot before going into Bitter Burn. As always, my honest thoughts and opinions are directly below. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– This book follows Tristan Thomas, son to Mark Trevena's sister's husband, as he is offered the exclusive job of being Mark's bodyguard. What he was not intending was to fall in love with his boss. What he also wasn't expecting is that his boss is marrying Isolde Laurence, which ends any thought of a happy ending that Tristan may have had. He wasn't expecting to fall in love with Isolde as well, which puts him in even worse of a situation when he is asked to take her back to Mark from Ireland. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– I still feel bad for both Tristan and Isolde because I know the heartbreak they are both going through since they both love Mark. I feel bad that they have to live with the guilt now of knowing they broke Mark's trust by having sex with each other. I've already read the book so nothing that happened was a shock to me but the fact that Sedge knows what happened still filled me with dread. I still shudder at the thought that he could tell his boss what had happened on the yacht at any time. I know Tristan and Isolde struggle with that very consequence throughout "Honey Cut" and I'm not looking forward to that. Mark really put Tristan in a very hard place to be in and I'm still convinced that…

Salt Kiss was incredible. I couldn’t put it down for a second. Sierra Simone’s writing is stunning—lush, emotional, and so immersive that I felt completely swept into this world. The way the story continues to unfold in this trilogy keeps getting better, layering tension, desire, and heartbreak in a way that feels addictive. Every chapter pulled me deeper in, and I loved watching the characters’ connections twist and tighten. This series has its hooks in me, and Salt Kiss just made me even more obsessed.

Sierra Simone has done it again, and this time, she's brought the heat, the myth, and the achingly divine chemistry to a whole new level. Salt Kiss is a gorgeously written, super spicy MMF retelling of the legend of Tristan & Isolde, and I could not put it down. Told entirely from Tristan’s point of view, the book pulls you headfirst into a world of lust, longing, and emotional entanglement that is both utterly delicious and completely consuming. The dynamic between Tristan and Mark is nothing short of electric. Mark is a magnificent, commanding Dom—stoic, powerful, and in total control—until Tristan, with all his golden retriever warmth and open-hearted desire, cracks through that dominance with a kind of raw, emotional gravity that wrecks you. Their connection is soul-deep and possessive in the most intoxicating way. You feel every push and pull between them, every stolen glance and unspoken ache. Their scenes together? Unreal. Divine and dirty. Sacred and sinful. And absolutely unforgettable. And then Isolde arrives, and everything shifts. Tristan falls hard, and watching his heart open to her while still being utterly tethered to Mark is both beautiful and so damn hot. Isolde is bold, magnetic, and mysterious, and the way she and Tristan circle each other, then collide, it’s pure fire. You believe them. You need them. This book is steamy, poetic, and achingly romantic, with Sierra’s signature lyrical style elevating every moment. But it’s also full of emotional…

I foresaw the last chapter of this one coming from a mile away and still was overcome with secondhand embarrassment. 🤣 How that didn't even cross his mind I'll never know. I'm enjoying how this tied into Sierra's other series and how the character's stories are almost mirrored in some ways while at the same time being so very different. Are all of these characters emotionally messy? 100%. Does it lead to some questionable things and choices? Absolutely. And it's made all the better by these things, by the parts that leave you cringing, the parts that give secondhand embarrassment, and especially the parts that make you start to understand. Because with each page, you learn these characters, even as they try to hide from themselves. I look forward to reading the next book to see where things go from here. I just know more messiness is coming and more pain for the characters - pun intended because I definitely meant that both ways. I'm gonna dislike myself for diving into the next one right away and then having to wait months for the next one, but oh well.