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Lyonesse #0.5
Salt in the Wound
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.
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.
172 pages, ebook
First published August 1, 2023
1865 people are currently reading
16615 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,520 reviews
September 9, 2023
LOVED IT! Not surprised, I love Sierra Simone’s writing. Mark & Isolde captured my heart and then flipped it. And now, t’s official…I’m in a love/hate relationship with Mark.
“It was bad enough that I’d been forced into this marriage, but to have fallen in love with him too? To have been played, tricked, and now abandoned?
It was just salt in the wound.”
“And for my naiveté, my unconscious arrogance—my making a false idol out of Mark Trevena—I deserved it. Wound, salt, and all.”
I really felt Isolde’s pain but Mark’s rudeness speaks to my deep dark soul 🫣
I’m giddy for the next book and how the suck Tristan into their salacious activities.
“It was bad enough that I’d been forced into this marriage, but to have fallen in love with him too? To have been played, tricked, and now abandoned?
It was just salt in the wound.”
“And for my naiveté, my unconscious arrogance—my making a false idol out of Mark Trevena—I deserved it. Wound, salt, and all.”
I really felt Isolde’s pain but Mark’s rudeness speaks to my deep dark soul 🫣
I’m giddy for the next book and how the suck Tristan into their salacious activities.
October 5, 2025
I wanted to re-read this series before I went into the last book in the main trilogy and this was my first stop in this to-do list. I rented the audiobook from Kobo Plus for this read-through. As always, my honest thoughts and opinions are directly below.
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This book is the prequel to the Lyonesse trilogy by Sierra Simone and the narration is told through Isolde's eyes as the events of the book tell about what happens before her marriage to Mark Trevena. I would recommend reading this book before the trilogy.
I would also recommend reading the New Camelot series first so that the events of the Lyonesse trilogy will make more sense to you. Some characters from the New Camelot series make appearances in the books of the Lyonesse trilogy.
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This book is just as good the second time around. I wish I had started writing reviews when I started reading again so I could go back through my thoughts from my first reading. I'll include my thoughts on the second reading, though, in case I read this book again.
I feel kind of bad for Isolde because she had to give up what she wanted to follow through with what her father and uncle want. I still believe that no one should have to put their own dreams on hold to fulfill someone else's dream. That's just pathetic.
I had the same kind of naivete that Isolde has when it comes to sex because I grew up in a Christian home, where talking about sex is a sin in of itself. I was so afraid to ask questions because I thought I'd be judged for it.
Looking back on that, I realized how far I've come and it makes me see how far Isolde comes as well in the first two books. I feel that Isolde is strong in other ways but naive and lost in others. I feel like she's more human than some of the other FMCs I've come across lately.
I like Isolde more than the last FMC I came across because Isolde is more relatable in my personal opinion. I empathized a lot more with what Isolde is going through because I have the same thought patterns as she does in a lot of areas.
I wish she had been able to realize her dreams on her own terms. I wish she was able to work for the church in the way she had initially intended but I know with the plot of this trilogy that this will never come to happen.
I wish she had seen that much earlier on in the plot but I know that's how it was built by the author. I feel like it's almost better this way, though. I just wish Isolde could have been happy by the end of it but I know the story this trilogy stems from is not a happy one.
My heart broke with Isolde's at the end when Mark told her that he didn't really love her or want her. I know this is not truly the case but Isolde doesn't know that as of yet. I could tell she was miserable and my heart broke for her in that area.
I would obviously recommend this book to people as long as you don't mind seeing kink in your smut scenes. I would caution readers, however, who have spanking and flogging as hard triggers. I would stay away from this book if that is the case for you.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
This book is the prequel to the Lyonesse trilogy by Sierra Simone and the narration is told through Isolde's eyes as the events of the book tell about what happens before her marriage to Mark Trevena. I would recommend reading this book before the trilogy.
I would also recommend reading the New Camelot series first so that the events of the Lyonesse trilogy will make more sense to you. Some characters from the New Camelot series make appearances in the books of the Lyonesse trilogy.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
This book is just as good the second time around. I wish I had started writing reviews when I started reading again so I could go back through my thoughts from my first reading. I'll include my thoughts on the second reading, though, in case I read this book again.
I feel kind of bad for Isolde because she had to give up what she wanted to follow through with what her father and uncle want. I still believe that no one should have to put their own dreams on hold to fulfill someone else's dream. That's just pathetic.
I had the same kind of naivete that Isolde has when it comes to sex because I grew up in a Christian home, where talking about sex is a sin in of itself. I was so afraid to ask questions because I thought I'd be judged for it.
Looking back on that, I realized how far I've come and it makes me see how far Isolde comes as well in the first two books. I feel that Isolde is strong in other ways but naive and lost in others. I feel like she's more human than some of the other FMCs I've come across lately.
I like Isolde more than the last FMC I came across because Isolde is more relatable in my personal opinion. I empathized a lot more with what Isolde is going through because I have the same thought patterns as she does in a lot of areas.
I wish she had been able to realize her dreams on her own terms. I wish she was able to work for the church in the way she had initially intended but I know with the plot of this trilogy that this will never come to happen.
I wish she had seen that much earlier on in the plot but I know that's how it was built by the author. I feel like it's almost better this way, though. I just wish Isolde could have been happy by the end of it but I know the story this trilogy stems from is not a happy one.
My heart broke with Isolde's at the end when Mark told her that he didn't really love her or want her. I know this is not truly the case but Isolde doesn't know that as of yet. I could tell she was miserable and my heart broke for her in that area.
I would obviously recommend this book to people as long as you don't mind seeing kink in your smut scenes. I would caution readers, however, who have spanking and flogging as hard triggers. I would stay away from this book if that is the case for you.
October 2, 2025
A Spicy, Chaotic Intro
⚔️
This was a nice intro to the world, though I feel like I need a bit more to understand what’s truly attractive and special about this series.
3.35⭐
Sierra, We Need to Talk ⛪
I would really like to ask Sierra: girl, what kind of religious trauma are you carrying?
Because every single book I’ve read (or even heard of) from her leans heavily into it. Not that I’m complaining -I love my blasphemy- but seriously, is everything okay?
Should we send snacks and support?
Isolde: My Frenemy 🫠
Confession: I wasn’t really a fan of Isolde in this instalment (seems to be a trend with Sierra’s FMCs for me). She constantly infuriated me, gave me whiplash, and left me reeling to catch up.
I understood her, don’t get me wrong. But she was stubborn, in denial, and I just couldn’t reconcile her original motivations with her internal monologue. Even when she explained herself, the pieces didn’t fit.
Disconnect city.
The MMCs, Though 👀
As expected (another Sierra trend for me), I feel like I’m going to enjoy the MMCs way more. They usually carry the heart and chaos I latch onto.
And of course, the spice? Always top-notch, always hitting.
Ending Redemption 🌹
The ending had me firmly in Isolde’s corner —because I’m a girl’s girl— even if she hadn’t won me over before that point.
Audiobook Notes 🎧
The audio was fine, but whew… the female narrator’s “male voice” grated on me so bad. I got used to it eventually, but it was queasy at first.
Next….
I’m going to need to brush up on my Tristan & Isolde lore before I dive deeper, but Sierra is clearly carving this into her own story.
Now I’m gone to meet Tristan. See ya!
--
Pre-read:
Oops, it seems I have to read this before Salt Kiss?
This was a nice intro to the world, though I feel like I need a bit more to understand what’s truly attractive and special about this series.
3.35⭐
Sierra, We Need to Talk ⛪
I would really like to ask Sierra: girl, what kind of religious trauma are you carrying?
Because every single book I’ve read (or even heard of) from her leans heavily into it. Not that I’m complaining -I love my blasphemy- but seriously, is everything okay?
Should we send snacks and support?
Isolde: My Frenemy 🫠
Confession: I wasn’t really a fan of Isolde in this instalment (seems to be a trend with Sierra’s FMCs for me). She constantly infuriated me, gave me whiplash, and left me reeling to catch up.
I understood her, don’t get me wrong. But she was stubborn, in denial, and I just couldn’t reconcile her original motivations with her internal monologue. Even when she explained herself, the pieces didn’t fit.
Disconnect city.
The MMCs, Though 👀
As expected (another Sierra trend for me), I feel like I’m going to enjoy the MMCs way more. They usually carry the heart and chaos I latch onto.
And of course, the spice? Always top-notch, always hitting.
Ending Redemption 🌹
The ending had me firmly in Isolde’s corner —because I’m a girl’s girl— even if she hadn’t won me over before that point.
Audiobook Notes 🎧
The audio was fine, but whew… the female narrator’s “male voice” grated on me so bad. I got used to it eventually, but it was queasy at first.
Next….
I’m going to need to brush up on my Tristan & Isolde lore before I dive deeper, but Sierra is clearly carving this into her own story.
Now I’m gone to meet Tristan. See ya!
--
Pre-read:
Oops, it seems I have to read this before Salt Kiss?
September 17, 2023
4 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tomorrow would begin a new chapter for us. I would be his in all the ways he’d tried to warn me away from, and maybe, just maybe, a tiny piece of this cold, deadly, hungry man would also be mine.
This was a great introduction to Isolde and Mark.
This novella is mainly narrated by Isolde, so we follow this 18-year-old girl whose wish is to become a nun, but her father has other plans for her including marrying her off to a man 14 years her senior and to her shock and intrigue, owns a kink club called Lyonesse.
Mark is an enigma. An ex-CIA and a man surrounded by many enemies. The extent of his want of Isolde should terrify her, he is a cruel yet tender man when he wants to be, and Isolde had only just touched the surface of who really is.
One piece of the puzzle is missing in their dynamic, but that will likely be found in the first novel: Salt Kiss.
Content warnings: age gap, grooming, graphic sexual acts.
Tomorrow would begin a new chapter for us. I would be his in all the ways he’d tried to warn me away from, and maybe, just maybe, a tiny piece of this cold, deadly, hungry man would also be mine.
This was a great introduction to Isolde and Mark.
This novella is mainly narrated by Isolde, so we follow this 18-year-old girl whose wish is to become a nun, but her father has other plans for her including marrying her off to a man 14 years her senior and to her shock and intrigue, owns a kink club called Lyonesse.
Mark is an enigma. An ex-CIA and a man surrounded by many enemies. The extent of his want of Isolde should terrify her, he is a cruel yet tender man when he wants to be, and Isolde had only just touched the surface of who really is.
One piece of the puzzle is missing in their dynamic, but that will likely be found in the first novel: Salt Kiss.
Content warnings: age gap, grooming, graphic sexual acts.
December 7, 2023
This was such an intriguing novella. Even though the characters weren't on the page together too often, I am so interested in their future as a couple and can't wait to read Salt Kiss!!
August 14, 2023
Interesting Setup but Disappointing
I think this novella does a decent job piquing one's interest in the upcoming novel, "Salt Kiss." It has some of the usual Sierra Simone sizzle but lacks anything truly groundbreaking. If I'm being honest, I think I just don't like when FMCs are this submissive. I can't relate to it. It's foreign to me because I could never do it. Crawling to someone is a hard limit for me. Calling someone sir or master isn't enjoyable for me. I'm, unfortunately or fortunately, someone who does not like submission in this way if I'm the one submitting. So when I read these books, with the tiny, petite, minuscule FMCs who submit and crawl, and do all the things I'd never do, I find myself resenting the work I'm supposedly reading for my pleasure. Does the world really need another skinny blonde submitting to a morally grey Dom? I don't think so. I'll still read it because it's Sierra Simone, but I can't help but wonder if she'll ever do something more.
Also, just a note, not everyone is a boy or a girl. Seeing as it's 2023, that might be needing correction in the promotional materials for this.
Simone's writing does salvage this, but not enough for me to give it more than three stars.
I think this novella does a decent job piquing one's interest in the upcoming novel, "Salt Kiss." It has some of the usual Sierra Simone sizzle but lacks anything truly groundbreaking. If I'm being honest, I think I just don't like when FMCs are this submissive. I can't relate to it. It's foreign to me because I could never do it. Crawling to someone is a hard limit for me. Calling someone sir or master isn't enjoyable for me. I'm, unfortunately or fortunately, someone who does not like submission in this way if I'm the one submitting. So when I read these books, with the tiny, petite, minuscule FMCs who submit and crawl, and do all the things I'd never do, I find myself resenting the work I'm supposedly reading for my pleasure. Does the world really need another skinny blonde submitting to a morally grey Dom? I don't think so. I'll still read it because it's Sierra Simone, but I can't help but wonder if she'll ever do something more.
Also, just a note, not everyone is a boy or a girl. Seeing as it's 2023, that might be needing correction in the promotional materials for this.
Simone's writing does salvage this, but not enough for me to give it more than three stars.
July 7, 2024
It was bad enough that I’d been forced into this marriage, but to have fallen in love with him too? To have been played, tricked, and now abandoned? It was just salt in the wound.
from christ’s mistress to mark’s mistress lmao
this book gave 50 shades of grey except it’s an arranged marriage, she wants be a nun, and he owns a sex club.
i really appreciate how, for a just under 200 page novella, it reads like a full book. you get the perfect amount of information/context, leaving you intrigued and with a need to find out what’s going to happen next.
& the ending?? betrayal with the promise of revenge. i’m diving into the next book.
from christ’s mistress to mark’s mistress lmao
this book gave 50 shades of grey except it’s an arranged marriage, she wants be a nun, and he owns a sex club.
i really appreciate how, for a just under 200 page novella, it reads like a full book. you get the perfect amount of information/context, leaving you intrigued and with a need to find out what’s going to happen next.
& the ending?? betrayal with the promise of revenge. i’m diving into the next book.
July 8, 2024
3.5⭐
Didn't hate this.. didn't love it. I do think I will still continue because I am intrigued with the next one but idk this was just okay for me.
I do sometimes think Sierra Simone's writing isn't for me, but I really have heard great things about Salt Kiss so I want to try it out!
-taboo
-arranged marriage
-religious trauma
-age gap (18, 32)
🌶️🌶️🌶️.5
Didn't hate this.. didn't love it. I do think I will still continue because I am intrigued with the next one but idk this was just okay for me.
I do sometimes think Sierra Simone's writing isn't for me, but I really have heard great things about Salt Kiss so I want to try it out!
-taboo
-arranged marriage
-religious trauma
-age gap (18, 32)
🌶️🌶️🌶️.5
September 29, 2023
Salt in the Wound is just the beginning of a new trilogy by Sierra Simone, it’s really just a prelude to what will surely be an amazing series! I’m already obsessed with just this prequel and cannot wait for the first book in the series to drop later this fall.
Isolde Laurence is a banking heiress who wants to become a nun, but secretly dreams of pain. After she graduates high school her father informs her that she’s arranged to marry Mark Trevana, who she met briefly a year prior. Isolde finds out that Mark is former CIA who now owns Lyonesse, a sex kink club, and she’s very intrigued when he says he needs her to pretend to be his submissive for people in his world to believe he’d marry her.
This prequel covers a couple years with the couple meeting off and on (there is no HEA or HFN in this). I really loved both of these characters! We also get an age gap (he’s 14 years older). This is just the beginning/prelude to Salt Kiss, which will be a kinky MMF retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde with a virgin bodyguard, an arranged marriage, a morally grey hero, and a quietly lethal heroine.
Isolde Laurence is a banking heiress who wants to become a nun, but secretly dreams of pain. After she graduates high school her father informs her that she’s arranged to marry Mark Trevana, who she met briefly a year prior. Isolde finds out that Mark is former CIA who now owns Lyonesse, a sex kink club, and she’s very intrigued when he says he needs her to pretend to be his submissive for people in his world to believe he’d marry her.
This prequel covers a couple years with the couple meeting off and on (there is no HEA or HFN in this). I really loved both of these characters! We also get an age gap (he’s 14 years older). This is just the beginning/prelude to Salt Kiss, which will be a kinky MMF retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde with a virgin bodyguard, an arranged marriage, a morally grey hero, and a quietly lethal heroine.
December 11, 2023
Okay now THISSS series is giving. IM SO INVESTED OMFG. I need the second book immediately.
September 7, 2025
Holy mackerel that was hot.
I nearly died. I read THE CHAPTER on the bus on the way to work this morning. I swear my legs were shaking like jelly when I got off the bus. Then, I sat with the most stupid smile on my face in the staff canteen with not one, but two workmen sat opposite me eating their lunch whilst I read about deflowering a virgin.
I’m not even ashamed, although I may have blushed. Honesty a change of knickers may be required. Heed the warning!
It was so intense and utterly delicious.
Isolde Laurence is going to have to marry Mark Trevena to help her father’s business and her uncle’s work for the Roman Catholic Church. She’s not best pleased because she really, really wanted to be a nun. We all know how Sierra likes to take nuns and make them dirty, well, guess what Isolde is going to get dirty. What fun!
Mark Trevena is wicked. Wicked and naughty. He has a sex club with some very important members. I think I know a couple of them, the political sorts. I half expected Kingsley Edge to make an appearance to check out the opposition. Oh mistress please make it so.
Cannot actually wait until Salt’s Kiss.
Favourite quotes:
“Some devils hide, you see. Right in plain sight.”
“My breath was like a flower furling and unfurling in my stomach, the imperceptible stillness between each inhale and exhale beckoning like heaven itself.”
Re-read done 6th August because I am so in love with Tristan and I need to remind myself what he’s going to face when he picks Isolde up and takes her over the ocean in Mark’s yacht.
And another re-read to prep for Bitter Burn. I’m ready daddy Mark.
I nearly died. I read THE CHAPTER on the bus on the way to work this morning. I swear my legs were shaking like jelly when I got off the bus. Then, I sat with the most stupid smile on my face in the staff canteen with not one, but two workmen sat opposite me eating their lunch whilst I read about deflowering a virgin.
I’m not even ashamed, although I may have blushed. Honesty a change of knickers may be required. Heed the warning!
It was so intense and utterly delicious.
Isolde Laurence is going to have to marry Mark Trevena to help her father’s business and her uncle’s work for the Roman Catholic Church. She’s not best pleased because she really, really wanted to be a nun. We all know how Sierra likes to take nuns and make them dirty, well, guess what Isolde is going to get dirty. What fun!
Mark Trevena is wicked. Wicked and naughty. He has a sex club with some very important members. I think I know a couple of them, the political sorts. I half expected Kingsley Edge to make an appearance to check out the opposition. Oh mistress please make it so.
Cannot actually wait until Salt’s Kiss.
Favourite quotes:
“Some devils hide, you see. Right in plain sight.”
“My breath was like a flower furling and unfurling in my stomach, the imperceptible stillness between each inhale and exhale beckoning like heaven itself.”
Re-read done 6th August because I am so in love with Tristan and I need to remind myself what he’s going to face when he picks Isolde up and takes her over the ocean in Mark’s yacht.
And another re-read to prep for Bitter Burn. I’m ready daddy Mark.
April 28, 2025
4.25 ☆
If the purpose of this prequel was to have me shaking in my boots (from both lust & anticipation), then we can consider it a smashing success 😂🤪
after the ending of Salt Kiss, I was left with so many questions about Isolde and Mark. Told from her POV and set before Mark and Tristan meeting, Salt in the Wound is like an appetizer to the buffet that we can expect in Honey Cut. Aside from the obvious questions, I was so curious about the dynamics of their relationship, and while this certainly doesn’t answer everything, it does give us a much appreciated snippet of how this arrangement came to be. In true Sierra Simone fashion, it’s tense, emotional and full of drool-worthy smut 🤭
this prequel was simply the best kind of tease & I’m even more excited for more of these characters.
If the purpose of this prequel was to have me shaking in my boots (from both lust & anticipation), then we can consider it a smashing success 😂🤪
after the ending of Salt Kiss, I was left with so many questions about Isolde and Mark. Told from her POV and set before Mark and Tristan meeting, Salt in the Wound is like an appetizer to the buffet that we can expect in Honey Cut. Aside from the obvious questions, I was so curious about the dynamics of their relationship, and while this certainly doesn’t answer everything, it does give us a much appreciated snippet of how this arrangement came to be. In true Sierra Simone fashion, it’s tense, emotional and full of drool-worthy smut 🤭
this prequel was simply the best kind of tease & I’m even more excited for more of these characters.
June 26, 2025
Excited to read the next book. Mark is 🔥
September 21, 2023
3.5 i only read this to get the backstory on mark tbh . I want more Tristan and Mark
March 15, 2025
3.5 - Prequel to Salt Kiss, this lays down the groundwork for Isolde and Mark’s relationship and gives some context to the whole arranged marriage thing. Isolde is significantly younger than Mark, basically a teenager and she wants to be a nun but is forced into this arranged marriage for the good of the family fortune. There is a lot of emphasis on Mark taking her virginity when he meets her in two years to get married. Whoops, enter Tristan in book 1 😝. It’s kinda ick,but also, very fiction. It worked fine for me reading it after Salt Kiss.
August 12, 2025
I’m going to go with a 3.5 ⭐️ for now as this is the prequel to the Lyonesse series. It will be nice to have some background going on Mark and Isolde in Salt Kiss. The rating may change after reading that book.
May 6, 2025
a short novella will cure my mini slump, right? right....? 🤞🏻
June 20, 2024
i am gooped, gagged, hollering and carrying on like a pork chop. that ENDING?!?!!! let’s go book two this is gonna be so fire 🔥😩👅.
tropes: marriage of convenience/forced marriage, BSDM, sub/dom, enemies to lovers
tropes: marriage of convenience/forced marriage, BSDM, sub/dom, enemies to lovers
September 12, 2023
4.25 3🌶
I’m soooo invested in the lyonesse series now!! Like this novella pulled me in so hard! I am obsessed with Sierra’s writing! This was kinky, angsty and tension filled! Beware it is a pretty big age gap 🫢
I’m soooo invested in the lyonesse series now!! Like this novella pulled me in so hard! I am obsessed with Sierra’s writing! This was kinky, angsty and tension filled! Beware it is a pretty big age gap 🫢
September 9, 2023
An angsty, and cruel start. I can't wait for more.
4 stars
2.5 on the spice scale
4 stars
2.5 on the spice scale
July 10, 2024
This had a very dragging start, and it took me a while to get into it 😅 but I reached a point where I was hooked! And it became very interesting and hot 😈
Can’t wait to see what happens in this manipulative, tense, and lust-filled relationship 👀
I was torn about giving it 4 stars.. but the start of the book is around 4.25 and the rest 4.5 ⭐️’s
Can’t wait to see what happens in this manipulative, tense, and lust-filled relationship 👀
I was torn about giving it 4 stars.. but the start of the book is around 4.25 and the rest 4.5 ⭐️’s
June 29, 2024
It’s time i started this series….knowing i don’t have to suffer withdrawal after cliffhangers because i have most of the story,helps.
But i find i need the full story,badly….because this introduction already left me with a deep need for more!
The Isolde we meet at the beginning is already a tough cookie,someone who knows what she wants to do with her life.
And then her father decides differently,not giving her the option to refuse.
Not taking her wishes or feelings into consideration,he forces her to do what he wants.
Marriage was not something she’d ever considered,but the man he chose for her was not someone she’d thought he’d pick…..
Mark’s reputation wasn’t good….he was the owner of BDSM club Lyonesse,and 14 years older than her.
And the more she saw of him,the more she knew she was out of her depth.
He seemed to know everything about her,while she knew so little about him.
But her uncle Mortimer,a kardinal in the Catholic church,convinced her to go ahead.
Because it would bring her in the perfect position to gather even more information than she’d ever done.
She could still serve God,only in a different way than she’d planned.
Only no one warned her about the damage to her heart….to her soul…
And now there was no way back,and the only thing she could do,was guard the pieces,and stay strong.
Sailing back to Manhattan from her property,Cashel House in Ireland instead of flying,was so they could spend time together before the big day,he said.
That sounded reasonable since they’d not been together after that devastating evening.
And then he sends Tristan,a man she’d never met,instead.
Leaving me with the first cliffhanger of the series……
But i find i need the full story,badly….because this introduction already left me with a deep need for more!
The Isolde we meet at the beginning is already a tough cookie,someone who knows what she wants to do with her life.
And then her father decides differently,not giving her the option to refuse.
Not taking her wishes or feelings into consideration,he forces her to do what he wants.
Marriage was not something she’d ever considered,but the man he chose for her was not someone she’d thought he’d pick…..
Mark’s reputation wasn’t good….he was the owner of BDSM club Lyonesse,and 14 years older than her.
And the more she saw of him,the more she knew she was out of her depth.
He seemed to know everything about her,while she knew so little about him.
But her uncle Mortimer,a kardinal in the Catholic church,convinced her to go ahead.
Because it would bring her in the perfect position to gather even more information than she’d ever done.
She could still serve God,only in a different way than she’d planned.
Only no one warned her about the damage to her heart….to her soul…
And now there was no way back,and the only thing she could do,was guard the pieces,and stay strong.
Sailing back to Manhattan from her property,Cashel House in Ireland instead of flying,was so they could spend time together before the big day,he said.
That sounded reasonable since they’d not been together after that devastating evening.
And then he sends Tristan,a man she’d never met,instead.
Leaving me with the first cliffhanger of the series……
Read
October 12, 2023DNF @36% - I tried. It’s just not for me. I think I just do not vibe with this author unfortunately. So many of my friends love their work, so I’ve tried multiple times, but I’m not the reader for this author I suppose.
**this is a reminder for myself.
**this is a reminder for myself.
January 29, 2024
(I listened on Audio.)
Decent start. Nothing to write home about, except now I want to pick up Book 1 to see how cold the heroine will be towards Mark... I am rooting for her revenge. She better be hard as stone and make him beg.
Also, interesting little peek with the bodyguard...
Decent start. Nothing to write home about, except now I want to pick up Book 1 to see how cold the heroine will be towards Mark... I am rooting for her revenge. She better be hard as stone and make him beg.
Also, interesting little peek with the bodyguard...
September 10, 2024
I'm so hooked!
June 30, 2024
I know this is just a novella but it didn't hit like the first book in the series. I liked getting Isolde's pov and her backstory and I like her but I don't know if I like her with Mark. The book really set up Isolde's relationship with Mark going into book 2 and why they are at odds. I think I now understand why Mark sent Tristian first hm. I did not like all the catholic, nun, religious, virginity ish. It was a lot, especially coming from book 1 but I'm interested to see how the relationships will progress. I just know book 2 is going to be a mess lol.
October 17, 2025
I really struggled in this one. The way the author brings in religion into her books, doesn't work for me. I just finished Priest and she basically did the same thing in that one except with a male character.
I'm also not a fan of Isolde. Her inner thoughts don't match what is actually going on. She wants to be a nun, but then her inner thoughts are so far from that it's really hard to believe she does really want that. Or how about the nuns in this one love to knife fight, lol.
I think she's been manipulated by her Uncle. I'm shocked she doesn't see it. She's supposed to be so smart and has been 'trained' but can't see that he uses her to help himself all in the name of God.
I'm nervous to keep going with the story. Obviously this is going to be a Tristan/Mark/Isolde trio. The last trio (Greer/Ash/Embry from New Camelot) was a huge let-down and didn't work for me at all. Ugh...keep reading or not to keep reading?!?!? That is the question.
I'm also not a fan of Isolde. Her inner thoughts don't match what is actually going on. She wants to be a nun, but then her inner thoughts are so far from that it's really hard to believe she does really want that. Or how about the nuns in this one love to knife fight, lol.
I think she's been manipulated by her Uncle. I'm shocked she doesn't see it. She's supposed to be so smart and has been 'trained' but can't see that he uses her to help himself all in the name of God.
I'm nervous to keep going with the story. Obviously this is going to be a Tristan/Mark/Isolde trio. The last trio (Greer/Ash/Embry from New Camelot) was a huge let-down and didn't work for me at all. Ugh...keep reading or not to keep reading?!?!? That is the question.
June 24, 2024
honestly surprised by how much i enjoyed this prequel!! definitely glad i did it before salt kiss.
i truly hope isolde becomes marks worst nightmare
i truly hope isolde becomes marks worst nightmare
July 31, 2024
Dear reader,
Sierra writes god tier smut
thank you for coming to my TED talk
Sierra writes god tier smut
thank you for coming to my TED talk
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