The Tryst

by L. Marie Wood

A moment in time… insignificant and fleeting for most, but for Nicole, Mark, and Eric, it is life-altering. Three strangers meet in a town they don’t know in a place they hadn’t expected to end up only to find that they are exactly where they were supposed to be… again. Love always finds a way. Through space and time, past and future, through lifetimes and storylines, they were destined to find each other, love each other, lose each other—coordinates and weapons, scenarios and demographics be damned. A malfunction, to be sure. But when Ryan tries to tinker with his project, a weapon the likes of which has never been seen in all of the Galactic Collaborative, he finds out just how inexorable their link is… and how insidious. The beginning of an experimental series that will challenge the way you think about love, life, connection, and purpose, The Tryst will catch you in its whirlwind and never let you go. Each book in the Affinity series will combine of mixture of mystery, thriller, psychological horror, action, suspense, science fiction elements in differing measures, always with romance as an undercurrent. Love always finds a way. But sometimes that way is paved with bones.

264 pages, Paperback

Published May 6, 2022

About the author

L. Marie Wood is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is the recipient of the Golden Stake Award for her novel The Promise Keeper, as well as the Harold L. Brown Award for her screenplay Home Party. Her short story, "The Ever After" is part of the Bram Stoker Award Finalist anthology Sycorax's Daughters. Wood was recognized in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15 and as one of the 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction. Wood holds an MFA in Speculative Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University and serves as the Director of Curricula for the Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction (DWASF.org). She is also the Director of the horror track for MultiverseCon.

Visit lmariewood.com to learn more.

Reviews

[Keeko McKween]

Every time I pick up a book, I wonder: How will it end? And I absolutely love it when I can’t guess what’s going to happen next. I also enjoy a hot MMF romance, where the writer doesn’t pull their punches during the s3x scenes, meaning the male characters touch each other. That makes ‘The Tryst’ a triple pleasure in my humble book-reading opinion.

The main characters, Nicole, Mark, and Eric, are drawn together for reasons they can't explain. Though Nicole and Mark are married, they carry on an affair and find themselves unable to leave the others behind. This book is slipstream (not my usual genre), but I got into the romance aspects of the novel and the mystery aspect: What's really going on? Who is pulling the strings? I'm terrible with spoilers, but I enjoyed this book and look forward to completing the series over the summer.

[Louise]

Book 1, the story looks at what 'fate' means. Three ordinary lives cross paths unintentionally, but with a reason none of them are aware of consciously but will soon discover their dark fates. The story tells from three different perspectives and are distinguished based on writing style. For example, Eric's mind is erratic while Nicole is articulate. Their connection reads as forced and unnatural, contrary to how it should feel since Eric, Nicole, and Mark agree their connection seems normal as they discover multiple common grounds.


I received a free copy and am leaving a review voluntarily.
Thank you to Booksprout, Hidden Gems Books, and author.

[Linda]

The Tryst by L. Marie Woods is the first book in The Red Thread Saga, telling the story of a meeting that seemingly happens by chance but leads to the discovery that three people’s fates are intertwined, as if they had always known each other.

We begin with a funeral. A man and woman stand by a coffin, mourning the man inside. The story then follows Nicole through her seemingly ordinary life. While traveling for work, Nicole makes a chance stop at a coffee shop where she meets Eric, and the two of them eventually meet Mark. There is an instant connection between the three that none of them can explain. Their chance meeting turns into dinner together and then into something more, with the three sharing a night together. However, each of them leads very different lives, including significant others and children. They eventually have to return to those lives, but promise to discreetly remain in touch until the unimaginable happens.

My description of the story is vague for a reason. It isn’t until very near the end that we discover why the three are drawn to one another and what other forces are at work affecting their lives. The author does try to convey the longing and connection between the threemain characters, but I found the dialogue and internal thoughts disjointed and, at times, difficult to follow. The book is described as “slipstream,” which may explain the way the characters’ thoughts sometimes ramble and blend together.

Unfortunately, while the book is also described as containing action and suspense, I didn’t find much of either. The story moved at a pace that made it difficult for me to stay engaged, and the eventual explanations didn’t fully make up for the confusion I experienced along the way. There were some intriguing ideas at the heart of the story, particularly the concept of three strangers being inexplicably drawn together, but the execution didn’t work well for me.

Overall, The Tryst wasn’t a book I particularly enjoyed. The premise had potential, and I can see how readers who enjoy more unconventional, thought-driven storytelling might connect with it. Perhaps the rest of the trilogy provides the answers and momentum that were missing for me in this first installment. While I won’t be continuing with the series myself, readers who enjoy slipstream fiction and stories that leave much to interpretation may want to give it a try and decide for themselves.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. Many thanks to Regina Lavonne and L. Marie Woods for allowing me to review this book.