Number of Pages: 352 Pages
Publisher: Bloom Books
Genre(s): Erotica, LGBTQIA+
Total Star Rating: 4 Stars
There is something alive about the hatred at least. A breathing inside the jealousy. When I first came to Lyonesse, I felt like a puppet of myself, a collection of traits without anything deeper to animate them: alertness, discipline, longing, regret. A shell of dried sinew and bone and no heart. I feel now. Even if it’s misery, obsession, jealousy, I feel them all, and no matter how awfully things have turned out, I can’t doubt that Mark had something to do with that.”
— Sierra Simone, “Salt Kiss”
What It’s About:
The official blurb:
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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So if you’ve also read The New Camelot trilogy by Sierra Simone, you’ll of course understand why I say that she is my QUEEN of smut because of those books! I mean, Greer and Embry and Ash just *swoon* so when I heard that she was making ANOTHER MMF trilogy, and that it would be set in the same world as New Camelot, my attention was GRABBED!
With this book you get the same vibes and aesthetics that made New Camelot so wonderful: political intrigue, forbidden romance, high society kink, Washington DC secrets, shocking revellations and plot twists, and of course lots and lots of spicy smut!
And like how NC was a Arthurian retelling, so is this one…This story revolves around Tristan Thomas, who’s left the army after some unknown tragedy he’s still recovering from, is lost and doesn’t know where life will take him…but then accepts a strange job as the personal bodyguard of Mark Trevena, his new step-uncle and the arcane owner of an ultra secretive night club that only the world’s elite can enter and play. Tristan soon realizes he had no idea what he signed up for with this position and is exposed to a dark underbelly of the top 1% who make all the decisions of the world…
Much later in the story, Tristan is sent on a mission to watch over Mark’s betrothed on a yacht trip from Ireland, and he soon realizes that by meeting Isolde, he found himself torn between two lovers….or is he???
Honestly, if you enjoyed her previous trilogy, I see no reason why you wouldn’t love this one too! Tristan is a great main character to follow through this first installment as we’re introduced to this dark underworld of the ultra elite and as he battles his conflicting feelings for Mark and eventually also Isolde.
Mark is an absolute enigma and such a tight-lipped mystery, he’s truly an interesting character too, and Isolde too, but for different reasons. Isolde wasn’t in the book as much as I’d hoped so I was disappointed with that, but there’s other books so I have to remember that!
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What I Liked:
- It’s Familiar But Still Feels New! It very much feels like a New Camelot spinoff with familiar tropes, character arcs, dynamics, but it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy all the same. It definitely feels unique enough to stand on its own
- This Book is Mostly MM! This book that will be the first in a trilogy focuses mainly on Tristan and his developing relationship with Mark, so there’s mostly a lot of spicy MM scenes, so no complaints whatsoever from me!
What I Didn’t Like:
- Isolde Doesn’t Appear Until Much Later…Isolde doesn’t make an appearance until like 2/3rds into the book, and I actually wish she had shown up way earlier. Granted, she steals the show when she does finally appear, but again why does it take until like the 75% point for this to happen??
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Conclusion:
Overall, another incredible and ultra smutty book by my QUEEN of spice herself! This was a wonderful book written by her whether you’ve read the before-mentioned trilogy or not. There’s maybe like one reference to the previous trilogy in the book? Other than that it’s very able to be read on its own!
But I digress WHY wouldn’t you read that series too?? I really enjoyed both and hope you do too if you give Sierra Simone a chance!
Thanks for reading!
— Nick Goodsell
Goodys.Blog 