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.