Meet the Devil of Blackthorne Manor …
When I was a little girl, I dreamed a handsome knight would come and rescue me from my wretched mother. He’d ride up on his white steed and break the curse I’ve been fated to carry since the day I was born.
Funny how things changed over time. How the fairy tale twisted into something far more crooked, darker than I ever imagined.
In reality, my knight is … imagined.
In reality, my knight is scarred and broken, living alone in a castle of bones that overlooks the sea. He isn’t searching for me. He never was.
Lucian Blackthorne is as cursed as I am, and equally shunned by the locals, the fishers of men, who believe him to be the devil in the flesh.
Perhaps he is, with the way his amber eyes draw me in, ignite me like an infernal blaze. And the sins he whispers in my ear are as wickedly intoxicating as the man himself.
Yet, his touch is heaven and his will is my weakness.
He calls us forbidden, an unsalvageable tragedy, with no happy end. Maybe we are. But in this story, he’s the one who needs saving.
Master of Salt & Bones is a dark modern gothic contemporary standalone romance.
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What a delicious fucking ride this book was!!! Darkly erotic and all kinds of sinfully scorching sex and steam!! I haven’t read a book with characters that kept my attention and focus as much as this book did!! Truly amazing writing that sucked you down the rabbit hole and didn’t let you up for air!!The devil of bonesalt Lucian Blackthorne is everything a women should run from he whispered to be a murder and known as the Mad son and his sexual debauchery is legendary and especially to a young 19 girl like Isa who has her share of bad things that have happened to her,but when she goes to Blackthorne castle to be a companion to his mother and their paths meet seeing him for the first time and knowing what the town calls him behind his back a monster and a murder she finds out that their is more to this man and sparks start flying and soon a sensual dance begins.Lucian trys to fight the heady attraction that he feels every time he hears,see’s or thinks about her! Isa is getting under his skin and he knows the only way to stop it is to fuck her a couple of times and get her out of his system,but what he finds in her bed is a kindred soul because not only does he have secrets so does Isa. This book was what I call dark erotica, both Isa and Lucian went through horrible things as children that warped their minds and made them different. They were meant to be together and find love and help each other to put old ghosts to peace so that they could be happy together. This is the first book I’ve read by Kerri Lake and I’m very impressed with her storytelling and her amazing writing!!! The characters were all very good and so complexed it was like peeling layers with every page I read!! It has mystery,suspence and great snarky humor which had me laughing on and off and steam factor was pretty fucking hot!!! It was kinky ,sexy and done perfectly!!! A word of warning before sitting down to read have a extra pair of panties and maybe your little friend you keep in the night stand, it’s gonna be one hell of a read!! Until Next Time Luv’s
5 MADNESS LOVE STARS!! What can I say, but READ THIS BOOK!! This book will be in my Top 10 reads for 2020. I was taken on a absolute crazy dark ride that I will never forget….nor do I want to. Lucian and Isa have so much baggage from their upbringing…..it is like being on a crazy train as you read it. These two have a story to tell you and you need to here it. There are so many twists & turns, I was getting whiplash. This is my first book by this author and I need more of her words.
Twistedly Dark & Delicious!
Anti-hero Lucian Blackthorne, the Devil of Bonesalt, is Scarred, Reclusive, Arrogant, Ruthless, & Unyielding. Everything about him says “STAY AWAY”. Holed up in his castle, most citizens of Tempest Cove honor those wishes.
The damaged heroine Isadora Quinn (aka Isa), hasn’t had the perfect upbringing either. Fatherless, and basically motherless (her Mom is the town junkie), she is desperate for money to help her Aunt. Given the opportunity to serve as a “companion” for Lucian’s ill mother, she doesn’t hesitate to take it, despite all the warnings to stay away from Blackthorne Manor.
Keri Lake created an intriguing storyline which alternates from past to present. In the past, we learn of Lucian’s troubled childhood, that has made him the man he is today. In Isa’s past we learn of her past that’s made her a little hesitant to trust anyone.
In a remote castle filled with dark secrets, brings a haunting element to the story. With a number of twists in this story. Some, tied to family connections. However, the big one involving Lucian’s mother definitely caught me off guard.
My goodness!! What a twisted tale!!
This is a contemporary Gothic romance complete with an imposing manor house. The title sucks, but the cover is primo and the story is first-rate. It’s sort of like Jane Eyre mixed with a little Frankenstein. It’s got the whole innocent young woman hired by the mysterious man thing going for it and I loved every page! I was looking for something different and this was perfect. Lots of intrigue and steamy sexy stuff.
Another intriguing and suspenseful piece of art! You won’t want to mis this one.
I want the forbidden. I want the one thing that irritates me more than anything. The one thing I shouldn’t.
It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of us. Because we’re the composers, the conductors of our own fate, and we write the notes to a beautiful, dark melody that no one else can hear.
/5 /5
TW: Violence, Cruel Language, Rape, S&M, Psychological Torment and torture.
If you know me, you know I have a real obsessions with the macabre. I started my journey watching horror movies at the age of 10 and I can’t remember a single weekend in my life I haven’t watched, played (videogames) or read something spooky. We, horror movie people, can find beauty in tragic, ghost stories. There is a romantic sadness, a longing, so many breathless moments you can only experience alongside fear. As Pam Godwin would say, “God, I truly have a weakness for cruelty wrapped in a beautiful package.”
I hardly ever love a book from the very fist page. The connection I experienced with this book was out of this world. Have you ever felt something must have been written specifically for you? Every single element of this story was exactly the sort of movie/book I would write or create if I had the ability or the talent for it. Thank God people like Kari exist for that.
A mystery that will give you goosebumps and won’t allow you to put the book down. One of the most carefully crafted psychological thrillers I have ever read. The book switches it’s point of view from the past to the present back and forth and keeps you on edge while you try to put together the missing puzzle pieces of Lucian’s and Isa’s life. Scary, sensual, tragic, angsty, a real page-turner, haunting and unpredictable.
This book will give you Phantom of the Opera vibes all the way. A dangerous, secretive romance, that will break your heart, put it back together and leave you breathless by the end of it. I haven’t stopped thinking about this book since I finished it and I don’t think I will ever forget it. It made to my all time favorites list.
“I appreciate things that others tend to fear and cast off as evil.” I appreciate the tragic, twisted stories, the compulsive self-destructive type of love stories. That’s when you know they’re real. Unforgettable.
This book blew my mind! It was dark and twisted and kept me holding my breath waiting to see what would happen. There were layers and layers of secrets that shocked me as they unraveled. The characters were very engaging. The plot was fast-paced. I was reading as fast as I could to see where the story was going. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone.
Together, we are madness. And there is music in the madness, and madness in love. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks of us. Because we’re the composers, the conductors of our own fate, and we write the notes to a beautiful, dark melody that no one else can hear.
I first became intrigued by this story because of the dark and alluring cover. *applause* for whomever created that beauty! I will have it on my bookshelf one day. That cover alone made me want to crack open the book and dive inside to know all its dark secrets. Then I read the blurb and I was a goner. I no longer wanted to read the book, I NEEDED to read it. So the minute I found a break in arcs, I dove in. To say I was instantly hooked would be an understatement! This book is binge worthy! I didn’t want to come up for air! I was utterly submerged in this eerily haunting and twisted psychological romance.
This meticulously woven story took precedence over everything in my life immediately. Every chapter fed my new obsession and had me craving more. It was unputdownable! This is the type of story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The past and present chapters were written like the shuffling of a deck of cards (one half present, the other half past)…they melded together seamlessly and they continually build intrigue as I was reading. The way in which Keri unfolded the story and brought everything back together in the end, was brilliant! The layering to the plot was executed with precision. Each chapter built and built and BUILT onto this world and had me wanting to flip to the next page before I finished the page I was on, so I could see what was going to happen. There were jaw dropping twists towards the end…ones I did NOT see coming. I just can’t get over how much I love this world that Keri created. It’s just got SO MANY layers and so much to discover while you’re reading! I LOVE IT ALL!
This story is SO MUCH more than just another romance. There’s a love story that is peppered WITHIN the story, one that is hidden in the shadows. It’s as if the love/romance was a bonus to this phenomenal novel. The romance that was slipped in between the cracks of this story was downright delicious! A slow-burn/age gap that I could get behind! I loved how Keri made these two mirrors of each other. Their desires, their wants and needs. They fit PERFECTLY together in a delicious way. I NEED more of Isa and Lucian! I. Need. More.
I’ve been telling all my book besties to read this book. I think every dark romance lover NEEDS this book in their life. It’s a MUST READ for sure! I’m putting this on record, Keri Lake is my favorite “new to me” author of 2020!
“You’re my curse. Staying away from you, is like trying to hold my breath when the tide is rising.” His words dance around my head, the deep timber of his voice titillating my senses. “I want to drown in you.”
5 stars
#TheDevilOfBonesalt
#TheMadSon
#TheMonsterOfTempestCove
#RavenBeauty
I think some of my favorite reads this year are the ones that I have randomly picked up. This was a first for me reading anything by Keri Lake and I went into this story completely blind and I was not disappointed. This book intrigued and captivated me from just the few pages, that almost never happens. Ms. Lake delivered an utterly fascinating and addictive storyline that will leave you guessing until the very end. The author did a phenomenal job weaving an intricate storyline filled with suspense, mystery, steam, and jaw dropping plot twists you will never see coming. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Hands down a top read for me this year!
This story is amazing. I loved how we got both Lucian and Isa point of view, and learning about Lucian tragic past. This story is full of angst will keep you flipping pages till the very end. A beautifully written love story.
Unique page turner
“, , ’. ’ . .”
This book was absolutely incredible. Unlike anything I’ve read before. Kept me hooked from the beginning. And, even though every time I thought I figured something out, I was wrong. I needed to keep reading to see what was truly going on.
Lucian was the perfect amount of offputting without being such an unbelievable jerk that I wouldn’t want to continue. And that Isa wasn’t truly afraid.
It was all just so good.
Keri Lake doesn’t just write a book for you to read, she makes dammn sure it swallows you whole. Wow! THIS BOOK WAS FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH DARK, DISTURBING, DEPRAVED THINGS! You know I was like a kid in a twisted candy store. Psychopath here, sadist there, sickos everywhere. The sexual tension was suspensefully written, eerily taunting. The characters with dreadful pasts are equally broken yet so full fire. Not to mention a secret society full of sinister men. This story really blew my mind, so many twists and turns. Master of Salt and Bones is a must read for dark romance fans!
Beauty and the beast retelling with a beautiful heroine , innocent and naive in my opinion and a wounded hero in so many ways, not only on the outside.
The castle holds many secrets and it’s magical smell will keep you wanting to read more about its hidden passages .
I enjoyed it overall but it had a few moments where I felt like skipping as it was pretty predictable for me.
This book was unlike any I’ve ever read before. It was sick and twisted, dark and depraved, mind blowing with so much mystery! And don’t even get me started on the sexiness that is Lucian Blackthorne!! He was so hot in this book! I was so hooked from the beginning. We need more books like this. It was written so well, I was extremely impressed. This book seriously blew me away. I am a huge lover of the dark books and this one is officially one of my favorite books of 2020! I highly recommend it.
I was intrigued by Master of Salt & Bones from the moment I saw the cover and the blurb hinted at a gothic castle where lived a hero with a troubled past and shunned by the people of the town. It sounded like my next favourite read and something that I would have enjoyed, and I did but only for a brief period.
The beginning was intriguing and pulled me in but somewhere around the 40% -ish mark the excitement went down and boredom started to set in.
I usually am a fan of storylines that shifts between the past and present but somehow, I wasn’t feeling that in this book. The shift to the past storyline was just too long and drawn out and it contributed as a major factor towards the lack of enjoyment.
The focus was too much on Lucian, his family and their history and workings that took away from the main couple, i.e. Lucian and Isa and their development. Which leads to the next point — I wasn’t really into their relationship. It felt lacking and the romance was just not convincing enough.
There was a point where I just wanted the story to be finished. As for the climax, I didn’t see that coming! Was it a shock factor? Yes and I believe that’s what Ms Lake wanted and for a brief moment it worked but the monotony set in once again and it was when I was at the end of the book!
I would have loved to see more character development for both the main leads as individuals and as a couple. They weren’t the main focus of the story for too long for any kind of development to take place and for me to appreciate them.
I also feel the need to point out that Master of Salt & Bones is more on the line of dark romance/erotica than just romance.
This just happens to be one of those books that you are either going to love or be indifferent about it.
2.5 Stars!
This hauntingly passionate romance is twisted and intriguing, the storyline addicting as it’s told with vibrant details of the setting, characters and their relationships with one another. The story is set on an island that’s disconnection and exposure to other communities has made the locals superstitious to any and all lores, their boredom satisfied in thick gossip especially about the alluringly powerful Blackthorne. The mysteries surrounding this exclusive private family knows no bounds, and the secrets they keep are dangerous enough that death would be the safest route to endure. I always appreciate and love different character perspectives it makes the experience more personal and the epic revealing of secrets more exciting.
Lucian Blackthorne is a tormented soul passing through life passionless and numb his strict routine disrupted by a blindingly growing obsession that makes him question everything he thought he knew. Know for his ruthless demeanor and authority with business and decisions he’s given the reputation as the Mad Son or Devil of Bonesalt a deserving name for the demons that haunt his chaotic mind but Lucian’s passion is overbearingly seductive his dominance and presence all consuming as he protects those in his care.
Isadora Quinn is a beautifully wounded warrior that despite her horrid experiences in her young life, dealing with being surrounded by traumas of abusive people and a reputation that destroys has a determination that makes her strive and grow into a more mature young adult capable of handling the horrors of monsters and fiercely defending what she adores. I admire Isadora’s unapologetic bold attitude and unfulfilling curiosity.
The romance in this book is addictively dark and demented, the sinfully taboo relationship that blossoms into an inferno so fatal it’s unforgiving to those that threaten to snuff its flame. I enjoyed the slow burn and build up throughout the book that chemistry is intense and appreciated.
This book does have heavy themes and topics of torture and sexual abuse that could be triggers.
Isa doesn’t pay attention to gossip and rumors, but is rethinking that when she finally meets her new boss, Lucian Blackthorne. He’s mysterious, moody, closed off. And gorgeous. But there are forces and secrets swirling around them, around the castle where she works, and they just might be the biggest obstacle in the way of the two of them.
Damn…talk about moody and spooky and all around gray. This book sorta freaked me out and unsettled me just like Lucian did. But Isa was perfect for him. She’s tough and sweet and seemingly the opposite of stoic and broody Lucian. All around an entertaining, gothic romance.
Dark, mysterious and twisted! A clandestine, nefarious society, intrigue and a sexy romance. All the elements for a thrilling read and it was, in part. This one’s tough for me because Keri Lake is a fav of mine. The writing is superb as always. It pulled me in with the tone and mystery. I loved Isa right from the start. She’s a great heroine in this dark tale. Poor with a troubled home life and a desire for more than the life she was born into. She takes the job as a companion at the castle on the hill with its broody, scarred owner, Lucian Blackthorne. Lucian’s was an enigma for most of the story. Caught up in a legacy that’s barbaric and disturbing. He’s damaged, physically and mentally, by it all. When the young girl arrives at his home she’s too delectable to resist. Their romance was dark. Lucian’s desires are a little twisted but Isa is willing to play. It took awhile for me to get into the romance between Lucian and Isa with all the craziness of the society and the reveal of Lucian horrific past. The madness escalates as these two grow closer and Isa is in danger. Lots of evil folks in this one and the baddest was a surprise. Talk about a twist ending! All in all it was a thrilling read but a little drawn out and what was a big deal at the beginning just sort of fell off towards the end. Not my favorite by this fabulous author but I’m always excited for her terrific writing and complex characters and enthralling storytelling. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC.
I have no words to do justice to this book and what it will make you feel, without giving any spoilers, so I’m going to keep this short and to the point.
Every emotion you own, you will feel it. Keri’s skill with words is unsurpassed and this book … this book only shows that no matter what she turns her attention to, she will always excel and bring a story to life that you will not be able to put down until it’s done.