Honey Cut, the second book in the Lyonesse series, is told through the perspective of Isolde, unlike the first book, told by Tristan. This story picks up where we left Tristan and Isolde, coming home to Mark. Isolde, being betrothed to Mark, can't help but fall for Tristan, as they journeyed back to Mark, right before their wedding. Tristan, in love with Mark...and Isolde, is in for the ride of his life! Sierra Simone does not disappoint with this spicy and naughty novel!

THE CLIFFHANGER? AND ANOTHER YEAR WAIT? I'm already counting down the days!!! Sierra's proving to be one of my favorite authors in recent times and Lyonesse has absolutely been delivering on everything I love from her: the pining, angst, the taboo, and the hot spice!! The year wait from Salt Kiss to Honey Cut was so painful, and now the wait is 100x worse for book three!! I loved everything that was built up here, with the relationships between all three characters being touched upon, and Mark, Tristan and Isolde are definitely quickly becoming my all-time fave from Sierra. The spice scenes in this werre SO HOT and I love the different settingsthat Sierra takesus to. Highly recommend reading New Camelot ahead of Lyonesse for some nods and references.

4.5 ⭐️
This series started out a bit rocky, but it has turned out to be really good. The story has continued to surprise me and I have enjoyed reading this book. It is what I like to call 'high-class smut'. Ms. Simone really knows how to write a sex scene, that's for sure.

~~What I liked~~
-The story has evolved in a way that surprised me. I had my thoughts about what was happening, and I was wrong, but happily so. The pacing was good and I am eager for the last book to come out so I can see what happens. Just like Salt Kiss, the story is told in alternating POV by Isolde and Tristan. This adds for a bit of transparency and we get to know each character better.
-The characters, while very hard to relate to personally, do exhibit traits that make them easier to understand. It is good to see their inner thoughts and feelings, which added to the depth of the book.
-As previously mentioned, those sex scenes are on point. This is not a book I would EVER recommend to my mother, but if you ever need a good smut book, you can't go wrong with Sierra Simone. There are MM scenes, so if that isn't your thing, you might take a pass.

~~What I didn't like~~
-I wish we could know a bit more about Mark, he's such an enigma. Maybe book 3 will have his POV.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I can't wait for the last book to come out.

Sierrrrra Simone!!!! Man, does she rip your heart open! This was an intense follow up to the amazing Salt Kiss. It follows the story of the forbidden romance between Isolde, Mark and Tristan. I can say you literally hate and love each of these characters throughout the book. I dont want to give too much away, but it hangs on yet another cliffhanger and I can't wait until the final book in this series comes out.

Thank you #NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Am I blushing? I think I’m blushing… omg this was so good!! Ahhh the perfect follow up to Salt Kiss. This was hot hot hot!! Tristan Isolde and Mark have my whole heart. Sweet baby Tristan. Ugh, I think I need some more processing time, that ending.

I love this series and it was so great to spend more time with Isolde, Mark, and Tristan in all their messy, kinky, angsty glory! I do wish the publisher would approve requests more than three weeks before the books come out so I could at least try to post a review before publication, but appreciate the ARC nonetheless and am excited to continue recommending this series (and I can't wait for the conclusion to the trilogy).

I wanted to love this so much but I could not get into it because of the cheating trope. It’s not something I enjoy reading, but if you’re someone who’s okay with that this is a good read.

I had really high hopes for this book, as I absolutely adored Salt Kiss, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype.
This whole book surrounded a cheating trope, which is my least fav of all time, hence the lower star rating.

The writing itself was really well done, but I just couldn’t get into the book, hence it taking me so long to finish it.

The side storyline (Isolde’s actual job and related activities) was a good one, one that I’m definitely interested in reading when the next book comes out!

Definitely disappointed where there was only really one good scene with the three of them- I was hanging out for that for so long!

Also, I absolutely love Tristian, he’s so precious 🥺

Being second in a trilogy, whether it a book or a movie, is always a tricky thing. You need some excitement, but not too much-- the big stuff has to be saved for the Big Finale in the third part. Sierra did a decent job of keeping my interest throughout the book; for the most part I didn't feel like this book was just setting things up for the third one.

SCREAMING! Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was such a hugely anticipated release for me, as I love everything Sierra Simone and Lyonesse is such an addicting series.

This book was an easy 5 star. It had me in going through emotions, anxiously trying to read fast because I just wanted to devour this book and the TENSION is seriously thick enough to cut with a knife, pun intended.

Sierra Simone writes such beautifully intricate characters in a world that has just the right amount of action to keep you on your toes and invested. The domestic moments were sweet, albeit uncommon, but made that much more precious and adding that needed depth to connect to the characters. She truly is my favorite author to go to for kink because it’s one of the best portrayals I’ve seen.

“Oh, how he makes us fall in love with him. We should hate him for it,”

Mother has delivered another masterpiece. I don't know what else to say. Sierra Simone hits it out of the park with Honey Cut. You will be left feeling hallow in the best way. I will warn you...this is book 2 in a trilogy, and you will have to wait for the conclusion.
Basically, Sierra is the best edger there is.

What started as an arrangement became so much more. What also started as a body guard became so much more. He is the dominant, but can he truly love them? Under all the steam was a great love story. Watching the story unfold was so good!

That ending! 😱 I'm so ready for more!
I'm curious to see what happens with Andrea. Is she a true friend or a slimy snake?

Ah, this was so much fun! I really don’t know a lot of authors that wrote spicy scenes quite like Sierra Simone does. The sexiness, the emotions (especially the anguish!), the scenes that I can so easily picture… I almost wish I hadn’t read this so quickly already because how long do I have to wait for the next one now?!

I loved that we got to see the story from both Isolde and Tristan’s POVs this time. They sure to enjoy their pain, don’t they? The emotions really came through again in this book and I’m glad I got to see then from both sides. I do wish we’d get more of a glimpse into Mark’s mind about it all. Maybe that’s for the future? I wouldn’t mind some Mark x Eliot content either!

I’m not familiar with the original story of Tristan and Isolde so I really don’t know where this is heading, which keeps me on the edge of my seat about it all. That being said, the ending took me a good bit off guard. I’m sure it’ll make sense later so I hope we won’t have to wait too long for the next book. I do have to say that some of the tension was a little too much for me, though I probably put that on myself a little because I assumed to know something from the start, which I’m still not 100% sure if it’s right or wrong. I can’t see it being wrong with how well Mark plays his games!

And how we love those games! His interactions with the MCs were some of my favorite scenes. The way he commands a room is second to none and I wish I could experience that first hand. He’s such an interesting character!

There was a very clear reference to (I assume) the original story of Tristan and Isolde that felt a little out of place to me but I hope that’ll come more into play later on. Vivid dream-like endeavors do tend to land so-so for me so that’s probably a very personal gripe though. I’m glad it was mentioned here and there though so hopefully that was foreshadowing for more excitement in the future.

While I don’t enjoy the connection to the Church quite as much here as I did in Simone’s Priest series, I do like how much more dramatic this seems to be getting so I’m looking forward to watching it come to a head in the next book (is this a trilogy?!) because it definitely grew more on me towards the end of this one.

4.5 stars

Wow, this book is dark. And sad. And intense. I absolutely loved it. This is literally a book that has smut AND a captivating plot. And the smut is 🥵 ya’ll. These characters are well written, complex and completely effed up. The jealousy, lust and infatuation just oozes off the pages. At no point was I expecting a happy ending for Mark, Isolde & Tristan- it’s like they’re all just meant for tragedy. But I did enjoy getting more of Mark’s backstory, he was a huge question mark in Salt Kiss. I was not at all prepared for the cliffhanger at the end and I can’t wait for book 3.

A mysterious romance with a lot of action, forbidden love and danger. A huge recommendation for all who likes some action.

This book wow! After Salt Kiss, I was so ready for this book! I'm unsure if Honey Cut started slower or if it was the deep impact left by how intense Salt Kiss ended that made it feel a little slow in the early chapters. Honey cut had a captivating storyline which had me on edge trying to piece together what was coming next, which I really enjoyed, along with all the spice you'd expect after Salt Kiss.

I loved seeing more insight into Mark, Tristan, and Isolde, building further on their individual characters while continuing to build on the relationships set in Salt Kiss, and let me tell you the relationships were still intense! Honey Cut ended with a cliffhanger that I did not see coming and left me already on edge about the next part of this trilogy!

I am not a fan of dark romance. But I'm a fan of this.

Honey Cut is the continued retelling of Tristan and Isolde in the world of high powered secret agents for governments, the Catholic Church, and a kink club. It's a kinky MMF with lots of angst and violence. It is absolutely NOT a stand-alone.

There are so many secrets. There's cheating (kind of, because you know it was going to be baked into this story, and they will end up together (Sierra says there'll be an HEA, anyway)), there's submission and domination, there's lying by omission, there's murder and torture. It's a lot. Mark and Isolde are the darkness, and Tristan is a golden retriever who just wants to love and take care of them.

The LONGING. The ANGST. The DESIRE. It's all so delicious. Sierra Simone delivers on heat wrapped up in faith and kink once again.

I can't wait to see where these three damaged people end up.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’ll try my hardest to make sense in this review, but that might be hard considering I thought finishing this book was more important than sleeping 😂 How could I not when Mark, Tristan, and Isolde were running around maiming a small army and each other? So without further ado, one incoherent, smut addled, unhinged review coming right up! ☝🏽

Sierra Simone brings the angst and the smut a hundredfold this time around. Salt Kiss was but a gentle breeze in comparison 😂 I’m usually not a fan of infidelity, but my god the way these three have me wrapped around their finger. The perpetual existential pining and kink was, in the shortest of terms, delicious 🔥🔥🔥 The desperation was palpable in all directions and honestly? Same 🙂‍↕️The amount of times I had to physically collect my jaw from the floor in order to keep reading should be studied 😂

I loved that we got more of Isolde’s side of the story and that we got to see more of Mark outside of his usual stoicism 🤍 It’s no wonder Tristan is so gone for both of them. I know I’m saying love a lot, but I also really loved that the line between the myth and the contemporary was more fuzzy in comparison to the New Camelot series. And the plot! It’s all coming to a head and I can’t wait to see where it leads. That ending was disrespectful in a million different ways and I’m gnawing at my desk out of desperation for book 3 as we speak 🫠

what how.. whattttt.... nooo.. whatttt
How does this author pull books like this out of thin air.. what is happening in her mind.
This book is somehow the 2nd/3rd book and yet also can be standalone in that the story of it is special (but dont read it as a standalone because you will be missing outtt)
Im loving this book with a dual POV from Tristan and Isolde and desperatly needing the Mark POV.
there is love, lust, murder and deceit happening on all the pages
and let me just say my flabbers are gasted!!!

5 stars for quality and 4 stars for enjoyment because it hurt but also I was supposed to hurt so 5 stars for execution.

The deep richness and intensity that you get from 90% dark chocolate and a heavy dry red wine. That's this book.
When every sip has the same bite as the first. That's this book.
You want to enjoy the entire bar/bottle, but it is too much of an assault on the senses to have too much at once. That's this book.

It hurts but you like it *because* it hurts. Not so much that you won't go back to it again and again, but just enough to edge the sweetness.

While this book (and series thus far) is romance-forward, this entry also increased the plot. If you are here for the plot, there's more than enough to keep you engaged. And if you're here for the romance, there's MORE than enough to keep you happy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for a digital advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.