Unhinged and filthy perfection.

I don't know how to even talk about this book without spoiling things but this book was soo freaking good. I mean…I have no words. None. This book changed something in me and idk how or if or when I will ever find another book to make me feel this way! You honestly just have to trust me and go in blind. It is the only way to fully enjoy this book....go in blind and find a friend to go in with you because you are going to need someone to talk about this book with that "gets it". It is truly a unique experience that I can say as someone who reads A LOT...has never read a book like this and I don't expect to again! The characters were amazing and interesting. The spice was...wow. The plot was intense and left me on the edge of my seat!
I NEEDED to know how this was going to end and how Tem was going to....decide on things.

"Tell me," she gasped . "Tell me how you feel about me." She needed to hear him say it. Now, while they were joined together. "I am undone by you," he said. "I crave your scent, your skin, your voice. I think about you all the time, to the point of destruction. You are unbearably overwhelming. I cannot resist you no matter how hard I try."

Kiss of the Basilisk (formally the beloved title Split or Swallow) was such a fun ride and the basilisk story I didn’t know I was missing in my life!

Let me just come out of the gate and say this will not be an eloquent review so I hope you didn’t come for that because I am at a loss for words in the best way after reading this book. You are going to need a hose to cool you down. Who knew I would be questioning my shadow daddy obsession with a snake daddy? But I am also #teamleo

In this story we follow Temperance, who has come of age to vie for prince Leo’s hand at marriage but in order to win him over she must learn how to please him sexually from her basilisk teacher Caspen <insert eyebrow waggle>.

The basilisks and humans are at odds, which the humans thinking lesser of them. But when Caspen and Temperance start their training there is an immediate pull to one another, though she still must try to win Leo’s hand, Caspen leaves her with something to remember him by 😏

Oh does Temperance not make it easy for Leo, our sweet little cinnamon roll playboy, it only makes him want her more. But there is so much more to him than his playboy ways. While on the other hand Caspen struggles with her budding relationship with the prince and wants her all to himself.

There is a war on the horizon and Temperance becomes a player stuck in the middle with her heart torn between Caspen and Leo, which side will she choose? Or why choose? 😏

You will not find this story short of spice one bit, Temperance is in training after all and Caspen has to teach her all the things so she can practice her techniques with Leo - carriage scene anyone? But she comes into her own throughout the story from a somewhat shy girl to finding her voice and not letting anyone stand in her way.

I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I tried hard to like this book. The sex scenes were so frequent they blurred together and became extremely repetitive. The saving grace was the story line underneath all of the sex that kept me reading. I was very curious about where Tem, Caspen, and Leo would end up. And that’s the part of the book I did enjoy.

I knew this was good when I was following along with Lindsay's weekly releases of chapters. But reading it all together was an experience. Yes this is spicy af. But I also loved the story.

The fact that she calls this basilisk 🌽 is so freaking hilarious, and true 🤣 but tasteful at the same time. Tem has to participate in this "training" to be considered as the wife of the prince. Said training involves learning the ins and outs of...pleasure... with a basilisk. Why a basilisk? Because they are sexual creatures and no better than the experts. Plus it helps with this truce the humans and basilisk have...or so they think.

As you can imagine when you're told to go to the caves to learn how to fvck from a basilisk 🐍 you might grow some feelings for them. But also getting courted by a swoon worthy royal prince, like yeah one of each please.

There were some twists and turns in this book and I was here for it.

I’m absolutely flabbergasted by how disastrous this book turned out to be.

While I understand the concept was a bit outlandish, that’s not what made the story fall flat. The attempt at a plot was incredibly disjointed, and the characters kept making choices that were completely inconsistent with their motivations. Time and time again, the protagonist, Tem, would act in ways that contradicted her internal thoughts, leaving me confused and frustrated. What’s the point of creating all this drama in the end if she’s not even trying to save her father?

Nothing about the world or the events made sense. The basilisk were portrayed as incredibly powerful and easily able to overpower humans in the final scenes—despite not doing anything for years. The plot holes were so glaring that I couldn’t focus on anything else.

If the author wanted to write a sexy, controversial snake-shifter erotica, she should have gone for it, but trying to incorporate actual conflict and character development without properly following through with it was a huge mistake. Also, this book could have easily been 200 pages shorter.

Overall, this was another highly anticipated yet incredibly disappointing read for the year.

I could not read this fast enough. Wow! This is unlike anything I have ever read before. So addictive and an unhinged in the best way. I can’t wait to continue this series!

I loved this and I am so glad for it to be traditionally published. Just so fun, lovely spice, interesting characters and a 100% good time.

I LOVED this book!
Kiss of the Basilisk was SO fun, SO spicy and honestly I had the best time reading it. I personally loved the FMC and her character growth, she learned to be more confident and fiery and I found myself rooting for her, which is not always a given in books.
The relationship and bond she forms with the MMCs of the story felt incredibly natural and kept me on my toes the entire time, I just couldn't get enough of them together.

This book was so intriguing that I found the story's premise interesting, and it's nothing I've ever read before. Although a little long, that's not a problem on the author's part I just don't always prefer long books. I'm excited to see where the author takes this series.

this book was UNHINGED and so much fun oh my god 😂

i gotta say i was so unsure of this for a hot minute, the smut was all gas no brakes from start to finish and quite honestly i was starting to feel pretty over it by 23% but that teeny tiny bit of plot that was coming through had me just hooked enough to try to push on for at least a little while longer to see if we’d start getting somewhere. it wasnt until around 31% where i realized that even though the smut had no sign of slowing down everything was ok now bc somewhere along the lines i had become invested in all the three main characters and was finally like “hell yea brother” AHAHHA

i went through so many fucking emotions while reading this and honestly i dont think i could even name half of them 😂

but id be lying if i said i didnt have a damn good time with this one, i think this is the first love triangle book that didnt make me want to throw my kindle at the wall?! i was rooting for both men but more often than not i was pulling for leo (the blonde, gasp!!!) i wanted her boyfriends to become boyfriends, there was a small amount of time i was worried they would be brothers instead which couldve made one thing that happened a bit odd 😂 (but i mean who doesnt love a taboo slay every now and then so like maybe its still possible LOL).

the ending of this book put the red wedding to shame imo, iykyk 🙂‍↕️

the ending of the book also made me want to throw my kindle at the wall, wdym im to wait until the next book to find out what’ll happen!!! the horrors!!!

Thank you Bloom Books and Netgalley for the ARC of Kiss of the Basilisk!

I followed the authors instructions and truly went into this one completely blind and with 0 idea of what to expect. Honestly, I think that was the perfect way to experience this book.

It was smutty (so, so smutty), it had so much character development, a love triangle that I couldn’t even begin to choose a side of, and an element of shock factor that had me re-reading at times to make sure I read correctly. This book was truly everything and I will be reading literally everything Lindsay writes from here on out.

I am going to THROW UP
10000000000000/10 I can't wait for the rest of it. a carnal need, i fear I have converted

Kiss of the Basilisk is SO GOOD and unhinged in the best way. It truly is best to go in with the faintest idea of what happens. That being said, this is a SPICY shifter romance with some royal political intrigue and a touch of why choose. The lore behind the basilisks is fascinating, and I can't wait to find out more about their kingdom. It was definitely a wild ride in more ways than one, and I am excited to see where this series goes.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloom Books for giving me an ARC copy of this book!
For my rating I would have to give it a solid 4 stars possibly leaning on 3.75 stars. The tension, relationships, and building of the story was fantastic! I enjoyed learning about the history of the basilisks and the humans. It didn’t feel so long and drawn out but it was informative of why the set up was the way it was. I really enjoyed all the characters at the beginning. They were different from what I expected and seeing them developing was fantastic. Tem’s development in the beginning was great because she grew so much more confident and fiery. Not only that but the relationship that she has with the men in the story was believable and felt natural.
Now with that being said there was a lot I did not enjoy about this book. For one it was too long. This book could have been shortened so much and I wish it had been shorter. It felt like it dragged on and on especially towards the end. Not only that but the never ending spice got to be redundant and a little too much. It was sexy and sensual at first but then it was over kill. I like spice as much as the next girl but I needed less of it in this case. Tem was one of my favorite characters in the beginning but then she gave me the not like other girls vibe and it turned me away from her almost immediately. Tem started of great and then slowly started to get worse and worse as the story progressed. I am also a love triangle hater unless they all end up together in the end. So for me the ending was disappointing.
All in all I believe it is a solid read and I enjoyed it immensely despite some minor issues that bothered me mostly. I would definitely recommend it if you are a monster romance girly like myself!

This was such a wild ride and I enjoyed it immensely! It was so spicy and unhinged at times but the characters and the story still had me so interested and it was unlike anything I have ever read! Will for sure be recommending it and adding it to our library! It was so well written despite how wild it was!

This book was very odd and disturbing but also spicy. If you are not into smut, I wouldn’t recommend. I really just can’t get over how strange this book was. It just wasn’t for me. But I did think the cover was cool!

Thank you NetGalley, Lindsay and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the e-ARC!

Publication Date: Feb 25 2025
Rating: 🐍🐍

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this before. I was hooked! I went into this book totally blind and just enjoyed the ride. Definitely a must read.

sorry this is straight up AO3 shifter porn 😭 no air to breathe just straight into it! i have no idea what i was expecting but i mean i thought it said “spit or swallow novel” so honestly thats on me

Seeing this being trad publish is AMAZING and our lemon queen deserves it!! It’s 700+ pages (and I’d eat up more tbh) of unhinged, swoon worthy, smutty, amazing shifter romance that I could not put down. The plot was plotting and the basilisk was…well I’ll let you read it and find out 🙂‍↕️😌
#teamcaspen

Thank you SOURCEBOOKS Bloom books for this eARC!!

EDIT FEB 25: i received an ARC copy of Kiss of the Basilisk from Bloom via NetGalley. i haven't reread the entire thing (yet), but i did read leo's epilogue and I MISS HIM SO MUCH. and there is some closure in there about tem's parents, which i appreciated! still some unanswered questions, but that's what book 2 is for!! and lindsay's little snippets of leo's letters to tem give me the strength to wait.

EDIT FEB 22: i’m giving this five stars. i think about this book almost every day. i still stand by that i am caspens NUMBER ONE HATER. but i love this book. and lindsay is so cool.

ORIGINAL REVIEW OF SPLIT OR SWALLOW FROM SEPT 28 - beware spoilers:
if caspen has a million haters i'm one of them
if he has one hater it's me
if he has zero haters i'm dead

gaslight gatekeep girlboss caspen

i honestly don't know what to rate this one. i was having such a great time until the end. even though i HATED caspen for most of it, i loved hating him. on the flip side, i LOVED leo.

i just ... really didn't like the ending. like i have not been so upset with an ending since season 4 of veronica mars and i cried for days about that.

i was on board until tem crested leo. she could have crested LITERALLY anyone else, but she crests leo?? because caspen tell her to?? and then she sends leo away to find evelyn?? WHAT IF EVELYN IS DEAD?? WHAT IF SHE'S WITH SOMEONE ELSE?? WHAT IF LEO DIDN'T WANT TO DO THAT?? tem could have said "i want you to go find evelyn IF YOU WANT TO". she claimed she was bestowing agency on leo after he spent his entire life without it, BUT THATS NOT GIVING HIM AGENCY!! telling him to DO something knowing he literally cannot deny the request is not giving him agency.

and then what else happened? what happens to tem's mom and dad? are her and caspen king and queen of both 'kingdoms' together? what about the other quiver? does the village just automatically accept tem as queen after treating her like literal shit all her life? do they know she's a hybreed?

don't get me wrong, i did enjoy this book. i recorded myself reading the last half of it because i knew it was going to be insane (basically from the ritual onwards). it was a fun and wild ride until the wedding.

i'm glad lindsay included the challengers scene because that's my canon ending until leo gets his happy ending. and honestly, it doesn't even need to be with tem because by the end of it, i kind of hated her too.