Keri Lake's Masterful Blend of Salt & Bones: A Tale of Mystery and Intrigue

R: Id like to think of myself as a dark romance book connoisseur as I’ve read so many. This absolutely hit the spot. The gothic feel, the twists and turns. Keri is an amazing story teller and I will definitely be recommending this to my friends and to all who read this review.

United Kingdom on Dec 21, 2023

Jessica Dungan: Loved this book! The pacing was great, the story was engrossing, and I loved the character development. Can’t say enough good things.

United States on Dec 14, 2023

Paige TocciPaige Tocci: Master of Salt & Bones by Keri Lake review (no spoilers)

♾️/5 ⭐️
4/5🌶️

🏰gothic dark romance
🎹murder/mysteries
🏰age gap
🎹spicy
🏰touch her & d!e
🎹secret society
🏰dual POV & a past timeline for Lucian

“we’re the composers, the conductor’s of our own fate, and we write the notes to a beautiful, dark melody that no one else can hear.”

this book was AMAZING ❤️‍🔥
i couldn’t put this book down for anything .
this book gives beauty & the beast / phantom of the opera vibes with a lot more going on . Lucian hires Isadora to help take care of his mom, not his nurse but a companion for her . Isadora has a painful past & she’s willing to do anything to get out of town to make some money , even if that means working for a guy with a thousand bad rumors about him . the way Lucian talks to Isadora is like he’s speaking poetry without even trying . the wording & quotes in this book were chiefs kiss . the spice in this book was gold 🔥 the plot of this book is super original & sooooo twisty . i think there were 5 different twists at the end & i had my jaw...

United States on Sep 29, 2023

Kaylee Littel: 🎼"You're the first time I feel safe."
"And you're the first time I've felt anything in a long time.🎼

🎼This is a standalone dark gothic romance and it deals with some very heavy kinks and traumatic experiences. It gives me Phantom of The Opera meets Crimson Peak vibes which are my favorites! The twists and turns in the plot of this book also give us a couple of insane mysteries to unravel! The whole time you're going between this breathtaking (literally) romance and some very dark and mysterious secrets.

🎼In Master of Salt & Bones specifically, the romance was top tier. The sexiness, love, and passion was so perfect I was constantly wanting more. The banter between the main characters as well as the side characters was amazing. The relationships were so well developed which I loved with this being a standalone.

🎼The quote above says a lot about dark romance in general. There is so much safety and healing found in it and that was so prevalent in this book. The amount of pain and trauma that both characters were put through in there past was very hard to get through but so worth it to watch them overcome on their own and...

Canada on Sep 10, 2023

Andrea: THIS. BOOK. K*LLED. ME. Honestly, I don't know what c*ack Keri put into this book but I was addicted from the beginning. Lucian and Isa will always have a special place in my heart 🤍

"𝑻𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆."

I am not gonna say much about the story, trust me and go into it blind! If you want to read modern gothic tale, very mysterious, s*icy, suspensful, twisted in many ways, that will keep you on the edge and captivate you... THIS IS IT. Scary, sensual, unpredictable, dark and haunting. Dark romance perfection!

“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒅*𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑨𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑫𝒓*𝒈𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘...

Germany on Nov 19, 2022

Dona M.: My first Keri lake book and it blew me in a million pieces. Lucian Blackthorne will forever be in the list of heroes that are just imperfectly perfect,
This story was embedded in dark notes of love, secrets and pain with deceptive background of elegance. I am a fan and i am off to read backlog.

India on Jun 07, 2022

Helena @bookverseofmadness: Esse livro aborda tanta coisa, que a sinopse não faz jus a sua intensidade e a quantidade de temas que ele traz. Um encontro entre uma jovem de 19 anos, excluída socialmente, lutadora e com uma história sofrida, com um homem rico, quebrado, de 32 anos visto como um demônio pela sociedade e cheio de mistérios no seu passado. Aos poucos as camadas de cada um deles vão sendo reveladas e teremos o Pov do Lucian no presente e passado para conhecer esse personagem fascinante e complexo. Isa corre atrás de uma oportunidade única de conseguir dinheiro pra sair dessa vila de pescadores (que só lhe trouxe julgamento e dor) indo trabalhar no castelo dos Blackthornes, em Bonesalt. Em uma atmosfera sensual e sombria, segredos são descobertos, mentiras contadas e dúvidas surgem sobre o que é real e o que foi imaginado. Temos vários gatilhos e temas sensíveis abordados, leiam com cautela, mas o final não decepciona, com plot twist que vai te surpreender é um final feliz que não é de conto de fadas. Amei a escrita da autora é já quero ler seus outros romances Darks, os quotes salvos desse livro estão incríveis.
“Juntos somos uma loucura, e há música na loucura, e...

Brazil on Mar 03, 2022

Lady Reading: This story is told in dual character perspective and in dual time periods ... present and past, mostly Lucian's (the H) but some of Isa's (the h) as well.

It deals with some serious issues: i.e., mental illness, physical/emotional abuse, rape, pedophilia. It also introduces an organization whose purpose is to explore and conduct experiments regarding the similarities and differences between sadists, schadenfreuders and psychopaths as well as their genetic traits. Schedenfreude, if you're not familiar with the term, is getting pleasure/gratification in seeing another's pain, suffering or humiliation as opposed to sadism which is getting pleasure/gratification by actually causing/inflicting same. Gratification can be sexual or otherwise.

In spite of the organization having a major role in this story, the budding romance between Lucian and Isa involves very little in the BDSM realm. Instead, the organization's role is in how it (or its members) effected their formative years and the danger it represents to them now.

I was expecting a fairly easy-read, dark romance about a scarred, rich, powerful recluse with a slow reveal of what really happened to his wife and...

United States on Oct 23, 2021

Cattle Pillar: I've found out that I really love Keri Lake's books even though I'm not the type to go in for dark stories for the most part. I loved the Juniper Unraveling series and decided to try this book out. I'm glad I did because it kept me reading way past my bedtime. I was riveted.

Some spoilers ahead:

This book gets 4 stars instead of the 5 stars I gave the Juniper Unraveling books because of a few things that were never resolved. I was disappointed that Isa's piano/music talents were never explored and I wondered why it was even brought up all said and done. Since Lucien was also a very talented writer of music, I thought maybe they would combine their talents and something would come of it. The bookstore was kind of an afterthought that didn't really fit for me. Yes, she liked to read and liked books, but her natural talent was for music so it just felt strange. Plus, she hates that town so why work/own a shop there?

Also, I thought the gardens would be revived in some way and that never came to pass either. I thought that would be a great metaphor for the light that Isa brought to Lucien's life over time, and the lifting of Laura's black cloud that shrouded the...

United States on Jan 17, 2021