Master of Salt & Bones

By: Keri Lake

Narrated by: Stefanie Kay, Ryan West

Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

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 fairytale twisted into something far more crooked—and darker—than I ever 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.

©2020 Keri Lake (P)2023 Podium Audio

Kept Me On My Toes

Hello there, Dark and Twisty book! Man, this one made me go nuts (The good kind) with all the plot twists and SHOCKS. I thought I had a good sense of where this book was going at first... THOUGHT. Just know going into this book, not all is laid out bare until the very end!

To me, this falls along the line of a dark Beauty and the Beastish retelling, even though I don't think that was the intent. But it's got everything. A Castle, A young girl looking for work, A broody, MUCH OLDER "Master of the Castle" with so many dark secrets and traumatic past...WITH A beast like appearance (Scars and a huge figure), and more!

I was thoroughly roughed up with this book, let me tell you. LITERAL WHIPLASH.

The only reason why this wasn't a 5/5 was the constant back and forth to the past then back to the present day. A lot of it was extremely confusing at first. But once the pace picked up, it was much more easy to grasp the concept. I also felt there were some characters thrown in last minute for dramatic effect. That's cool and all, but there was SO MUCH Story happening. Side story after side story, plot point after plot point.

At the end of this book journey though, I was impressed and will be recommending this to anyone looking for a darkish romance. This one is a page turner!!!

Plot 4/5
Narration FMC 5/5 MMC 5/5
Spice... 4/5. There was spice, dont get me wrong, but it is not the point of this book. So some details were lacking. But Over-all the spice was organic with the plot!

A dangerous and mysterious ride

This was a dangerously mystifying ride. This book takes a plunge into a secret society full of triggers, but if you can make it past the dangerous loops and turns, you’ll be rewarded with a seductive little twist.

Loved it all around!

Loved the narration! For only being 2 narrators you knew each different characters. On the sample I wasn’t sure I would like it but I’m glad I bought it. Loved it all around.

It was a good plot, narration good

I got this book on a buy-one-get-one-free audible sale, and it sounded dark and interesting. I read all sorts of romance, so I was excited to see the good reviews and decided to immediately start this deep romance.
Narration was pretty good, and the storyline was really interesting. However, I was a disappointed in the attraction of these 2. I just don’t see it. The thing that really got to me was the immaturity of isa. It’s not the age difference. I know she’s 19-I don’t have an issue with her age, but she certainly acted 19 not “more mature” than people her age as stated numerous times. And if they have all this darkness in their past, that should be the attraction- not why she leaves every minute she hears a rumor. I found it so confusing and contrasted with the character building in the beginning of the novel. It needed some editing, but the storyline was good and flowed but the reason they were drawn to each other, the whole reason I bought the book, was to truly see the attraction and romance, and it was amiss until the last chapter or two. Disappointing.

Twists!

Very good book. Loving Keri Lake's writing style & attention to detail. I love that's there's more than one story happening & it really keeps your attention & pull to read more. This book has a lot of curves & I love it. The narration was fantastic on both parts, male & female. Would listen again. Spice is good but plot is better.

5/5

Great story!!!
I definitely should have read the TW/CW but I was able to get through it and I’m so glad I did! My vision of my knight in shining gray armor just keeps getting “worse” 🤣
Crazy plot twist too!

What a marvelous written story!

Loved this story! Perfectly well written!! Being from Massachusetts and raided in the Boston area I loved the back drop of the story.

Review

Loved listening to this audio book as much as I did reading it. Keri Lake is absolutely amazing.

Dark and gritty and perfect

Draws you in and keeps you on the edge the whole way through. That's not an easy task for an author to do, but Keri does it masterfully.

Riveting!!

Absolutely loved this! Completely kept my interest from beginning to end, could not put it down!!