BITTER BURN
Series: Lyonesse #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance, MMF
Author: Sierra Simone
Release Date: September 30, 2025
I think it’s important that you know this about me, that you understand this: I’m not sorry.
I’d do it again.
After my husband died eight years ago, I made vengeance my only purpose, my religion, my destiny. But to get to my enemy, I had to make myself like him. He had a kingdom of secrets? Then I would make an empire. He had blood on his hands? Then I would bathe in it.
But Tristan and Isolde changed everything. I hadn’t counted on wanting them, needing them; I hadn’t counted on how it felt to watch the two of them fall in love. I’d thought I had everything under control—I’d thought I was safe from my own long-dead heart. I’d never imagined that the wronged husband, the jealous king from my childhood fairy tales, would be played by none other than me.
It no longer matters what I used to believe. My enemy is ready to finish the game, and for the first time in eight years, I have pieces on the board I can’t afford to lose. I’ll burn the entire world to keep Tristan and Isolde safe, I’ll scorch the earth—but as any good assassin will tell you, fire will only get a man so far, because there’s always something left in the ashes. And for the three of us, it’s the cold, bitter bones of the truth: their story begins and ends with me.
And every story needs a villain…
if I were the god of my own little world, I would have you and Tristan at my fingertips, and I would spend my days and nights afflicting you with my attention.
ALL OF THE STARS. ALL OF THEM. I am left utterly speechless and completely in awe. Sierra Simone’s words are an out of body experience. And that’s what this story was, an experience. Having read the books in this trilogy as they came out was a torture in its own right. But the wait for the conclusion after the jaw dropping cliffhanger in Honey Cut was extra painful. Having finished Bitter Burn, I can say with utmost certainty that this story was worth every agonizing second of the wait.
We got to be fully in the heads of Isolde and Tristan and it was finally Mark’s turn. And Mark Trevena, the man you are…
“I’ve already told you that sir will do.
This beautifully broken soul completely enraptured me. Being inside his head was an experience like no other. Seeing his cunningness, his longness, his desperation, his fierce protectiveness and his sacrifice was something altogether holy.
But the masterfulness that was this story is what had me binge reading well past my bedtime. And I’m old, so my bedtime is like 8:30. I was up until midnight, people. This was crazy for me. But I digress.
Though there were parts that felt a bit too focused on religion, it was all so masterfully woven together, that I barely noticed something that would likely bother me in any other book. Just when I thought I had my head wrapped around something, a twist would fly at me and leave me reeling…until the next one, and the next one. You can clearly see Sierra was playing the long game with Mark and oh man, the sheer brilliance of it left me speechless.
Did I finish this book, or did it finish me? Definitely the latter. I finished it 2 nights ago and I still can’t seem to stop thinking about it.
If you loved Sierra’s New Camelot then you will be feral for Lyonesse. This is easily one of my top 3 favorite books I’ve read this year and that’s saying something because I’ve read some fantastic ones. This story had me in a chokehold and I’ll be thinking about it for weeks if not months.
If an MMF retelling of Tristan and Isolde with spies, secret societies, revenge, and some of the hottest sex scenes you will ever read sounds good, then you need this trilogy in your life.
Sierra Simone is a USA Today Bestselling former librarian (who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk.) She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.
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