Dark. Depraved. Atmospheric. Absolutely delicious. Master of Salt & Bones is a gothic fever dream where trauma, lust, and danger collide behind the crumbling walls of a haunted manor. Lucian Blackthorne is the kind of broken, brutal hero you shouldn’t want—but do. (I did, anyway. So deliciously tortured and obsessive.) And Isa? She walks straight into the shadows and stays. She turned out to be a pleasant surprise of a character and had more depth than I gave her credit for at the beginning of the book. Keri Lake weaves a chilling tale of a scarred recluse and a broken young woman trapped in a house full of secrets. With lush prose, slow-burn tension, and just a dash of horror, this book is not for the faint of heart, but perfect for readers who crave beauty in the dark.
This book is a potent, dark, emotionally intense romance, best suited for readers who want to be disturbed, haunted, and very aware that love in this story comes with high cost (so, me). If you go into it expecting a fairy‐tale rescue, you might be disappointed… If you go into it wanting gothic horror + erotic tension + depth of psychological scars, you are likely to find something rare and memorable (I did).
Final verdict: A strong pick for dark romance lovers who can handle triggering content. For me, the more problematic elements (graphic violence, age gap, power dynamics) are less so because it’s a book so I know that no humans were harmed in its creation. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but deeply effective in its genre.