Unfortunately I think this book is miss-marketed. I found the plot to be confounding and poorly constructed, heavily interspersed with non-sequitor sex scenes. I did not feel we really got to know the characters very much past their sexual interests. It would probably find a more appropriate audience being marketed as erotica.

Spicy is an understatement for this book. As long as the reader pays attention to the content warnings, they are in for a thrilling ride with “Lie That Bind.” While it is at first difficult to adjust to the rhythm and style of writing, the book quickly picks up and the mystery begins to unfold. Readers looking for a lighthearted read should not look here - rather those drawn by the dark underbelly of life and the complicated realities of desire.

I should preface this review with one thing. This is very dark and very erotic. Kinda reminded me of works like Let’s Get F***
up and die. Not what I was expecting, but still a strong workZ

This book was so VERY much not for me. It is primarily erotica with loose connecting threads, which is not what I was looking for, or what I expected from the description. More critically, it is VERY dark in its themes and storytelling (including gratuitous depictions of abusive relationships, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence) which I was also not expecting from the description. These elements were made more clear with content warnings after I started the book, however I went into it with the wrong expectations. And even with the content warnings, based on the premise of the book I expected these elements to appear as a tragic backstory, rather than forming the active basis of the plot.

This story follows Lorelei and Adele, whos failure to communicate in their relationship pushes them to seek fulfillment elsewhere. In the process they get drawn into a dark web of violence, cult worship, and abuse. (I'd like to note that the cult worship is never very well explained and takes place primarily over about 5 pages of the climax). The plot elements that surround the erotic elements of this book are very thin, with the spiritualism element appearing very briefly and tangentially.

If you're looking for sapphic DARK erotica this may be the book for you, but please note the content warnings going in, and be aware that they feature heavily in many scenes that are described in great detail.