Cocktails and Books's Review of A Lesson in Thorns (Thornchapel, #1)

by Sierra Simone

Twelve years ago my mother disappeared into the fog-shrouded moors of Thornchapel.

I left her memory there, along with the others. Of my childhood friends, playing in the woods. Of the crumbling, magical world we found, and of the promises we made beneath the wild roses. I moved on, building a life as a librarian in America, far away from the remote manor where my mother was last seen alive.

And then the letter arrives.

A single word, in her handwriting, calling me back to England. Followed by a job offer I could never refuse, from a person I never could resist: Auden Guest. The new owner of Thornchapel, the seductive, elegant man I met as an imperious little boy when we were both children. Inside his private library, I begin to uncover the ancient secrets of the house--and the ones hidden inside my heart.

It's so very easy to be drawn back into the world of Auden's friends . . . and into the world of his worst enemy, St. Sebastian Martinez. The beautiful and brooding St. Sebastian is as irresistible as he ever was, and the three of us can't seem to unknot ourselves from each other. From the hasty promise we three made all those years ago.

As Thornchapel slowly tightens its coil of truths and lies around us, our reluctant threesome starts unravelling into filthy, holy pleasure and pain. Together we've awakened a fate that will either bloom like a rose . . . or destroy us all.

This review was originally posted on Cocktails and Books

Cocktails and Books received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.After finishing A Lesson in Thorns, I'm still torn about how I feel about it. The author's erotic prose always piques my interest because she pushes my boundaries. But this story was different. Yes, there were characters who enjoyed their own brand of kink or were discovering it. However, it was how this circle of 6 connected that continued to wreak havoc with me. Why were they together that fateful summer? And why were Auden and his band of friends so determined to bring the remaining members back to Thornchapel? These questions plagued me as I read the book. But then I found myself questioning the characters. I couldn't get a feeling from them and that me question them. Their combined anger, naivety, confusion and loneliness made me a confused mess....just like them.I'm holding out hope that book 2 in this series will bring a bit understanding into what was happening and why, along with connecting with the characters. We'll see.

A Lesson in Thorns (Thornchapel, #1)

by Sierra Simone

Reviewed by Cocktails and Books on Mar 24, 2019

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