A Lesson In Thorns- Sierra Simone

About this book:

Once upon a time, six children stumbled upon a wild place hidden deep in the moors, shrouded by secrets and fog. There we played a game among the roses and the thorns that would change us forever, that would follow us the rest of our lives. A game that ended with a hard kiss in the rain and tattered flower petals fluttering from above…

And twelve years later, we’re back.  

The heir.
The dreamer.
The priest.
The genius.
The socialite.
The saint.

I’m not going to dream of a forgotten place covered in thorns every night.
I won’t be enchanted by Thornchapel and its glossy, glamorous people. I’m not going to fall in love or have my heart torn in two.

I’m not telling the truth.

Because as this place slowly tightens its coil of secrets and thorns around us, as we uncover the knotted mysteries that grow here, the six of us begin to unravel into filthy, holy pleasure and pain.  Fulfilling the promise we once made as children in those whispering ruins, and awakening a fate that will either anoint us or leave us in ashes…

Release Date: 21st March, 2019.

What I think?

“Thornchapel waited. And in a clearing in the woods, in a church ruined by thorns and time, something stirred. Something called all six of them by name.”

I. Am. Speechless.

omgthisjustmightbethebestbookihavereadbecausefuckthewritingkilledme.

I had chills.

I kid you not. I started this book at night after hitting my bed, and all I read was the prologue and I broke down in bloody goosebumps.

How many times has that happened, you ask? Less than a handful, I assure you. I could probably count on the lines of two fingers how many times a book gave me chills. And that too, was long after I was deeply engrossed in the story. But with this one, my head was firmly planted on five stars the moment the prologue ended.

And that is how brilliant and haunting this book was.

I don’t even know where to start with this review to be honest, but we gotta start from somewhere I guess- so let’s start with 3 ruined panties, 4 cold-showers, and about 8-9 victims of involuntary public moaning, and one friend who is convinced I’m a sex fiend.

I guess you get where I’m going with this one, eh?

This book was a study in contrast- when you think of erotica, you’re usually thinking a lot of dirty talk, filthy sex, and a general lack of deep plot. No? Just me? Anyways, what you’re probably not thinking is writing as graceful and elegant as they come, and a story that wraps itself around you like thorns until you’re fucking throbbing for more, see what I did there? *wink wink*

I’ll try to articulate my feelings better.

MY REACTIONS TO THIS BOOK BASED ON THE LOCATION—

• At night in bed: Hiding under the covers, because surely someone in the empty room is going to look at you all judgy eyed.
• In the bus to college: Looking around like a maniac after every page, because there is no way the entire crowded bus does not know you’re turned on as hell.
• Under the desk during advanced Math lecture: Moaning. Indecent public moaning. And a trail of a scarred professor who probably thinks you’re flunking this semester because those moans sounded tragic, a bunch of startled classmates who just don’t know what to think of such rampant behavior, and a non-reader friend who is deeply concerned for your mental health.

A Lesson In Thorns follows of six friends: Proserpina, St. Sebastian, Auden, Beckett, Rebecca, and Delphine, as all of them reunite after 12 years at the place that has been calling them for just as long, and where it all began-

Thornchapel.

“I bloom like a rose when I’m handled like a weed”

And I won’t say anything else, because this book is an experience, and even little Miss Ruin-it-all-with-spoilers won’t give them away this time. Because this is perfect.

Hunting imagery, a deep sense of magic weeding through reality, a missing person/murder mystery, and six unashamedly bisexual friends result in what is probably one of the most unique books I have ever read so far. And I have read a lot of them to make this statement.

I will be honest with ya’ll though, I have never read Sierra’s books before (which in hindsight 20/20, let it be known, I’m a bloody idiot).

*let the public stoning begin* 

But before you start with the rotten tomatoes, hear me out completely.

While I haven’t really read her before, I have listened to the audiobook of Misadventure with a Professor, (which is a great book, and I definitely recommend it) and I really really enjoyed it. It was one of my first audiobooks, and perhaps one of the few things that turned me into a newly blushing not-a-bride; and I knew I was going to go back to this author sometime soon.

Well at least as soon as I could see anything past the dark cloud of my overbooked arse.

So when I was asked to review this book, I jumped at the chance to, and I am so fucking glad because Simone’s writing is unparalleled. I don’t read a lot of writing styles that get to me this much, and have me all addicted to them, but I have a feeling, that is exactly what is going to happen here with this one.

That is if I survive until June, when the next book comes out. Fuck my life!

I’ll just end this surprisingly for a change review and not a incoherent rant with this—

A Lesson In Thorns is a study in sensual elegance, and I have to give it to Sierra, the woman can somehow make even the most impervious one of us blush. ‘Nuff said.  

You don’t know what it’s like to see someone you care about, someone you’d tear out a lung to talk to, and you can’t. You can’t talk to them because what you’ve done to each other in the past is an iron door without a lock between you.

—Get this book—

About this author:

Sierra is a voracious reader of all things including the smuttiest smut, young adult, piles of non-fiction for research, and everything Bill Bryson (especially on audio).

She loves writing the dirtiest things that she can think of, King Arthur, sparkling water, Tarot, coffee, leggings, and learning new words daily. 

Her previous jobs have included firing ceramics, teaching living history lessons in one-room school house in full, 1908-approved school marm attire, and working as a librarian for several years—not in that order

She lives in the Kansas City area with her hot cop husband, two children, and two giant dogs. (And two cats, but they’re so naughty we don’t talk about them.)