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 … 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.
From the author of the USA Today bestselling New Camelot series comes an original contemporary fairy tale full of lantern-lit rituals, hungry desire, and obsessions that last for lifetimes…
A Lesson in Thorns is the first book in the Thornchapel Quartet.
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WOW! Absolutely amazing. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I definitely would.
This book has so much going on. The past and the present recurring. The constant slow burn of sexual chemistry is palpable and delicious torture. The unknown intrigue is intense! The 6 of them all intermingled somehow, sexually too. Will this be a big orgy? With their feelings be revealed? Will they live openly with their true feelings for each other? I can’t to read the next book. It can’t come soon enough!
Loved the blurb and loved the concept of this story but for me the story was too drawn out with all the sex scenes… if you love full on gang bangs and everyone at it then you’ll find this super hot. I can’t deny Sierra Simone does write some hot sex scenes but I think towards the end I must have skip read over 10% of sex and without the story progressing. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good hot sexy book but I love a super twisted book more and I felt this book was drawn out because of the sex. A lot of it didn’t really bring anything to the story.
Finishing on a cliff hanger , I’m not sure if I’m invested enough to keep going with the story but I still have as many questions at the end as I did to start with… I want the answers but this didn’t hold my interest in some places.
With a very characteristic writing that we all are used to from Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns, the first book in the Thornchapel series, is mystical, almost like a time travel through the past, intense and mysterious!
The book left me a little confused with the lack of information about certain situations, but I’m pretty sure that all my doubts will dissipate with the continuation of the series. I think this was more an introduction to the whole story, meant to keep the reader interested and hooked on it.
6 kids, one summer, several years later together again in a “adventure” of a lifetime. Kink, sin, death, secrets a lot of self discover, makes this book very intense.
There were some things I thought it was too much, like forced into the plot and that didn’t flow well, but I know Sierra Simone is a fantastic story teller and will surprise us all with what is to come.
That being said, I’m very curious about these 6 friends and what their future hold!
After reading this book, I had to take a few hours to process the content. I was so impressed and enthralled by this story that includes pagan and religious themes, individuals with such high sexuality, that they didn’t discriminate the gender of the subject of their lust. You need to read this book with an open mind savor the delicacies of the author’s prose, her elaborate descriptions of the scenes, the imagery she evokes in the reader.
There are six characters in this story that are intricately involved, starting with an experience in a hidden chapel. Six kids go exploring through a maze in Thornchapel while their parents party in the mansion. They find a tunnel that leads to a chapel and have a spiritual experience that marks their souls forever. Twelve years later, Proserpina comes back to Thornchapel to catalog and inventory the library books. She has a hidden second purpose, which is to investigate her mother’s disappearance years ago and which she thinks is linked to Thornchapel. There she finds Auden, who is now the owner of the estate, Delphine who is now his fiancée and Rebecca, who is working with Auden in the remodel of the estate and grounds. Beckett is a frequent weekend visitor and is now a priest assigned to a nearby church. St. Sebastián lives in the village nearby but is an outcast, now an enemy of Auden.
Each character has secrets in their past, a hidden lust for one of characters in the group, and as a whole, have unresolved issues. Auden, Beckett, St. Sebastián and Proserpina have struggles with dreams and feelings about what happened twelve years ago. This book develops into a fantastic elaborate recreation of past happenings, gradual unveiling of secrets, new arrangements of sexual encounters. Meanwhile, they are searching for the meaning of their dreams, their urges, they want to connect to the one they lust for, examine their sexual urges, play with some Dom/sub interaction. Their sexual exploration, united with the pagan and religious explorations make for a very riveting and addictive read.
The book ends in a cliffhanger, and I really have no idea how this will end, after so many twists that I went though with this book. Loved it and am waiting impatiently for the sequel!
A Lesson in Thorns was epic! I loved every minute of it. Before I read the blurb for this book I knew I needed it by the cover, love it. Sierra Simone has a way of writing and creating characters that you can’t get enough of.
This book revolves around six characters whose lives are entwined and change twelve years down the road. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time wondering what was happening next. Get ready for mystery with lots of twists and turns along the way. I am so ready for the next book! I highly recommend it!
This book was so riveting!! You are literally on edge the entire time wondering what comes next!
The mysteriousness and thrill of it all keeps you guessing what secrets will be reveal at Thorn chapel.
It has this well written plot that keeps you up all night wondering who did what and who is with whom. And the intimacy of it all will leave you hot and bothered!!
I can’t wait for the other books!! I still have so many questions about Auden, Poe and St. Sebastian!!
This book is definitely a favorite of mine an highly recommended!!!
This book pulls you in from the very beginning. Each one of the characters is vastly different and beautiful written. Sierra Simone wrote a book that keeps you so engrossed that you can’t wait to turn the page to see what’s next. The mystery of Thornchapel Is so intriguing and magical. I really can’t wait to see what’s to come.
Dark. Seductive. Haunting. Erotic. Enigmatic. Lies. Betrayals. Secrets. Obsession. Murder.
This is the book in a nutshell. It all started with that unforgettable summer and after all these years still wouldn’t let our characters go; that inexplicable pull of Thornchapel still haunts them even when they are far apart.
This is my first read from the author and I have heard a lot of praises about her work. Upon seeing the cover of this book, I was hooked; drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I was pulled into the story just like our complicated and angst-ridden characters were drawn to the call and mysterious beauty of Thornchapel.
The writing is exceptional. The story seduces you to let go of your beliefs and inhibitions loose as you embrace the inevitable. I deemed the slow build up necessary to lay the ground work for the succeeding installment, and for the beautiful unraveling of its characters and story. The amount of sexual tension in this book is off the charts, enough to power a nuclear ready to explode and annihilate everyone on its radius. I felt like I was running a fever with the way I burn for these characters’ hot, intense, sexy, erotic moments…. and this is just the start. Oh boy. I guess I’ll just silently pine and waste away while I wait for book 2 on June *dramatically sighs*.
Five masterful stars! Suspenseful, angsty and forbidden. A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone will ruin readers to the core.
Captivating, sensual, intriguing. A Lesson in Thorns is an erotic spell filled with mythical magic and kinky perversion that seduced me from the very first page. Sierra Simone has taken her writing to a magisterial level. There is no doubt that she has crown herself as the queen of kinky, perverse and taboo romances! A Lesson in Thorns is darkish perfection packed in a sinful symphony of tempting craves and forbidden desires. It is a storm of erotic depravity and ardent fire. It is an explosion of seduction and an awaking of sex mixed with innocence. It is dark and poetic. It is obsessing and sinfully unique.
I have lost my mind and soul over this book. I’m OBSESSED and craving for MORE. Such an extraordinary way to start a NEW ADDICTING series. A Lesson in Thorns took me by surprise. It is unlike anything I have read and I dare to say that it is the best book I’ve read over the year. It is going directly to my top list of favourite reads in 2019. It is EVERYTHING a reader crave. This is Sierra Simone at her best.
The plot and argument are original en brilliantly developed, like a web of erotic passion and rampant and dark desires. The pacing is fast. With wonderful and complex characters that add scorching hot attraction. Their tale flows forbiddingly smooth between perversion and sin, passion and kink, awakening and craving.
This is the story of six souls marked by thorns and blood who will discover a world of mythology, forbidden customs and sinful rituals. Six hearts that will beat to the same tempo. Six human beings who will find out their most secret desires and perverse hunger for sex, poisoned lust and unrestrained passion.
Poe, Auden, Saint, Delphine, Rebecca and Becket. The virgin, the heir, the unwanted, the socialite, the prodigy and the priest. Six different characters tied by a place which calls their souls to sin and let their inhibitions rule their obscure desires. Their story is an intriguing journey full of depravity, sensual and erotic lust mixed with overwhelming attraction. Thornchapel sealed their fate, enchanted them, seduced them and called them. A mystical site where pagan rituals and taboo ceremonies took place surrounded by thorns, roses and forest, where the air whispers unforgiving secrets and the earth hide death and blood.
Suspenseful, angsty and forbidden. A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone will ruin readers to the core. This is a powerful masterpiece cocooned in temptation and awakening. Prepare yourself to discover the hidden secrets of Thornchapel…
Can I just say that I completely over the moon with this story!!
I am so hooked that I am literally almost in tears that I have to wait to get the next book in this series. I am not going to lie, Sierra Simone has a way with her words that will leave you entranced and completely captivated from the moment you open up your book or kindle to the very last page.
These six individuals this story is about will leave you panting, the story line is impeccably written to the point that you will not find one flaw throughout this story. Everything is in sync, premise and to the point.
I loved the whole aspect of the story that it was so hard to put down for even a minute.
I hate that I have to wait to continue on the journey of these six individuals and see where it leads us and what they discover and uncover as the story unfolds and the mysteries are solved.
Good Lord, what I have just read… Only Sierra Simone can write something so incredibly sexy and depraving. A Lesson in Thorns is a book that’s so shrouded in mystery that you sometimes feel the paranormal vibe. Eroticism rises from every page and waiting for the development of events keeps you in constant suspense. Most of the time I had goosebumps while reading this story…
I can’t explain this story without revealing important events and what could say more than the description of the book. But let me say this- A Lesson in Thorns is a story about six friends who know each other since childhood and who meet after 12 years in a place that has ‘connected’ them and what brings them back together. The heir, the dreamer, the priest, the genius, the socialite, the saint. We can sense a myriad of emotions between them- love, hatred, passion, lust. They are connected by love and friendship but we also sense jealousy and betrayal between them. Each of these people has their own story and hides their own pain. Each of them evokes the reader’s sympathy and we wish their happy ending with all our strength. Their intertwined fates are shrouded in secrets and mysteries. During their stay near Thornchapel, they learn a lot about themselves and about each other. They find fulfillment of their hidden desires. Religion and myths combine with passion and lust and all of this this causes reader’s dizziness.
Sierra Simone has created an extraordinary story that immediately captivates. I have never read anything like this before. I feel like someone has sprinkled me with magical dust, which evokes arousal and sharpens the senses. Plus the author has finished the book with such a cliffhanger that you feel insatiable and you just crave more. I can’t wait for the other books in this series!
I don’t even know where to begin! Just wow! I will keep this review short because I want to keep it spoiler-free. This book was a sexy, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance that involves a story around 6 childhood friends. This book has so many feels and aspects. The plot and characters are unique and addicting. Sierra’s did a fantastic job of using descriptive words that had me feeling as if I were there with them, seeing what they were seeing and feeling all of the feels. I highly recommend grabbing this book and buckling up for a wild, steamy ride!
****ARC generously provided in exchange for an honest review.****
Oh my my, this first story in the Thornchapel series blew my socks off! The story starts in the past with 6 kids who become friends and share exploration adventures together during a summer while their parents collectively work on a project in a mansion they are all staying in England. At the end of the summer they separate with some returning to the United States where they live. Twelve years pass before they are curiously brought back together as twenty-something adults, to the same estate they explored as children. Poe, our main heroine, is the only one who hasn’t stayed in active contact with the others, and thus is trying to decipher awkward moments, some full of tension, between some of the others. The story is told from 6 points of view, which could get confusing except for the mastery of the author who does an excellent job of providing introspective thoughts from each of the 6 as she works to unravel the mysteries of Thornchapel and what their parents were doing 12 years ago. I cannot wait to see how everything plays out in the books to come!
A Lesson In Thorns by Sierra Simone is a sexy, twisted, kinky start to a fabulous series.
Sierra Simone has crafted an incredibly intricate story. I absolutely savored every single word.
The layers to this amazingly crafted story are so good. The storyline, the characters are perfection. The characters are amazingly written! And I loved them all.
I cannot wait to see where this Thornchapel series takes me in the future. A Lesson in Thorns is just the beginning of their story.
“I bloom like a rose when I’m handled like a weed”
This book is about more than just three people, it’s the story of six. Six kids who formed a bond over one magical summer that they never forgot. It’s a story of magic and lust and mystery and rituals. When I read it I got this feeling that the air was murky and rich with magic, everything felt so heavy and thick and exciting. This series, I can tell already, is not your typical story, yes it’s kinky and yes the men are broody but there is so much more to it. We are taken on a journey of self discovery, a search for the truth, a journey of sexual awakening and this is just the first book in the series.
It’s not a story for close minded people, but if you want adventure and intensity and what I feel like is at least one epic love story (and you’re not afraid of some of your boundaries being pushed) then read this book, it is an amazing start to what I’m sure will be an amazing series. I’m already in mourning for the wait times I’m going to have between each book. Thornchapel has a lot left to reveal.
Sierra Simone has been one of my go-too author’s since I discovered her a few years ago, so when I saw the beginning of a new series I couldn’t wait to dive in. What I didn’t know was just how deep I would immerse myself into the story. Sierra has a way with words unlike most authors these days, and I was completely captivated from the first line. Not knowing much about this series other than it’s one of the most anticipated of the year, I found it completely fascinating going in blind. A Lesson in Thorns has not left my thoughts since it’s final page.
In A Lesson in Thorns we get the story of 6 friends from Thornchapel. We do get a bit of a flashback to when it all started at a young age between them all, and then flash forward to present day when Poe Markham takes a job back in Thornchapel. Much has changed since we moved away, and as each of her old friends begin to resurface, the mysteries of Thornchapel grow deeper and even more puzzling. The sexual tension between all of them is palpable from their first re-acquaintance, and as Poe spends more time in Thornchapel, she soon discovers everything is not as it seems. From Auden to St. Sebastian, and Rebecca to Delphine and Becket, all the characters we meet in this 1st book are all connected in ways they don’t even understand. And as their connection defiantly deepens in this book even further, I can’t wait to see what is next for this group.
This book is packed, and I truly mean PACKED, with everything I desire in a book. Brilliant character development, mystery mixed with desire and great world building are just a few of the things that pulled me in and devoured me. I struggle to find a way to describe the emotion this story built in me. Just know, if you are looking for something completely unexpected, this series is probably going to be what you didn’t even know you needed. I can’t wait for more of these entwined 6.
Wow This was a fascinating story! Sierra Simone has written another captivating story that sucked me in from the beginning. Brilliant storytelling! Oh the secrets I can’t wait to uncover in this series. I can’t wait for more!
Be still my foolish heart!
That’s the only thing that i can think about after reading this book. Nothing more amazing than another great book by Sierra Simone that will get you in a world of paganism rituals that friends from childhood are bringing back in an old chapel.
It’s a new world that the author creates with her specific mark on every character and a blend of them that will keep you on the edge of the seat with every page turned and every scene that will reveal in front of your eyes and will bloom like a rose.
It’s a very slow burn because it’s the first book in this 4 books series and we get to know a bit of every character, from the time when they were children and spend the summer holidays together till the time when they will meet again.
The characters names are just great and perfect for each one of them. The pagans sacrifices and rituals that the author is introducing in this series is just wow because i for one have learned more than i wanted to read before this book.
Even if it’s a cliffhanger, i am more than ready to read the other books and it might be just the best series from this year for me and the most anticipated.
There’s very little I can say that would do justice to A Lesson In Thorns, the first book in the new Thornchapel series, other than it left me gobsmacked! I absolutely loved this story, and my only complaint is that I’m going to be bouncing off the walls, waiting for the other books to come out.
This poignant, sensual, intriguing, and suspenseful story is so well written, filled with incredibly descriptive prose, and includes lessons in theology and mysticism without becoming preachy; Ms. Simone is masterful in her writing, and she puts other authors to shame! With a story featuring six important characters, all of whom captivate your attention from the very beginning, and you’re not quite sure which ones are the main characters; they’re all that important to the storyline. If this is the first book, then I can’t wait to see what else Ms. Simone comes up with, where this story will take us. The only thing I can say is…bring it on! We can handle every delicious morsel you can throw at us, and then some.
“Thornchapel knows my name and the crooked corners of my heart, and it wants me to make promises that I’m going to keep.”
The blurb will give you an idea of what to expect…and the story will exceed everything, and anything, you could imagine! I’m not going to go into any details, because this one you need to go in without knowing too much and experience it yourselves.
“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.”
After finishing book one in Sierra Simone’s Thornchapel series, I can honestly say I’m left with more questions than answer…more hypotheses than conclusions and with the added mystery and deep rooted secrets that seem to be contained not only in the walls and on the grounds of Thornchapel but in the characters’ own psyche and perhaps even repressed memories, I’m still stupefied by everything that transpired and what will continue to be one hell of a wild and unexpected journey.
While A Lesson in Thorns is told through Poe Markham’s perspective, the five other characters who play significant roles in the plot line are just as important, which means that readers have to pay careful attention to all of the details that are given about each person involved, potentially inferring as much as one can of what did and what might occur as this series continues.
Amongst the mystery and secrets that dominate the story, there’s a sense of sexual freedom involved as well. The environment that surrounds the characters is a place where one’s sexual nature can simply be what it is…without judgment or criticism, something that Sierra Simone’s stories are well known for, and that idea is expertly executed as it’s woven throughout the tale.
The two recurring thoughts/questions I had while reading A Lesson in Thorns is what exactly is the significance of Thornchapel and why does it seem to hold such power over those who have been on its grounds AND what are the true dynamics of the relationships among Auden, Poe, Saint, Rebecca, Delphine, and Becket and just how intertwined are they due to the past they share and the present that seems to indicate that some connections are stronger than others.
Even though there were sections of the story that I found a bit confusing and even a little slow, I’m definitely intrigued by this group of characters, which includes Thornchapel itself and I’m beyond ready to unravel more of this complex and interesting read.
4 Poison Apples