A Lesson in Thorns

Thornchapel, Book 1

By: Sierra Simone

Narrated by: Sara Ormenyi

When librarian Poe Markham takes the job at Thornchapel, she only wants two things: to stay away from Thornchapel’s tortured owner, Auden Guest, and to find out what happened to her mother 12 years ago. It should be easy enough-keep her head down while she works in the house’s crumbling private library and while she hunts down any information as to why this remote manor tucked into the fog-shrouded moors would be the last place her mother was seen alive. But Thornchapel has other plans for her...

As Poe begins uncovering the house’s secrets, both new and old, she’s also pulled into the seductive, elegant world of Auden and his friends-and drawn to Auden’s worst enemy, the beautiful and brooding St. Sebastian. And as Thornchapel slowly tightens its coil of truths and lies around them, Poe, Auden, and St. Sebastian start unraveling into filthy, holy pleasure, and pain. Together, they awaken a fate that will either anoint them or leave them in ashes....

From the author of the USA Today bestselling New Camelot series comes an original fairy tale full of ancient mysteries, lantern-lit rituals, jealousy, money, murder, sacred torment, and obsessions that last for lifetimes....

A Lesson in Thorns is the first of four books in the Thornchapel series.

©2019 Sierra Simone (P)2019 Sierra Simone

This book...

This book will have you sucked in at the first chapter. I started reading Paranormal themed books at a very young age, but stopped a few years ago because they started being the same plot line or poorly written. I’m so glad I gave in to this one. The narrator did a good job but the flow of the book is what did it. This author can Not just write, she draws you in to the world like a warm blanket you never want to leave. I’ve already listened to this twice and haven’t been able to forget it. As soon as I finished it I grabbed up the second book and wasn’t disappointed. You won’t be either.

Slightly Paranormal and Mysterious, Very Kinky

Sierra Simone is a writer with an exceptional way with words. She creates a complex and curious world within this new series. Slightly paranormal exceptionally kinky, 6 childhood friends reunited as adults and strangely drawn in by the power of Thornchapel.

Having read some of Sierra Simone's other work I was not surprised to see the religious undertones woven throughout this novel. She finds comparison between pagan rituals and catholic scripture and rites that seems natural in this context. This seems to be a theme with her writing and while it did add some mystery to the story, I did find parts to be a little slow.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sara Ormenyi, who is a new to me narrator. I initially found her narration very abrasive. The first chapter was read very fast, very monotone and I was very concerned this was going to be a DNF. What I found, was that there were 2 different kinds of chapters in this book. There was a 3rd person narrative scattered throughout the main first person POV of Poe. Once she started narrating from Poe's perspective, I noticed an increase in performance, characters had their own accents which were relatively easy to discern, and I was able to enjoy the book more. For anyone considering this book on audio, give yourself a few chapters to decide. If you are like me I think it will be worth it. This is the first book in a series and not a standalone, it ends in a cliffhanger.

❤️❤️❤️

Dayem! Kinky af love quadrangle (?) Introduction to BDSM for some of the characters, it was nice, interesting. I got jealous of Poe's aftercare 😑 lucky b*tch. I liked this alright.

Hope they recast for the next books

Some of my favorite audio books are by Sierra Simone so I was excited to give this one a try. The narrator for his book killed it for me (in a bad way). There were so many mouth sounds, and she was so breathy it was highly distracting. The sample seemed ok, but once I was into the book I couldn’t focus they were so noticeable. Sometimes she also seemed to over act and sounded really corny.
The story starts slow in the beginning and is setting up for the other books in the series. It picks up more towards the end leaving you wanting to know more. The book was like reading a really long prologue. So it left me curious enough to want check out the second book. This book on its own wasn’t anything remarkable so I’m baffled by the ratings. Some of my favorite books are part of a series where when rated individually they are ok, but as a whole the series is amazing. I hope that’s the case with these books. Also I’m not sure if maybe the narration is the reason I didn’t like it more. It was hard to connect and get into the story with the narration.

Such a powerful story

This story was confusing for me in the beginning, but as I kept listening and following along with my signed copy, I was drawn into the story. The characters are complex and interesting and the story is somewhat convoluted and intriguing. I loved it!

The only drawback is that it is a cliffhanger, but since it is a Sierra Simone book, I knew it was worth it!