ARC Review: Lust Is the Thorn by Jen McLaughlin

Both Rose and Thorn grew up in an unfortunate environment which consist of abuse and poverty. Thorn luckily got out and now a seminarian ready to be sworn in to priesthood. Meanwhile, Rose is a stripper struggling to make ends meet. As we have it, Rose is in trouble and Thorn comes to the rescue. Thorn had sworn to his best friend, Rose’s brother to protect her. Now that Rose is in the slumps, he’s determined to help. This obviously will give them a chance to pretty much connect in more ways than one.

I picked up this book after reading Dare to Run which is also written by this author. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this one as much the other. I just couldn’t get over the stripper and the priest trope. Such an unlikely pair. I also found it funny that the movie Thornbirds kept coming to mind as I read this book because the hero’s name is Thorn and because of the similarities of the storyline. Just Like the movie, the heroine falls for the priest(to be) and both are plagued with guilt over their feelings. The forbidden love didn’t bother me so much as the hero and heroine’s struggle with their guilt and morality. I just wanted to say get over it already.

In the lighter side of things, McLaughlin writes well and the book flowed from one chapter to the next. And as many forbidden love stories go, it was pretty hot. I do recommend Dare to Run which is a start of a new series, a much more enjoyable read.