A Lily among Thorns by Rose Lerner

Grade: B

passion rating: warm

I had hoped to love this book. I thought Ms. Lerner’s debut, In for a Penny, was marvelous. I did not love this book…but I did really like it. And I thought the unusually beta hero was a wonderful character. Ultimately, my lack of love for this novel stems from my lack of love for its heroine.

Serena Ravenshaw is an archetype I rarely warm to: the hard bitten former famed courtesan. Serena was forced into sexual servitude by poverty and her beauty — no one hires a gorgeous nanny — but was able, years ago, to change her life. She bought her sex contract from the brothel owner who possessed her with money rather randomly given to her by a man she met only briefly: Solomon Hathaway. Serena is now both the owner of a successful inn and the Black Thorn, a woman with great power in the London underworld. (This irked me — I didn’t feel Ms. Lerner made that aspect of Serena’s character believable. She doesn’t come across as someone whom people would be terrified to cross. She isn’t a killer.) Serena is adamantly alone and sees emotional connection as a deadly weakness. She pours her whole self into her inn and its kitchen and staff, and spends her nights alone.

Solomon has been wallowing in numb misery ever since he learned his beloved identical twin Elijah died in the Napoleonic Wars. He’s cut himself off from his aristocratic family and spends his days working as a tailor in his uncle’s shop. He’s depressed, lonely, and stuck. He is roused out of his despair by a cry for help from his family. His sister is getting married and a family heirloom she wishes to wear at her wedding has been stolen. Simon goes to see the Black Thorn to ask for her help in recovering the gems. He and Serena are both shocked to meet again after so many years.

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