Growing up Thorn McKinney didn't have the greatest of lives as his mom was constantly in and out of jail cells and his family became his best friends Mikey and his little sister Rose Gallagher. Drugs and Alcohol were a common thing in both of their lives until one night, there was a car accident, and they were both wasted. Mikey died that night, and Thorn lived. From that night, Thorn vowed to change his ways and decided to dedicate his life to the Catholic church and become a priest. That way he could save others as he had been and finally one day he might be able to be forgiven for that night. Now years later, Thorn is still at the seminary and though he could graduate and become a priest he still has to take his vows. He just keeps putting them off as he considers himself not ready. One night, he is called as Rose's next of kin. Rose has been attacked. Thorn discovers what Rose has been doing and feels guilty he didn't protect her as he should have been and what he promised to Mikey. With the help of his mentor, Thorn takes Rose to John's lake house and looks after Rose and nurses her back to health. During this time, we readers can see the chemistry building up and sizzling between Rose and Thorn, and we have to wonder if he is doing the right thing by going to the church as a celibate priest. There is a lot of temptation and back and forth happening between Thorn and Rose in their Should I or Shouldn't I situation. As Thorn and the church help Rose get a better job and a better direction in life, we read as Thorn will have to make the biggest decision of his life - to be with Rose and lose all the hard work and study he has done or take his vows and commitment and become the best darn Priest he can be ? Which road will Thorn take when the temptation of Lust is put before him on more occasions than one? Find out in Jen McLaughlin's Lust is the Thorn. A book that I sort-of have a cover crush on, the only thing I'm not too keen on is his mustache.

This book sadly I could not get into greatly. It didn’t grab me from the start so I didn’t slug through it. The premise sounded good but this wasn’t for me.
The characters were strong and had potential for greatness. Enjoy it if it catches your eye.

I struggled reading this book a bit. I ended up liking it and would recommend. The beginning was just slow for me
Thanks Netgalley for the Arc

Thank You for the opportunity to review this book. Sorry, I attempted to read this book. However, I couldn't get in to it. So, I was unable to finish reading and reviewing it.

Unfortunately, I never got to actually read this book, I would have loved too but was too late in downloading it.

Another great book by Jen McLaughlin. Loved this book. Sorry it took so long to start reading, but once I started I couldn't put it down. Will definitely look for more from this author.

**My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, for providing me with a free copy for an honest review**

This was a very engaging read for me and i completely devoured it one i had finally started. Its a best friends story where there is forgiveness, love, pain, angst, near death and romance with a side of sexy scenes between the pair. Yes we do get a lot of soul searching too and sometimes it felt a little profound and had me thinking too.

Thorn had turned his back on what he really wanted after the death of his best friend and it is only when Rose, his best friends sister who he promised to protect, gets hurt, that he finally finds out why he has been struggling to take his vows to turn rom a Deacon in the Roman Catholic church into a fully fledged Priest.

The trouble, he has always loved, and will always love Rose more.

Rose is a survivor and a very strong woman and has always know that she may never get the best life out there. She always supports Thorn with everything and always pushes him into a better life even if it is painful for her.

Really glad that i got to read this book and certainly had a good few moments where i found tears trailing down my cheeks.

I really liked this book was good an well written with good characters cant wait for more from this series. would recommend