Caution warning: period-typical homophobia, mentions of suicidal inclinations, sexual harassment, mentions of abuse
A Lily Among Thorns is a standalone Regency romance from Rose Lerner following Solomon Hathaway, a chemist and fabric dyer, and Lady Serena Ravenshaw, a former sex worker who’s now a hotel owner and terror to all who cross her. Many years ago, he gave her the money she needed to start a new life, and now he’s come to seek her help in finding stolen family heirlooms. Unfortunately, he’s arrived during one of the worst months in Serena’s life, so it might be trickier than either of them suspected. It’s funny, charming, and heartbreaking in equal measure, with an unexpected number of crime bosses and attempted murders.
I love both of the protagonists, because they’re so different and yet care about the people around them so intensely. One of the Book Smugglers pointed out that Rose Lerner actually flipped the genders here from the traditional tropes; the dangerous, emotionally reluctant one who will commit several murders to keep their loved ones safe is the female lead, and the male lead is the sweet one who has strong opinions about clothes and tries to win her over through the power of kindness. It’s a dynamic that I adore this way round, I just don’t see it as much as I’d like. Serena responds well to things she can understand and control; she’d prefer her and Soloman’s relationship to be just sex, while Solomon wants a more emotional connection. It really pleased me to see things switched up this way.
Serena is my favourite character in the entire book. She is prickly and angry and protective of those around her. She doesn’t know what she wants or expects from the Entire Thing with Solomon. Watching her try to balance all of the plates she’s spinning is simultaneously stressful and delightful. Serena is a really well-written character, whether the book is showing her first awkward attempts at friendships or having her in perfect control of a dangerous situation. As for Solomon, I really enjoyed his growth and character development across A Lily Among Thorns. He starts the book fairly awkward and unaware of things around him, socially, and grows in confidence and understanding through his exposure to Serena’s world. Part of the reason for his awkwardness is that his twin brother, Elijah, died during the war, which affected Solomon badly. The way he talks about his suicidal inclinations and the steps he used to mitigate them feel so familiar to me. The narrative is kind and frank and understanding, and his feelings still have weight even when he tries to talk about them lightly. Plus, his relationship with his family is delightful all through the book, even when things are difficult; I like it when protagonists have support networks that are separate from their partners, and Solomon’s family provide that in spades.
Another thing I loved is that A Lily Among Thorns is wonderfully, explicitly political. Not just in that political figures show up and there’s a war going on – it addresses the treatment of marginalised people in this time period, specifically engaging with the different levels of privilege the two protagonists have based on their heritage and occupations. Solomon’s arc of realising that not caring about things like Serena’s past is a privilege that she is never going to be afforded, and actually acting on and acknowledging that is incredible to watch, even as I got frustrated with him for not getting it sooner.
(Also I love that there is a scene specifically talking about birth control, because it’s fascinating.)
This paragraph is going to contain spoilers, so feel free to skip it!
I genuinely wasn’t sure how the narrative was going to deal with Elijah. My default assumption was that of course he wasn’t going to be dead, but the narrative dealt with Solomon’s grief and depression so well that I started to believe that he was! It captures the wanting very well; Solomon has had to teach himself not to react to thinking he has seen or heard his brother alive again, and it’s handled in an incredibly believable way! … So of course that’s the point where Elijah comes back. His appearance does shift the tone and the scale of the story quite a lot, from the personal scale of Serena’s inn and Solomon’s sister’s wedding, to affecting the entire country. This is mostly handled well, but the way the stakes were raised felt very sudden to me.
For me, the best part of his return was the family’s reaction. Solomon’s anger and joy are beautifully handled, as is the explicit acknowledgement that he’s supposed to act like his grief wasn’t unnecessary. His uncle’s fury at what Elijah’s “death” had done to Solomon, and Elijah’s own guilt when he realises how strongly Solomon was affected, were satisfying to me! I’m used to narratives where someone returns (or “returns”) from the dead glossing over the messier feelings, so seeing them acknowledged made the entire arc better for me.
I truly enjoyed A Lily Among Thorns. The characters are great, I was so invested in the romance working out and in Solomon’s recovery from grief, and I loved getting to watch Serena defend everything she loved even as I was angry that she had to. If you’ve not read any Rose Lerner before, I think this is a good place to start!
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I *adore* kind beta heroes so I might just have to buy this. Great review!
I love me a beta hero. I’m sold.
Throw in a competent and determined heroine and I may have to read it twice.
Ok so I loved this for a million reasons but omg, you guys, his work includes inventing fabric dyes, and his new pet project becomes making a dye to match her eyes.
I mean basically all the heroes commission exactly what clothes/jewels/property a heroine needs to be happy, but this is a new level of consumption and personal attention to detail for me and I am here for it.
I loved this book so much!
I love Rose Lerner’s work – there are few people who can seamlessly weave together absolutely filthy (in the best possible way) sex scenes and intense emotional development in a historical.
I loved this book too! I would love more broody heroines and sweetheart heroes.
Beta heroes are pretty much instabuys for me. Looking forward to this one!
This sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm, Susan.
I read Lerner’s debut back when and really didn’t care for it, so she sort of fell off my radar after that, but dangerous potentially murderous heroines with sexual experience who initially just want sex are like all the things I want in my reading, so I think I may need to give her another chance.
I’ve had A Lily Among Thorns floating in my TBR file for a while. All my other Rose Lerner books have been read. After this review, I’ll have to put it in the queue. And I really enjoyed reading your review, Susan. Another beta hero fan here.
I’ve put in a request for my library to purchase all of Lerner’s books (likely in ebook only, but that’s fine). So far we only have “In For A Penny” in mass market paperback, and that just won’t do. I enjoyed the working class couple in “Listen to the Moon” very much; I’m here for more of Lerner’s work.
I enjoyed this book because the writing was lovely and the character development was great, but there was SO. MUCH. GOING. ON. that I was getting whiplash.
(Slight spoilers)
Like, just with the heroine, we have: betrayed daughter, fallen lady, notorious high-priced prostitute, no-nonsense innkeeper, ominous underworld figure.
That’s not even mentioning the other plot threads. It sort of felt like the author was trying to cram every good idea into one book.
Rose Lerner’s writing is so emotionally and psychologically fluent, it’s really a revelation.
After y’all Rec Leagued my request for non-aristocratic historicals, I went on a long Rose Lerner kick and this was one of my favourites. It’s just deliciously fun.