Published by: Sierra Simone
Genre: Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Erotica, Menage, BDSM
Rating:
But then she came back—the girl I once kissed in a thorn-covered chapel in the woods. She came back, and I could no more resist her than I could pry out my own heart. And by some trick of fate, she wants me as much as I want her. The only problem? She also wants the man who owns Thornchapel, Auden Guest.
And so do I.
Eight years ago, I did something to Auden, something terrible. He hurt me back the only way he knew how, and so here we are: our hatred seasoned with pain and my loneliness seasoned with longing. The only thing we can agree on is Proserpina Markham, and she wants us to find a way to be together—all three of us.
If Auden wants to earn her as his submissive, then he has to earn me as well.
But with the discovery of bones behind the altar and the carnal revel of Beltane fast approaching, it’s becoming clear that Thornchapel’s secrets are much deeper and older than any of us could have ever guessed. And no matter how bright and merry a feast of sparks may be, it’s always followed by ashes.
And darkness.
Even though my TBR pile is ginormous, I decided that reading the sequel of a book I didn’t like, was the best use of my time. 🙄 But that’s just me, I can’t abandon books. Once I make a commitment, I am in all the way. And A Lesson in Thorns was too intriguing, if nothing else, to not at least try and read the next in the series.
Feast of Sparks starts right where A Lesson of Thorns left off. Not giving anything away, just saying it was something very traumatic and shocking for Poe. So instead of dealing with her grief, she decided instead to have a lengthy BDSM session with Rebecca and Auden, who is now Rebecca’s BDSM student (thirsty for knowledge, that one!). I am not going to judge people’s grieving process and the way they choose to deal with sadness, to each their own. It’s just something about this scene that I found offensive, even though there was not an instance of an objection of any kind or lack of consent. All participants seemed to fully enjoy it, but for me it was too much. I felt like Poe didn’t request the scene because she wanted to deal with her pain and grief, but she just plain wanted to have sex just for the sake of it. That she used what happened to “justify” her incessant need for sex, didn’t sit right with me.
After that, there were short sexy scenes here and there but nothing too major until the very end, something I found very refreshing. Finally we learn about Saint and Auden’s back story and it was a real treat. It was touching and almost romantic to see how much these two loved each other from a very young age and how Auden just adored Saint, which is not apparent in A Lesson of Thorns. He lusted after him sure, but we didn’t see how deep his feelings for him went until now. That was the books’ main difference in my opinion: how unromantic and completely in your face and matter of fact A Lesson of Thorns was, and how more subdued and calm Feast of Sparks was.
That is, until we get to the last scene. Because trust me, there was nothing subdued about that!
We’re talking massive sex free-for-all with all of the characters participating – yes, even the priest. Completely unexplained, out of the blue, but I’m not gonna lie: still hot.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Feast of Sparks. I don’t know if that’s because I had zero expectations going in, or because it was actually decent. Don’t get me wrong, it was stilled filled with silly moments that made me snort, even though they were supposed to be “serious”, but I am satisfied with the amount of effort Simone put into her characters. They had more interaction with outsiders and they were actually putting some thought into their actions.
But everything was just noise compared to teenagers Auden and Saint seducing each other, that was pure gold.
After feeling exhausted reading about copious amounts of sex, I was ready for the ending everyone has been talking about.
And it was a big one (pun definitely intended) 💣 💣 💣
I’m not going to say I was shocked at the actual revelation, but I was surely shocked about the fact that Simone actually went there. I guessed it right around the middle, but I thought “Nah, no way that’ll happen, it’s too risqué”. But it did, and I don’t know how I feel about it. Obviously I don’t like it, but I am sure it will easily be explained away at the beginning of the next book, so I am not going to be too upset just yet.
Confession: I am definitely going to read book 3.
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