I loved this title. It was interesting to see how Melanie was able to get Luciano to let go of the grief he carried and be open to a new relationship. You could feel for both of the characters and understand what they were going through.

Love love love this series and author. Can’t wait for more!!

Luciano and Melanie are gifted second chances if they will step up to take them. Good second book in the series.

Ebook from net galley and publishers with thanks. Opinions are entirely my own

The second book in the series, "Thorn" was a good read and I enjoyed it. Luc DeRose and his assistant Melanie, come back to the tattoo parlor that is owned by the DeRose brothers, for Luc to work as head artist. He is so in a funk and has been running from the death of the love of his life, it made me wonder how Melanie would pull him out of it. After all, it had been a couple of years. While I liked Thorn and the companionship between him and Melanie, I found Melanie had amazing grit to pull Luc out of his own head. He is an amazing tattoo artist which his life revolves around, but he is hiding from living his life. A great HEA for Luc and Melanie, it is proof that behind every good man is an amazing woman. A good read recommended for the romantic reader. I would like to thank NetGalley and Relay Pub. for gifting me "Thorn". My opinion is my own. This is mine. 4.25 Stars!

REVIEW
Quite strangely for me after just having read one contemporary romance genre book which happened to be Rose, the first book in this Thorn Tattoo Studio book by Leslie North I fancied reading the next one straightaway, hoping for more of Giovanni, Riley and the tattooists that work at the Thorn Studio.

Once again this cover is dominated by a strong male with a heavily tattooed torso, this time it is the turn of a different DeRose brother, the one we have heard the least of in Rose, Luciano DeRose. The Title font matches that of Rose but is in and orange/red instead of the green colour.

The book is set around a family owned Tattoo studio previously owned by the patriarch of the DeRose family, then when he passes the business is run by the three brothers. Oldest brother Antonio DeRose who takes care of the financial side of the business. Middle brother Luciano DeRose who has worked at the Thorn Studio but at the moment is travelling around being a guest artist at conventions, shows and other studios. The last and youngest brother is Giovanni DeRose and he is the brother who runs and works at the Thorn Tattoo Studio along with his new wife..

So this book centres on the ever wandering tattooist brother Luciano. Luciano once thought he had everything and had bought a house ready to settle with the love of his life, Cassandra. Tragically Cassandra is killed in an accident and Luciano has neither faced his loss, nor gotten any where near dealing with it. It's like he is stuck in limbo, only partially living whilst at the same time avoiding Las Vegas where the accident occurred as much as possible. However when his brother Giovanni and his new wife go on tour round various tattoo conventions and guest tattooing rather like he has been doing he is drafted in by the oldest and it seems most level headed DeRose brother, Antonio. Luciano is needed to step in and do tattoo's that Giovanni would be doing if he where there as well as manage the shop. Luciano is much like Giovanni who has no head for financial figures. In fact at the beginning of the book Luciano has no time for any sort of figures even female ones! He is used to travelling a lot and having his PA Melanie sort out his paperwork and quite literally carry his baggage in her car whilst he travels light on his precious motorbike. Melanie decides its time that Luciano faced up to what he lost and try to get on with his life and she is determined to at first gently push him in that direction and then when he refuses she pushes harder by making deliberate mistakes meaning he has to face people and reality to sort them out. When Luciano realises he is being "played" he sets about an elaborate plan to get Mel to go back to being his buffer between him and reality by faking an email to his brother Antonio suggesting they fire Mel. Instead of sending it to his brother Luciano "accidentally" sends it to Mel!! When he see's Mel's reaction and hoe upset she looks when walking out of Thorn Studio, Luciano is shocked, and then left alone to lick his wounds. It's then he realises how much he depends on Mel and soon misses her being around. Feeling totally sorry for himself around the anniversary of Cassandra's death he goes out drinking and has only one person to call to pick him up . . he turns to Mel. Will Mel help him? If she does will Luciano apologise for his previous actions.

Though this book series has a central theme of hunky tattooists don't let it put you off. As when you read the series you soon find out for everyone of the hunky, quiet, brooding DeRose brother there is a feisty kick butt female waiting for them to open their eyes and see her and prove themselves worthy of her too. Again I enjoyed the book. There are quite a few of plot similarities between Rose and Thorn but then again they are both romances and the main male characters are brothers so there was bound to be a little repetition wasn't there? The only other fault I could possibly find is there was no Riley or Giovanni in this book!

Immediate thoughts upon finishing this one were that the book had been another enjoyable great read. That in Thorn it had been the turn Luciano DeRose to find love. Also after reading two out of the three book series I just had to read the third and was presuming it would be the turn of Antonio the financially minded DeRose brother to find love and happiness.

REVIEW will also be appearing on my blog JeanzBookReadNReview (http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.co.uk/) before Christmas 2017 as well as being added to Amazon US, UK & CA

Received this ARC for an unbiased review. Story held my attention and was a quick pleasant read.

I really liked this book. The two main characters were very strong. Melanie had been Luciano's assistant for two years and they had traveled for Thorn Tattoo shop for conventions all that time. Now that they were in Las Vegas (where the shop was). Melanie wanted to settle down and with Luciano. However, Luciano just wanted to leave and travel to escape the memory of losing his first love. Melanie helps him finally face this, but not without strife. Luc is stubbornly holding onto his grief and Melanie is just as stubborn trying to help him get over it.
I liked how strong both of them were and enjoyed their interaction. It's a good strong book and I look forward to the next one.
I got this book from Netgalley for an honest review

Melanie was a strong capable heroine, with enough sweetness, charm, and mystery to keep me interested.
Luc, on the other hand, got on my nerves. I love a brooding hero as much as the next person but he went too far too many times in what was a rather short book. Cassandra was mentioned way too often and his changed of heart came a little too late for me to buy into his romance with Mel.

Luciano doesn't want to be back in Vegas. His restless soul is itching to get back out on the road, especially as the anniversary of a tragedy that changed his life is looming.

Melanie is his faithful Girl Friday - she manages all aspects of his life and two years on the road have made them firm friends.

There is mutual attraction between them but Luciano is so fixated on his past that he finds it almost impossible to move forward.

Being back in Vegas and working at the tattoo parlour brings aspects of his past coming back, and the dynamic in his relationship with Melanie also starts to change, especially as she's hell-bent on making him see that it's absolutely fine for him to move forward.

I loved Melanie's quirkiness and awkwardness, and how her current, organised life was the antithesis of her life growing up. She wants to put roots down and stop living the nomadic life. I also loved that Luciano readily acknowledges to himself how attracted he is to Melanie and how much he really needed her in his life.

This was a lovely read about a guy, who'd just been surviving, and girl who shows him how to start living again. It was also about girl yearning to live a life with set parameters, the opposite of her rootless life upbringing, and the guy who helps her blossom and come into her own.

After part one of the Thorn Tattoo Studio, I was delighted to find another part about the yummie tattoo artists. And while we continue to follow the struggles of the Thorn Tattoo Studio to keep afloat, we now meet brother Luciano. Whereas Gio and his Riley are absent in this part, Luciano is called back home by his brother Antonio to help fill in the management of Thorn Tattoo Studio.
Luciano has been on the road for two years, with his personal assistant Melanie. She has a crush on Luciano, but he is still grieving for the loss of his fiancée Cassandra. Now, when they arrive at the Thorn Tattoo Studio, Luciano certainly doesn't want to stay at home, while the anniversary of Cassandra's death is nearing. But the Thorn Tattoo Shop needs him and Melanie tries to make him stay. Can she help Luciano to mend his broken heart? Or will he be fleeing forever?
It is amazing that Leslie North created yet another captivating story about the tattoo shop, with a different brother and a totally different story. Whereas Gio and Riley fought and where getting on each others nerves, Luciano is an emotionally broken man, who depends on his personal assistant to organize his life. He shields himself from personal involvement with everybody.
You can't help but feel for the heartbroken Luciano and root for Melanie to nurse him back into living. So four out of five stars from me. And a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc. And I can't wait with starting on Bloom to see what's in store for brother Antonio!

Meh, okay. Not a bad story. But its seemed to come together too fast.

The only that that saved Thorn from a 1 star review is Melanie. She's the bright, shining star in what is otherwise a very dull story. Melanie's been in love with her boss, famous tattoo artist Luciano DeRose, for 2 years. She manages his life and now his tattoo shop. She's been on the road with him for the entire time but she wants him to stick around in Vegas, his home, now that they're there, even if he thinks it's only temporarily. She's determined to get him to move past the grief that has kept him stuck in the past. The grief over having lost the love of his life, Cassandra. But, it's been 4 years and he needs to move on and start living life again. Who better to help him than Melanie?

But "Luciano was damaged. He was stuck in the past.", so how could Melanie ever hope to get him out of his rut? Quite frankly, she couldn't because the ghost of his dead wife was constantly with him and nothing, and no one, even his beloved assistant, could ever hope to possibly compare to Cassandra. Ugh, by the time Thorn was done, well, actually, well before the ending, I was sick of seeing her name because Luc brought it up I swear at least 100 times in the short space of Thorn. Cassandra was the heroine of Thorn, not Melanie, and that is a damn shame. Melanie deserved that rank and she didn't get it, not the way Thorn is written. I think Melanie deserved a lot better than Luc, a man still stuck in the past, in the grief he refused to let go. Even at the end with the inevitable declaration of love, I didn't believe him because just weeks before he was still mourning her and freaking out because he forgot about her memory for awhile while spending the night with Melanie. He then lashes out viciously at Melanie all because she cancelled his appearance at a minor tattoo convention with the hopes he would stick around at home instead of continuing to run from his life on the anniversary of his wife's death. Seriously?!? He *SPOILER ALERT* fires her after throwing cruel words at her, then a mere weeks later he's declaring his love and I'm supposed to believe him? Nope, don't think so. Just yuck. Luc was not even close to good enough for such a sweet, caring woman as Melanie. She took him back far too easily, but I can understand, it's that same heart that made her give in to a guy who didn't deserve her.

So, while I can't in good conscience, give Thorn a good review, I am still interested in reading books 1 (Rose) and 3 (Bloom) in this series. I'm hoping Luc's other brothers are more interesting than Luc and aren't stuck in the past like he is.

As a big Leslie North fan, I was obviously excited to read another book by one of my favorite Authors, so I dove right in. What was fun to discover was that Thorn is set in Las Vegas, which is where I currently live and set in the Tattoo scene. While I don't have any tattoos ( I guess I am too much of a chicken to go through with it), I do enjoy the artistry that shines through, if they are done right. So, I was already interested from the start.

Melanie and Luciano already had a pretty cool chemistry going between them already, as a part of their backstory. This is not a novel where the main characters have to discover each other, but rather one that is already based on a relationship that was well established - even if it is a professional one. Yet, I could understand why they had not turned this relationship into a romantic partnership at an earlier point in time, so Leslie did a fine job in creating a believable backstory for both of them.
 


Again, in usual Leslie North fashion, Thorn is a part of a trilogy, the 2nd installment of the Thorn Tattoo Shop series, but unlike in some of her other books, the other brothers do not make much of any appearance in this installment of the series. With the exception of the location and a few mentionings of their own relationships, this book is a complete stand-alone novel, which I appreciated, because I have not read the previous book in the series.

The only thing, I did not like about the book is that the ending (the getting back together part at the end of the novel), felt rushed. She took him back a little bit too fast for my taste, without putting up too much of a fight, but, of course, not every female main character is going to act the same. Yes, Leslie North’s romance novels follow much of the same formula, but do vary a lot in backgrounds of characters, settings, and conflicts, which keeps it fresh, so I truly can not expect every one of the women in her books to react as fierce as some of them do, even though I prefer it that way.


At the end, I truly enjoyed Thorn and will dive into the rest of the series, as soon as possible.

This review was published on my book blog: https://withinthepagesofabook.com/book-review-thorn-by-leslie-north-thorn-tattoo-studio-book-2-a-hot-contemporary-romance/

I've read most of Leslie North's books because she gives what she can to her romance writing. Some books are steamy, others spicy hot, and some you get a whole serving and topping of just what you need to keep you turning the pages.
I got this ARC from NetGalley yesterday evening and read it as I was cooking supper because I didn't want to sleep without reading Luciano and Melanie's story.
Luciano is running away from the grief even now that he's back home. He can't stand the memories of Cassandra and every day he misses what they could have been. He also knows that she's dead and wouldn't be coming back to him but it doesn't make it any easier. Melanie is his personal assistant, confidante and also the woman he's been attracted to but he's busy trying to push her away and she's bent on helping him move on, even if it means drawing closer to him.
The story's pace was fast. I was on chapter one and the next second I was reading the epilogue and before I could take it all in, the happily ever after had been served!
I love the author's style of writing and how she blends in the passion between her characters. You wouldn't fail to swoon over Luciano when he's teasing Melanie.

It was an okay book. I found that this went very quickly and was not a tremendous surprise to read.

North was a good solid romance with an interesting storyline. Enjoyed it a lot. Thanks!

I did not really like this book, I thought it was quite confusing and it was not something I expected. Put this on my DNF shelf and probably wouldn't want to finish it. The description was enticing but the delivery of the novel just fell flat for me.

Melanie was a strong capable heroine, with enough sweetness, charm and mystery to keep me interested.
Luc on the other hand got on my nerves. I love a brooding hero as much as the next person but he went to far too many times in what was a rather short book. Cassandra was mentioned way to often and his changed of heart came a little too late for me to buy into his romance with Mel.
That being said, if you're into tortured heroes who can't move on, then this book is probably for you.

Amazing read so hot! Loved it from start to finish! Highly recommended