'As usual, Janice Mayflower has bestowed us with yet another thrilling tale in the Thorns saga.

It has been 2 long years since the first part of our beloved romance story has begun, and 2 books. Ms. Mayflower has yet again astounded us with her writing pace. Since the start, Ms. Mayflower has shown off her tremendous amounts of skill with an amazing plot, and two likeable main characters. In this installment, Katia and James travel through the seals of time to obtain the second to last rose. A new couple is also introduced in this book, Alessa and Joshua. Though they all are very strong characters, and fit very nicely into this saga, Ms. Mayflower seems to have forgotten that Thorns is a tale of lost love and romance. Katia and James have next to no scenes hinting of their feelings for each other, nor do Alessa and Joshua. It's almost as if she's avoiding the subject in itself. Though, aside from this, the saga is certainly not to be ignored. I highly recommend this for any young adult sci-fi fanatics. In conclusion, I have no doubts that this will make it to the top of the best sellers list, which it greatly deserves. It's exactly the kind of series to make you want more. Rumor has it, the next book will be the last.

We can only hope Ms. Mayflower ties up all loose ends.

-Claudia Ditonno, New York Times.'

'Janice Mayflower' scanned the review quite quickly, giving himself a small smile. And a best seller it was. It hadn't even been 24 hours, and according to some reports, it was one of the top ten in the New York area. Well, it wasn't like he hadn't worked hard. That one took him quite some time.

The room smelled heavily of coffee and baked goods, with the spices practically leaking from the containers on the shelves. Some soft music was playing in the background, soothing and relaxing. Just as you'd expect from such an establishment. A young woman was sitting near the window, her blonde hair pulled into a neat ponytail. Her hand flickered back and forth on her sketch pad, before taking a break to sip some of her tea. A male intern was moving his sponge around on the dark counter top diligently, while staring off into space.

The Roost was somewhat of an undiscovered gem, or an untapped oil resource. A small shop hidden between the hustle and bustle of New York City streets, the small coffee shop went unnoticed.

But not to Arthur Kirkland. To him, the little place was the perfect hideaway for him. And besides that, it was also the perfect hideaway for one 'Janice Mayflower'. His writing alias, his cover up, his pen name. What ever you'd wish to call it.

Pen names aside, Arthur was a very healthy twenty-five year old man. At least, if you asked him, that's how he would likely respond. In reality, Arthur Kirkland was an insomniac who had a knack for writing and a terrible temper. He had short, choppy blonde hair and rather emerald eyes. That wouldn't even cover his eyebrows, whom one person claimed had eaten Tokyo. Lean, but with a decent amount of muscle, he was still rather weak and shorter than the average male. Though, girls seemed to swoon at his English- Not British- accent.

And on top of all of that, he was a rather distinguished author under the name of Janice Mayflower. Thorns, by far, had been his greatest success yet, filling up the papers and trending topics with raves of his name, his work. He had to admit, it was quite enthralling to see his (pen) name in the news, time and time again.

Traditionally, pen names were used to protect the identity of the author. And it was true in this case as well. In American society, sadly, many people would look and judge a young man who wrote nothing but sappy romance stories for a living. And thus, Janice Mayflower was born.

Arthur hummed softly and looked up at the sky. Today was colder than usual. A thick blanket of clouds covered the sky with a menacing glare. He examined it for a moment before shivering. It was going to snow again today, wasn't it?

"Oh! Arthur!" A voice rang from behind him. As he turned, a woman became increasingly apparent as she bounded towards him, her dark pigtails moving with her. Eventually, as she caught up her dark brown eyes became noticeable.

Arthur grimaced. Oh, look. His overly perky landlord.

"Hello Chilly day, right?" She smiled.

"Hm... Hello, Angelique. Pleasant day, yes?"

With a sigh, she gave him a soft glare. He had always been like this, even in college. 'Mr. Grumpypants', was that his nickname? Oh, well.

"You really have to stop being so formal. It freaks people out. But seriously," She frowned. He simply rolled her eyes as she pulled out a pink slip of paper. "According to this, there are 36 tenants in our building. Not any more."

She said, grinning as she ripped apart the slip. Arthur blinked as he did a double check. Was he rude to any of the neighbors? Well... yes, but not excessively. Was he loud? No. Was he not paying rent? No...

"You're getting a new neighbor. Right next to you. So... try and be kind to him, okay?" She smiled.

Arthur took off after her as she jogged away.

"Hey! Get back here!" He huffed. His landlord was such a downright idiot at times. Lord knows how she managed to get through high school.

As he stopped in front of his complex, a shock wave of nerves ran through him. He had some terrible neighbors in the past, noisy ones. And this was quite a popular spot for young people, fresh out of college.

Even as a gentleman, gentlemen had every right to be nervous. Of course. Especially if there was a possible future of moving out. He stepped inside the elevator hesitantly. There was that college kid last year, he was terribly noisy. And there was that one girl who brought home a different man every night...

He had some bad experiences with neighbors. And he did not want another one.

As he walked out the door of the elevator his fears dissolved as quickly as they appeared, with his scalding tea spilling over him as he walked directly into another person.

"Augh! Watch where you're going, you-" The words disappeared as he looked up at him. Was this his neighbor? A slightly disheveled sunny blonde, blue eyes and glasses met him, as he quickly scurried to pick the now empty cup off the ground.

"Oh! Uh, geez... aha... sorry about that! I was just about to head out, so I could buy another one for you, if you want... but! First things first!" The man in front of him grinned and stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm Alfred, and I guess you're my neighbor!"

Yeah, it's suicide to have two stories at once, but... I had to write this. Next chapter up soon. Enjoy!

-chibitalex