I knew I was taking a risk loving a man like Julian Markham. But I thought that love was enough to cover over his darkness. I thought wrong. Ivy Leavold came to Markham Hall looking for a home and a new start, and instead she found the enigmatic Julian Markham–along with a love that threatened to consume them both. Now Mr. Markham is offering her a new life as his bride, as the mistress of … found the enigmatic Julian Markham–along with a love that threatened to consume them both. Now Mr. Markham is offering her a new life as his bride, as the mistress of Markham Hall, and Ivy wants nothing more than to say yes.
But Ivy knows that the closer she binds herself to Mr. Markham, the closer she binds herself to danger. And the deeper their love grows, the closer she gets to discovering the truth surrounding her cousin’s death. Once she does, the explosive secret will rip them apart…possibly forever.
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This is amazing, one of my favorite books of erotic novels especially because it explores the D/s scene.. love Julian he is a very strong alpha male so hot so dirty filthy mouth … favorite scene Julian, Silas and ivy that’s all that I’m going to say super hot hot hot!! Sierra’s writing is one my favorite, she not only take us into scenarios and situations we are not expecting, but the depth of her story and her characters are always beautiful and very well described..
In The Education of Ivy Leavold we are introduced to Professor Markham teacher of pleasure and pain. He is a disciplinary teacher who issues punishment in the form of suffering.
In this installment Julian educated Ivy in the ways in which to bring herself pleasure as well as to bring him pleasure. Keep in mind his sexual appetite is by no means as formal as the era they live in. He has carnal needs and for the inexperienced ignorant young pet she must accept his darkness.
The beauty of Ivy’s character was her ungoverned nature. Her ignorance and lack of knowledge about the pleasures associated with men. Her character was brave, courageous, and impulsive while exploring and exposing her body.
Although, I had to control my own thoughts and opinions regarding Julian’s means
to punish Ivy sexually. I’m not one to favor punishment especially as a means to toy with a woman sexually. This is a hard limit for me. Demeaning women sexually and displaying there pleasure to punish others show disrespect. While Julian respects
the responsiveness of Ivy’s body it still bothers me how Julian needs to claim and brand Ivy’s body.
“And it delights me to know that I have made you like this”, Julian’s words to Ivy. He rather enjoyed the aspect of educating Ivy to become a wanton dark monster such as himself. For his fears could be put to rest to find another who could understand his desires.
Some of these fetishes were hard limits for me. The story was too sexually driven. These characters couldn’t seem to live without sex. They were sex addicts who
had to constantly cross boundaries in order to achieve the next fix. The next fix
was never far away. They lived and breathed sex.
I wanted to explore more of this danger and the secrets associated with Julian. Instead, Sierra filled each chapter with sex scenes. Sierra is no prude when it comes to exploring the many ways to feast upon the human body, yet my mind could only handle these scenes in small increments. The fact that these scenes controlled the chapters had me cringing.
Up until the threesome with Silas I was enjoying the sex scenes, but afterwards I began to withdraw. Sierra was setting off my trigger warnings with the way Julian
manhandled Ivy. This was the making of a submissive sex addict and I couldn’t tolerate his teachings. I will complement Sierra for how talented she is with her writing skills especially these sex scenes. They were truly vivid. Sierra captured the love, the turmoil, and the pain with intense words.
I struggle with characters like Julian that need to claim another by owning their body, mind, and soul by stripping them of any and all vulnerabilities. It’s too possessive.
I’d compare Ivy’s need for sex the same as one would need cocaine. By any means necessary Ivy was willing to do anything to achieve that high. The addiction was controlling her and Julian was the one supporting her addiction.
Even-though, this story was a hard limit for me I still have to give Sierra credit for
her top notch writing skills.
Sierra created that crevice of doubt with those perfect words that Julian told time and time again. She dangled that piece of information until the bloody end making me wait and wonder who the true criminal was.
Where I found the speech more refined in the previous book, not so much in this book, and that is perfectly okay. This picks up directly from where the first book left off. Silas reappears for some bedroom fun. More about the Ivy’s cousin and her death and Mr. Markham. There is a slight continuity issue from first book, but to discuss would spoiler something big in this book.
Book two takes us further into this wonderfully openly sexual world that Ivy had no idea existed. Is she ready for what is about to take place? Is she sure that Julian is free of guilt in her cousin’s death? More questions and some steamy answers.
As you know from my review of The Awakening of Ivy Leavold , I was lured by the free first book, and since, I have bought all 4 Markham Hall books. And as I suspected, this series does not disappoint.
The Premise: Nineteen-year old Ivy Leavold sexually awakened and in love with widower Julian Markham, is entrusting him to protect her. But as she looks further into the deaths of her cousin and Julian’s first wife, she gets more disturbed by what she finds.
The story/The sex/Overall: And again Sierra Simone is magical with a sex scene! She has the right mix of sensation, emotion, and physical description to keep you reading and interested. As I predicted (um it is obvious in the titles of these books anyway), Ivy and Julian’s relationship takes even more of a Dom/sub turn. If you like a shadowy, potentially dangerous Alpha and a fiesty sub, this one is for you.
The mystery surrounding Markham and the mysterious deaths of his wives starts to take a more defined shape, suspects start to look even more suspicious, and secrets began to be revealed. The intrigue of the story is what’s going to bring you back, even though the sex is amazing here. I can’t wait to find out what happens in Book 3.
part 2 of a series