It is a short and spicy novella that is easy to listen to or read, and the narrator, Zara Hampton-Brown, did a fantastic job at bringing Ivy to life as well as the other characters. I was not expecting there to be as much spice as there was or for it to be the first part of a series, but that is my own fault for not looking into the book better. I'm unsure if I will be continuing the rest of the story, but I was very drawn in towards the end by the mystery and thrill of Markham’s two deceased wives and tempted to keep going to find out what really happened, even though I have an inkling of who it was.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

Book 1 in new series. Ivy's story is a trilogy.

After the death of Ivy's brother, she truly has nowhere to go. She write to her cousin, the new mistress of Markham Hall, only to find out she died days ago in an accident. Despite never having met and his wife's recent death, Julian feels it is his duty to allow Ivy to live with him. When Ivy arrives to Markham Hall, she is intrigued, and ultimately attracted, to Julian. But Julian behaves oddly at times and Ivy doesn't exactly know how he feels about her.

I don't know what I expected, but it surely wasn't this, lol. The title alone had me thinking "Ivy is a sheltered virgin (normal for that time period) and is attracted to a man." Well, this was a whole lot more than that, lol. This is no gradual awakening. This book is like 98% sex in some form (which includes thinking about it). I definitely wasn't prepared for that, lol. And it was fine. The only thing that kept niggling at me was the fact that Ivy is 19 and has lived a sheltered life. Yet the number of slang words she not only understands but uses is questionable.

Zara Hampton-Brown narrates the audiobook. While fine with most of it, I did not care for the voice she used for Julian in dialogue. And since there is some explicit talking, it made me cringe a bit.

I received an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the start of Ivy Leavold’s story in this novella by Sierra Simone. It has all the things we have grown to love in her stories. This story is full of angst, sexual attraction, risqué scenes, mixed with a little suspenseful sense of danger. Julian Markham is a rich billionaire with an aura of power and danger surrounding him. He’s very mysterious and I can’t wait to find more about him. It’s undeniable that there is so much sexual tension between Julian and Ivy when they first see one another. They are drawn to one another. He’s mysterious and she knows what she wants and goes after it. Love the suspenseful aspect as we try to unravel the clues of what happened to Ivy’s cousin and how did she die? The audiobook is beautifully Narrated by Zara Hampton-Brown. She really brings Ivy’s character to life and her desires to find more about Julian. She does a great job voicing the other characters in the story too. Many thanks to Dreamscape Select, No Bird Press LLC and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This short and spicy novella from Sierra Simone kicks off the Markham Hall series. It's 1879, and Ivy Leavold's brother has just passed. With nowhere else to go, she finds herself at Markham Hall under the care of her cousin's widower, Julian Markham. Ivy is young and inexperienced. Julian is dark and drawn to her. Things quickly become physical between them, but the unsolved mysteries surrounding the deaths of Julian's two wives hang over the house like a shroud. Was he responsible for their deaths? Is Ivy safe in his arms?

Sierra Simone always delivers the spice, and you can find plenty of heat in this one. Julian is rather torn about whether he should give into his attraction to Ivy, so expect lots of back and forth behavior on his part. And there are some—ahem—unconventional party games when his guests come to visit.

This one is high on the heat factor but not as invested in the character and plot development.

Zara Hampton-Brown's narration brings Ivy's apprehension, curiosity, youth, and naïveté to life. I enjoyed her vocal choices for Ivy and many of the other characters but was not as enamored with her voice for Julian.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Dreamscape Select and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

There is suspense, a mysterious death and lots of fun times. Tension between ivy and Julian is very apparent from their first encounter and only escaldes from there. So good, I would continue the series.

A racy Beauty and the Beast themed read with a bit of mischief and suspense. This is a sexy regency period historical romance novel! I am a huge historical romance lover, especially regency period books, and this book hit the mark perfectly. I have only read the Priest and A Christmas Notch series by this author, so I did not know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised! The storyline was interesting, the chemistry between the characters was scorching, and the added elements created by the guests made the story irresistible. The story is told in single pov and is narrated by one narrator, I enjoyed the audio narration, the narration was well paced and articulated. I am familiar with this narrator as she always does a good job. She is the same narrator for Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus series. I can’t wait to listen to the rest of the audiobooks in this series!