Audible Audiobook, Kindle e-book
Author: Pam Godwin
Narrators: Tad Branson and Ava Erickson
Ivory Westbrook is a 17-year-old piano virtuoso attending an expensive, prestigious school for the performing arts inn New Orleans. The only reason she’s able to attend it is because her father sold his piano bar and paid for education in full. Sadly, a few months later, he was killed in a bar brawl, leaving a widow and a son who are very resentful of Ivory for their now destitute situation – and they treat her “accordingly”.
At school, Ivory stands out for her talent, her lower social status, and for her looks. She doesn’t look like a teenager. She’s beautiful and voluptuous and she hates the attention that it gets her. At home, she’s consistently sexually abused by her brother’s best friend and, at school, her body is her only currency. No ones cares for her. She has to pay the bills.
Emeric Marceaux has made a deal with the devil: fired from his previous school for being caught in a compromising position with another teacher, the only place that will hire him is Le Moyne Academy. The only reason he got this job is because the headmaster wants to use his connections to get her son into Leopold (A Juilliard-like school in NYC). On his very first day, he mistakes Ivory for a fellow teacher. He’s immediately taken by her and is highly attracted by how submissive she appears to be and that is just catnip for him, a dom. However, pretty soon he starts to figure out what’s going on in Ivory’s life and all he wants is to do is protect her.
I confess I went into this book with my “ick factor” cranked up to 11. I was a high school teacher for my entire professional life and student-teacher relationships involving teenagers make me VERY uncomfortable. Having said that, I am very happy I push my boundaries because this is a beautiful story.
Yes, it’s dark. It takes you to some very sad places of hopelessness and violence, but Pam Godwin masterfully crafts Emeric and Ivory’s story. My initial jerk reaction was: he’s a predator! He’s grooming her! That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Emeric is a very complex character. He’s young (27), incredibly talented and has recently been betrayed by the woman he thought he loved. And he is a dom. The way he cares for Ivory and is devoted to her is beautiful. I also love how brutally honest he is with her, never leading her on. I also really enjoyed his relationship with his parents. He tells them everything.
This is also a poignant story of how you can also heal from horrible things. Ivory doesn’t know what intimacy is – she’s only known sex through either violence or as a transaction. She learns what trust is, and then how it is to feel intimate with someone you trust, with Emeric.
It’s dark, it’ll hurt you, but it will be very satisfying to get to their HEA. I’m glad I took a chance and read this one.
Narration: Masterfully narrated by Tad Branson and Ava Erickson. Ava has the perfect voice to show Ivory’s strengths and vulnerabilities.
Rep and possible triggers: Ivory’s mother is half-Black, but this has no relevance in the plot. BDSM; sexual assault on page; violent death of a pet; a secondary character dies by strangulation on page; situations of extreme poverty; hunger; child abandonment; parental neglect; bullying; grief; blackmail
