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London – one meeting, one month of lessons and a landslide of new desires.

My journey to hell started with a decaff coffee. Nothing more than a grey mug full of dull-brown liquid devoid of its most useful ingredient.

One sip, one smile, one touch of her hand and it was soon clear my life wasn’t destined to stay dull. Oh, no, suddenly I had a month of bedroom education planned by a sultry vixen who intended to broaden my horizons beyond my usual peach-pink palette.

She wanted to take me to deep purples and navy blues and the pitch blackness that was pure sin. And on the other side of that blackness was a place that might look like Hell, with debauchery and wantonness, people playing devil’s advocate, luring innocents into the hotter, steamier corners of the world.

Her world.

Oh, yes, she promised each night to take me there and paint me an orange-and-red picture that would come alive, flickering like flames, enticing me, holding me spellbound and eager to learn more. To touch, explore, drown in coming.

And drown I would. I was no match for her tricks and taunts. My only chance of survival was to show her that I wasn't vanilla. I had a rainbow of mastery up my sleeve, too, and if she just opened her eyes, she might be dazzled enough to stay—stay and take ‘my’ lessons. If she didn’t kill me first, that was, with pleasure.

Please note The Novice (newly titled) is book #1 in a series intended for adults (Sexy as Hell) and is best read in order. At the end of this novel you will find the first 3 chapters of the next book, The Player, available for your enjoyment.

317 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 19, 2013

29 people are currently reading
596 people want to read

About the author

Harlem Dae

17 books27 followers
Harlem Dae is the co-author pen name of writers Lily Harlem and Natalie Dae.

http://www.harlemdae.com/

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5 stars
64 (35%)
4 stars
58 (32%)
3 stars
37 (20%)
2 stars
11 (6%)
1 star
8 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Profile Image for Lucy Felthouse.
Author 254 books800 followers
September 6, 2013
The Virgin is the first book in the Sexy as Hell trilogy by Harlem Dae, also known as the writing team Lily Harlem and Natalie Dae.

This erotic novel tells the story of Victor and Zara. Victor is a successful single businessman, and Zara is what can only be described as a sex performer working out of Soho. They meet by chance in a coffee shop, where Zara picks Victor up for some sexy fun. Naturally, Victor’s pleased that he’s going to get some action, until he finds out that Zara isn’t exactly the most demure woman. In fact, she’s downright rude and demanding, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it. Her forwardness frightens him. He calls her out on it, implying that there’s something wrong with her.

Zara laughs in his face and tells him he has a lot to learn about women and sex. Victor doesn’t believe it. Between them, they end up making a bet. One month, and Zara will teach Victor everything she knows. Only Victor doesn’t realise quite what a kinky chick he’s gotten himself involved with.

Soon his previously vanilla life is an assortment of domination, submission, spanking, voyeurism, and all manner of unconventional sex, all set in London, capital of the UK. Victor learns much about himself, as well as people he thought he used to know well. His head is thoroughly messed with and before long, he’s wishing he’d never met Mistress Zara.

If you’re looking for a bit of light slap-and-tickle, this isn’t it. The heat level of this book is a six out of five and is definitely not for the fainthearted. There’s anal play, blood play, slapping, and much, much more. There are twists and turns, things I wasn’t expecting, and an ending that leads perfectly into book two, making you eager to find out what happens next. So if you’re looking for some superbly well-written and very, very dark, hardcore BDSM erotica, you should check out The Virgin. You won’t forget it in a hurry.
Profile Image for Optimist ♰King's Wench♰.
1,824 reviews3,974 followers
Read
July 25, 2013
I had a really difficult time getting through this & at about 60% I asked myself why I kept reading it. It's not like I was prepping for a test or anything! So I threw the proverbial towel in. I may finish it at some point but it's not going to be any time soon.

For me it boiled down to two basic things, the first of which is the author's propensity towards inundating the reader with an overabundance of mundane details. Conservative estimate: about 75 pages could've been cut out by limiting the number of times I had to read where Zara put her handbag in the room. Two words: not relevant. My second reason is I simply don't care for Zara. Zara is a skank. She's been basically grudge fucking random men in a pitiful effort to assert her dominance over them while trying to forget she was used & tossed aside by a previous dalliance.

Zara works at a sex club performing various BDSM scenes in front of anonymous paying customers. After meeting & picking up Victor in a coffee shop she tells him she's going to train him in the ways of kink for the next month then cut him loose which basically translates into taking him to various shows at the club & sucking his cock any chance she gets. Why she's chosen to spend an entire month with him is a topic of much speculation amongst her peers as well as herself.

Victor has no history of being submissive &, it seems, his "submission" to her is based solely on his level of attraction to her despite the fact that she constantly tells him how insignificant he is to her. Meanwhile she's second guessing herself & seems quite naive about her own feelings. Or maybe just in denial.

The writing is good, without typos or misspellings, but the content is where the problem lies for me. I never formed a connection with either character. I found that I was easily bored by their monotonous inner dialogues which in my opinion didn't advance the story, just stalled it. So… it goes in the DNF pile.
Profile Image for Dee.
2,012 reviews107 followers
November 12, 2014
Why on why did I not look at the cover more closely before reading this story
Fifty shades steamier than grey

Like 'that' book this story was a poor representation of the BDSM lifestyle or people exploring any kind of D/s relationship.

This is the biggest train wreck of a book I have read. Every character ended up switching. The Domme (Zara), decided to try being submissive, as she might like it. She wanted to be prepared for when she let the guy she'd hooked up (Victor) flog her, so she made a male sub flog her. o.O

Later in the book Zara and Victor go out for dinner. She comes across her first submissive, who is dining with a woman. Said woman also just so happens to be Victor's ex. So yeah their respective ex's hooked up, small world?

Zara has an idea to follow them home and spy on them so Victor can see how a real sub should behave........you'll never guess what they discover

I have no problem with switches, but this book went over and beyond belief. IMO.

RANT OVER. lol.

Well not quite...this part still confuses the bejeezus out of me.

"Victor loses control and fucks Zara, then has a melt down for fucking her without her permission. States he all but raped her, and goes so far as to tell her she should call the police.

Zara replies "this is exactly what I planned, for you to give up control and submit to me."

*WTF, did I miss something here?? What 'domme' would be okay with a guy, partner or not, practically raping her. I get rape play, but she was a fuckn domme, and a male doing that is not submitting. I am perplexed!

Did I mention this entire story read like a train wreck?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Debi.
249 reviews7 followers
July 29, 2013
I received this book free on Amazon!!
The Virgin, Book 1 in the Sexy as Hell Trilogy by Harlem Dae.
Poor Victor did not know what he was getting himself into when he met Zara.
Victor is a straight laced hard working man that doesn’t have time for shenanigans.
Zara is bound and determined to get Victor to open up and expand his horizons. He believes in making love to a woman and never laying a hand on her, but if Zara has her way she is going to teach him how to f@$K like a real man. Let’s just say she gets her way and something amazing happens between the two of them! The authors have done a great job writing this story line. The characters in this story are very strong and sexy. I can’t wait to read book 2, The Player…
Profile Image for Marci.
145 reviews4 followers
October 27, 2015
This was a good book however, not sure if it just didn't download correctly to my kindle or if there were a bunch of errors. Paragraphs were repeated on many pages and many pages ended in the middle of a sentence. I tried loading it again and same thing. Anyway, I finally managed to get through the book and I did enjoy it. Not sure that I need to know what happens in the next 2 books between the characters. There are so many books like this out there and this was not one of my favorites however, I did like the male character(Victor)in this book.
314 reviews7 followers
May 9, 2015
If you like your Erotica dark, dirty and exquisitely steamy, then this is definitely the book for you! When Victor meets Zara little does he know the things she will show him, the deliciously hardcore BDSM world that she will pull him into but will he embrace it or even survive it? Vanilla this is most definitely not - spanking, anal play and blood play are the scene here and my god, it's hot as hell.
Profile Image for Marika.
4,855 reviews100 followers
October 2, 2013
God I love this woman!!! Zara is blunt and she knows what she wants and she is not afraid to ask for it..I was hooked from the very first sentence!!!
Victor..I like him..but he is not as special as she is!
I think they are amazing together...can't wait to read the player!!!
42 reviews1 follower
July 31, 2013
very well written but very x rated diffidently 50 shades dirtier
Profile Image for Angie.
1,078 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2020
This book had me with the first line.

This book had me with the first line. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I found it funny, sexy and a bit emotional. I felt for Victor, he didn’t know what he’d got himself into with Zara. He was just a guy who wanted a one nighter, a one and done etc. I thought he did well and did everything that Zara threw at him. To be honest, by the end of this book I had taken a serious dislike to Zara. I found her attitude hurtful and childish. I get that she did what she had to do, but I was pretty angry at her at the end.
Profile Image for Bambi Unbridled.
1,297 reviews139 followers
January 30, 2015

London – one meeting, one month of lessons and a landslide of new desires.

My journey to hell started with a decaff coffee. Nothing more than a grey mug full of dull-brown liquid devoid of its most useful ingredient.

One sip, one smile, one touch of her hand and it was soon clear my life wasn’t destined to stay dull. Oh, no, suddenly I had a month of bedroom education planned by a sultry vixen who intended to broaden my horizons beyond my usual peach-pink palette.

She wanted to take me to deep purples and navy blues and the pitch blackness that was pure sin. And on the other side of that blackness was a place that might look like Hell, with debauchery and wantonness, people playing devil’s advocate, luring innocents into the hotter, steamier corners of the world.

Her world.

Oh, yes, she promised each night to take me there and paint me an orange-and-red picture that would come alive, flickering like flames, enticing me, holding me spellbound and eager to learn more. To touch, explore, drown in coming.

And drown I would. I was no match for her tricks and taunts. My only chance of survival was to show her that I wasn't vanilla. I had a rainbow of mastery up my sleeve, too, and if she just opened her eyes, she might be dazzled enough to stay—stay and take ‘my’ lessons. If she didn’t kill me first, that was, with pleasure.



Let me start off my saying that this book was very well-written. It was wonderfully British, and definitely gave me some new one liners for the next time I fancy a bit of rumpy-pumpy. And yes, I found myself reading this in my head with my hilariously fake British accent. You haven't heard funny until you hear a Tennessee twang attempting some posh dialect.

I have had trouble reading British authors in the past... mainly when the book is set somewhere like Texas, but the author is using British English instead of American English. In that context, if the main character says: "I am sat here on a bar stool..." you are going to see some bitchy status update rant from me about the proper use of present participles. (It has happened, more than once.) However, when you have a well-written book like this, or even a nice little Ed Sheeran song, I feel like I've taken a hop across the pond and can sit back to enjoy the tea and strumpets. (I apologize for the bit of a mind wander I took there.)

That being said, a majority of this book was about femdom, and that is just not my kink. So I was thinking most of the way through: "how on earth am I going to rate this?" I didn't really care for Zara's personality. I felt sorry for Victor, and then I viewed him as a bit of a namby pamby. So I was stressing because I didn't think it would be fair to lower a book's rating just because the subject matter wasn't to my taste. Well, lucky for me, the script gets flipped around 80% and Victor is redeemed for me. I realized that I was getting into the relationship between Zara and Victor... even if I didn't dig the lifestyle. But then, THAT ENDING! It was one of those endings that made me yell "No! You can't end it there!" So you sneaky sneaky authors, you have guaranteed that I will continue reading the series. Hats off to you.
Profile Image for Veronica of V's Reads.
1,528 reviews44 followers
September 18, 2014
4.5 stars. This book is for the shameless voyeur.

Zara is a Domme of the first order. She sets her subtle trap for men to please her at a neighborhood coffeehouse, and today, she's landed Victor in her sexy web. Victor is a successful business man--owner of his own architectural firm--but he's single and thinks he's a good catch. (He is, BTW) He is not, AT ALL, prepared to submit to the diminutive vixen he thought he picked up. He is intrigued however, and they strike a bargain: Victor submits for Zara's sub training for a month, to see if the lifestyle is for him. They can part amicably at the end of the time, if they so choose.

Victor agrees. He is resposible for so much in his professional life, he feels an uneasy freedom in letting Zara take the lead sexually. During their time together he is aroused and exposed in ways he has never been before. He is so consumed by the thrill, he routinely forgets his heart medication, which causes problems later.

For Zara's part, she has not had this much contact with a regular sub in a long time. And Victor's calm and compassionate demeanor begins to thaw her Ice Queen edges. Soon, both Zara and Victor are experiencing something more than lust, something more like affection. They share a betrayal in common, which further cements their bond.

There are many (many) sexy passages--with an interesting switch scene that obliterates Zara's defenses. I liked that, really. That she was willing to push her boundaries, in much the same way she insisted Victor push his. It showed equality in the dynamic which is rare in a BDSM book.

Expect filthy-smexytimes to be liberally smeared throughout the pages. It's erotica at it's most sensual, and sure to please fans of the genre. I know I had some O_O moments, which was vicariously fun.
Profile Image for Debi.
249 reviews7 followers
November 4, 2013
I received this book free on Amazon!!
The Novice, Book 1 in the Sexy as Hell Trilogy by Harlem Dae.
Poor Victor did not know what he was getting himself into when he met Zara.
Victor is a straight laced hard working man that doesn’t have time for shenanigans.
Zara is bound and determined to get Victor to open up and expand his horizons. He believes in making love to a woman and never laying a hand on her, but if Zara has her way she is going to teach him how to f@$K like a real man. Let’s just say she gets her way and something amazing happens between the two of them! The authors have done a great job writing this story line. The characters in this story are very strong and sexy. I can’t wait to read book 2, The Player…
Profile Image for Melody Parks.
Author 7 books20 followers
August 23, 2013
As a few others mentioned, some parts of this story did drag on a bit. In the beginning in my case, but once I got deeper into the story, I really, really liked it.
I like what these authors did with Eden street.
I liked that Victor was open minded with a sense of loyalty.
I liked that Zara was able to admit when she was wrong and acted accordingly.
There were touching moments in this story as well as some lighthearted humor.

I have a question for the Authors, it might be mentioned in the following books, but, was Carlos a black guy? I pictured him as such while I was reading, don't know why.
Profile Image for Tequila.
1,448 reviews28 followers
September 7, 2016
OMG I could so kick myself in the pants for not reading this book earlier! And now I'm stuck with a cliffhanger and the series is no longer available! Talk about torture for a reader! This is such an amazing book and when I started it, I can say I didn't have high expectations for it, but my gawd it totally blew me away! I love the characters and the realism. The authors did such a fantastic job with this book and I hope that I can eventually finish this series.
Profile Image for Debbie.
34 reviews
September 19, 2013
I thought this was pretty good. Slow in the beginning but after 20% through, it was an easy page turner.
Profile Image for Rayna.
112 reviews16 followers
February 4, 2014
Did not like it. It seemed like it was forced and was not a fun read. No review to follow. I really don't want to go back and reread that for a review.
Profile Image for Heidi Van BookAddict.
75 reviews2 followers
August 28, 2016
I liked this one. It did start out a little slow, but for me once I got farther into it I couldn't put it down. I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Heidi.
200 reviews13 followers
August 10, 2016
I liked this one. It did start out a little slow, but for me once I got farther into it I couldn't put it down. I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Michaela Rhua.
Author 10 books13 followers
May 26, 2014
Enjoyed this book. Took a little while to get into it but once into it I found the characters fascinating. I'm not sure I believed Victor's quick spin around. A good read!
Profile Image for Kim Quick.
Author 11 books72 followers
November 11, 2015
Definitely an eye opening experience of sorts... not mine, but that of the characters.
Profile Image for Jaclyn.
Author 5 books4 followers
April 8, 2017
Not my favorite story regarding the world of a"sex house," but definitely had an interesting dynamic with the plot and characters.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews

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