Alchemy London
A hot, spicy read with a perfect amount of drama and an intriguing premise.
1. UNFURL by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
An upbringing steeped in purity culture has saddled me with three things: an intact V-card, enough Catholic guilt to fill a cathedral... and a raging priest kink.
My religious extremist father is intent on preserving my virtue, but when I meet my magnetic older neighbour, Rafe, it seems the universe has other plans for my body... and my soul. He’s the precise opposite of me: a man who views sex as a commodity, whose club caters to the wealthiest, most debauched clientele in London.
But when I discover the club offers a programme to ‘unfurl’ inexperienced women like me in a safe space, I’m in. Even the entry questionnaire has me aching with desire. It seems I’m about to get schooled in every delight I’ve been missing. Rafe makes it his mission to bring my wildest fantasies to life. When he and his friends don their dog collars, they put the hot into hot priests. He’s so attentive, so possessive, and I have to remind myself that a boring little virgin like me could never make man like him happy in the long run.
So when all the religious BS I’ve been battling comes to a head in the most horrifying way, what right do I have to think he’ll stick by me?
2. UNDULATE by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
Maddy
I cultivate my shamelessness. I wore it as a badge of honour at my convent school, and I’ve been turning it into an art form at Alchemy, the club whose social media I manage. My boss, though? He’s the most proper person I’ve ever met. No one would peg him as the Finance Director of a sex club. (I mean, no one’s pegging him at all, which is probably his problem. #justsayin)
I get it. He’s a widower who’s single-parenting two little girls while holding down a massive job. He needs an outlet. Something just for him. Besides, I’ve seen the looks he gives me. Equal parts disapproval and desire. Looks that compel me to bring him back to life. Which is why I proposition him to do unspeakable things to me. Use my body to find some light in his darkness. After all, he has an entire sex club at his disposal. Surely it’s rude not to indulge?
Zach
This woman will be the death of me. It’s deeply unfortunate that my soul only finds peace when my hands are on her body. I’m beginning to understand that the basest pleasures of the flesh can overrule the most elevated emotions of the heart. She looks like the embodiment of sin. But God, she feels like salvation.
3. UNVEIL by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
I’ve made my fortune from liberation, but I’m far more comfortable with discretion. I’ve built the pre-eminent sex club in London, but I don’t play there. Not publicly, anyway. Not beyond its darkest corners.
I talk the talk, but I don’t walk the walk. Not like my male co-founders do. Because I’m the immaculate one. The flawless, perfectly turned-out woman who’s cultivated her glacial facade so carefully she’s scared the slightest smear will ruin it. I want to run a sex empire and be taken seriously in the old boys’ club that is the business world. I want to be the poster child, not the plaything. So I stay polished. Tasteful. Beyond reproach. Until Anton Wolff joins Alchemy. He’s the UK’s most charismatic billionaire, and he’s looking for a club that’s as discreet as it is debauched. As classy as it is carnal. I think I’ve seen it all, until he shares what he desires from his Alchemy experience. And what he desires, above all else, is me.
The pull is mutual. The tension is unbearable. And the risk that he unveils me, seduces me into abandoning any vestige of control, is very, very, real. I think I’m afraid of the Big, Bad Wolff.
4. UNTETHER by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
Aida
I’ve endured fifteen years of underwhelming marital sex with Lord John Russell. One front-page tell-all from his secretary puts an end to that misery pretty efficiently. As the media furore rages around our divorce, two things become abundantly clear. One. It’s time for some decent orgasms. Which is why I’ve joined the Unfurl programme at London’s top sex club, Alchemy. Two. It’s time to take control of the narrative. For myself and for other women. And that’s why I plan to document my sexual revolution on camera.
Cal
Sexy AF celebrity, Aida Russell, is looking for a mentor on her journey to reclaim her sexuality. As co-founder of London’s most exclusive sex club, I’m her man. I’ll make her come. Make her forget. Untether her from the constraints of her past. I warn her at the outset not to get emotionally attached. I don’t do commitment. But when she begins to revel in the new-found liberty I helped her find, I’m the one who struggles. I should be proud. Relieved. Job done, right? But the higher she soars, the more attached I get.
5. UNSTITCH by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
Shame. Prejudice. Fear. All woven into the very fabric of my being. I’m swathed in them like the most suffocating cloak. Beneath this toxic mantle, I wear my desires close to my heart. Where it’s dark. Where they’re safe. Until I meet Darcy, a dancer at Alchemy and the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. The only problem? Her boyfriend, Max.
She makes me feel alive, but he arouses emotions I’ve taken great care my entire life to condemn and deny and bury. Emotions I’ve always been taught are sinful and wrong. Together, they show me love far too great to be a sin, too bright to languish in the darkness.
Even as our relationship flourishes, the shame and fear remain in place, tearing me apart and threatening what deserves only the most dazzling light. If anyone can unstitch this cloak from me, thread by thread, and liberate me, it’s this woman... and this man. If I let them.
6. UNBIND by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
Adam Wright may be a self-made billionaire, but he’s also a beast. Most children grow up hating a storybook villain. Based on the injuries that man inflicted on my brother, I grew up hating a real one. When he sort-of kidnaps me and drags me back to his fairytale mansion, it feels like yet another cliché antihero stunt.
Here’s the thing, though. Most villains don’t weep real tears when they see you having a diabetic episode. They don’t abandon their billion-pound empire so they can roll up their sleeves and pull your company back from the brink of bankruptcy. They don’t put you first, care for you, at every single opportunity, dammit. Not in the storybooks I’ve read, anyway.
My body succumbs first. It doesn’t stand a chance. It’s game over from the moment I wake to find him sleeping next to me, the Empire State Building tenting his pants. I despise myself. I shouldn’t want him. Not when I know the despicable acts he’s capable of.
But when my heart starts to succumb, that’s when I know I’m really in trouble. Because what if the villain I’ve loved to hate all these years is really my hero? And if indeed he is, how on earth will I persuade my brother of that?
6.5. ALWAYS ALCHEMY by Elodie Hart
SYNOPSIS
Do you absolutely need to see Max, Dex and Darcy exchange vows?
Want a front-row seat to the sexy chaos that ensues when Cal decides to raise money for the rainforests?
Desperate for that spreader bar scene between Adam and Nat?
Have you long harboured a suspicion that Anton’s Terrible Twins will cause even more havoc as they get older?
You’re in the right place! Always Alchemy takes place over course of a decade. Grab a drink, find a comfy seat, and enjoy this glimpse into the futures of the beloved Alchemy gang.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elodie Hart is a pen name of Sara Madderson.
more from the author
