Serena's Plight: Goddess of Ivy, Book 1 by Carol Madison describes what toxic relationships do to people. This dark and intriguing novel is raw, savage, and brutally emotional. Serena Loomis was as normal as you could expect her to be. She never knew her father and her alcoholic mother was never there for her. The only person who ever cared about her was Sam Everhart. He was her everything and all she wanted was Sam. Things were good until suddenly they weren’t. He broke her heart, broke up with her, and moved away to his Ivy League college.

She broke down after that, had brief encounters with men, and simply became a younger version of her mother. Things weren’t faring well for Sam too. When he brought up an outrageous proposition that would help both Sam and Serena, they had no idea how this would change their lives. For Serena, things cannot get more horrendous and difficult. Will suffering ever end for her?

This is emotional pain, the kind of pain that not everyone can get through. This is how people break down. What is terrifying is that many girls are actually living this life. Desperation and the need to feel loved make people do some very bad things that change their lives forever, and Carol Madison captured this beautifully. You cannot find a single fault in this novel; you will love and hate and love Sam and you will admire Serena. It may seem like she is made of stone, but she is just human. This is definitely one of the best novels I have read so far this year; it's in my top 10!

Serena wanted love and to share that love with someone who returned it. She thought she had that very thing with Sam. They gave themselves to one another with complete abandon, assuring Serena that her life would never mimic that of her alcoholic mother’s. And then Sam broke up with her, leaving Serena certain that there would never again be a love like Sam’s. From that day forward, Serena threw herself into relationships solely dependent upon sex. From one high school boy to the next, Serena worked her way through a ridiculously long list of sexual pursuits, trying all the while to erase the hurt Sam left inside her. When Sam contacted Serena before leaving for college at fancy Cornell, she was uncertain what to make of his proposal. In order to financially complete his Ivy League degree, Sam needed money and Serena was his best bet to achieve that goal. Should she be insulted or should she take the golden opportunity to become a very wealthy woman while holding Sam’s reputation over his head?

Carol Madison creates a world of illicit sex in the Ivy League arena of horny college boys. In this trilogy of adventures, Serena’s Plight is a tastefully told saga of sexual exploration that results in deeply seeded friendships. While prostituting herself out to six college students over the course of their four years of academia, the relationships go further than the initial sexual business agreement, and Selena once again dreams of finding her lifelong love. While the language is explicitly sexual, very realistic life lessons exist in Serena’s Plight.

Serena’s Plight is the first book in the Goddess of Ivy trilogy written by Carol Madison. Poor, insecure, failing every single class in school and filled with self-loathing, Serena Loomis has just one dream – to leave her broken home and some day marry her long-time best friend, Sam Everhart. Her dream comes to an abrupt halt when Sam takes her virginity before unceremoniously dumping her. A string of romances follows during Serena’s remaining high school years, all ending in heartbreak for Serena who blames herself for being inadequate. At the end of senior year, Sam proposes to Serena, but not for marriage; he wants to be her pimp, taking twenty percent of her income as a loan, not a commission, so he can afford to finish college. Believing so little in herself and being reminded by Sam that her future is nothing more than a minimum-wage earning nobody, Serena agrees to Sam’s proposal, leading her to the high-risk occupation of being a high-priced escort for rich college guys. Serena is shocked to find how different each of the men’s personalities are, with some shy (even terrified) to meet her and others extremely self-confident, dominant, drunk or violent, but she feels confident she can deal with each one as her main objective is money. Her carefree attitude about sex quickly changes, however, after a shocking and terrifying incident shakes her to the very core.

Serena’s Plight was very hard-hitting and tackled many sensitive social issues head-on. I was impressed with the story. While the language used in Serena’s Plight is quite strong, it seems to convey the message behind the story more convincingly. Carol Madison has created a tale of a young girl living in a trailer park who has no self-esteem whatsoever. I found the character of Serena to be quite believable and felt her heartache each time somebody had run her down even more, making her feel less than worthless. Serena’s Plight is powerful, heart-breaking, and shows how desperation can push a person to do anything at all in order to escape a hopeless future. I recommend this book to mature readers who prefer stories filled with drama, love, loss, romance, and so much sizzle that it almost burns the pages right out of your hands.

Serena's Plight by Carol Madison is a brilliant opening in the Goddess of Ivy series, a sizzling story that will grab the full attention of romance lovers. It’s a story of betrayal, a desperate search for love and redemption. Serena Loomis is a simple girl from a poor family. Her mother is an alcoholic and she doesn’t even know her father. When she falls in love with her best friend, Sam Everhart, she is ecstatic and thinks her world has become perfect, but it isn’t long before Sam tells her it’s over. Serena changes many boyfriends, wanting to fill the emptiness in her heart, but when her ex-boyfriend returns with an attractive proposition, Serena sees the opportunity to redeem herself and make a fortune. She just doesn’t know the price she’d pay for doing so!

Serena’s Plight reminded me of Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes, and the author answers the silent question that many have asked: Can commercialized sex be rewarding? Carol Madison has created very interesting and solid characters in Serena and Sam, and it is interesting to watch them in their weakness, to watch them wrestle with their emotions, and to watch them use their gifts. The characters are lovely and many readers will identify with them. There is a lot of sex in the book as well, so this might not be the best book for readers who are not so open-minded. Serena’s story will come across to many as a warning of the price to pay for shortcuts to wealth. This story is well written, and Serena’s adventures are breathtaking; the drama fills the pages and the author has many surprises to keep readers turning them.