Beyond Temptation by Kit Rocha

3 STARS

Beyond - Book 3.5

I love the Beyond series. I find the world-building fascinating, the characters full and diverse and the plots are usually integral to the development of the main characters. I didn't find it so in this novella.

Beyond Temptation felt like filler to me. This is #3.5 in the Beyond series and I honestly didn't feel the urgency or the 'this love is destined for me' in it. It fell sorta flat. :/ I didn't feel that I got to know Emma at all, other than that she's a tattoo apprentice, likes to strip and has found her family with the O'Kanes. And as for Noah, he's supposed to be the token beta-male, I guess, but he's still built like a brick shithouse and while we got his backstory nicely laid out for us, I didn't feel like I really got to know him the way I've gotten to know other Beyond heroes. (Thank GOD this didn't carry over to Book 4 which features my favourite of all the Beyond characters, male or female, Ace.) The think is, I think that computer whiz Noah could have become one of the best-beloved of the gang with a little more attention.

I was disappointed, but it was still a good erotic read - I just wish the non-sex scenes had carried the weight the sex scenes did.

Beyond Solitude by Kit Rocha

3.5. STARS

Beyond - Book 4.5

I hadn't been planning to read this novella just yet, but when I ended up in the hospital ER with my son (kidney stone), it was the perfect read to take my mind off my worries.

First off, let me say that the reason I gave it 3.5 stars instead of 4 is because it was too damned short and the consequence of that was that I didn't learn nearly as much about Ford as I wanted to. Mia was a little more fleshed out, I thought, but I could have gotten deeper into what makes her tick too.

I think Ford may just be my second favourite male character in the Beyond books, after Ace. The read I get from what we're given in the book is that he's a little older than most of the other O'Kanes. And he thinks before he acts for the most part. And I like both of those things.

I liked Mia a lot too. I liked how she pretty much understood what Ford was dealing with after his accident from pretty much the beginning and acted accordingly. She read as a lot younger than Ford, but I thought they fit together right well from the very beginning. It felt to me that their chemistry was instant and it was shown through the simple parts of their interaction. I didn't need the gutpunches and the flushes etc... to get it, you know? But when those did come, it was perfectly right - and good. :)

As always, the intimate scenes - be they filled with lots of steamy, hot sex or just a random touch and a look - were excellently done. And they were the characters' own scenes. They weren't a rewrite of any of the others that have come before in the Beyond series and that's not always the case in these romantic series.

I just wanted MORE! I wanted more scenes like the one where Ford and Mia went on their motorcycle ride outside of the sector. I wanted to see more of how Mia was settling in with the core community of the O'Kanes, making friends etc... and see more of how Ford was healing and how the two of them were creating their life together. And more Ford period. :)

I love this series and can't wait until the next one comes out!

Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha

4 STARS

Beyond Series - Book 4

At last! A book with my favourite O'Kane, Ace, as the main character! Okay, so one of the THREE main characters, but I have to admit to a huge bias where the tattoo artist is concerned. He's my Number One.

Beyond Jealousy is as hot, sexy, steamy, messy and wonderfully flithy as expected (and I'd have been disappointed otherwise). And while that is all good fun, I found the dynamics of Ace, Cruz and Rachel's relationship the most interesting. The barriers each had erected inside themselves to stop them from fully being able to commit to this great love they had found. It's a difficult line to walk for an author, I think, writing a threesome where the dynamics and the emotional power ebb and flow and at no point does the reader sense that someone is on the short end of the stick is extremely difficult, and the writing duo that makes up Kit Rocha (Bree Bridges and Donna Herren) make it work for most of the book.

The non-romantic plot of the bootlegging of the bootlegger was interesting and I will admit I wanted more of it. I could have done without some of the length in one or two of the sex scenes for more fleshing out of this part of the novel. Yes, yes, I know it's erotica, but sometimes, when there is a lot, you become numb to it and search for the other stuff, no matter how great the sex scenes are.

I did find that the last 'chapter' of the book, labelled Trix, was out of place. I didn't think it was needed at all. I thought it was a bit of a cheap ploy to get me to have to have the next book and honestly, it's not needed. The Beyond series is so good, as is Beyond Jealousy, that the next book will be even more eagerly awaited than this one, I think. I would have preferred that Beyond Jealousy end with our MC Trio, seeing as the book was mainly about their relationship.

One regret I have is that we never got to see Rachel's fantasy play out, of being able to watch Ace and Cruz fucking. And I would really love to see more m/m play out in this series, seeing as Sector Four is all about all sex being good and amazing and pleasure rules, no holds barred.

And in closing, yes I cried. After the big street battle (not to give anything too much away) I cried like a baby. And I am indeed apprehensive about what's to come as a result of what was done. I also have a feeling that we might be seeing that doctor lady again before all is finished in this dystopian world.

Beyond Pain by Kit Rocha

5 STARS

Beyond - Book 3

Thank you again Lauren Dane for recommending this series to me! :) This was the best book yet! 

This is mainly the story of Six and Bren, two terribly damanged people who will just break your heart. Numerous times. I think I spent the last 4 or 5 chapters of the book wiping my welling-up eyes! 

Six... OMG, Six!! I love her. Her journey, and even by the end of the book, it's really just beginning, her journey is riveting. Her pain, her uncertainty and her lack of belief in herself are SO believable. I think I understand now, why one of the duo who makes up Kit Rocha said that there were times she didn't think she'd be able to get through the writing of this story. Yes, Six's past is horrific, but I'm fairly certain that most women have felt those feelings of not being worthy enough, of things being her fault, of not measuring up no matter what their past. I know I have. 

And Ace... my wonderful Ace who is still my favourite character. We learn a little more about him, his motivations, his needs. A little. I love him even more. I am SO sad this book is over. :) Oh yeah... those sex scenes? A lot of sex scenes? HOT AND STEAMY!! And yes, they serve to move the plot forward. :) Yeah, I loved this book and can't WAIT for the next one. :)

Beyond Control by Kit Rocha

4.5 STARS

Beyond - Book 2

4.5 stars!! OH man, I AM HOOKED! I thought it was bad after the first novel, Beyond Shame, but I swear, when an erotic romance makes you SOB for the length of 2, almost 3 chapters, you are SO sunk. *LOL*

Lex, Alexa, the queen, OMG, what a woman! See, I wasn't 100% sold on the idea of these women being completely happy while 'belonging' to their man/men. There's so much feminism, entitlement, agency - all that kind of talk in my twitter timeline, that I found myself feeling a little guilty about enjoying these novels so much - especially after the first one. But in reading Lex's story, it became so clear to me that she - and the other women - were just as strong, if not STRONGER than those men. :) 

So, thank you, Alexa, for showing me that it's just playing that game to feel guilty. 

The sex scenes - and there are a TON of them - are so damned hot and steamy that you really need to read them to have any idea. :) But it's not only about that. There's a story here. A plot. Some great world-building. Secondary characters that are more than cardboard cutouts or walk-on extras. These are BOOKS people!! It's as if Sons of Anarchy met the world of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series and had an illegitimate child.

And the m/m element that I sensed in the first book makes itself known in this volume and while it's not a lot, MAN, it's hot! And it makes me happy. I cannot WAIT for the next book, Beyond Pain. Oh, and if anyone is wondering, my favourite O'Kane is still Ace, the tattoo artist. THANK YOU, Lauren Dane, for recommending these books on Twitter!! And yes, the books are definite re-read material. :)

Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

4 STARS

Beyond - Book 1

THIS is the book that the moronic 50 Shades of Grey could have been in the hands of someone who could a) write and b) knew what they were talking about.

This book, this series of books, reminds me of the TV show Sons of Anarchy. The men are tough, violent and sexy and the women are hot, sexy, violent too, and have found a way to be powerful themselves in a world geared to respect only brute strength, it seems. It's not lost on me that many of the key jobs of the gang are taken care of by women. 

I wasn't totally enamoured of Noelle, the female protagonist. I found her too clueless even given her background. She grated on me, but I wonder if that's a function of me being a 'woman of a certain age'? 

HOWEVER, she was far more likable than that crazy girl who kept talking to an inner goddess every time she got horny. At least she redeemed herself some in the last couple of chapters of the book. 

Anyway, a dystopian tale of hot sex and violence and people damaged in so many different ways. The supporting cast was stellar and I am totally in love with the smart-ass tattoo artist, Ace. :) I really, really enjoyed it - so much that I went directly to my computer and bought the second book in the series which just was published a couple of weeks ago.