I meant to reread the beginning of the Beyond series, actually read the ending, and then post reviews of everything leading up to the release of Ashwin tomorrow…
Instead… I watched a bunch of Outsiders.
I’m not to blame! I’m 99% sure one of the Beyond characters was based on Ryan Hurst and I’m easily distracted.
Really, this was all on Kit…
Anyway, here’s the one review I got around to writing before I got lost in the mountains.
All Noelle Cunningham has ever wanted is a life beyond–beyond the walls of Eden, where only the righteous are allowed to remain, and beyond her stiflingly restrictive existence as a councilman’s daughter. But only ruins lie outside the City, remnants of a society destroyed by solar storms decades earlier.
The sectors surrounding Eden house the corrupt, the criminal–men like Jasper McCray, bootlegger and cage fighter. Jas clawed his way up from nothing to stand at the right hand of Sector Four’s ruthless leader, and he’ll defend the O’Kane gang with his life. But no fight ever prepared him for the exiled City girl who falls at his feet.
Her innocence is undeniable, but so is their intense sexual attraction, and soon they’re crossing every boundary Noelle barely knew she had. But if she wants to belong to Jas, first she’ll have to open herself to the gang, to a dangerous world of sex, lust and violence. A world where passion is power, and freedom is found in submission.
The Meta Details:
Source: Purchase
Format: eBook
Length: 351 pages
Genre: romance, dystopian, erotica, BDSM
Content Level: Adult. Supermax adult
Pearl Clutching Content: bwahahaha… just, all of it. It is so smutty and wonderful and what did we do to deserve this?
Trigger Warnings: off screen abuse, violence, and general shittiness that’s being overcome by all our O’Kanes
Featuring: bikers, babes (in the woods), and bondage (but seriously, there’s a lot of BDSM sex, polyamory, and making things work in “unconventional” relationships)
Scorecard:
Recommended for: Fans of Sons of Anarchy, The Outsiders, sex, and making things work in ways that society tells us is wrong
Rating: Must read. Must read it now.
Ginny Lurcock’s Thoughts: I had this all planned out while I was getting ready this morning… then I drove to work and now the words are all gone. So let me try again, but know this is- at best- the penultimate version of my review.
Beyond Shame is the perfect start to an extraordinary series where Noelle’s introduction to the world of the O’kanes serves as an allegory for our own introduction.
We are Noelle, cast out of our sheltered city life for wanting. Thrown into a world that doesn’t quite make sense. One we know, academically, that we should abhor. Years of societal expectations have told us what happens in the sectors is dirty. Perverse. Wrong. And that’s only talking about the sex and not the violence the O’kanes revel in to let off steam.
Or the violence they partake in to keep what they’ve fought to achieve.
As Noelle feels ashamed and dirty for… well… for not feeling ashamed and dirty, the reader is allowed to go through the same emotions. We able to work through this heavy burden of shouldn’t. We shouldn’t be enjoying these kinds of books. We shouldn’t want to focus so heavily on debauchery and violence. We shouldn’t be titillated by casual sex between groups of close friends. Or with strangers. Or sex workers. Or…
We shouldn’t like this.
We shouldn’t want this.
We shouldn’t…
And as Noelle throws off her mantels of shouldn’ts we’re able to do the same. What the fuck does it matter what other people choose to do as long as they’re all consenting adults? What the fuck does it matter if we don’t fit into the mold society tells us is right? What the fuck does it matter if people work better in triads or quads than in pairs? What the fuck does it matter if…
*deep breath*
What the fuck does it matter if I’m a voyeur as long as the people I’m watching have consented to it?
(That one, that one right there is mine. You can use it for yourself, though. You can take my hard-won realization that there’s no shame in consensual voyeurism. You can believe me when I tell you that. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re beautiful in your desire. Just like Noelle. Just like me…)
*insert break for me to wipe my eyes… because I bit an onion…*
The O’Kanes lead tough and unforgiving lives, but by god, they live full lives. Full of friendship and passion. Lust and love. Fighting and tattoos.
I know, that doesn’t really fit. I just like fighting and tattoos…
So while the lives they lead might not be anything I’d choose for myself, I can enjoy going along for the ride. If nothing else, it’s cathartic as fuck way of being told there’s nothing wrong with you…
