Customer Reviews

Beyond Shame

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

From the book description, you get the general idea of this story. A young woman is cast out of her family home, banished from the city and left to find her way in the gritty sectors outside the city walls. It's a dark world where civilization has been stripped down, and these sectors are ruled by gangs and their gang bosses. The setting, that dystopian world and all its complexity, was well-drawn and very visual to me. I could see it all. It's futuristic but basic, and it's the basic that puts that raw, untamed feeling here. It's hard and tough, and Noelle is like a kitten lost in the wild. But she does manage to find a saviour in this world: Jasper, a tattooed, bearded, tough guy. He's a cage fighter and also one of the LT's to Sector Four's bad-azz boss, Dallas O'Kane.

Noelle has been banished from the city for breaking the rules; she drank alcohol, and her second offense, fornication, was the last straw. This is one girl eager to learn, to live and to break free. Here, in O'Kane territory, she will do that. What the book description fails to tell you is just how hot this journey is, for Noelle and the reader. It was completely hedonistic as Noelle gives into sexual abandon, as she learns to accept that being bad and getting down and dirty are all good things here outside Eden. In this world, it's basic, and men and women readily take their pleasure. Jasper wants Noelle right from the first, but so does Lex.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Lex and this potential f/f action, but I have to say that it was highly erotic and seriously hot. And Lex ended up being one of my favorite characters in the book. Lex is a complex character, just a force of nature. There is so much sexual tension between Lex and Dallas, and you know there is much more in store on that score in future books. Add Dallas and Lex into the bedroom with Noelle and Jasper, and you get an incredibly arousing scene. Noelle has a lot to learn, and everyone is willing to help. All the action was graphic in detail, every word an erotic image, as Noelle's limits are pushed and she learns to find pleasure beyond shame. She wants to be bad and naughty, and this is the place to do it.

If you don't like reading multiple sexual partners and some f/f action, you might not care for this. But who knows? You might find yourself lost in the adventure with Noelle. It is very well-written sex, really erotica with nicely nuanced story and character, not to mention this wonderfully gritty and compelling setting. I do think the authors found a sweet balance between the overtly sexual and the smooth, more romantic side of things. Along with the raw, dirty talk and the bold sex scenes, there is a definite feeling of sensual romance to be found as well. Even if Noelle and Jasper are the couple to share and to invite others, you still have the idea that these two are in it togehter, above any other who might become involved.

The sex is pretty awesome, and if you're not used to reading bold, shameless erotica or erotic romance, you may be shocked. There are the multiple partners: Noelle playing with Lex; Noelle having some fun with Jasper and Ace; Noelle with Dallas, Lex and Jasper. (There is no m/m here.) It's all very arousing to see Noelle discover herself sexually. What does she like? Well, it seems she likes a bit of everything! Some light bondage and some light spanking included, but it's that feeling of submitting that I enjoyed most. But I have to say that Noelle, who was a bit of a blank slate at the beginning, turns out to be a much stronger character than anticipated. The same goes for the other women in the story. While I found all the men hot and alpha, and there are many here to wonder about and to want to read about, it's the women who stand out. Even in this world where men are in control, these women in the O'Kane gang know exactly how to deal with them, Lex being the most stand-out for me.

Noelle does have her moment. First part of the story, I was just along for the sexual joy ride; second part of the story, I got to see Noelle show Jasper a thing or two about standing firm. That was very enjoyable. A bit of a mini-grovel there, nothing too hard, but still nice to see a man be shown a lesson in some degree. The kitten found her claws. I would have loved a little more there. I feel as if I were just getting to see the real Noelle. As the story ends, more action is in store with this gang and the other sectors: territory wars, the city sticking its nose into sector business, and most of all, it's the other characters who are spicing and sexing things up.

I have to say that each character here added to the story, and I can't wait to see what unfolds for each and every one of them: Maddox, Ace, Bren, Six, Rachel, and of course, Dallas and Lex. Who knows who or what else will happen? This world and these characters are interesting, sexy and gritty, and I want to find out more about these characters and see what happens next for them in Sector Four. The story kept me interested, the characters kept me pulled in, and the primal sex kept me aroused. Beyond Shame is bold and shameless, wanton, eager and dirty, but there's also a story here with the sex, and it's a pretty good one.

Man oh man..... This book was HOT, HOT, HOT..... What a guy Jas is, lucky Noelle!! Characters are fab - totally alpha males, strong sassy females and loads of action!!

Noelle was a quiet girl who had been stifled living in Eden. Jas is a rough, tough hard living man who has seen a lot during his life in the sectors.
We are introduced to the O'Kane gang and their 'King' Dallas. Although a gang, this group of people very much stick together and have each other's backs... They have a real family vibe and a healthy respect for each other.

The gang are very sexual and are all very open and comfortable with the life they lead. Through the story there are some smokin' hot encounters!! Surprisingly, given the hard, down & dirty living they do, there is a moral code that all members of the gang buy into and no-one is forced to take part in anything they don't want to!!

The story has action, passion, romance and some violence.
There's cage fighting, tattoos a plenty and a journey of self discovery - it's great watching Noelle evolve from the sheltered Eden girl to a fully engage free-thinking O'Kane.....

Looking forward to the reading Lex & Dallas's story, as well as the rest of the books in the series - have read the teaser 1st chapter to 'Beyond Control' and I'm betting this is gonna be another cracker of a book!!!
I'm sure loads more cold showers will be required... ;D

I received my copy from the author through NetGalley.

From the author's website:

"A dangerous world of sex, lust and violence...

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, Dallas, 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, and to a world where passion is power, and freedom is found in submission."

I enjoyed this dystopian erotic romance. It came with interesting characters, a nice story, a fascinating setting and lots of hot sexual exploits. What's not to like? It would be easy to categorize this story as little more than explicit erotic scenes, but that would be doing the book a huge disservice. The authors have created real and multi-facetted characters and move them through a plot-line that forces them to take a hard look at themselves, at their feelings and what they really want.

Noelle, the main character gets evicted from her secluded, restricted and completely controlled but privileged live because of her desires and curiosity. In the world where she ends up sex is both a life-force and the most common currency, and she is slowly, but very securely introduced to that world; a world she appears to be made for, so closely do her desires resemble her new daily life. Raised in an environment where feelings were discouraged and frowned upon, Noelle has to learn to recognise and accept the emotions sweeping through her mind and body, just as she has to figure out a way of interpreting and understanding what those around her might be feeling and hiding behind stoic faces.
And Jasper faces a similar journey. Not used to caring about another person almost more than he does about himself, this hard man finds himself facing decisions more frightening than anything else in his violent life . Learning to trust that others know what they want and need and allowing them to live according to those needs is the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his far from easy life, but also the only way to happiness.

There are more fascinating characters in this story like Dallas O'Kane, the leader of the gang, ruling his sector with an iron hand and Lexi, the free-spirited girl who obviously belongs with Dallas but refuses to submit to the man who is enthralled by her. I would have loved to read more about their story, but I understand this is the first book in a series and guess I will have to wait for one of the sequels before I get to know them better. And I find myself eagerly looking forward to those sequels because there is a lot more story to tell and a lot more conflict to be resolved.

My Rating; 4.5*s

Would I read anything else by this author? Yes, I most definitely would.

Would I recommend this book? Yes

Who would I recommend it to? Those who like dystopia novels, those who like erotic romance books, people over 18. I think that most people should give this book a try. An erotic dystopia is definitely something new to me.

Review; This book was my first erotic dystopia novel, and I definitely want to try some more of them.

Bad Things About This Book;
The only bad thing for me was that there wasn't enough information about Eden and the sectors. I suppose that there might be more information in the other three books, I hope there is.
It's not that we don't get enough information, because there was some information, more so towards the end, but I'd still like to know a little more about why the world is like that, and what's going on within the world.
That is my only bad thing.

Good Things About This Book;
- The characters. Oh, I am in love with the characters.
- There's a plot. A lot of time with erotic novels there seems to be no plot, and nothing happening but sex, sex, sex. This book did have a lot of sex, sex, sex, but it also had a plot. Stuff happening other than the sex.
- The sex scenes were well written and pretty hot (in my opinion.)
- There are tries and troubles in the relationships, which makes it much more realistic. The sex and the relationship was slightly fast, but it totally worked within the books, with everything else going on and such.
- Pretty much everything.

I seriously need the sequel to this book, like now, but it's not out until March!
This is a book I think y'all should try.

Oh boy, what a good read! If someone told me this was Donna and Bree, the duo behind Moira Rogers, I wouldn't have picked up Beyond Shame as I don't like their writing as Moira Rogers.

However, I'm really glad I've read this book based on excellent reviews from The Book Pushers and Smexy Books - both prominent blogs with tons of great recommendations behind their back.

Beyond Shame is scorching hot, full of interesting characters and describes a gritty dystopian world which I'm dying to read more about. I can vaguely sum it up as a mix of Rhiannon's Law series by J.A. Saare and Sons of Anarchy.

It's got a bit of everything thrown in, dangerous streets, gangs, weird gated dystopian society with Victorian morals, politics and shreds of interesting technological advance making their way to the black market beyond the gates.

Noelle is a daughter of rich parents - high ranking upstanding citizens, and she is taught all her life how to become a proper society wife and hold her tongue while men do all the talking. Like all the youngsters, she is extremely bored and chafing at the restrictions. So she is caught by Eden's police while trying to have sex with another just as inept young gentleman. Her parents say that she is not their daughter anymore, and she is thrown out of the gates.

Luckily enough she is picked up by the O'Kane gang before she gets into trouble and taken under their protection. That's when basically all the fun begins *grinning* while Noelle slowly comes to terms with her new life and discovers new strengths and weaknesses while beginning her wild love affair with one of the gang members, big and scruffy Jas.

Get ready for mild BDSM, hot pole dancing, strong women, cage fighting, pervy tattoo artists and intriguing storyline. Very much recommended.

I love this book,very simular feel to Beautiful Disaster .After recently becoming hooked to books thanks to FSOG and Bared to you.
I cant wait for the next installment of this series and look forward to more from the author

When I read the blurb for this book I thought I had hit the jackpot. I love post-apocalyptic books and with some sexiness thrown in too I thought I had the perfect book. I thought it was going to be like Nightfall by Ellen Connor or Driven by Eve Kenin but with more sex in it, sadly that was not to be the case.

I didn't have any feelings for the characters I couldn't relate to them and didn't care what happened to them. We don't get to find out much about life in this post-apocalyptic world and that is what let it down for me. I found this book to be lots of explicit sex scenes strung together with a bit of a story and I need more than that from a book.

I have to admit that I didn't finish this book, it just wasn't for me. If you want a book filled with explicit group sex scenes but little story then you might want to give this a try. However if you want more story set in a post-apocalyptic world and less sex then I recommend you try Nightfall and Driven instead. Beyond Shame gets 1 star from me.

Beyond Shame Kit Rocha

I received this via Netgalley in return for an honest review. I don't gush and give false praise - I don't believe that helps readers or authors so what you read is what I truly feel about a book.

Noelle has been brought up in the pampered but very restrictive city of Eden. Only the elite live there, in an existence strictly regulated where emotions have no place. Noelle feels stifled and when she discovers her Councilman father has planned a marriage for her its a step too far. She's always known her only use to her parents is as a pawn for power and control but yearns for freedom to live her life as she pleases. She gets caught trying alcohol and fooling around with a member of the opposite sex, both things very much forbidden to girls like her and is thrown out of Eden into the wastelands where other members of the population struggle to survive. She falls into the hands of Sector Four, via the leaders right hand man Jasper, a ruthless cage fighter and enforcer for the bootleg operations that finance the sector. Life outside is harsh and without support people simply don't survive. Noelle gets lucky in that Jasper is instantly attracted to her, and brings her to gang leader Dallas O'Kane for protection.

The premise reminds me very ,much of the John Wyndham book The Chrysalids ( school reading back in the early 70's) where only the perfect survived and anyone not meeting the standard was thrown out to scrape an existence however they could.
In this novel outside the City consists of (I think ) eight sectors each headed by a gang leader and some type of farming communes - not sweet gentle 60's type communes but more a forced labour workhouse type of existence. The Gangs run the Sectors tightly, and violence and death are part of everyday life. Sector Four finances itself by way of bootleg alcohol, and leader Dallas and Jasper - his right hand - have struggled and become ruthless in taking and enforcing control. As in all life other leaders and would be leaders are always looking for weakness to take over. Winning control is one thing - keeping is means being tough and merciless in decisions however harsh it seems. Dallas only allows Noelle to remain because his lady Lex and Jasper want her, otherwise she'd be turned out to try to exist elsewhere.
Jasper has a tough exterior, bearded, battle-scarred and tattooed, and is known as remorseless and unemotional. Noelle touches something in him however and the attraction is mutual. Noelle is innocent though in not just the ways of everyday life outside the city, but in all things sexual and she wants to experience everything to the full. I love the way the romance develops between them, with Noelle wanting to please Jasper as that's the way she's been brought up - if someone isn't happy its her duty to rectify it. Jasper wants her to develop at her own pace and to want to please herself - it leads to some communication issues and to some tough, angsty moments where they both misunderstand things. Be warned: There's raunchy, raw sex in this book - lots and lots and lots of hot sex...... graphic sex, bondage, punishment, lesbian, public and group sex so if its not for you then don't read this book! It works though in the context of this novel, and fits the storyline as a counter to the violence. We see how life there is about work hard, play hard and everyone has a part to play in the running of the sector. Its a great story too though of how the gangs work, why they need to be so violent and how Noelle and Jasper finally come to understand each other. We see Noelle grown from a quiet, scared kitten into a Cat with claws - able to stand firm for what she believes in. The dance scene with her and Lex was terrific. Lex becomes a really good friend to her, teaches her not just about sex but about how to live life and not just exist in it. I really enjoyed it and am pleased there's more to come as I want to see what happens next for them but also what develops between some of the other characters. There's lots of potential for the main people we learn about to be developed further and I hope this becomes a long series - I'll certainly be looking out for more from this team of writers.

Stars: four from me. Its got the potential to be a five star series I think - we're learning a lot in this novel with a totally new dystopian background to learn and so many new characters to get to know. Its tough for a book that's first in a series to make five star but this one is close.

Book Two, BEYOND CONTROL, will release on March 19th, 2013. I'll certainly be looking out for that :)

I received this via Netgalley. I didn't know what dystopian meant before I read this book as it was not a genre I tend to follow. I enjoyed the book but felt the "future" aspect was minimal. The heroine is basically cast to the wrong side of the tracks but manages to survive because she stumbles on a soft hearted hunk. But they certainly hit it off and involve others from time to time.

I have to admit I've never read a dystopian erotic romance before but I am a massive fan of writing duo Bree & Donna (aka Moira Rogers) so when I heard that they were writing together under the name of Kit Rocha I knew I had to give Beyond Shame a try. I'm so glad I did because they have created a dark, gritty, world and filled it with sexy, domineering alpha males who like their sex kinky. Nothing is out of bounds amongst the O'Kane gang so be ready for voyeurism, multiple partners, BDSM and anything else you can think of. As long as you're open minded you are going to LOVE Beyond Shame! I'll tell you right now that I'm already a little bit in love with half of the characters and I can't wait to continue reading this series.

As the daughter of a wealthy Councilman Noelle grew up inside the city of Eden living a life of luxury. She paid a high price for the privilege though and was forced to live by very strict rules and with the knowledge that her family were only interested in her value as a pawn that they could marry off to gain some kind of political advantage. All Noelle really wanted was the chance of freedom but that would never happen inside the walls of Eden. When an act of rebellion ends up causing her to be kicked out by her family and she is exiled into the sectors outside the city walls she is at a complete loss. The sectors are ruled by gangs of criminals and are nothing like the world she is used to and Dallas O'Kane, ruler of Sector Four, is supposed to be one of the worst. When she finds herself being rescued by one of Dallas's lieutenants, Jasper, she starts to realise that not everything she has heard about life in the sectors is true, yes, Dallas is in control of everything that happens in his sector but the whole gang has a code of honour and they are very protective of each other. As Noelle tries to find a place in the hedonistic new world she has come to call home she is in for quite an awakening.

I have to admit I wasn't too sure about Noelle at first, I was a bit worried that she would end up being a weak character because of her background but I found myself pleasantly surprised at how strong she was. She has never really felt like she fitted in anywhere and it was nice to see her come out of her shell with the help of Jasper and Lex as she realised that she could finally have a real home amongst the gang. In a lot of ways Noelle is a natural submissive but at the same time she is willing to fight to get her man and you have to admire her for that. I fell head over heels for Jasper (and Dallas . . . and Ace . . . and Bren . . . and, well you get the picture!) he is pure protective alpha and I loved the way he looked out for Noelle without trying to take over her whole life. In fact he wanted her to have the chance to experiment with her sexuality so that she was sure he was really what she wanted long term. In Sector Four it is common for sex to include multiple partners but I never felt that took away from the romance between Noelle and Jasper, in fact I think it just proved how much they belonged together.

Beyond Shame really was a fantastic start to the series, it was one of the hottest erotic books I've read in a long time but it also has fantastic character development and interesting world building. I'm looking forward to learning more about Sector Four and the rest of the world as the series continues but mostly I'm excited to spend more time with these sexy guys! If you like reading about hot, tattooed, alpha men and the smart, sassy women who will bring them to their knees then you're going to love this series. Oh, one final thing - I want my next tattoo inked by Ace please (Jasper is more than welcome to join in the fun though!).