Kit Rocha

5/5 Stars

Before I actually get to the review of this, let me just say OH. MY. GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Here are some things I (virtually) never read: dystopia, heavy BDSM, future-set novels, romances with violence etc. This book was not on the top of my to-read list, but somehow it was in my Amazon Kindle library! These things happen. It was next to read alphabetically, so there I go!

Beyond Shame is set in a future, dystopian world. I've seen a lot of people compare it to Hunger Games, just show more because the outlying communities are divided into sectors who kind of each have a speciality/distinct personality. But that's rather where the comparisons end. Outside of the sectors, there's Eden. Eden is precisely what it sounds like, an anesthetic, cold, emotionless "utopia" where all of the rich people lived after solar flares fucked everything up. Noelle gets cast out of Eden for dating to "fornicate" and get drunk.

She gets thrust into sector 4, where she gets drugged and stumbles into (literally) Jasper, righthand man of the leader of Sector 4, Dallas O'Kane. Noelle swoons, Jasper takes her back to headquarters and then the real fun begins.

For people that have seen Sons of Anarchy, that's what the O'Kanes reminded me of. They're a gang of people with grey moral areas that care more about each other than what is or is not "morally" correct. They protect each other at all cost. They live and die for each other. Noelle is given into the care of Lex (LEXIIIIIE), while Dallas decides whether or not she gets to stay with the O'Kanes in sector 4.

And oh, right. The O'Kanes are very, very into group sex and BDSM. I'm sure I've talked about it before, but I have some real issues with heavy erotica and BDSM I've come across in the past, more specifically with historical BDSM/erotica. There's just so much rape and so much missing the point of the interchange of power between and dom and a sub. And frankly, there's a lot of power dynamics between men and women in history that leads to me feeling uncomfortable with a lot of the novels I've read in the past.

To be TOTALLY frank, I did not have the highest expectations for this novel. I expected it to be rote, remote, cold, and just pure fucking with a hint of violence and control problems. That is not at ALL the book I got. It took about 13% before I was sold on this.
Somehow, the duo behind the pseudonym Kit Rocha take a subcategory of romance that frequently touches on a lot of my rape/abuse triggers and they made it warm and familial and kind and caring. Those are not adjectives I associate very often with heavy BDSM, dark, violent dystopian romance novels and yet.
There is this thread and current throughout the entire novel that this gang is a family. They all love one another, they all care about one another. They're form a bond that transcends blood and friendship and expectations. Their sexuality is always fluid, they indulge in a lot of group sex, there's spanking, flogging, tattooing, clamps and toys and plugs. But somehow, throughout all of these things that could come across as gaudy or showy or abusive, there's this sense of caring, of giving people what they need to get by in this world, and to never push past a boundary people aren't comfortable with pushing past.

Even the relationship between Noelle and Jasper which could so easily become an abuse of power, and abuse of knowledge, and just plain abusive physically and emotionally is instead a beautiful story of a girl that is trying to explore her actual wants and needs and a man in control enough to give her and push her, but never force her or step over a line.

This is a love story about a woman trying to become a person after being held down for so long. Exploring what it means to get past the shame of a culture telling you that you're dirty and wrong for having desires that aren't put neatly into a missionary-style-under-the-sheets box. They never cross the line outside of the bedroom. Jasper is not a man that wants complete control of the woman he calls his. Jasper is a man that wants to give the woman he loves everything she needs from him, and to her a sense of autonomy to finally choose the things she wants and needs, and to be the person she's been locking inside.

BASICALLY, THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING TO ME and I'm halfway through the second in the series and it's just as great. If any part of you is at all into erotica, group sex, bdsm, or just a damn good book that is super duper raunchy, get this book. Get all of these books. They are well worth it. show less

I don't know how they do it, but "Kit Rocha" (a pseudonym for a writing team) manage to take a repeating story pattern set among a particular tribe of people, and continue to produce fun, hot, new material. The title of each book in the series reflects the primary 'problem' of the story: in this case, the pain in Six's background and, to a lesser extent, Bren's masochism. As in the first two stories of the series, there is a lot of kinky sex, mostly in the area of power exchange, but also show more multiple partners, some bondage and flogging, and lots of exhibitionism. There is also same-sex intimacy (which I don't classify as "kinky.") But instead of being trashy, Rocha creates scenes of joyous intimacy, mutual respect, and pleasure, no matter how rough the surroundings. A woman of the O'Kane gang -- or any woman in their presence -- can wear or do whatever she wants sexually and the O'Kane men will never lay a hand on her without her explicit, enthusiastic consent. If any man treats a woman disrespectfully, he is shown the door -- sometimes after blows have been exchanged -- and the women are equally quick to stand up for each other and refuse to countenance ill treatment of another.

In this book, Six faces the pain of her past abuse and comes a sense of powerful self-ownership. This happens not in spite of, but assisted by, her romantic involvement with a dominant man, one who believes her personal sovereignty is essential for her well-being as well as his own pleasure. And that her well-being is more important than anything else.

There is humor and heartbreak, scenes of men bound by brotherhood, and women whose sisterhood is rock solid. We see previously-highlighted relationships continue to grow (Noelle & Jasper, Lexie and Dallas), and get a glimpse of those whose stories could be next. (I'm looking forward to seeing Jade again.) And meanwhile there is the ongoing meta-plot about the O'Kanes and their world, and their interactions with the powers of both Eden and the other sectors.

Despite living in a technologically fallen world, the O'Kanes live in a utopia of mutual protection, caring, respect, and uninhibited sexuality. show less

I am very surprised by how very good this was.
I've read the infamous "beyond shame" and was intrigued by a book with an actual plot by the same duo.
I liked their character work and was intrigued even by the little bit of the world I actually saw but I never expected this amount of attention to detail.

The cast managed to be actually badass without slipping into cringy clichés (for the most part). The world and the tech in it are very believable and well thought out which still baffles me as show more it seemed like the authors didn't know the first thing about guns or tech and neither did they seem to care in the beyond series.

I can't praise the world-building enough. Finally, we don't just have the one evil overlord that wants to rule the world (or some bullshit like that) but a complex network of factions and moles with various goals and motivations.
There is one big bad company that has its fingers in all the pies and is the main adversary I guess you could call them but so far it seems like the authors understand that a company is just a collection of individual humans. So it's not at all the typical chain of increasingly difficult bosses with the big end boss on top.

The characters in this book felt like real human beings with complex emotions and nuanced thoughts.

Leading up to the first big climax the story started to drag. Their goal was quite some time away yet but the emotional development and setup for the climax were already done at that point so nothing interesting really happened for quite a while.

I am usually a sucker for a single POV but this book does a good job of managing the various POVs.

Sadly, this book has an incredibly cheesy ending that went very much against the gritty and dark atmosphere the rest of the book maintained and there are pacing issues towards the end of the book.

I am worried after that cheesy ending that the next book will fall for the cheap clichée trap of the good underdogs as so many do but I will definitively read it.

Please leave your characters grey! They have so much more depth and are far more interesting that way!

Edit: fuck it, this gets 4 stars. show less

An annoying book. It's an excellent setting, interesting world, very rich characters (no cardboard here - even the villains are solid)...and it's all about the sex. And relationships, but those are mostly expressed in (somewhat kinky) sex. I find this rather dull, and distracting from the otherwise excellent story - there are looooong scenes of exactly who did what to who (and that one of the protagonists is learning she's a masochist doesn't improve things, for me). If you like really show more explicit sex scenes with an excellent story framing them, grab these! I'm going to go look at their urban fantasy and see if they were less sex-obsessed there, because I want to read more by these authors. show less