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Review

Holy smutty books, this was a smutty book!

I’m a big fan of dystopia. This is not dystopia. Granted, there were elements there, but this is more like the aftermath of dystopia – what happens when somebody gets free of their dystopian world and discovers a land of no holds barred sex.

We first meet Noelle after she has been exiled from the city of Eden. Life in Eden is high-tech and very controlled, so being thrown into the wild, hedonistic, gang-controlled Districts is terrifying for a naïve and confused young woman. Of course it helps that she literally falls into the arms of resident badass and total hottie, Jasper McKay. As second lieutenant to gang leader Dallas, Jasper leads her into the world of the O’Kane gang where absolutely anything goes – particularly anything of the sexual nature. Thus allowing Noelle to embrace her inner slut and get her kink on!

The sex in this book is off.the.charts!! There are orgies, threesomes, foursomes, girl-on-girl and even just standard boy and girl sex (imagine that!). And if they aren’t doing it, they’re talking about it. Sex for these people is something to be enjoyed, so it’s all done and talked about openly. It was a bit of a shock at first, but I got used to it.

What helped with this was the absolutely fabulous cast of characters. The boys, in particular had me laughing out loud with their bantering – absolutely superb! For a bunch of badasses they had a great bond, fully supportive of each other, but with a lot of fun, teasing and laughing (and sharing *wink*) in their relationship. The girls, similarly, were very open about everything, and had a closeness which I loved. They were incredibly welcoming of Noelle, bringing her into their circle and introducing her to their world as she is finally free to explore the freedom she has long craved.

She’d have to give up everything to belong to him – her secrets, her body, her shame. It might all be worth it if he could set her free.

Noelle and Jasper are likeable characters, and the main part of the story is around Noelle overcoming her shame and learning who she is, what she wants (apparently sex… and lots of it… with boys and girls… but mainly with Jasper) and who she can trust. And super sexy Jasper is gentlemanly enough to want Noelle to discover all of this before he allows her to settle for him. Make no mistake, Jasper makes his claim (with some very hot shot-drinking), but he encourages Noelle to experience all that the ‘outside world’ has to offer, and she just dives right in!

And then there was Dallas and Lex. HOLY CRAP!! These two pretty much stole the story out from underneath Noelle and Jasper. The complete opposite of Noelle, Lex is tough, independent and full of attitude, and I absolutely loved her. Dallas is the leader of the O’Kane Gang, and is a tough, sarcastic badass with a soft side who puts the needs of the gang ahead of his own, and again, I freaking loved him! And what a sensational couple! With some huge hurdles standing in their way, the fireworks between these two are sensational and I can’t wait for more of them in the rest of the series.

I’m hoping that I’m right in my predictions that the next three books will focus on the other boys that were introduced – Ace, Brendan and Maddox. Their ‘romances’ have been set up really nicely, and I’d love to see them get their HEAs.

I realise that this is an erotica novel, and while there were a lot of other elements that give the story some depth, I was hoping for a bit more storyline away from the sex. I was expecting more of a dystopian setting, but apart from hearing a little bit about what Noelle had to put up with, the book very much focusses on events going on in the Districts. There was a bit of gang-war stuff developing, which I enjoyed, and that will most likely continue in the next books, but I wanted more and it got overshadowed by all of the sex and sexual discovery that was going on. There wasn’t even much of a romance storyline. You could see it building but it never really quite got there for me.

Overall though, this was an enjoyable book. Don’t expect too much storyline outside of the smut, but I’m definitely hooked enough to continue on with the series.

3.5 stars

Beyond Series