Tabs’ review of Beyond Ruin (Beyond, Book 7) by Kit Rocha
Dystopian Erotic Romance published by Kit Rocha 23 Feb 16
The O’Kanes are back with a romantic foursome in this eagerly anticipated return to Sector Four. I love this series. It’s superbly dirty with partner sharing and voyeurism and kink all over the place. It’s also marvelously feminist and diverse. I have read many a menage book and I stand by my opinion that they are monstrously difficult to write. How do you take three characters and have them build a relationship that’s equitable and doesn’t feel like there’s a third wheel? Many a popular author has failed to accomplish this for me. So is anyone really capable of pulling off a frickin’ foursome?
I think for a foursome to work optimally, a book would need to be a gazillion and a half pages and take place over a long amount of time. Given realistic constraints, the Kit Rocha duo does a pretty darn good job. The book starts off with two pairs (Mad/Doc and Jade/Scarlet); has them come together sexually as a foursome; and then explores their individual bonds more as they deal with external forces as well as their own hang-ups and issues.
The sexual tension and compatibility of the group works really well. It helps that certain pairings have been making sex eyes at each other for a few books, so watching them finally give in to the tension is super satisfying. The sex is mostly organic, especially the more one-on-one scenes, but there are a few times where things kind of feel like boxes are being checked off (time for tab A to go in slot D) so that everyone gets to explore everyone else.
Of the four main characters, Mad and Jade get the most character development time. Adrian “Mad” Maddox, prince of Sector One, takes center stage for the first half of the book. Circumstances take the group to his home sector where his family and tragic past is explored and his personal grief and issues come to the forefront. While Mad is the focus of the beginning of the book, former courtesan/spy Jade comes in and steals the whole damn show in the latter half. I love strong heroines and I’ve been impressed with Jade for a long time, so I was ready for this. Her desire to shed the fragile and delicate label she’s been saddled with and embrace her inner ruthless badass is admirable and it plays out so well. Jade is the mother-effin’ shit.
This is a pivotal book in the series. A lot of plot progresses. A lot of world-building and set-up is laid for the remaining series books and the upcoming spin-off. A lot of shit hits the proverbial fan. I’m excited to see where things go now that they’ve been set up. But, really, I’d follow the O’Kanes anywhere.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Adrian Maddox fled his royal life–and tragic past–in Sector One, choosing instead to join up with the O’Kanes. For years, he’s lived by one rule: love fast, love hard, and always be willing to walk away. He’s managed to guard his heart, keep it whole and untouched–until now.
They couldn’t be more different–Dylan, the brilliant, burned-out doctor from Eden who drowns his pain with drugs and self-destruction. Scarlet, the sensuous, sexy rocker from Three, a woman unafraid to embrace the world. And Jade, the whore turned spy from Sector Two, who battled addiction and came out stronger than anyone he’s ever met.
Separately, they make Mad long to open his heart, to tumble head-first into a sea of possibilities and wild love. Together, they make him burn, inside and out, with lust and unbearable, unimaginable pleasure.
Then one fateful moment shakes their world to its foundations–and leaves the sectors on the verge of all-out war with Eden. It’s the biggest fight the O’Kanes have ever faced, and Mad and his lovers are at the dead center of it. They could end up with everything they never knew they wanted–or lose it all. Including their lives.
Other books in this series:
