TITLE: BEYOND PAIN
AUTHOR KIT ROCHA
Date: 25/08/2013
Grade: 5
Details: No. 3 Beyond
Own / Kindle
From the author’s website:
Live
fast, die young–anything else is a fantasy for Six. She’s endured the worst the
sectors had to throw at her, but falling in with Dallas O’Kane’s Sector Four gang lands her in
a whole new world of danger. They’re completely open about everything,
including their sexuality–but she hasn’t survived this long by making herself
vulnerable. Especially not to men as dominant as Brendan Donnelly.
Bren
is a killer, trained in Eden
and thrown to the sectors. His one outlet is pain, in the cage and in the
bedroom, and emotion is a luxury he can’t afford–until he meets Six. Protecting
her soothes him, but it isn’t enough. Her hunger for touch sparks a journey of
erotic discovery where anything goes–voyeurism, flogging, rough sex. He has
only one rule: he won’t share her.
In
Bren’s arms, Six is finally free to let go. But his obsession with the man who
made him a monster could destroy the fragile connection they’ve forged, and
cost him the one thing that makes him feel human–her love.
God, did
I love this book. This is my third venture into the sectors, my third visit
with Dallas O’Kane and his people and with every single book I get drawn deeper
into that dystopian world. With every subsequent title I grow more attached to
the people in Sector Four. Every time I finish one of these books the need to
get my hands on the next installment grows more desperate. And, it has to be
said, this book is my favourite so far.
I mean,
what’s not to love? Two broken people - beaten so hard by life that they should
be on their knees, begging for mercy and yearning for death - finding each
other and the strength to love and trust although every instinct tells them not
to expose themselves to hurt once again.
Take
Six. A girl who hasn’t heard her given name for so long that she’s all but
forgotten it. A girl who has been used, abused, abandoned and betrayed so often
in her young life that it is a miracle she is willing to even consider trusting
some one again.
“I
don’t know if I’ve ever had a home before.”
But,
despite her history, despite every instinct telling her that it isn’t safe to
trust anyone, she is willing to try. Because of Brendan.
Bren –
sigh – at least as broken as Six, he goes out of his way to make her feel at
home in Sector Four and safe with him. He wants her, desperately, but refuses
to push her:
“I
wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want, but it doesn’t stop there. I wouldn’t do
anything you weren’t sure about, either.” (Bren)
And it
is the fact that Bren doesn’t ask, never mind force, her to do anything she
might be uncomfortable with that makes it possible for Six to start trusting
him. He seems to instinctively recognize her fears and needs and acts accordingly,
always careful not to push her further than she is comfortable with.
“But
he handled the bomb the way he handled her, every movement gentle, every touch
precise, as if he knew all the ways she could shatter into dangerous pieces.”
But Six
is not a weak damsel in distress. She may be uncomfortable with emotions, she
may find it impossible to believe that people could accept her just for what
she is, without judging her past, that doesn’t mean she is a whimpering mess.
She is a strong woman, determined to make herself stronger. And Bren helps her
get there, just by believing in her.
And
Brendan understands Six well enough to not ask her for anything she can’t give
him. All he wants from her is whatever she is willing to give him.
When his
past pushes itself between Bren and Six, both of them need to reflect. And both
of them need to listen not only to their hearts but also to the words of their
friends in order not to lose that which has so carefully been established.
“Trust
is the prize and the fight’s not about winning it or keeping it. It’s about
deserving it, and that’s a fight a man’s got to have with himself. Every
fucking day.” (Dallas to Bren)
I’ve
read other series of books; series centered on a group of people in which each
book concentrates on a certain relationship. When they’re done well, series
like that are a pure delight because they give the reader the opportunity to
keep any eye on past and future main characters, on how the world the story is
set in develops; it means that the reader really does get the opportunity to get
an answer to the question that so often springs to mind when a book is over –
“I wonder what will happen next”. But most series will only give the reader
glimpses of the other characters. They will surface as familiar names, be given
a token paragraph and disappear again to make room for the stars of the current
installment. What I LOVE about these books is that the authors take it further.
Yes, each of the Beyond titles concentrates on one developing relationship but
the older stories continue, the characters from previous books continue to
develop and play a real role and those who will feature in future books have
had their stories started in earlier titles. Kit Rocha has dropped her readers
into a world that becomes more established, more real, with every subsequent
title. You never stop learning more about this world and these characters, old
and new, and that, for me, is the ultimate reading experience; total
immergence.
The
story is perfect. We get the against the odds love story, the angst experienced
by both characters. There is a real and realistic dilemma almost tearing them
apart. Add to that a dark but convincing world, true loyalty and friendship,
strong women and tons of hot sex and you know you’ve found yourself one of
those reads that will stay with you for a long, long time. But, most
importantly for me, these books don’t have protracted drama. They don’t need
it. There are no easy solutions either, though. This is a story set in a
dystopian, fantastical world that feels more real than the setting in the
average contemporary novel does. Bring on “Beyond Jealousy”; especially after
that very enticing taster at the end of this book.
“He
had her. Beautiful, dangerous, flawed, lonely Brendan Donnelly had her, and she
was going to give him everything.”
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