Beyond Shame

By: Kit Rocha

Narrated by: Lucy Malone

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

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, 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.

©2012 Kit Rocha (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This won't just make my list for one of the best erotic books I've read this year, but it's also one of my favorite overall romance books of 2012." ( Smexybooks)

Good saucy story but I kept wanting more

Definitely liked the book. Very saucy and a good read But there was only 1 sex scene I could actively see in my head. I found the other scenes to not be described very well and once you throw in a third or fourth person, I'm totally lost on whose getting eaten out and whose not and vise versa. It kind of just had me wanting dirtier sex scenes.

Pretty good start to the series :)

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. I liked Noelle (I had some mixed feelings about Jasper) and the story was interesting if slightly frustrating at times. This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it well enough I'll probably try the next book in the series in the future.

Noelle was born in Eden and was considered privileged but basically a prisoner. Noelle was the daughter of a powerful man and she was raised to marry a man like her father and be silent except when hosting his parties or adorning his arm. She was told what to think and do and when she stepped out of line her father had her cast out of Eden and into sector 4 with nothing but the cloths on her back.

Jasper was raised outside of Eden and the sector on an illegal farm. He ended up moving on to join O'Kane gang within sector 4 and moved up to be the second in command to the gang’s leader, Dallas. Jasper is a tough guy with smarts but has a need for control. That control is threatened when a drugged girl pretty much falls in to him on the street.

When she got to the sector, Noelle traded some earrings for some food but didn't have any money and didn't have much in the way of prospects. She is unknowingly drugged by someone wanting to take advantage of her and luckily ends up passing out at Jasper’s feet. Jasper is a decent guy and doesn't want to leave her to the wolves (metaphorically) so he takes her back to the gang with him (even though he gets a lot of heat from the others for being a softy). He takes Noelle to Alexa, who takes Noelle under her wing and manages to get Dallas to agree to give Noelle a trial period on admittance into the gang. Noelle is way out of her depth but has had naughty thoughts and such for a while (one of the reasons she got kicked out of Eden) so she’s quietly interested and isn't shocked by all the blatant sexuality around her. Jasper tries to help her out and there is an attraction between them. Noelle wants Jasper but is confused by his holding back from her when Jasper thinks it’s for the best not to overwhelm Noelle too quickly.

Noelle gets settled in to her new life and makes some friends and experiences some sexual discovery with Alexa and Jasper and a few friends along the way. She is confused though because Jasper makes all sorts of moves in front of the gang that claims ownership over Noelle but he pulls back in private and basically makes her question if he really wants her or not because she's not familiar with the rules of this new world. Alexa tries to help her out but Alexa also has interest in Noelle herself and has unresolved issues with Dallas so she's not exactly the best person to go to for personal advice. There's some issues that threaten the gang that keep everyone on their toes and some drama ensues that has to do with Noelle's father. Jasper decides (once again) to do something for "Noelle's own good" and suffers from a huge bout of relationship dumbassedness, hurting Noelle big time with his actions and shattering her trust. To be honest, I wasn't too hot on Jasper's hot and cold act through most of the story but could deal with it but in this Jasper lost major points with me. Noelle recovers and shows her strength and Jasper realizes his mistake and then has to try to get her back. He does succeed in getting back in Noelle's good graces and they end the story starting their HEA.

This was an enjoyable story. I liked Noelle and while she was soft in some ways but has an internal strength that made me like her. I liked Jasper but was disappointed with him after the way he treated Noelle. To be honest, he almost took this from a 4 star to a 3 star rating because of my disappointment with him. I liked his actions to get back with Noelle but even then they seemed minimal...like he did just what was needed to get her back and no more. My only other complaint is that there wasn't much world building...I know this is a dystopian world but have no clue how it got that way or any real background info on things outside of small snippets here and there. Still, I liked the story and the characters in the story and I'm glad I read it. I'll read book #2 in the future because I really have to see how things turn our for Dallas and Alexa. I'd recommend this story. :)

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

If you are looking for something very different, dystopian & erotica mixed into one, this would be the book for you! It reminded me of Hunger Games or Divergent with the sectors and the different groups but with a very adult story line. Super hot with an interesting plot that left me wanting to continue on to book 2. The characters are all very different and pretty good at hiding their real thoughts.

The narration was good too!

Absolutely love this series. Perfect narrator.

I stumbled upon this wonderful series long ago and when I saw it was available on Audible I absolutely had to listen.
The narrators voice is perfect for this series. Especially when putting a voice to Lex - it's exactly how I'd imagined she would sound.
Lots of sexy times in this series and the narrator never hesitates or has any issue with making you really feel what the characters are feeling.
I prefer some of the later books in the series, but I have to say this drops you right into another world so seamlessly that it's not difficult at all to really believe it.

I want more of this series on audio

I really enjoyed this book, both to read and listen. I just love Jasper. He is just such a great guy. He is the tough guy who is one of the enforcers for the O'Kanes. Dallas O'Kane is the leader of the O'Kanes and runs Sector Four. I love the idea of the full forearm tattoos of all the gang members. Noelle is very sweet. I love the dynamic between her and Jasper. She is also great with Lex. Lex is a great character. She is very tough and independent.

The sex is hot, the characters are amazing. I really love this world. I read this in less than 24 hours. It is quite a page turner, I highly recommend it.

Wonderful start to an amazing series!

I absolutely love this series. It’s a gang yes, but really more of a family that kicks ass together. Men and women have rolls to play in the gang both equally important. This is the first book of the series, but still one of my favorites. I really wish audible would get more than the 5 or 6 they have. I still recommend the series even with the last few missing. It’s a new idea on how the world would look after the end of ours.

Beyond Shame

For a first book in a series I wanted more explanation, like why is there an Eden and sectors what is the purpose of separating them?
If this is a dystopian society I guess I just wanted more explaining.

I like the characters Noelle and Jasper kind of match each other and I liked that Lex and Noelle fit too. Then there is Dallas and Lex and Dallas and Jasper they all kind of fit it works. I just don’t understand why Lex and Dallas fight it so much.

Noelle is very innocent but so willing to learn, I get why now the reasons Jasper had for waiting, but while I was listing I wanted him to …. or get off the pot kind of thing.

I am looking forward to the next book.

Not a big fan of that narrator but she didn’t ruin the experience for me.

Interesting

A different type of premise. Earth after a society apocalypse (the lights went out; everything changed).

Good writing and characters. Hot sexy times. I liked the narration.

4 stars (I might listen again.)

Confused by the book and my feelings for it

so, I dont even know quite where to begin with this book. I guess I'll start out with Lucy Malone, she is a great narrator and I loved her performance. So, like 75% of the novel I would say is group sex, or Jasper relentlessly teasing Noelle. The amount of group sex made it very hard to connect with the characters, I often found myself questioning if it was really a book about Noelle and Lex falling in love. Everytime i thought i finally understood Jaspers reluctance to make their relationship more he does something or more likely doesnt do something that made me confused all over again. The more I think as I'm typing the more I realize how much I dislike his character. For a supposedly dominant man he had no problem letting Lex and the leader deal with all problems concerning noelle when things got intense. I was expecting more action out of a futuristic story like this but was also disappointed on that front. I could go on but I that would be really jumping into spoiler territory, all in all I'm confused because I strongly disliked the Male character or rather was disappointed in him and the over all delivery of the plot. On the other hand I couldn't stop listening to it, and found myself slightly fascinated by the dynamics of the characters, and their weird rules and practices on sex. anyways, I've ranted long enough. I'll reserve my complete judgement till I read the next in series! For now, 3 stars!

Beyond shame

Very good sexual writing but not enough back story to make it a fantastic book.