this will be the second time that I read the first 6 books of this series. I recommended this gem to a girlfriend of mine and decide I would read them again.

This is a really juicy , erotic read that keeps you interested with it's interesting , likable characters. All the Action , suspense and the drama that invades their lives.
I loved how Noelle starts off as a shy innocent girl and once she finds her own sense of freedom ,she becomes a strong independent woman , and no man ,including the man she falls for Jasper can take that from her ,even in a place like Eden or Sector four.
Jasper is a cage fighter , that will defend the O'Kane gang with his very life , but you could tell as soon as this ruthless man set eyes on Noelle , even knowing who her father is and where she came from that he was a goner . He will have her , but at his pace and without strings .

Lets face it all of these characters are Damn Hot in this book and I cant wait to read the whole series again to get to know them all over and finish out strong! ( )

Technically this isn't a good book by any stretch of the imagination.

This book and I expect the others in this series as well follow basically just the default BDB style MATE paranormal romance template but without the paranormal, without the plot, and with a lot more smut and BDSM play.

The world is meh, the plot is basically non-existent and the parts that do exist are weak. The one actual action scene was just stupid because the way it played out made very little sense.
Which is a shame because I was actually interested in the plot even though it was obvious from the start that it would never serve as much more than an excuse for the smutty romance to develop.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room.
I have read BDSM stuff before and I never was into it at all. This book didn't feel like "just BDSM kink" at all though. The entire thing was more like a plot device to express the balance of power in a relationship and consent, lots of consent.
While the message about consent was not subtle at all it didn't feel preachy to me.
I have no idea why this didn't rub me the wrong way at all. Usually, I am annoyed very quickly by reading obvious messaging like that even if I fully agree with the message itself but the way this book did it just didn't do that. While it wasn't subtle, maybe it was necessary for the story to go where it did without it getting uncomfortable I guess?

Bear with me for a moment for a short disclaimer. I am not trying to kink shame or depreciate BDSM. Personalities develop as they may and everyone is kind of stuck with their own. So enjoying yourself regardless of which kinks you have in your personality is totally fine with me as long as you don't hurt other people against their will.
Usually, BDSM tendencies can be traced to some fucked up part in how your personality experiences relationships which are usually reflected in the literature describing it. Which means somewhat fucked up relationships, at least in my limited experience with it.
But this is not the case in this book. The BDSM here is limited to the sex-play but the rest of the relationships seem, while they may have an unusual focused on the balance of power, mostly healthy and very relatable to me. Which is something I believe is worth mentioning and is something I very much enjoyed. Reading about fucked up relationships has a bit of a dark allure sometimes and frequently goes hand in hand with BDSM tendencies but they usually just alienate me eventually.

While some might not like some of the protagonists in this book I think it is fair to say that they were well-characterized, and had consistent and believable personalities. They felt very human.

From reading other reviews it seems like a lot of people consider this book very dirty and shameless which I have trouble understanding. Yea, there was a lot of smut and some of it was rather shameless and a somewhat kinky but I've read much worse (if not in such quantities) in books that weren't even tagged as erotica or BDSM without anyone even mentioning how dirty they were. I think the main reason why people express that impression is that the MC constantly repeats it like a mantra. Maybe the dirtiest part of the book is how dirty the MC feels about it.

While the smut was varied and there was some new kink every time, it started to feel repetitive quickly nonetheless. I am not sure if the author is entirely at fault here because I expect there are just not enough words and phrases to keep it fresh.
Something similar happens in books with a lot of action scenes. (I am not talking about this book here.) You can have the MC duck behind cover to escape a barrage of bullets only so many times before it becomes tedious and boring regardless of how high the stakes might be.
It's very much the same with orgasms. I guess erotica is bound to have this kind of problem. It's not a genre I generally read intentionally. I just don't explicitly avoid it.

Despite all that and despite knowing this isn't exactly a marble of literature, I liked it.
I didn't love it but I liked it.

I expect this book is very hit or miss for any individual person.
So I guess I recommend trying it out? ( )

Full Review on NetGalley
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Full Review on NetGalley
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Finished Reading November 7, 2014
Finished Reading August 25, 2021 in the SLIH ɑմցմst ҍօԵʍ https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/22033304-st---beyond-shame#comment_23813547...

NOTE: Rating changed after I did the buddy read. The below review was Before that. 2nd time reading it I could barely get through it.

3.5 2.75 Stars
I don't have a shelf for this type of genre, but it is more Dystopian than anything else. Though really, this one is 90% Erotica.
Believe it or not, I actually wanted 'LESS' sex scenes. There were so many of them that they took away from the world and character build. And the potential for a great story was never truly reached 'In My Opinion'
That said, there was a lot of good. Interesting characters.
I checked, and the next book has higher ratings. Since the potential to be a fantastic and unique read is in this one, I'm going to try the next.
You know what they say. "Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought her back"
So I will be reading the 2nd book sometime this year.

Prch October 23, 2014 Amz ( )