Tuesday, September 22, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Beyond Control by Kit Rocha



Beyond Control is the 2nd book in the post-apoc erotic romance "Beyond" series by author Kit Rocha (a psuedonym for authors Donna Herren and Bree Bridges).  As I noted in my review of book 1 (see here), the series is really only SF in terms of the very edges of the background, with the book being really focused upon the erotic romance between its characters - with lots and lots of sex in the book's pages.  The first book in this series was free at all ebook retailers, and while this book isn't free, it's available as part of a $1.99 package of the first three ebooks (the free book 1, this book, and book 3), which was too cheap of a package for me not to dive in when I needed something less serious to read.

And Beyond Control is very very good, with it switching our focus to Dallas and Lex, the leader of Sector 4 and the Woman at his side who refuses to fully be under his control.  Both Dallas and Lex were major characters in the first book, with Lex being a hell of a character, and that only continues here as she and Dallas deal with their mutual and very sexy attraction as well their individual needs for control.  It is once again incredibly sexy - hilariously whereas the last book featured a prominent four person sex scene, this book expands it to six! - and if you like this sort of thing, is very worth your time.

Note:  If you couldn't tell from the description as an erotic romance series, this book is entirely graphic and quite pornographic, so if somehow you just want romance with a little bit of sex, this won't be for you.


----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Alexa "Lex" Parrino is the unofficial "queen" of Sector Four - the Sector ruled by the O'Kane gang.  Lex fought her way out of the sexual servitude that rules Sector Two, as well as the streets of the other Sectors, all the way to the point where she is the most respected woman of the O'Kanes.  But for all she has attained, there is only one obstacle she has been unable to break down:  The leader of the O'Kanes and Sector Four, Dallas O'Kane.  Lex knows she wants Dallas, as her pleasures with the others can't match what he gives her....but Dallas won't give her everything unless she submits to his full control, and that is the opposite of what she wants.

For Dallas, Lex is the one thing he hasn't been able to obtain - after all in Sector Four his power is seemingly absolute, with no one questioning his gang's right to rule.  In fact, there even exists the possibility of expanding his control.  But then there's Lex, the woman he wants more than anything, who fights back seemingly every time the two are just about to be engulfed in passion, without him quite understanding why.

In the Sectors, control is power, and for Lex and Dallas, that control is part of who they themselves are, and who they want to be.  But when their passions come against their dreams of control, will it result in the ecstasy the pair crave?  Or will it destroy them?
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Lex and Dallas were key parts of the first book in this series (Beyond Shame), with Lex mentoring that book's protagonist Noelle in the many pleasures of sex and more, joining co-protagonist Jasper in many of their sexual escapades.  Dallas even joined in with several of that book's sex scenes (including the big one) and his and Lex's give and take relationship was a major running side plot, with the two jockeying for control throughout despite their clear passion for one another.  So it was a natural shift for the 2nd book in the series to move to them, because we already know to some extent who they are.

This book also uses the fact that Dallas and Lex are in charge of Sector Four to expand this world, as we see the power structures and lives in the other Sectors as a major part of this book.  Lex has her origins in Sector Two, which is run by what is essentially a Madame and is really a set of pleasure houses, teaching and then farming out girls to patrons for pleasure - a place she desperately ran from to escape.  Both she and Dallas also have relations to the mess that is Sector Three and we also see hints of Sectors Five and One here, all of which are seen here as this novel expands the world for the series to deal with in future novels.

But really, all that is less important than the sex and the relationship between Lex and Dallas.  Lex has fought her way to the top, and is more than proud of what she's attained, she wants to keep it and the control she's gained as a result....except she can't help but be thrilled and consumed by being under Dallas' sexual control.  Meanwhile Dallas loves the idea of Lex under his control in addition to seeing his ambitions of greater conquest satisfied, but is at the same time afraid that one wrong move will result in her leaving him, as a result of one attempt at control that goes too far, for reasons he doesn't quite understand.  Lex's challenge in understanding her need to be controlled sexually and in love by Dallas but for her to also get a say in controlling the Sector, and for him to value her advice, forms the heart of this novel.....

Well that and all the sex.  Like the last novel, this book does not hold back, with it rarely going a chapter without diving full on it, culminating midway through with a six person orgy scene to top the last book's four person scene.  And it's all utterly fantastic and really damn well done, to go along with the relationship work that is just so good.  Really the only issue is that for the 2nd straight book, the final relationship conflict occurs over the male protag doing something without consulting with and considering the other's feelings, with the female protag forgiving him in the end slightly too easily for my taste.  But otherwise, yeah it's great.

Yeah I really have loved this series and after I finish book 3 expect to try to go through the other books, even if they cost a bit more.*

*Note:  I should add here, since I pointed it out in the first book review, that whereas that first novel only had M-F and F-F sexual relations, without a hint of M-M being a thing, that's not the case here, with M-M being an acknowledged and witnessed part of the setting here (two characters in particular, which is utterly unremarkable for anyone witnessing it).


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