Beyond Eden. Kele Moon

ARC supplied by Netgalley

Eve, Paul and Danny – the three musketeers, the unholy trio – call them what you like they’ve been best friends since school. Eve and Paul were passionate lovers until she left to further her career in New York and Paul followed the dreams of his family elsewhere. Move forward ten years and Eve is back home living with her family when she bumps into Danny. Danny invites her home for a meal and she discovers he shares his house with Paul. The trio are back – but Paul is engaged, his family pleased with his choice though Danny can see she’s not what he needs. He needs Danny…and Eve to be whole but can he break free from the hold his family have on him and the traditional route they want him to live.

Its a really tender romance at times and gut churning emotional at others. Playboy and Dom Danny has another side to his outward appearance which only Paul sees – after dating Danny Eve begins to pick up on their secret lives.

I loved this book – its very erotic and sensual but the story line comes first. I want a good tale to read even in erotica and not the hot and heavy sex scenes interspersed with a flimsy plot that’s too often offered 😦 Kele delivers the goods with a tender romance that will have you in tears, make you think about the psychology of our actions and how our backgrounds shape them. Its not a book for the faint-hearted, I’m a BDSM novice only knowing bits from novels but this isn’t just a titillating sop to sensuality but full on blood, sweat and tears. I found it interesting the way Paul needed, as opposed to just wanted, the type of games he played with Danny. I’m always hooked on how past actions affect present needs, and this book shows it so very well, and the sacrifices people often need to make. Danny has to be a certain way to protect Paul, Eve also has needs she didn’t realise and the three together are just perfect but can Paul leave the dictates of his family to live that perfection. Its a huge move and will have massive family repercussions if he does. I cried when I thought Paul was abandoning the perfect relationship he had with Eve and Danny just to prove to his family he was good enough for them. (Only bluff tough Marines cut it with them and Paul couldn’t join up because of injury.) That would be heartbreaking for all three and I was on tenterhooks at to what he would do – It wasn’t clear cut and was a very emotionally draining piece of writing.

I love the way the garden of Eden tale is woven into this novel – very compelling and cleverly done. There’s a reader advisory about the darker BDSM scenes and as a novice I did find them hard to take but they needed to be done that way to show the whole psychological actions/reactions drama. What looks on the surface like gratuitous cruelty turns out to be a protective measure. The description warns “You might gasp. You might cry. You might find yourself reading it again and again.” I did gasp, and did cry, and I will enjoy rereading too. One of the best BDSM love trios I’ve read.

To the nitty-gritty bits – thankfully well edited and written, and a real treat of a novel for romance fans who want more than a sweet, sappy, light read. Its good value for £3.82 for 404 pages, and with joining my keepers file it’ll be one I re read. I’ll be looking out for more works by Kele Moon too. Five stars – loved this book!