Book review: Beyond Forever by Kit Rocha

Title: Beyond Forever
Author: Kit Rocha
Publication date: 24th October 2017
Genre: Dystopian/Romance
Source: Review copy
Series: Beyond (bonus novella)

Blurb: Before they were the King and Queen…
Six years before the Beyond series started, an ambitious bootlegger named Dallas O’Kane caught a very pretty thief named Lex with her hand in his safe.
The rest is very sexy history.
In Beyond Forever, follow Dallas and Lex through the turning points in their relationship, from the night he caught her trying to rob him, through his rise to successful bootlegger, to legend, to Sector Leader--with Lex always there, willing to give him the push he needs.

Beyond Forever is a prequel novella that jumps through time to tell the story of the biggest moments in the formation of the O’Kanes and their King and Queen. It will be far more enjoyable if you’ve already read Beyond Control, and contains spoilers for the entire Beyond series.

My thoughts: Beyond Forever begins with the reopening of the Broken Circle after the events at the end of the Beyond series. It then jumps back to the very beginning of Dallas O'Kane's journey in the Sectors, and his first meeting with Lex, and hops forward to critical moments in the founding of the O'Kane gang & business and Dallas's relationship with Lex, finishing a little bit before Beyond Shame begins.

As a big fan of the series, I loved this novella. It's my favourite sort of extra: when we first meet Dallas & Lex, it's obvious they've already got quite a history together, so to go back and see some of that history was great. Partly that's because they're characters who bash up against each others' personalities a lot, which is always fun to read about, especially when you know that they're going to end up very much together in the future.

There isn't a particularly strong plot line as such; instead it's a series of little glimpses at crucial moments. Each chapter looks at one critical moment, and gives enough information, context and conflict for that little bit. And it was so much fun to see Lex upsetting Dallas's world, from his personal opinions to how the business was going to run to how the gang was running. Through the little snippets you get a really good picture of how Dallas and Lex each became who they are at the beginning of the Beyond series.

As an extra to read after you're done with the series, Beyond Forever is a real treat, and I'm sure all Kit Rocha fans will love it. It's intended as a happy bonus, and it definitely delivers as that. I loved getting to know some more secrets about the founding of the O'Kane legacy, and particularly the peaks of Nessa, one of my favourite characters, when she was younger. I'm giving Beyond Forever 7 stars.