A review by ellelainey
Beyond Time by Lee McCormick

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 ** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE ** 
Reviewed for Divine Magazine 

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Beyond Time, by Lee McCormick 
★★★★★ 

294 Pages 
1st person, past tense, multi character POV 
Themes: soulmates, reincarnation, psychopath/sociopath MC, tattoos, roommates, one bed, co-dependency, college, piercings, bisexual awakening, possessive MC, touch-him-and-you-die 
Triggers: drug use for medical reasons; mentions of historic child abuse; mentions of suicide, stalking, obsession; medical abuse; blood, knife and primal play; biting and rough sex; consensual dub-con ; homophobia; violence and murder; vague mention of decapitation and removal of limbs; medical clinical trial; forced confinement/captivity; forced reincarnation 

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Beyond Time is the first incredible inning from debut author Lee McCormick. Weaving together a story of soulmates, enemies and government medical influence, McCormick manages to put an intriguing question across: are there such things as soulmates, and do they always find each other in the way they're meant to, in every incarnation? Here, the author presents another possibility: maybe some incarnations just don't fit as precisely as others! 

The story presented is incredibly original and clever. It begins with Seth and Jayce, two college students who are dirt-poor, struggling to get by, and dealing with some heavy emotional baggage from their childhoods. They're presented with a sleep study by one of their professors, which could not only help Jayce's severe insomnia, but also bag them a few thousand each to help them cope. Since Seth doesn't have insomnia – or really, any trouble sleeping – he gets some little red pills from a friend to help him fake it for the trial. 

And that's when everything falls apart. Because this trial isn't about sleep, it's about how to bring back the soul and consciousness of the previous life. For these two ordinary college kids, that means turning into their previous incarnations from 22 years ago – sociopath Clay and psychotic hitman for hire Kade. Only, Seth's little pills change everything in a way that no one expects... 

And that's where I stop telling you what's happened. Because you need to experience it for yourself. I'm not going to add spoilers and I'm not going to talk about any other plot points, so forgive me for being a little vague. 

I loved Seth from page 1. I struggled to connect as well to Jayce, but it's probably because he only gets a few POV scenes. Seth is a total cinnamon roll, with a dark past of being violently, physically beaten by his stepfather. Jayce has always been there to protect him, his entire life, and that – inadvertently on Seth's part – is the crux of the problem. By protecting Seth all their lives, Jayce doesn't sleep, because he's always on alert for danger, whereas Seth can sleep because he always knows Jayce is there to keep him safe. Which is the problem that leads them to the sleep trial. 

After the trial, we get introduced to Clay and Kade – who have a bit of history of their own! There's some bad blood between them and the government want to pit them against one another, one more time, to see who will win. Whoever lives will get a lucrative government killing contract. Whoever loses will be dead...again. Neither of them want to die, but the history between them complicates things considerably, as do the memories of their current incarnations that continue to exist inside their heads. 

In the same way I struggled to connect to Jayce, I didn't really connect to Clay, for similar reasons until the very end of the book. But Kade – ah, Kade. Well, Kade is that drop-dead gorgeous, deadly, absolutely psychotic character that is so Mine! And protective and 'if you touch him I'll chop your hand off and shove it down your throat' that you just can't help but love him. 

I won't say what happens to who, or who ends up with who, because that is pretty much a mystery until just after the halfway mark, and I really don't want to spoil the surprise. 

When it comes to POV's, we do get all four characters, but the story is predominantly told in Seth and Kade's POV's for a reason. We do see Clay and Jayce a few times, though, which was nice to see, because both characters are so important to the story and the other characters. 

I'm not normally a person who will read a book with dub- or non-con, but I will mention that this book does have a dub-con scene, but it's in a squinty way. They sort of mutually agree that one will run and try to escape, and if the other catches them that they won't ever let go. It's an agreement that, if the first MC is caught, the second can do what he likes, in a way. What they both know has been brewing for a while, actually. So, although there's a chase and a struggle, it's all – I'm not going to say acting, just more like resisting for the sake of resisting. The MC who fights back is really just trying to assuage their guilt, reluctant to admit how badly they want the other MC, and also pretty much enjoying the thrill of being hunted, to be honest. So while I will label it dub-con, it's more like consensual dub-con. 

The sex scenes were pretty hot, though in one I wasn't entirely following the logistics, as there was a lot of frantic moving around that felt disorientating. One minute they were face to face, the next they couldn't possibly be, and the next it felt like they were contortionists and I kind of just skimmed over it and tried not to get too caught in the 'what was where' of it. 

There was also a bit of an ick-factor in that one MC had been running around frantically all day, shown up at a meeting on agreement, but without having shown any sign of washing etc. Then, he discovers the other MC prepared for sex – the con-dub-con scene I mentioned above – as the inevitable outcome of all their tip-toeing around each other. However...the first thing they do is rimming. It just felt a little gross, because it was intense rimming, vividly described, without any indication of prep or safety for either one of them. 

I will also admit that I kind of called the plot early on, but that didn't limit my enjoyment of watching it all unfold. I mean, I had guessed Clay's past by Chapter 3, and knew the couple outcome by about 30% in, but I still loved every minute of what came after. Knowing – or suspecting – what was coming didn't hamper the tension, the intensity or my enjoyment, because there were still a lot more twists and a lot going on in the background that needed to happen to resolve the story, that kept my on my toes. 

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Before I end this review, let me just say a huge THANK YOU to the author for that thoughtful, caring note at the beginning. It's so refreshing to see an author – especially a debut one – recognise the importance of trigger warnings and actually include them as extensively as possible, at the BEGINNING of the book, not at the end when it's already too late. Which is, sadly, something I've seen happen before, with the author intending to 'prevent spoilers'. Trigger warnings are *never* spoilers, but they are absolutely necessary and I adore the author for the work they put into their list. 

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Favourite Quote 

“I'd never wanted like this before – no, I'd never needed like this before. These emotions for Seth were completely new. I was familiar with hatred, with bloodlust, with betrayal. 
I wasn't used to...this wasn't love. I didn't know how to love.” 

“Kade was willing to break me. And for some reason, I believed if he did, he'd be able to put me back together a little more whole than I'd started.” 
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