I found the book quite predictable with very little plot or character development. The sex scenes were by far the best segments and I'm not an erotica reader by any stretch. I simply mean that those scenes were "fleshed out" more thoroughly that the surrounding material.

HOT! HOT! sexual scenes. I don't usually read explicit sexual books, but this book was very HOT both in the and out of the bedroom., and very much worth the read. The action between the four main characters was very well written. The reader is immersed in the story - seeing to point of view from each main character - what their thinking process is and why they act the way they do.

I couldn't really get into it, but only because it seemed like it was just your standard modern plot and nothing was really developed. Everything was resolved by sex, having a PTSD flashback, let's have sex now.Through in a crazy foreign terrorist, sex clubs, injured woman who wants to have sex with her rescuers almost as soon as she meets them. It was the kitchen sink of books.

This book is steamy hot. I really enjoyed the plot of this book.

I have to say, I was a bit surprised by this book. I was honestly expecting to read a typical, polyamorous romance with a predicable ending but that was so not the case. True, this is my first Anna Del Mar novel, so I didn't know what to expect, but this read was still a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting the suspense and the moments of vulnerability. These men come across as if they have it all under control because they're/were service men but underneath their tough exterior, they each need something only Nina can fulfill. At first, I thought Aiden was my favorite (because I wanted to take care of him myself) but Zar blew me away. OMG, he was so raw, dominating and passionate!! Nina is a strong woman who only wants to be seen as such, so the struggle between her and Zar made the book even more entertaining for me. In my deepest darkest fantasy world, I'd love to trade places with Nina any day! Three extremely hot and sexy men who only want to please, love and protect you with their livee; yes please!! A good read I have to say and I'm looking forward to reading more!

"Let's share a girlfriend, but then get really jealous and possessive with each other. What a great idea!"

I will say it's a pretty hot idea though. It's three romances in one! What's not to love about the idea? Each guy has his own thing to love about him and in the end with them all together it's basically perfect.

This is one of those books where you know exactly what the outcome is going to be, but you still invest yourself in it for the characters. You never doubt that there'll be a happy ending (though there might be an itty bitty moment where you start worrying, because despite the confidence that "all always ends well" you know that isn't always true either) but you want to know how they get there and what obstacles they'll have to face.

The tension, the drama, will they won't they?
Better yet: WHEN will they?!

It's irresistible.

At least the romance is.

I can't say I loved the rest of the story. Military-like procedures, trying to take down the bad guy. Meh.
I do appreciate that it did actually have a story and it's not just some weak plot centered around the four having sex. It's a great balance between, with neither taking up too much time from the other.

But, again, I was mainly in it for the romance and I did get my money's worth. Or time's worth?

I received a digital advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

HOT. So hot. Three guys, one girl, ridiculous amounts of sex. Dumb bad guy interlude/problem to overcome. More sex.

I enjoyed the guys and the girl's characters. The setting of Montana and their gorgeous mansion. The whole military/hacker/global terrorism/chants of U-S-A, U-S-A angle.

I was also traveling and in DC while reading this (read on the plane and kept angling it away from seat mates out of embarrassment) and when I went and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery and watched the changing of the Old Guard, I'll admit I eyeballed some of them as potential foursomes. There was this one....

My brain is also still serving up images of a 'dick bouquet'. This book was so dirty and hot.

Beyond the Rules really takes you beyond the rules. A young, highly intelligent , resourceful and sexual woman named Nina lands herself in trouble due to some snooping around in the online world. To save herself and all she loves, she went in search of another hacker but her plane crashed enroute. She finds herself in the hands of three handsome but troubled marine seal officers. From here on begins her journey of exploring new sexual experiences. She finds herself attracted to all of them, each one having a different trait to love. The story revolves around their sexual exploits together and with each one of the. The story of saving Nina from her nemesis also moves forward but sex becomes the main theme. I like reading the book but was little disappointed with the fact that every emotion and every circumstance has only one solution through out the book that is a sexual scene. Also I found the book to be a little jumbled because of so many people involved in a single relationship. The book lacked a certain oomph factor which is very essential in erotica which I found missing here. However, its good for a one time read for people who like romantic erotica with a lot of unusual sexual exploits.

The three main male characters were all so different and yet it worked. It took me longer to emphasise with some of the characters than others but I really enjoyed this book.

Nina is a hacker but the billionaire app developer Artur Dimayev is after her but he's after her with a small army.
Nina has stumbled onto something huge, national security huge and she's looking for the legendary hacker to help her out.She's badly injured but three men come to her rescue Tanner, Aiden and Zar. Three men who've been through hell together yet come out the other side united.She is a strong beautiful intelligent woman who's suffered. She's the perfect match for the three men that saved her, Tanner, Aiden and Zar.The book is amazing. When I started reading I couldn't put it down.

This book was interesting. The "fragile toughness" of each character was a bit overwrought, but the author told a compelling story with modern-day twists and turns.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Anna del Mar, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

When Nina Leon crash-lands in the rugged mountains of Montana, she’s fleeing from a deadly enemy and a painful past, desperately searching for the legendary hacker who can help her defeat the ruthless terrorist stalking her. Instead, she’s rescued by three brave ex-SEALs who will do anything in their power to protect her. Tanner Vazquez, Aiden Black, and Balthazar Flint live by a pact forged in battle and signed with blood. It’s a bond that has saved their lives more than once. They’re committed to watching each other’s back and sharing everything. Everything. As different as they are, Nina hits all their buttons. They agree. She’s the one they’ve been waiting for. But Nina’s not looking to commit to anyone. She doesn’t believe in love. Her life has made her the ultimate skeptic. Lust? Yes. Sex? Absolutely. Love? What a crock. Protecting Nina is gonna be hard enough. But convincing Nina to stay, fulfilling her sexual fantasies and getting this brilliant hacker to trust and love them—all three of them—for good? That’s gonna be a hell of a mission.

BEYOND THE RULES by Anna del Mar was one smokin' hot read. I was expecting such, given the synopsis, but I wasn't expecting such a thrilling plot to accompany the sexy times. The characters were well-developed and there was enough subplot to keep me interested enough to read this in one sitting. If you enjoy wicked hot romance with a fantastic plot to boot, I recommend this one.

This book pushes all the edges and keeps you racing for more. Loved it.

Scorching hot suspenseful romance book, couldn't put it down!!!

Beyond the Rules, (an At the Brink Novel), by Anna del Mar
1st off - I LOVED this story.
I was captivated by the description and just had to read this. I didn't know it was the third book in a series because I jumped right in to chapter 1 and only realized after I flipped back to the beginning. Now I think I will go looking for the others. Obviously you don't need to read the others in the series first.
The action starts on the very first line. "I was close to my destination when the plane caught fire." Right away your drawn in, with a need to know. Nina Leon is running from people who want to kill her. Who wants to kill her?... Why? She is a very smart computer hacker with a mission. Crash landing, Nina meets Tanner Vazques, Aiden Black, and Balthazar Flint when they are out hunting. They bring her home to heal from her wounds and keep her safe. These men are each hot in their own way. They have a very close relationship that they share everything. The men are highly trained Seals and have a mission that now includes Nina.
I love the elements that make each man fall in love with. Each man has a vulnerability that makes them to relatable.
Only thing I didn't like, was that Nina is too perfect. A gymnastic, hacker that relates to troubled men and children?
Other than that - Loved it.

I loved this story ,from the beginning your hooked on theses characters. Nina,Zar,Aiden,and Tanner are complex people with hearts of gold. I loved the hotness factor that I look for in a story but it also had a really good storyline and Suspense. I found another author where I can have the best of both worlds!

Beyond the Rules starts out in typical vanilla thriller style with a woman crashing the plane she's piloting in a desperate bid for freedom. The plot conveniences from the average romance novel follow soon afterwards: she is found by the three guys who's property she crashed onto, they are former military who now make furniture and still do super secret government work, they protect her from the people following her, people get shot, no real police types get involved and when they do they are incompetent at best, etc.
What makes this book stand apart from the typical erotic romance is there is a fairly cogent plot running through the story, and the characters are better fleshed out than many in the genre. The ending was a mite predictable, but it wasn't a bad read overall.

Nina is discovered when trying to expose Dimayev is working with a cyber-terrorist. She is desperate to get to the hacker Ulysses who can help her uncover Dimayev's crimes. Nina's escape is almost thwarted when her small passenger plane is shot down by Dimayev's men.

Ex-SEAL members Tanner, Aiden and Zar rescue Nina from the plane wreckage. The men take her to their secure home in the secluded mountains of Montana to recuperate. Nina soon realizes these men are the key to her survival in more ways than one.

Tanner, Aiden, and Zar have strongly bonded through past experiences. The men have decided that to be romantically successful they need one woman to share. Tanner is educated in personality profiling. He quickly comes to the conclusion Nina is the girl who could fulfill all of their desires

The good: Where this story succeeds for me is in the execution. Nina is not just an intimidated, naïve virgin. She is intelligent and could feasibly make a go at protecting herself from Dimayev. Nina makes sound decisions and is comfortable and open about her sexuality. She comes to conclusions about her relationships with the men from a place based in reality. Their actions are not driven only by the fantasy of the ménage a quatre scenario.

There is a plot present beyond the romantic couplings. The characters may struggle but they seem stronger together mentally as well as physically. Throughout the story Tanner, Aiden, and Zar hunt to bring Dimayev down. When Nina is cleared to help them gather evidence she effectively contributes to the case. These things were important for me to relate to the characters in the story.

Random tidbits: I appreciated that the first couple that got together did not profess to love each other the day after they met. They recognized the chemistry between them and just let things happen. I appreciated although the men claimed jealousy would not be an issue, it eventually was. Realistically it would come up. They dealt with it as a group in a way I believed would suit them. The sexual encounters lived up to the genre of erotic romance. The explicit scenes were steamy and most of them felt organic.

The bad: The surface plot is pretty basic. There is the girl who needs to be rescued from the bad guy. Said girl happens upon her saviors that take her in and immediately try to make her theirs. She quickly falls for the level-headed alpha male, followed by the sweet but troubled alpha male and then slowly connects with the abrasive alpha male to round out the trio. And of course one of the men is a sexual dominant. I have read this story before. I did not like this story very much.

This author has caught my attention. I will look to Anna Del Mar for my next modern erotic romance.

I recommend that disabled readers approach this story with caution. There are characters who are physically disabled, autistic, and mentally ill in this story, and all of that representation has problems.

I have so many mixed feelings about this book. I went into it interested in the polyamory aspect particularly, and that remains the most interesting and unique piece of the story for me. But some aspects of the story were intensely ableist and misogynist, some were deeply unrealistic, and some just didn't work for me.

I found the polyamory dynamics deeply compelling, especially because they felt so individualized to the characters and not about reproducing common tropes (which is often what I find disappointing in polyamory representation in romance. The characters resolve into a quad of sorts, which is on the table as a possibility and the desire of three of them from the start. It's more unique in that it's essentially a closed V except since it's four people so it's kind of a W (meaning that the heroine has individual relationships with three different men, and the men are a family with each other but not in sexual or romantic relationships with each other). There is one instance of group sex that's framed as an event that cements their quad/polycule, but this is presented as a rare occurrence. (Though the authors note calls this a menage a quatre, which doesn't feel accurate for me.) I was fascinated at the idea of the group sex being rare and about cementing the quad relationship, which feels to me, as a polyamorous reader, like something that people might totally try but would be unlikely to actually work. In general I am not a fan of using sex to solve relationship problems, as a plot point or a real life practice. It didn't really bug me that much here, just mostly felt like a fantasy.

For the most part the heroine's relationships with each man are separate ones, and supported by the other men. They "share" (their language) only with each other, and do not have outside relationships with anyone else. (The author calls this "monogomous polyamory" in the authors note, which is a misleading term.) I've never read a polyamorous romance with a relationship structure like this before, and I found it really compelling. It was like reading three intertwined romances at the same time; each relationship had it's own arc, and obstacles, and resolution, and so did the quad as a whole. It was very intricate and the characterization was complex enough to make it very engaging. I especially liked that each hero was different, and the sex life of each relationship was different. I was fascinated by the way the heroine was framed as the leader that the heroes were following with regard to potential relationship with each of them.

I found the hacking, intrigue and thriller aspects of the story mostly entertaining, though in the end it felt like it added too much plot, and the story topped over a bit from trying to carry so much alongside three romance arcs (and a fourth if you see the quad arc as a separate one). I have no idea how accurate the depiction of hacking was.

I was troubled by the misogyny in the book. There was this way that the heroine barely got any professional trust or respect because she was a woman, but slowly earned that because she was "special". There was the inclusion of a villainous evil ex wife who was a caricature of awfulness. There were literally no other women in the book. There were references to two of the heroines friends being brutally murdered, and no other women were even referenced, other than a woman at a kink club that was used as a prop for the heroine's jealousy.

I was deeply troubled by the representation of disability in the book. The mentally ill hero (he has combat related PTSD) was framed as in need of rescue and pity, and full of internalized ableism. At one point he gets triggered by fireworks and she magically stops ures his flashbacks & panic from happening by distracting him with sex. This is a deeply problematic plot point that's also wildly inaccurate about how PTSD actually works. The heroine also has PTSD and is expected by her partners to work through a related phobia. The physically disabled hero was framed as broken and in need of her supporting his masculinity and full of internalized ableism. Also he is somehow dramatically better with increased mobility for the happy ending.

The hero's son who is autistic is inserted as a plot device, and a way to show how evil his ex is. He is being parented incredibly badly by the ex, who refers to him as a burden in front of him. This kind of ableism is not attended to in the story, the child's well being is clearly at risk and it's not framed as a problem that needs attention, and the resolution to this storyline was appalling to me as an autistic reader and as a reader who has parented autistic children. This moment in the story had me putting it down for a month, and almost DNFing the book altogether.

The ableism in the book is deeply embedded in the story's framework. Disability is primarily present as a plot device, and a way for the heroine to heal and care for and rescue the heroes. There are also intensely ableist statements and thoughts scattered throughout the story, the majority of which go unchallenged and are simply framed as reality.

The story represents kink in ways that I found challenging to read. The hero who is kinky makes a gesture to give it up and this is supposed to be a sign of love. He is also accused of harming the heroine by one of the other heroes, and there is an endeavor to prove otherwise that I found deeply troubling. The kink itself is pretty hot, if you are into D/s, sexual service, orgasm control and bondage. It does have a bit too much of a One True Way aspect to it for my taste. There is no "one true way" to be a good submissive, and it hammers that myth home pretty hard. There is a lengthy negotiation scene, that I really appreciated.

The ending felt like it went too fast to adequately resolve all the arcs that needed resolution, which seemed like maybe it was a thing where there was just too much plot to fit.

As expected for a story like this, there are quite a few potentially triggering aspects of the content, so this is one where I do recommend reading the trigger warnings.

Trigger Warnings: Plane crash. Car crash. Coercive/kidnapping/hostage situations, one of which includes intense invasion of the heroine's privacy. Rape threat from kidnapper. Combat situations described, both in the past and the present. Murder and torture described in detail. MC's in peril of death and injury. Gun fight. Evil ex wife trope.

Lots of external and internalized ableism (described in the body of the review). Misogyny (described in the body of the review). Queer hatred from abusive family member that gets challenged by another character. Anti-kink prejudice, both internalized and external. PTSD symptoms described. Suicidality of one of the MCs, and past suicide by a family member referenced multiple times.

On the page sex, including public sex, group sex, and sex involving heights. Sex is presented as fully consensual, but occurs in a situation where the heroine is unable to leave or contact anyone she knows. The author goes to great lengths to present it as consensual despite that. Consensual BDSM including D/s, bondage, sexual service, blindfolds, bondage, orgasm control.

I really liked this book. Interesting story line, strong characters and suspense too. This book definitely willl not disappoint.