A review by gee_reads_books
The Beneath (Behind the Wall, #1). by Roxanna C Revell

4.0

"If I tell you the truth... I lose you." "No. Telling me the truth is the only way you stand a chance of keeping me.""

Lovers of dystopian romance and dark, gritty matches made in Heaven: do not, I repeat, do NOT, miss out on "The Beneath"! Roxanna's sophomore novels introduces us to a world divided by a wall into two very different places: The Other Side, where extramarital sex is severely punished by the law, and The Beneath, where the illegitimate children of said affairs are cast off as soon as they're born. The severity of this measure would make anyone think twice before making the same mistake again; yet Eve and Adam Matthews are full-blood siblings, the only ones The Beneath has ever fostered. As Adam's older sister, Eve has always made protecting him his #1 priority, and loved him infinitely more than she'll ever love anyone else... Or so she thinks, until her path crosses with that of Noah Joyson.

Son to one of the Founding Families that run The Beneath, Noah is untouchable, and could have anything anyone he wants. But, for whatever unfathomable reason, he wants Eve. What starts as a forbidden relationship fueled by passion, mad love, and secrecy soon enough turns into a deadly game; for the Joysons aren't happy to hear that their son has fallen in love with an orphan they hadn't planned for. Soon enough, Eve finds herself having to dance to the Founding Families' rhythm if she wants to keep her brother safe. But nothing in The Beneath is quite as it seems, and it's not long before there's no coming back from the dark corners to which her love for Noah leads her.
"I was encouraged not only to be myself, but to find myself."

Wow. Okay. How on Earth am I supposed to review this, and not just type a lot of uppercase sequences of letters peppered with crying emojis and purple hearts!? Let me start warning you of something: this isn't an easy read, and if you go into the book feeling perfectly happy about everything, you're missing on the real deal. Noah and Eve don't have, not by far, a perfect love. There are elements in it that are supposed to make you uncomfortable. There are things that should make you angry. Eve's story is that of a very young girl in love, true, but also that of someone who didn't have a family to teach her what is and what isn't okay in a relationship. If you're like me and pick TB up, you may feel uncomfortable with some interactions.

That's good. Because Eve's story is also the tale of many, many young and not-so-young women nowadays. One of the things that made me love TB was precisely that: Roxanna doesn't shy away from depicting dysfunctional dynamics, and showing them for what they are. Eve doesn't know any better, but then again, so do many people in her same situation. She has to learn on the go, and as the story progresses, and she starts to realise that what's going on is so much bigger than just Noah and her, she starts to open her eyes. I'm truly taking my hat off: Roxanna's character development skills left me absolutely speechless. Many people loved Noah from the start, and adored the relationship he and Eve had. Not me. I wasn't a Noah Joyson fan at all; and yet, I found myself growing fond of him as the story unfolded. Personally, I think that speaks volumes about just how mind-blowingly well done the characters' arcs are.
"Noah didn't just have a temper; he had the skills to back it up."

Even though I more often than not find it hard to like female main characters who are supposed to be strong, but are not well-built and thus end up being annoying, I absolutely adored Eve Matthews. She starts a clueless orphan, and grows into an incredible queen. There were several moments in which you could clearly see just how far she's come, how tired she's grown of playing the role everyone expects her to, and I honestly can't remember them without proudly smiling! She may be one of the strongest FMCs I've read in a long time: sweet and kind, yet resourceful and super done with everyone's shit. By this point, I'm 45% human, and 55% Eve Matthews stan.

Roxanna has crafted a really immersive novel. The world of The Beneath is so vivid in her prose, you can smell the Dome's patchouli, feel the cobblestones beneath your feat, and picture the convent in which she and Adam were raised by kickass nuns such as Sister Teresa. (She's, together with Eve and Rose, my favourite character by FAR. Me!? Having an all-female selection of favourites!?!? WHAT) Even though the book starts with a little bit of info-dumping about The Beneath, soon enough the reader gets to see everything they've been told through Eve's eyes, and Roxanna's quill. The story flowed easily, the plot addictive and the twists breathtaking, and after surpassing the 23% mark, I simply couldn't put it down. I mean... I could... But it made me grumpy!

All in all, "The Beneath" was an amazing read I've really enjoyed, one that left me thinking every time I stopped reading, and sucked me in every time I picked it up to read on. Where's book 2!? Where!?!?

[Content Warnings//CWs: Blackmail/extortion, Death of a loved one, Explicit sexual content, Female opression, Physical violence, Sexual violence]