Title: A Harmless Little Plan
Series: Harmless #3
Author: Meli Raine
Genre: Political Thriller/Romantic Suspense
Release Date: December 13, 2016
Blurb
Turns out there was a second video from that awful night four years ago. Mine wasn’t the only tape.
Too bad mine wasn’t the worst.
Drew can’t protect me no matter how hard he tries, but the roles are flipped now. I have to help him, but I’m not wired that way. Not anymore. That one night changed me more than anyone knows.
More than anyone could predict.
Three men think they’re above the law. They’re right.
But I’m willing to go beneath the law to make sure they never harm anyone else. Their threats don’t scare me.
When you have nothing left to lose because someone took it all away, you create the most dangerous creature imaginable.
Me.
Game over.
* * *
A Harmless Little Plan is the final in this political thriller/romantic suspense trilogy by USA Today bestselling author Meli Raine. This series includes:
A Harmless Little Game
Too bad mine wasn’t the worst.
Drew can’t protect me no matter how hard he tries, but the roles are flipped now. I have to help him, but I’m not wired that way. Not anymore. That one night changed me more than anyone knows.
More than anyone could predict.
Three men think they’re above the law. They’re right.
But I’m willing to go beneath the law to make sure they never harm anyone else. Their threats don’t scare me.
When you have nothing left to lose because someone took it all away, you create the most dangerous creature imaginable.
Me.
Game over.
* * *
A Harmless Little Plan is the final in this political thriller/romantic suspense trilogy by USA Today bestselling author Meli Raine. This series includes:
A Harmless Little Game
A Harmless Little Ruse
Purchase Links
Excerpt
“Okay,” I concede. “You win. Why me? Why are you doing this?” It takes so much control not to cry, or whine. The slight shake in my voice is pretty damn understandable, given the circumstances. Every muscle I have, including my lungs, keeps tightening, as if making them smaller will make me less likely to be hurt.
Not possible.
John shrugs. Shrugs.
“It’s nothing personal.”
I cough, choking on a universe-sized dose of incredulity. Nothing personal? This is nothing personal? A thousand responses flood my mind but I’m not rational, so none of them come out.
“Don’t you have a game or something? I thought baseball players didn’t get days off during the season.”
He pretends his shoulder hurts, rubbing it while pursing his lips in a pretend pout. “Perfectly-timed injury,” he says, adding a smile that doesn’t meet his eyes. “I have three days with nothing to do.” He leans in, his hand stroking my jaw. I close my eyes but don’t jerk away. “I get to do you,” he whispers, his breath filled with moisture, like he’s licking my face although it’s just air.
My ribs cave in on themselves, tensing so hard I’m afraid they’ll crack, my belly clenching.
I can’t let go. Can’t relax. I start to shiver. I can’t control it. My bladder threatens to let go. Suddenly, I’m ten feet away from my body, because really, what else can my caged mind do?
I’m in hell.
People do whatever it takes not to be in hell. We have a biological drive to survive. It goes beyond the body.
Speaking of the body, I remember the microchip. A whimper comes out of my nose. Tears fill the back of my throat, hot and salty, thickening. I nearly gag but control myself, a sob trying to work its way out.
If nothing else, they’ll find my body. Drew’s chip gives me that relief.
Unless they cut my hand off.
The helicopter cuts a sharp right, angling down, and because they didn’t buckle me in, I roll into the door. John thumps against me, his hip digging into my butt. His body is tight and physically radiates heat that makes me nauseated. I can’t stand having him breathing in my hair, his hands on my ribs as the helicopter rights and he pretends to need to touch me to sit up.
Why pretend? I have no power. He can do anything he wants to me right now.
The thought makes the world go wavy, white dots filling my vision.
Not possible.
John shrugs. Shrugs.
“It’s nothing personal.”
I cough, choking on a universe-sized dose of incredulity. Nothing personal? This is nothing personal? A thousand responses flood my mind but I’m not rational, so none of them come out.
“Don’t you have a game or something? I thought baseball players didn’t get days off during the season.”
He pretends his shoulder hurts, rubbing it while pursing his lips in a pretend pout. “Perfectly-timed injury,” he says, adding a smile that doesn’t meet his eyes. “I have three days with nothing to do.” He leans in, his hand stroking my jaw. I close my eyes but don’t jerk away. “I get to do you,” he whispers, his breath filled with moisture, like he’s licking my face although it’s just air.
My ribs cave in on themselves, tensing so hard I’m afraid they’ll crack, my belly clenching.
I can’t let go. Can’t relax. I start to shiver. I can’t control it. My bladder threatens to let go. Suddenly, I’m ten feet away from my body, because really, what else can my caged mind do?
I’m in hell.
People do whatever it takes not to be in hell. We have a biological drive to survive. It goes beyond the body.
Speaking of the body, I remember the microchip. A whimper comes out of my nose. Tears fill the back of my throat, hot and salty, thickening. I nearly gag but control myself, a sob trying to work its way out.
If nothing else, they’ll find my body. Drew’s chip gives me that relief.
Unless they cut my hand off.
The helicopter cuts a sharp right, angling down, and because they didn’t buckle me in, I roll into the door. John thumps against me, his hip digging into my butt. His body is tight and physically radiates heat that makes me nauseated. I can’t stand having him breathing in my hair, his hands on my ribs as the helicopter rights and he pretends to need to touch me to sit up.
Why pretend? I have no power. He can do anything he wants to me right now.
The thought makes the world go wavy, white dots filling my vision.
Review
At the start of A Harmless Little Plan, we find Lindsay being taken by the bad guys and Drew wrongly jailed for the crimes of others. This is just the beginning of the last of the twists and turns within this story; just the start of finding out all of the answers to long standing questions. This book keeps up with the fast paced mystery and suspense from the previous two books, but felt a little faster, a little more danger, and a lot more risk.
When I started this series, I was hooked immediately, raging over what was done to Lindsay and full of questions over the hows, the whys, and if she would ever be able to get her justice. I've really enjoyed getting to know the post-trauma Lindsay and seeing her adapt to being home once again and reconnect with Drew. It all comes together in this book, the last stand so to speak and with each word, each chapter, I was sucked even further into the story, enthralled with what was going on and how it was all going to end.
A Harmless Little Plan catches us up with all of the players of the game and brings about more trust issues. With Lindsay kidnapped, Drew set up, and everything else going on, it is hard to know who to believe in and who to hide from. My heart sped up in fear of Lindsay being held again by those three, but I also had to put faith in Drew that no matter what it took, he'd find a way to get her back. The use of lies, secrets, and manipulations throughout the story really increased the suspense and drama and drew out the story.
I like how we switch back and forth between Drew and Lindsay so we get a round about full picture of what is going on in total. I felt like all of my questions were answered, and most of my theories were either proven right or I was close to the truth. I really enjoyed how the story came to its conclusion and how things ended up. This was a very well written ending to the giant story arc built up through all three books and even as it was over, it wasn't really over. I love that there was a focus on the overall return to normal life, or as normal as it could get for Drew and Lindsay.
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Author Bio
Meli rode her first motorcycle when she was five years old, but she played in the ocean long before that. She lives in New England with her family.
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