REVIEW: A Harmless Little Game

A Harmless Little Game by Meli Raine

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This book is about Lindsay Bosworth, a gang-rape survivor who has just been released after four years at the Island Meditation and Serenity Center aka mental health facility.  She knows she has some amnesia when it comes to the “event”.  However, she believes she is strong enough to overcome the terrible physical and mental abuse her virginal body and soul went through at the hands of her rapists.  Not to mention the emotional abuse of her best friend and boyfriend Drew who sat there and did nothing to save her.  What she does not know is that she has been portrayed as a slut by the media as a result of her three best girlfriends betraying her in the most grievous way - by telling the media and the police that she wanted it!  If that is not hard enough to swallow, her father, Senator Bosworth, has hired her ex-boyfriend, the one who did nothing to save her, to be her bodyguard!  Will Lindsay be able to handle everything or will she buckle under the pressure?

Wow, okay.  So, let me just start by saying I did a book blitz and giveaway for this book and I did it because the premise of this book intrigued me.  I don’t think I will ever do a giveaway, book reveal, book tour etc if the book does not interest me.  This book definitely interested me and so I decided to review it.  It DID NOT disappoint.

This book starts slow but intriguing and ends on a cliff-hanger at the apex of the action!  I love the mounting tension.  Lindsay comes out believing she is free from a prison but little does she realize that she has traded one nightmare for another.  From backstabbing friends, do-nothing boyfriends, rapists and neglectful parents, how will she EVER heal?  Though she goes through many difficulties in this book, she comes out strong.  She stands up to her parents, takes a little harmless revenge on an ex-friend and demands answers from her ex-boyfriend turned bodyguard.  She must also find a way to ignore the way her body heats up when Drew is around.  She knows it’s not appropriate but she can’t help wanting to touch and kiss him.  All this while not taking any of the meds that they prescribed in case she needed them and with only a couple of minor panic attacks a long the way.

I was so angry to find out that NO ONE was prosecuted for this heinous crime and rather it was swept under the rug by her very own parents!  Who does she have on her side?  Why must she fight to make everyone believe her?  Eventually, she realizes that Andrew had nothing to do with her rape and was, in fact, unable to help her.  As her new bodyguard, he swears to her that he will not let any harm come to her ever again.

Andrew Foster’s character to me was a bit flat in this book but I believe it is because this book is more about Lindsay and her coming-home.  With that being said though, what I know of his character I like.  He protects and defends Lindsay with his life while also being so kind, gentle and understanding during their interactions.  He knows she has changed but understands that the core of her remains the same.  He has his own story to tell and he will get it during the second instalment.  Is everything resolved in this instalment?  Oh no, no, no!  It is just heating up!

Will I read the next book?  Of course!  I believe this book should not be passed up even more so now that it is available FREE from Amazon (not sure how much longer it will last!)  Follow this link!

All thoughts and opinions are my own.