A Little Harmless Submission by Melissa Schroeder (Harmless #6)
Romantic Suspense, BDSM
October 25, 2011
E-Book
Self Published
Reviewed by Mandi
Rome Carino has just discovered a fourth murdered girl, and they are all connected to the BDSM club Rough ‘N Ready. Every girl has been a submissive at the club at one point or another. Rome is good friends with the owners of the club, so he has been trying to keep his distance so that they don’t become too involved in the investigation. Being a Dom and a member of the club himself, he has a personal reason to catch this killer.
Soon he is going to have help, whether he wants it or not. FBI Special Agent Maria Callahan is sent to Hawaii to investigate these murders. Trying to prove to herself and others that she didn’t just get this job because of her very successful father (who was a FBI profiler) she has a lot of work ahead of her. Since she is new to the island, she comes up with a plan to use herself as bait for this killer, which means she needs to pretend to be a sub at the club.
I really enjoy the way Melissa Schroeder balances the suspense with the romance in this series. Her villains are always intense, and this one is no exception. Rome is a little more on the grumpy, cranky side in this book but that is because he is dealing with a new emotion – jealousy. From day one, he feels possessive over Maria and the idea of anyone looking to steal his sub away gets under his skin like nothing else. He is a Dom through and through and has found this wonderful woman who is learning to submit.
Maria is shocked to discover that she actually likes to let Rome be the Dom in the bedroom. Always having to be in control in her job, she never would have thought this arrangement would push all her buttons. But oh it does. Rome takes his time showing her the ropes of BDSM and Maria can’t deny that she likes it.
But that is not to say she still has a stubborn side too. Their roles get a little muddled since Maria is working undercover as Rome’s “pretend” sub, but in real life she really is his sub. They have to keep up this pretend appearance, to lure in the villain, so he doesn’t get wind that she is actually a FBI agent.This, along with Rome’s stubbornness definitely bring conflict into the relationship.
Melissa Schroeder throws in enough kind of creepy supporting characters, that you really have no idea which one is the villain to the very end. We get a few glimpses of Micah and Evan owners of Rough ‘n Ready and heroes from the previous books (and two of my favorite guys). Overall a nice, sexy read.
Rating: B
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I read the free short A Little Harmless Surprise last night. I think I missed something because I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series but Rome features in that one as a… guest. :D
I think I might have one of these on my TBR somewhere – do you think I need to start with the first book in the series or can I just jump in anywhere?
You can definitely read them out of order – I think I started with book 3 or 4? Although characters reappear in books, I think the romances and suspense are stand alones.
Hmmm. A sex club. In Hawaii. Really?
Why not a sex club in Hawaii? And this is a very classy, bdsm club..the whole series is based around it. :)
First, big thanks again, Mandi. I am glad you liked Rome’s book.
Kaetrin, I hope it is okay to pop in to tell you that the single titles can be read without reading the others. The shorts are really for people who have read the book they are tied to. Evan and MAy were A Little Harmless Obsession. I would seriously offer them as free downloads but a lot of the retailers will not allow it :( I have another one coming out in December called A Little Harmless Gift which will feature the couple in A Little Harmless Lie, Micah and Dee.
I’ve been wanting to try out this author. I’ll have to do that one of these days. Nice review. :)
Oh you should..you would like these books
I love the name of the club!
I really need to catch up on this series!! :)
Now that is a sexy cover