REVIEW
Once again Meli Raine has brought us an exciting romantic suspense filled with action, love, betrayal and surprises – lots of surprises.
As with the other series from Meli Raine, I have decided to review the story as a whole because really you cannot read one without reading all three, it is essentially one story broken into three parts. I have loved the other books by this author and this set is no different.
This series, based around Silas Gentian and Jane Borokov, follows on from the Harmless Series.  Silas is awesome, I loved his character in the Harmless series and so pleased to see him get his own story. He is mistrusting and not at all happy about having to bodyguard for the lying, deceitful Jane, but the longer he spends with her and the closer they become he realises that what he thought was true may not be so clear cut.
Jane has a lot questions surrounding her and they are answered in this series along with so much more.
Since the ‘incident’ with her best friend, Lindsay Bosworth, was so publicly aired, Jane has become the most hated person in the USA prompting multiple death threats against her. Jane continues to claim her innocence and when the Senator Harwell Bosworth requests protection for her, Silas is the lucky one to get the job.
There is plenty of tension between these two. Jane is desperate to prove that she did not set up her friend and as her feelings for Silas grow she wants him to believe her more than anyone. The trust/mistrust that encompasses this story plays throughout all three books and we find out why Silas has such trust issues. There is, however, definitely no issues in the bedroom when the sexual tension takes over. Silas, the sly dog, has a secret that we find out about in ‘Bet’ and I was really looking forward to reading more about this side of him but it never came about. Maybe Meli could write a novella on “Jane and Silas – Bedroom Dominance”?
Many characters from the previous series crop up – Drew and Lindsay Foster, Harry and Monica Bosworth, Mark Paulson, Marshall. But we do have a couple of new faces as well – Lily and Duff (next series main characters).
Lots of questions arise and most of them are answered. Secrets are revealed and surprises are in abundance. This was a fantastic continuation to what is an ever increasing story, told from the point of view of one particular couple in each series.
As one series leads onto the next and interlinks with others, I would suggest reading them in order as characters from all four series will be found popping up in others:
- Breaking Away
- Coming Home
- Harmless
- Shameless
Looking forward to seeing what happens between Lily, the flower shop girl, and Duff, the quiet and reserved bodyguard, in The False Series.
Synopsis
A Shameless Little Con
I didn’t do it.
I never betrayed my friend.
Last year, I was kidnapped along with presidential candidate’s daughter Lindsay Bosworth, forced to help her assailants, my mother implicated in one of the biggest political scandals in American history.
I’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing, but that doesn’t matter. Once you’re tried by the media, you’re guilty as sin. The truth doesn’t get the public’s attention.
But shame? Shame sells.
And everyone assumes you’re tainted.
Now I have my own personal security team, courtesy of the United States government. Not the one you learned about in civics class, though.
I’m being tracked by the deep state. The shadow government. They’ve assigned Silas Gentian to be with me twenty-four seven. He thinks he knows everything about me – all of it bad — and he does.
On paper.
Like everyone else, he assumes I’m a traitor. A backstabber. A betrayer. Someone who helped a group of violent psychopaths, puppets of powerful men in Washington who made me into a tool.
Yet I see how he looks at me. True desire can’t be faked.
Or hidden.
And that goes both ways.
He assumes I’m trying to fool him.
And he might be right.
But not for the reasons he thinks.
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36636115-a-shameless-little-con)
A Shameless Little Lie
I did it. I admit it. I fell in love with Silas. My bodyguard. My protector. My new informant.
We’re playing a cat-and-mouse game. I’m not sure whether I’m the cat or the mouse, but I can definitely tell I’m in a trap. A trap with no way out.
I’m not who everyone thought I was. The truth is out there, finally turning the lie about me inside out. I am the shameless little lie. It’s finally been revealed, and now even more people want to kill me.
As a presidential campaign hangs in the balance, a delicate web of international relations and economic stability at risk, power becomes more important than anything else.
Even my life. Especially my life. I’m a nothing. A no one. Just a tool, remember?
But tools can be used to open locks. Cracking open the truth and exposing it could change the balance of power. Tip the scales. Make a presidential campaign turn on a dime.
Too bad Silas doesn’t believe me when I tell the truth. And that may make him the biggest tool of all.
(http://meliraine.com/book/a-shameless-little-lie/)
A Shameless Little Bet
How do I prove a negative? I need to prove Jane is innocent, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.Â
Mirrors, smoke, and lies can conjure a truth that isn’t real. Money, bribes, and power can twist reality. What we call proof is all an elaborate magic act.Â
So is love. How do you prove you’re in love? How can you know with unrelenting certainty that the person you can’t live without really loves you?
It’s all about what you believe. Who you believe. And I believe Jane. I love her. But it might be too late.
Or, worse – it might all be an illusion. If proof is just a magician’s sleight of hand, then we’re caught in a sick trick.
A deadly one. One that doesn’t end with applause.  But with a bang.
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37715250-a-shameless-little-bet)
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