Review: A Little Harmless Addiction

Jocelynn is a New Orleans girl who has moved to Hawaii to get her life back together. Her brother Chris lives there and she needs some place new to recover from an attempted rape. It's been months since her attack, and she is just starting to move forward. In fact, for the first time since it happened, she feels attracted to a man.

Dealing with his own past, Kai isn't looking for a relationship, but he feels an immediate pull towards Jocelynn. And despite her brother's concerns, they start spending more and more time together. Kai has a general idea of what happened to Jocelynn, so he tries to take it slow. His heart is in the right place, but every time the spark lights between them, he pushes her away. She gets embarrassed and lashes out. They make up and do it all over again. I know they are both getting over broken hearts, but these two are their own worst enemies in the beginning.

Eventually, though, they begin to move past their fears and allow themselves to work toward a relationship. It's not an easy road, but one that is gratifying in the end.

This is the fifth book in Melissa Schroeder's Harmless series and it's apparent that these stories are all woven together. Characters from the previous books are peppered throughout and as a new reader, I wasn't sure how much of the backstory had been told before and how much was new. It wasn't really hard to follow, but it was obvious I had missed alot with the secondary characters. I also understand that the other books in the series feature BDSM, but this one does not. It just focuses on these two wounded people who are trying to find the courage to love again.

My biggest complaint was that both these characters blow things out of proportion. At first, it's Jocelynn's over-the-top lashing out over Kai's efforts to take things slowly. And later, it's Kai's reaction to Jocelynn holding something back about her attacker. I can see being disappointed or a little hurt, but let's remember who the victim is here. To say he overreacted would be too kind.

Overall, the book was a little harmless afternoon diversion. 3 stars.

Click to purchase: Amazon

A Little Harmless Addiction

by Melissa Schroeder

Release Date: June 7, 2011

Publisher: Samhain