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The Protectorate #3
Released: You're Free Now: Book 3 of the Protectorate Series
The Protectorate betrayed them all.
Running to keep her secret is Ella Blakely’s only chance of survival now. She has abandoned the chosen life given to her and joined forces with the rebels that currently terrorize the Protectorate.
Ella is about to reenter life in an Outskirt settlement, only to find that it is nothing like she remembered. Nor are the rebels just small clusters of dissatisfied Second Generation citizens. It is a well-established, highly militarized group, and they are ready to take back this nation.
From the moment Ella and Theo step foot onto rebel soil, they learn that the once-disorganized sects of terrorist groups were all rounded up and assembled under a single leader, Ursula Henderson. She doesn’t plan to let the two of them stand in the way of her complete takeover of the seven community system.
Ella wants to keep her head low and get through this life without ending up in a Protectorate lab to be poked, prodded, and studied. Ursula has one rule, You serve a purpose for the cause, or you have no use there at all.
Ella and Theo must now walk a delicate tightrope to help the rebels overthrow the government Theo Reynolds was raised to lead, and do it all with minimal loss of life. It will drive her down a path where she will finally choose for herself who she wants to be, and who she can share that with.
Pressure mounts as the rebels force out secrets the Protectorate would rather keep hidden.
President Reynolds has a straightforward retaliation, and it will end in Ella reveling the truth of her genetic abilities to the world.
What will become of Ella Blakely when her secret is finally out?
Running to keep her secret is Ella Blakely’s only chance of survival now. She has abandoned the chosen life given to her and joined forces with the rebels that currently terrorize the Protectorate.
Ella is about to reenter life in an Outskirt settlement, only to find that it is nothing like she remembered. Nor are the rebels just small clusters of dissatisfied Second Generation citizens. It is a well-established, highly militarized group, and they are ready to take back this nation.
From the moment Ella and Theo step foot onto rebel soil, they learn that the once-disorganized sects of terrorist groups were all rounded up and assembled under a single leader, Ursula Henderson. She doesn’t plan to let the two of them stand in the way of her complete takeover of the seven community system.
Ella wants to keep her head low and get through this life without ending up in a Protectorate lab to be poked, prodded, and studied. Ursula has one rule, You serve a purpose for the cause, or you have no use there at all.
Ella and Theo must now walk a delicate tightrope to help the rebels overthrow the government Theo Reynolds was raised to lead, and do it all with minimal loss of life. It will drive her down a path where she will finally choose for herself who she wants to be, and who she can share that with.
Pressure mounts as the rebels force out secrets the Protectorate would rather keep hidden.
President Reynolds has a straightforward retaliation, and it will end in Ella reveling the truth of her genetic abilities to the world.
What will become of Ella Blakely when her secret is finally out?
Audible Audio
Published December 1, 2021
15 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
S.L. Harpel
9 books21 followersS. L. Harpel is the mother of three wonderful children and wife to one Naval Officer. Over the last ten years, they have traveled all over the world owing to their time in the US Navy. She enjoys using her travels to exotic places as inspiration for her novels. Though she is unsure where her feet will land her at the end of their military adventure, in her heart, S. L. Harpel considers Northern California to be her home.
Her childhood was spent along the Sierra Nevada foothills on the eastern edge of the Sacramento Valley. Moving the long distance to Idaho for College, S. L. Harpel met her husband the very first night she arrived on the BYU-Idaho campus. Just under a year later they were happily married.
Outside of a full-time writing career, S. L. Harpel enjoys homeschooling her three children. As a family, they take the opportunity each new move offers them to experience a little more of the world. When she isn't writing, teaching, or shuttling kids to and from competition cheer and football practices, she enjoys reading, crocheting, cross stitching, and enjoying the outdoors with her family- especially when the outdoors involves a tropical beach. She is well aware that most of her hobbies make her seem like an old woman trapped in a thirty-something-year-old's body.
She also has a small herd of bulldogs that are the best companions while working on a book- well, except when they start to snore really loud.
Her favorite authors are as eclectic as the rest of her tastes. Some of her favorites included: Agatha Christie (The original queen of mystery), Diana Gabaldon (S.L. Harpel considers herself an obsessive Sassenach), Stephanie Meyer (whom she tried to stalk while living near Forks, Wa unsuccessfully), J. K. Rowling (of course as she considers herself a complete nerd), Maggie Stiefvater, Kate Breslin, Marissa Meyer, Kiera Cass, and of course Suzanne Collins. The list could be so much longer, but she fears that space here is limited.
Her childhood was spent along the Sierra Nevada foothills on the eastern edge of the Sacramento Valley. Moving the long distance to Idaho for College, S. L. Harpel met her husband the very first night she arrived on the BYU-Idaho campus. Just under a year later they were happily married.
Outside of a full-time writing career, S. L. Harpel enjoys homeschooling her three children. As a family, they take the opportunity each new move offers them to experience a little more of the world. When she isn't writing, teaching, or shuttling kids to and from competition cheer and football practices, she enjoys reading, crocheting, cross stitching, and enjoying the outdoors with her family- especially when the outdoors involves a tropical beach. She is well aware that most of her hobbies make her seem like an old woman trapped in a thirty-something-year-old's body.
She also has a small herd of bulldogs that are the best companions while working on a book- well, except when they start to snore really loud.
Her favorite authors are as eclectic as the rest of her tastes. Some of her favorites included: Agatha Christie (The original queen of mystery), Diana Gabaldon (S.L. Harpel considers herself an obsessive Sassenach), Stephanie Meyer (whom she tried to stalk while living near Forks, Wa unsuccessfully), J. K. Rowling (of course as she considers herself a complete nerd), Maggie Stiefvater, Kate Breslin, Marissa Meyer, Kiera Cass, and of course Suzanne Collins. The list could be so much longer, but she fears that space here is limited.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 25, 2019
This book didn't quite go in the direction that I thought it would, but I'm totally ok with it. I'm really liking the development of Ella. I feel like she is becoming more and more who she is meant to be, and I can't wait to see what she'll do in future books. Really enjoying this series.
September 11, 2025
Good, but still typos
I really liked the story. I've put down other books with this many typos (being an author myself). But the story is good enough to look past them.
If S.L. Harper reads this: go edit all of your books and republish them. Of course, first make sure you won't lose all the reviews if you republish.
I really liked the story. I've put down other books with this many typos (being an author myself). But the story is good enough to look past them.
If S.L. Harper reads this: go edit all of your books and republish them. Of course, first make sure you won't lose all the reviews if you republish.
January 26, 2019
I want more!
Love love love LOVE!!! I absolutely love this series. The settings, the plot, the characters, and all. True, there are some grammar issues but really, why let them turn you away from such a great plot when those errors are so insignificant??
Love love love LOVE!!! I absolutely love this series. The settings, the plot, the characters, and all. True, there are some grammar issues but really, why let them turn you away from such a great plot when those errors are so insignificant??
May 27, 2020
Aside from the fact that the reason of their defection made zero sense it was an okay book.
October 18, 2021
Another good addition to the series. Though this book felt like a middle child. It was a bit slow for me and I found a lot of the community stuff boring, just waiting for action. Maybe it's because I love Theo so much and her interaction with him was very limited. And after all the tension between Ella and Theo, the ending was a serious letdown. I hope the last book makes up for it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews