Susan Stoker

"Claiming Grace" is the gruesome and yet strangely uplifting tale of a mother who emotionally and psychologically abuses her only child. Despite the horrors to which Grace Mason was exposed during her formative years, she is a sweet and loving woman. Logan Anderson, has loved Grace since they were teenagers but they were separated ten years ago when he went into the army. Logan is now one of the co-owners of Ace Security, a personal security service and he makes it his mission to rescue Grace from the abusive control of her parents. The psychological drama is intense and the love between Grace and Logan is strangely juxtaposed with the evil machinations of her parents.… (more)

Sam becomes a reality TV show contestant, not realizing that it's going to be Bachelor-style. The contestants are all flown to the Australian Outback, where they're told that they'll be competing for the affections of Al, a rancher from Texas. To prove they have what it takes to be his wife, they do things like catch pigs, muck out stables, and more.

Although Sam thinks Al is attractive, she isn't in the mood for the kind of catty tactics most of the other contestants resort to. She figures it was probably an accident that she was chosen for the show and she'll get kicked off relatively early, so she's determined to do things her own way, even if the show's producer seems determined to do whatever he has to in order to get a drama-filled show.

Meanwhile, Al, who actually goes by Alex (the producer tweaks everybody's name to fit his vision for the show), is, unbeknownst to the contestants, given access to video of what the contestants are doing when he isn't around. He likes "Sammi" but quickly learns that this show isn't geared towards him choosing the person he really wants, but rather the person who'd make for the best TV.

I cataloged a bunch of this author's books once and figured I should eventually try one. The "Beyond Reality" books sounded the most interesting, although I'm not actually a reality TV fan. I maybe shouldn't have started with this one - I didn't remember this until later, but this was the one book out of the bunch I cataloged that had a typo (missing word) on the back cover. Unfortunately, the editing had issues between the covers as well. The most painful example was when the spelling of a character's name changed within a single paragraph.

This was definitely a "not like other girls" romance, with Sam as the only on-page contestant who wasn't horrible and catty. Supposedly there were a few other relatively decent people among the contestants, but none of them got any on-page appearances.

Overall, this just wasn't a good setup for an effective romance. Sam and Alex go on a grand total of one date, and talk maybe three or four times on-page.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)

The Royal by Susan Stoker
Game of Chance #2

Cinderella met her fella and left the wicked steps in her dust…or…was it the prince who found his princess so they could live happily forever together? Great modern retelling of a favorite fairy tale with twists and turns aplenty.

What I liked:
* Juniper “June” Rose: Cinderella of the story, lost her father in her teens, lived with her wicked stepmother and stepsister for almost two decades, never lost her kindness, loved her father, ready to escape when the prince arrived, willing to take a leap of faith
* Callum “Cal” Redmon: prince of obscure country, retired Delta Force, survived brutal torture with his team, in the tree business with his ex-military buddies, lives in Maine, sent by his family to DC where he meets his princess, aware, listens to his gut, insightful, rather taken with Juniper
* That I could absolutely detest and despise the wicked steps Elaine & Carla AND their henchman, Tim
* The way the relationship developed between June and Cal and the way they managed to communicate and grow together
* Finding out how Riggs, JJ, and Bob were doing along with Carlise and April
* Attending the fun wedding of Riggs/Chappy and Carlise and seeing Baxter again
* The way the Hill’s House community came together when a life was on the line
* The genuine niceness of June and Cal and feeling they belonged together
* Thinking about if/when JJ and April will end up together
* The lead into the next book that will be Bob/Kendrick’s story
* The plot, pacing, setting, conclusion, and writing

What I didn’t lie:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about how self-centric and evil some people can be and the impact they have on others
* Thinking about what Cal and his teammates endured and the horrible years June spent with her steps

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars… (more)