The Royal

Game of Chance, Book 2

By: Susan Stoker

Narrated by: CJ Bloom, Jeremy York

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

In this modern Cinderella story, New York Times bestselling author Susan Stoker weaves a tale of stepfamilies, stalkers, and a suspenseful, sweeping romance that proves true love can conquer all.

Former military man and member of a royal family Callum Redmon can’t deny his sense of responsibility. So when his cousin’s latest love interest claims to have a stalker, Cal reluctantly meets with the young woman and her mother. He wants to write off the situation as a complete farce—if only his feelings for another member of the household could be as easily dismissed.

Since her father’s death seventeen years ago, Juniper Rose has been at the cruel beck and call of her stepmother and stepsister. Her fantasies of escape mean leaving behind her father’s beloved home, but enough is enough: when Cal offers her a way out sooner rather than later, June takes the leap.

Cal’s home in Maine with his military brothers seems like the safest place to start fresh. But as Cal and June’s fairy-tale romance blossoms into something real, they find that the dangers stalking them may have been real all along.

©2023 Susan Stoker (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The way these two wounded souls support each other will have readers swooning, while the romantic suspense elements keep the pages flying with sky-high stakes and palpable danger…this dark, sensual Cinderella story delivers deep emotions and unwavering love.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Best story loved it

As a Susan stoker fan I loved this story!!! It was so good great read!!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Loved the story of this book. It’s about forgetting the dislikes of your outer body and letting the beauty you have inside shine through. It’s as feels good book. I would definitely recommend it.

Cinderella story

The story is very refreshing. I like the character jun she did great and cal was a great hero to her

I loved this book!

This was a really good written book. I loved listening to it! I couldn't stop thinking about it! I'm going to listen to another one!

amazing book

love this book. a twist to the Cinderella story. love June and Cal's relationship a lot

Cal and June - a real life fairytale

This book. The painful pasts. The evil. The acceptance. The feels. I loved it all. Cal and June’s fairytale adjacent, healing romance with a side of crazy relatives was so good. Cal and June are portrayed as real, relatable people who have flaws, but are really just trying to do their best as messy humans. I have a soft spot for the people who are a bit uncomfortable in their skin because they don’t feel like they fit in or are worthy, like Cal and June. So I really love when they finally see their truth and they get swoon worthy HEAs. I especially loved the way they both gently, lovingly, and beautifully helped each other come out of their self-imposed prisons and begin to shine. Cal is of royal blood and he also co-owns a tree service company with his three best friends. He is a former special forces soldier and POW who has terrible scars from his time in captivity. June lives with her stepmother and stepsister but she is emotionally abused and treated as a servant. Cal comes to June’s house at the urging of his family to investigate June’s sister’s “stalker.” He quickly determines there is no stalker but also quickly starts to fall for June’s goodness and light. This creates the perfect swoony setup for rescuing a princess and helping her start a new happy life but not everyone is happy about it. The story was well written and included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters who grow, and an engaging storyline. The suspense was well balanced with the romance creating a perfect contrast. The story will give you all the feels - laughing, crying, swooning, cringing, teeth gritting, knuckle biting, and cheering through sweet moments, steamy scenes, chuckles, supportive friends, messy families, painful pasts, dangerous situations, uber protective men, and all the love. I can’t wait read the next book in the series.

CJ Bloom and Jeremy York did a phenomenal job narrating the stories and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly.

Five stars for the brilliant narration of this book!

Cal and June. Here we have the Prince, damaged both mentally and physically from his torturous captivity while in the military and the stepdaughter under her stepmother’s viscous control and living with her stepsister’s evilness. A true Cinderella story of the most heart melting, romantic kind.

An emotional story, this series continues to captivate. All of the characters from Book 1 are back and June bonds immediately with the others. As much as it’s heartbreaking to read Cal’s horrid thoughts about all his scars and his fear of anyone ever seeing them, June’s determination to make him see he’s more than his scars is beautifully written as only Susan can give us. Cal and June are true “opposites attract” and are just what each of them needs.

After a life threatening situation occurs where Cal almost loses the love of his life, he finally realizes:

“𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙪𝙜𝙡𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩.”

I can’t wait to dive into book 3.

Good story and performance

The characters in this book, the good and the bad, are well written and enjoyable. This book is more novel and less suspense and action, but the end is very good. The performance is quite good.

Aww

This was another great story from Susan Stoker. This book had me crying and laughing. I can’t believe we have to wait almost a year for the next book in the series.

As always, Ms. Stoker delivers

Great story, fantastic narrators, and happily ever after. I definitely would recommend all Stoker books.