This book wasn’t my favorite. Some of the plot points weren’t expanded upon enough, it didn’t keep me engaged. Was fine with skimming over parts. With that said, I’m not completely shutting the author out. I am open to reading another book by her. Thought I didn’t love this one, I love reading and thank you to Net Galley for this arc!

The Royal by Susan Stoker is the second book in the Game of Chance Series. The story has a stalker, stepfamily, and romance.
This series is based on a group of former military men that were captured during a mission and tortured before being rescued. Now living in Maine working together and supporting each other. This is Callum’s and Juniper’s story. Callum is a real prince and Juniper has been living with her stepfamily ever since her father died. I enjoyed this retelling of Cinderella and reading Callum's and Juniper's love story that they deserve. I look forward to reading the next book in the series and reading Bob’s story. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely fell in love wit5h this book! It was amazing!!
I love how the female main character was curvier that the usual fmc. The character development was great through out the entirety of the book!! I did ofc hate the step mother an step sister. It really felt like a modern kind of dark retelling of Cinderella whi8ch i didn't mind at all. It is actually one of the best retelling stories i have ever read. It was beautifully written and i loveddd the longing and tension between the two main characters.

A little bit royal and a little bit modern Cinderella story who wouldn’t love this book! As someone who loves romance, loves fairytales and loves stories about the royals this was the book for me! I highly recommend this book!

DNF 33% - I appreciate the opportunity to review this title, but the book doesn't work for me at all.

The romance lacked chemistry, the characters lacked development, the general premise of both the book and the series in too far-fetched, and every line of dialogue inspired me to cringe.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. This was an entertaining read. I love the opposites attract aspect of the story and the fact that he's a price. Swoon worthy for sure!

This is a good book. The two main characters are June and Cal. June is the housekeeper for her stepmother, who wants to leave. Cal is a prince, co-owns a lumber company and a ex seal. Cal comes to June’s stepmother to help with a stalker. Cal finds out there is no stalker and invites June to leave with him. There is an instant attraction. She goes home with him and finds a job. She is living with him in his home they fall in love

"Broken prince" Callum Redmon, scarred by war, avoids love, convinced no woman could want him for more than his title. Living quietly in small-town Maine, he meets Juniper Rose, trapped in solitude by her stepmother and stepsister. Their connection is immediate, and as they navigate a Cinderella-like story intertwined with military romance, emotional and physical connections play a central role. The book skillfully explores friendships, relationships, and the town's characters, especially the endearing senior citizens. With danger well-executed, the story concludes with a tear-inducing ending, leaving readers eagerly anticipating the next tales of their friends.

Pretty entertaining book.. Cal and June are total opposites him being royalty but scarred from his days in the military being a pow and then going back to civilian life... And June being pretty much like a modern day Cinderella... It's was interesting to read...

ARC received for review

Cinderella story with a Beast (he was scared during his capture). Her father died and the step mother and sister treat her horribly. He's come to check on her because his cousin is dating the sister. He saves her. Love all the peeps helping out in their relationship.

Cover art people...please read the book...he's got no scars

i didn't like this.
the writing was okay (although i didn't really like the third-person pov), but the main characters fell flat and the romance lacked chemistry despite the insta-love.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and give my honest review of The Royal by Susan Stoker.

This the the second book in the Game of Chance series. I'm giving the book a 2 star rating. I read as much as I could before ultimately adding it to my did not finish list. I found that I couldn't get into this one.

This started off very strong with the twist on Cinderella, but kind of all went downhill after that. The insane insta-love between the two characters, Cinderella being boring as hell and a doormat, the evil stepmother and sister acting like villains from a mobster movie, and the unnecessary pov of the hit man. Even the spice couldn't save this one and I love a scarred and misunderstood hero.

In multiple scenes he literally described her as plain and not beautiful., but that he loved her anyways. Like what...

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was just an OK read for me. I don't mind fairytale retellings as they can be quite fun.
However, I was expecting more from the evil step-family. I would have liked them to be more intelligent and devious. Their plan was silly and unbelievable. and I never felt that she was in any danger from them. June, unfortunately, was a complete doormat and let them get away with far too much.
I enjoyed Cal and June's interactions when they first met. Their romance developed very quickly after that but there was a lot of repetition about their own insecurities and it got a bit tedious. I didn't like the way Cal abandoned her when things seemed to be going perfectly for them. I was disappointed that he would hurt her feelings this way.
There was some suspense when June got hurt but other than that the story is not very exciting.
On a side note, Cal's British slang was Irish rather than British. It jarred with me as an Irish person as it was so obviously out of place. Readers from outside the UK and Ireland probably won't notice or be bothered by it.

The Royal is Cinderella in modern time with a twist. The author has intertwined Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast which are classic stories into a sweet page turning romance writings about strong characters, overcoming horrors they have had to endure, to finding their forever person. With a great twist Cal (prince character) endured torture while a POW that is now trying to really figure out how to live after that event. This was a good story with some suspense but made you root for the hero and heroine.

A great read that kept me on the edge of my seat and left me breathless for more. Emotional, thrilling, sexy, witty and exciting adventure filled with so much danger, intrigue and heart pounding twists.... Cannot wait to continue the journey and find out what will happen next.

This book is very similar if not loosely based on the Cinderella fairytale but has some twists. I also realized it has some beauty and the beast aspects which is amazing. I love that she discussed body issues with men because it’s not talked about a lot and June is a very easy person to root for

Directly after the Protector, I started on the Royal. As we had already read in the Protector, Cal is a member of the Liechtenstein kingdom (since I am from Europe, I didn't have to check Google maps, where Liechtenstein actually is). During their captivity, Cal was tortured the most, because of his 'Prince status'. As a result, Cal has to live with all the (painful) scars on his body as a daily reminder of those terrorists. When he is pressured into looking into a potential stalker case in DC for his royal cousin, he grudgingly drives from Maine to help out.

Turns out, he walks into a Cinderella fairytale: Juniper is obeying every whim and demand from her stepsister and stepmother, while being scandalised and shouted at. Ever since her father died and her stepmother weaseled her out of her inheritance, June has been trying to save some money to leave them. However, her promise to her dying father to look after the house still keeps her there. Cal quickly deduces that Carla and her mother Eleanor are up to no good. They are scheming and conniving and trying to trick Cal to fall in love with Carla. However, Cal is quite immune to those fake charms, especially after his ordeal, which made him shun people as much as possible.

All but June. The woman never seems to stop amazing him with her kindness and selflessness. So, when he decides it is time to leave the conniving steps to their 'alleged' stalker, he offers to take June with him to Maine. Together, they leave for Maine and tentatively reveal their feelings to each other. Of course Cal's friends come over to check June out. JJ, Chappy and Bob are over the moon that Cal found someone, who has been able to penetrate the fort around Cal's heart. But of course, they give Cal a hard time. Or as Chappy reminds him: 'Payback is a Bitch'.

The story is cute, heartwarming and also includes some suspense, as Carla and her mother don't take no for an answer. In all, yet another wonderful story of Susan. And I cant wait to read about April and JJ's story. Because their chemistry is already of the charts! Five out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed the book “ The protector” by this author and was so excited when I received this book! WOW this book was so good! I was really hoping it would live up to my expectations and it sure did! I loved Cal and June! I really enjoyed the Cinderella aspect as well. This book was definitely predictable but it also gives you a cozy warm feeling while reading! I really like this author and will continue to read more of her books for sure! I love the friend group in these books and can’t wait for the rest of them to find love.

This was a solid 3.5 read for me, but I rounded down because it was a bit too repetitive for me, and because, while Cal was good about telling June she was beautiful while they were having sex and all, but there were a lot of times that she was openly self-deprecating and he just let it happen, like all the times she said she wasn't good enough for him and his lifestyle and he didn't respond to those comments. Like, he did a lot of internal monologuing about how wrong she was, how highly he saw her, but there were definitely times he could have said it aloud too. Changing those two things, I would have rounded up. Even still, it was a cute Cinderella-esque story that I'd recommend for its prevalent body positivity message.