***4 ‘I had no idea it could be this good’ Stars***

I didn’t expect that. The description is accurate. Very much so. But I wasn’t expecting THAT. It’s not a bad thing, not really, because that whole situation kept me at the edge of my seat, but holy hell. But outside of that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was sweet, smexy, suspenseful and filled with characters that I want to get to know better.

Logan’s childhood was no fairy tale. He battled every day to keep himself and his brothers safe and left as soon as he could with the knowledge that his brothers were also getting away from the hell they lived in. I really liked Logan. He’s got a good heart and once he sets a path for himself he doesn’t back down. But there were moments where he needed a good swift kick in the arse, in fact one time I really did wish his friend had hit him, but he quickly got his head out of his ass and showed what a good guy he really was.

On the outside Grace looks perfect. Well off family. Good looks. Intelligent. A secure job in the family business, but looks can be deceiving. I loved Grace she has a kind and gentle soul and, when given the opportunity, can be quite feisty. But the secrets she has to hide are slowly killing her and though I understood what was happening to her, I wanted to smack some sense into her and have her fight for herself and her happiness. Thankfully, we finds the strength and it was a joy to watch her become the woman she was meant to be.

Logan and Grace’s road to their HEA was an interesting one. The obstacles they faced weren’t due to anything they did or didn’t do, but due to outside interference. The one main issue between them was resolved early on in the book and I liked how it was dealt with and though I liked them together in the end, the beginning, after they resolved their issues, was a bit off for me. I can’t put my finger on it, but I wasn’t feeling the intensity of their feelings towards each other. As the book progressed and they re-connected it got easier to see why they were a perfect fit for each other as they not only helped each other to heal, but become stronger.

While the reason for the birth of Ace Security is a sad one, I loved what it stood for and what the brothers wanted to accomplish through it. All of the characters peaked my interest for one reason or another, some because I really liked them, others because I wanted to gut them with a spoon, but they were all well written and I can’t wait to get to know them all better. The suspense element was done very well, scarily so, and though I won’t go further into it because it may or may not teeter into spoiler territory, I will say that the topics may be triggers for some. As I said, I was surprised by it all and that doesn’t happen all that often. It didn’t put me off reading the rest of the book, in fact it hooked me even more, but some may have issues so be prepared.

Claiming Grace is a second chance love story. Grace and Logan had been best friends in high school. Logan's mom was abusive and Grace's parents were controlling. Logan joined the army as soon as he graduated in order to get away. Grace stayed and did everything her parents told her to. I am going to do this review a little differently. Within the first few pages, I was already dying to dialogue about this book. These are my thoughts as I am reading!

8%
I am struggling to have any respect or sympathy for Grace. Logan left even though his mom was abusive. Grace went to college and then came back. Her parents are certainly emotionally abusive, but I feel there is a great deal more Grace could do to break their hold over her. She's 30 years old for crying out loud. I also understand the desire to please your parents...but again, Grace is just making me irritated.

11%
My least favorite plot trope? The miscommunication. Logan sent letters. Grace never got letters. Yet, now that he is back, they refuse to speak. A simple "Hey, why didn't you write" could have cleared up a lot.

25%
Ok, miscommunication cleared up. Glad that didn't go on long. But Logan is kind of giving me whiplash. "I don't believe in emotional abuse". 2 seconds later "Yeah, somethings wrong. I'm gonna talk to her". Dude? Seriously? You run an agency that helps men and women in abusive situations. While I may find Grace's behavior irritating, I do believe she is being emotionally abused.

30%
Felicity, Grace's only friend, does a fantastic job of really explaining emotional abuse and why it is effective. I am still struggling with Grace as a character because she seems so naive that its difficult to believe, but I can at least see why she has allowed this abuse to continue and hasn't stood up to her parents sooner.

60%
Ok, Grace is starting to get a backbone with Logan's help and she is a bit more relatable now. The letters....those made me tear up a bit!

88%
Grace's parents are almost comically bad. You know those old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons? Her parents are like Natasha and Boris...The story is told in 3rd person so I think it would have helped if the reader got a little insight into their motives. But, without that insight, they just feel static.

Final verdict: Not my favorite Susan Stoker book. I think because I have loved so many of her books that I might be a bit more judgmental than your average reader. While I have pointed out all the things that bothered me, there is a lot more to the book. Grace opened up to her friends and it was powerful to see how the abuse had impacted her. One thing Stoker always does well is abuse survivors. While Claiming Grace wasn't a total hit for me, it still is a good book that I think will appeal to readers who like emotional stories of people overcoming abuse that no one sees. As Felicity pointed out, everyone would jump to help a person who had bruises and obvious signs of abuse, but not having a black eye doesn't mean you aren't being abused.

My apologies to all my friends that have been telling me to read Susan Stoker; Claiming Grace is the first in a series and the first I’ve read by this author. This story pulled at my heartstrings and kept me flipping pages. Logan Anderson and his brothers suffered a physically abusive parent growing up. The one thing keeping him going was the knowledge that he was leaving town as soon as he graduated from high school and his tutor in the person of Grace Mason. He was hurt when she didn’t respond to his letters and thought he’d dealt with it. Now ten years later he and his brothers are back in town and he has to deal with his feelings for Grace. There is another form of abuse that is harder to see and harder to prove and Grace has been dealing with it her whole life. She is the victim of emotional and mental abuse and is afraid for both Logan and herself. Can she let him help her escape from her controlling parents and allow them to love each other again? Claiming Grace is an emotional romantic suspense/second chance romance that will have you looking differently at the world around you. I look forward to the next installment.

3 1\2 stars out of 5
I struggled reading this story. I have read other books by Susan Stokers and found that I have to work to get into her stories. I am not sure if it is her writing style or voice but I do struggle.

The author took on a challenging story line of silent abuse. With that story lines comes challenges of how to make the heroin voice heard know she was emotional abused. Both leads were "broken characters" one was physical abused while the other one was controlled and emotionally abused which brought them together.

With all of these type of books the male lead in this case Logan seems to turn a switch and everything changes. He sees what is happening to Grace and works hard to free her. After 28 years of being abused she isn't going to be able to turn a switch either and move on. I'm not saying the story had to be based in reality but give some credit to the fact it takes years to move past that kind of crap.

I found this book hard to read for many personal reason. My opinion is just that someone isn't able to move forwards as quickly as Grace did when they have been in a abusive relationship for their entire life.
Advance Copy from Netgalley

Kudos to the author for tackling the difficult subject of mental abuse, because there are no physical signs and because the perpetrator can be very manipulative, victims rarely get any help.
Logan and his triplet brothers Blake and Nathan, had a physically abusive mother, who eventually killed their father and his death sparks the idea to run a company (primarily aimed at men) to help and advise persons in similar situations. Now that they no longer have a need to avoid their hometown they decide to start their new business in Castle Rock and Logan reconnects with Grace, the girl (now a woman) who he thought dumped him 10 years earlier.
Grace has been emotionally manipulated and mentally abused her entire life but still strives to attain scraps of love from her parents - a type of Stockholm Syndrome I guess. Whenever she attempts to break out of the narrow confines of her life, her parents find a way to control her, whether through guilt or fear. However, when she realises that Logan had really cared about her before he moved away, she decides to make a stand.
I loved this book. Recommended read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

I'm not sure I have ever read a book by Susan Stoker before (unless it was in an anthology). After reading this one I will definitely read the next one. This book was not the typical parents trying to keep their teenage daughter from from someone they thought was unacceptable. Not only did her parents separate the by hiding Logans letters to Grace but they emotionally blackmailed her, at some point hold her prisoner and do other despicable things to her!

With Logan's help, love and support she is able to break free of them and they are able to stop her parents from harming anyone else. Underneath it all Grace is a strong person and Logan is very supportive of her.

I really enjoyed this one. The premise for the series is very intriguing and the characters are very enjoyable. This book brings Logan Anderson and his two brothers back to Castle Rock, Colorado. Their plan is to start a very personalized security company. Doing this brings Logan back face to face with the woman who broke his heart years ago. Grace Mason was crushed when Logan left and never contacted like he promised he would. Avoiding him now has become her mission. She has enough on her plate to worry about Logan. She may appear to have the perfect life but everything isn't as it appears.

As I said I really enjoyed this one and I would definitely recommend it.

Logan Anderson moves back to his hometown of Castle Rock, Colorado, to start a personal-security business with his brothers. Grace Mason was his best friend from high school…and the woman who never answered his letters during his Army years. Both cared deeply for each other, but both thought they had each moved on and forgotten about their childhood friendship and love for each other. When they find out that Grace's parents are responsible for her never receiving his letters, the reforge their friendship. When Grace's emotionally abusive and controlling parents try to keep them apart, the two must fight to free Grace from the suffocating hold of her family. Grace's parents use whatever means (including illegal) they want to try to keep the couple apart and keep her under their thumb, but Logan refuses to give up now that he's found his love again.

This book has a good amount of suspense. It does dive into some serious physical and emotional abuse without being too graphic. There is some sexual content, but it's well within context and there is plenty of plot. The characters are well developed and well written. No cliffhanger and ends with HEA. There will be a continuation in the next book in the series, but each book can be read as a standalone.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Claiming Grace by Susan Stoker that I was able to read and review.
This book is the first in a new series about a three brothers that are triplets that decide to open up a protection business that specializes in helping men who are abused by the women in their lives because their mother killed their father then herself. However, they will help anyone who needs in.
In this first book the person in need of help is Grace, the best friend and first love of Logan, one of the sexy Mason Brothers and founders of Ace Security. No one really knows what is going on in Grace's life because she hides it well but when Logan learns that the girl that he thought gave up in him when he left for the army really didn't he will do anything to protect her from what her parents are doing to her behind closed doors.
This book was an interesting introduction to Ace Security and characters in this series. I really enjoyed Logan and Grace's story. It was full of action and very real. I can't wait until the other two brothers find their true love.
I am giving Claiming Grace four out of five stars.

"Claiming Grace" by Susan Stoker. I was so excited when I learned that Ms. Stoker was writing a new series. I have enjoyed all the works I've read by this author (although I still have a few to go) and am happy to report that she did not disappoint with this one. I love, love, love alpha Heroes. And, although not everyone likes them, I like when a heroine comes across as a bit on the shy/meek side. Usually their strengths come across in other ways that differ then the rough and tough Hero. Grace and Logan certainly fit that bill. Ms. Stoker has given us a story of second chances and renewed life. It was certainly a bit of a different take on the domestic abuse angle and that made the story even more intriguing. The story makes the reader think about the hell people are living in, and how it isn't so easy to leave that situation. "Claiming Grace" takes the reader on a journey that is filled with love, anger, remorse, control, friendship and happiness. While it sounds like a rollercoaster, Ms. Stoker is able to pull it off and the writing and story progress fluidly. While I wait for the next story in this series ("Claiming Alexis"), I will happily catch up on the other works by Ms. Stoker that I have yet to read. (received copy from NetGalley for honest review)

Another DNF for me. The premise for CLAIMING GRACE, the first book in Susan Stoker’s Ace Security romantic suspense series, sounded interesting and fresh-- an investigative and protective services agency that specializes in abused men? Never seen that before!-- and the first couple of chapters looked promising… but then it totally went off the rails and I felt like I’d entered the Twilight Zone. I read a lot (and I mean a LOT) of dark romantic suspense and have encountered plenty of villains who are the absolute dregs of humanity, to the point where you question how a so-called human being can do such vile, evil, inhuman things to another human being. Those villains, in spite of their amorality, depravity, and heinous behaviour were believable (and absolutely bone-chilling)… the villains in Ms. Stoker’s CLAIMING GRACE merely had me shaking my head incredulously, asking “WTF??”, and wondering what the author and team at Montlake had been smoking when this came across their desk. I’m a trained experimental scientist but an avid reader with a pretty good ability to suspend my disbelief… but this tested that suspension beyond measure and I had to put it down less than a third of the way in. I liked the burgeoning romance between Logan and Grace and the relationship between the three Anderson siblings, but those were the only salvageable parts of the first third of this book. This was my first Susan Stoker book, and I can’t say I’m tempted to try again with any of her other work based on my experience with CLAIMING GRACE.

**ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I am going to be honest, this was a very hard book to read. Not the writing but the subject matter. At around the half-way point I almost gave up because I had no hope that it could end well. Do not give up on this book. It does contain a horrible subject matter but it also shows that love will pull you through. Logan and Grace’s story is a great reminder to believe in love and trust. I also loved the remaining brothers and other characters in the story. Looking forward to more Ace Security.

Susan Stoker deserves kudos for tackling less known dimensions (and silenced victims) of domestic violence, but did I have trouble in the beginning of the book understanding the heroine’s submissiveness!... I almost gave up reading the story, I was outraged. And even if I got to understand it somehow in the fictional context, it’s still hard to take.
On the other hand, I loved the romance, the characters and their relationships. I really liked the three brothers and I’m curious about the quiet one. Stoker’s depiction of a 28 year old woman who accepts and tolerates physical and psychological abuse from her parents is disturbing, to say the least, but the heroine kind of grew on me despite all this.
I have to say that I loved the way Susan Stoker treated the jaded pseudo-romantic notion of female virginity: when the heroine says she’s not a virgin anymore, the hero tells her seriously “I’m not a virgin either” (Quote from ARC). I do love a feminist hero! And we don’t see much of them in mainstream romance, so… thank you Ms. Stoker!

'Claiming Grace' by Susan Stoker is book One in the "Ace Security" series. This is the story of Logan and Grace. Logan and Grace were friends back in the day. Grace was Logan's tutor but they became friends. Then when Logan and his brother's (they are triplets) graduated the up and left. Logan nor his brothers were gone for about 10 years. But they are back now after their mother killed their father and then killed herself. We find that they grew up with an abusive mother and that being the reason they left. But now they are feeling guilty for their father's death and that his father didn't feel he had a place to got to or reach out to about the abuse. So the brother decide to return home and start Ace Security to help those in need in honor of their father. Now that he is back home he has been avoiding Grace and she has been doing the same. We find that now Grace is the one in trouble with controlling parents who won't let her out of their site and have touch on physical restraints and emotional abuse. I really enjoyed this book and how the brothers wanted to help other which in turned helped them to start moving forward. Grace was strong even though her parents tried to take her down. Emotional abuse is very hard to get over and get past but with Logan's help she was slowly making it.
"My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read."
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Claiming Grace is the first of Ms Stoker’s new series Ace Security. Ace Security is a new personal security company created by three brothers who were physically abused by their mother when they were children. Not only did she abuse them, but also their father. Their goal is to protect the abused.
Logan is one of the brothers who left the town of Castle Rock to escape the abuse, but by doing so, he left behind a girl that had a place in his heart. That girl was Grace.
He returns ten years later filled with hurt . She too has felt a similar hurt. It turns out they had both been set up.
As the story proceeds we discover Grace has been verbally abused her entire life by her wealthy parents. At first I wondeedr why she let them continue that abuse well into her twenties. But then, I realized that if you are verbally abused from the beginning of your life, it’s almost like being brainwashed . A real reality check for me.
It’s a very emotional , thought provoking story. One of survival, strength, hope and love.
To quote Nathan, one of Logan’s brothers “…being strong isn’t about having more muscle, or talking back. Being strong is about standing for what’s right, even when it means you get hurt in the process.”
I was gifted this book by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Logan always loved Grace and wanted to be in his life so when he comes back to his hometown and finds out disturbing news of his Grace he decides to take help her.
Grace was born and bread to do what her parents wanted no matter what it costs her. They use her to do all of their dirty work and even are determined to make her marry who they want her to.
When she disappears for a few days Logan and her friends decide to see what is going on. They decide to save her and Logan and Grace will reunite in more ways than one.

** I received this book from the in exchange for an honest review **

Rarely have I come across an author who has the ability to capture true evil merely with words and not a lot of bloody, grotesque scenarios. The evil that was represented in Grace's parents brings to mind a writer such as J.D. Robb in depicting just how wrong human nature can turn.

The story captured my emotions from the onset, gaining momentum as the plot unfolded. Logan and Grace's story was an emotional roller coaster ride due to the machinations of Grace's parents. That Logan and Grace were able to find each other again and overcome the evil that had permeated all of her life, earlier on in the story, made for a much more riveting read... especially seeing just how much further the two had to go to escape the type of evil that Grace's parents cultivated.

Ms Stoker has set the stage nicely for future stories involving Ace Security and the Anderson brothers. I look forward to reading the next installment of the series.

This book was provided by the Publisher and Netgalley, I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Great start to a new series and I can't wait for the next book!! The plot I found new and unusual and it made for an intriguing and emotional rollercoaster ride that will grip you from the first page and not let go!! I LOVED Logan abd Grace's story!! If you enjoy a really awesome romantic suspense and like to be kept on the edge of your seat this is the story for you!!

They're right. We don't really think of men as the abused.

Are we sure their mother was the murderer, though?

They handcuffed her to a chair?! Aw hell no! Suck it up, Logan. You have butt to kick.

Her mother opens her mail? That's a federal offense, right there.

Um, honey, if you have to send your bills to a different address, what makes you think your parents didn't intercept any phone calls or letters from Logan?

Ugh, they live in a mansion, but expect their daughter to come over and do the maid's job?

Oh. My. God. This is breaking my heart. She would have literally been better off at that institution than with her own parents.

I'd be too freaked out to have someone inject ink that close to my brain.

Wow, he did not just say that. And for his information, handcuffing her sounds like physical abuse to me.

Felicity needs to know exactly how crazy her parents are. She thinks she knows, but she has no idea.

Fight, girl! This isn't crazy behavior. This is sickening. My stomach is actually churning.

Jesus, have these two plotted the death of every person in town?

And there, ladies and gentlemen, is your belief in soulmates restored.

Damnit. He had PTSD before he ever joined the Army.

God. All she wants is a little bacon.

Ha! Do you by chance read romance novels, Logan?

Oh. My. God. This is so hot. I think my face is on fire.

I believe her father. It sounds like they have more in common than they thought. Are Bradford and Alexis the only ones with normal parents?

I'm thinking it's a set-up, unfortunately.

That is the best thing ever. I hope they both die in prison. To think I was ready to forgive her father. He's just as bad as his wife.

Hey, lady, you weren't born into the Mason family. You married into it. You were never all that, witch.

And that's how a burn is done.

Their poor kids. On one side, their grandparents are in jail for a crapload of reasons. Their other grandmother killed their grandfather before killing herself.

Oy, be careful, Alexis.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 Stars
This was a interesting beginning for a new series. The premise of a Security company dealing specifically with abused adults and children is strong. We have brothers who experienced it all of their lives from their mom. The first character is the son who had a high school sweet heart and they promised to look out for each other. Somehow, it didn't happen and the girl was left to deal with her own home life.
Fast forward to now, 10 years later and her life looks ok from the outside but is controlled by the parents ... everything is dictated by them.

She is a victim too... but because it is emotional, he has not seen it.
The story is how she is rescued and loved again by him with us seeing where the rest of this series will go.