The Price of Grace - Diana Munoz Stewart
Gracie Parish knows the true cost of trust. Rescued as a child by the infamous Parish family, she became a member of their covert sisterhood of vigilantes. Gracie saw her most precious relationships destroyed by secrecy. She learned long ago to protect her heart as well as her family's secrets.
Special Agent Leif "Dusty" McAllister will do anything to uncover the truth about the Parish family's covert operations. Dusty knows Gracie is his ticket in. He'll use everything he's got—fair, unfair, and just plain wrong—to break through her defenses. But the more he gets to know Gracie and her family's mission, the harder he starts to fall. Neither one is sure they'll get out of this with their lives—or their hearts—intact.
The great thing about this book is while it is book two in the Black Ops Confidential series, it works as a stand alone, too. That ended up being perfect because I read the first one, I Am Justice, last year and I really couldn't remember it. I know I liked it but the details were fuzzy. It's completely OK because the author gives you the highlights in this one so even if you aren't one to go back and read the first, you'll be just fine, pick this one up and have a good read.
What impressed me in the first book was how the author gave us a really bad ass female lead who isn't a damsel in distress, and that carries over into this book. While these are different characters than in book one (which is why this is a fabulous stand alone), they are no less interesting and they keep you hooked. At first I wasn't actually sure that I liked Dusty because he came off as kind of an ass who would trample on anyone for his own agenda, and while that's what his plan is here, it spectacularly backfires and I kind of love it because someone needed to reel him in a bit. In book one I didn't love Justice because I felt like she was too alpha, but in this book I really did like Gracie. Gracie is exactly what I'd expect from a female character in a romantic suspense and, sue me, that's what I like.
While this book comes in at 350ish pages, it is a FAST read. I'm not kidding. So much happens in this book all at once, you feel like you can't put the book down. I mean, a lot. It's also a little bit of a strange story, so it feels like you're trying to wrap your head around what's actually happening but at the same time saying, "Wait.... WHAT??" but more and more stuff is happening. Gracie's real identity is murky, at best, her family are all kind of off, and the idea that fighting oppression in women is best combated with... an army of vigilante women who commit violence is kind of odd and I don't really think that makes sense, but in a way... I get it? So even though this is a fictional book, it's a romantic suspense and you get all of that goodness, you also get to thinking about the current state of affairs in the world and what if this was real? Could you even imagine it? What if you were Gracie, how would you even handle all of this when your life is a really weird onion with bizarre layers you didn't know where there?
Needless to say, I really enjoyed this. I'd say I liked this one more than I am Justice. There is a third book coming called The Cost of Honor, and I get to read that one too and I'm pretty dang excited. If you are looking for a book to shove in your purse to read between picking up kids or on your lunch break, definitely check this one out because you'll be completely entertained and absorbed into it.
THANK YOU to Sourcebooks Casablanca and TLC Book Tours for having me on this tour and sending a copy to me. This post contains affiliate links.
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