Deserving Cora by Susan Stoker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

She needed to win him at the bachelor auction to save her friend, but she didn’t plan on falling in love. 

Cora Rooney desperately needs to win the representative from The Refuge at the veterans’ charity auction—it’s literally a matter of life or death. Of course, as is so often the case for the ex-orphan, nothing goes according to plan, and Cora loses her bid. Yet, she still finds herself in a diner with Bryson Clark, telling him about her best friend, who she suspects has been kidnapped and held against her will. After exhausting all other options, Cora’s convinced Pipe and his former military friends are her last chance to rescue Lara.

Bryson “Pipe” Clark had no desire to participate in a bachelor auction. Hell, most women run in the other direction when they see him coming. Why in the world would anyone spend good money for a night in his company? Still, he lets himself be talked into supporting a good cause, and as it turns out, the auction is the start of a mystery he’s now determined to unravel. Mostly because of the woman he’s strangely attracted to from her very first bid.

Finding Lara Osler is the easy part. Determining if she fled DC with her boyfriend of her own free will—and breaking her out of his estate if she didn’t—isn’t quite so cut and dried. Along the way, Pipe finds there’s much more to Cora than meets the eye…kind of like him.

Falling in love wasn’t part of the plan, but Pipe’s not going to let anyone or anything get in his way of making Cora his own and rescuing her friend—not even a serial killer hiding in the wings.

Deserving Cora is the fourth book in The Refuge series. Each book is a stand-alone with no cliff-hanger endings.

Deserving Cora

The Bachelor Auction Was Just the Beginning

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💛💚❤️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋🙂😁🤓🥰
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration

Character Backgrounds and Plot Summary

I always enjoy when Susan Stoker gives her characters a believable reason to meet, and this one hooked me immediately. Cora Rooney attends a bachelor auction because she’s convinced her best friend, Lara, is being held against her will. She isn’t looking for romance. She just needs help from someone connected to The Refuge. Even after she loses the auction thanks to another bidder driving the price sky high out of spite, Pipe tracks her down at a diner because he can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. That choice says everything about his character.

Bryson “Pipe” Clark is intimidating on the outside, complete with long hair, tattoos, and the quiet intensity that makes strangers avoid him. Underneath, he’s thoughtful, observant, and deeply protective. I loved how quickly he believed Cora when she explained why she had been so desperate to win him. Instead of dismissing her concerns, he and the other men immediately start investigating Lara’s disappearance. What begins as a rescue mission grows into something much darker, involving an isolated estate, dangerous secrets, and a serial killer whose presence adds tension throughout the story.

Highlights and Limitations

My favorite part of this book was watching Pipe slowly let his guard down. Because people constantly judge him by his appearance, it meant a lot that Cora saw beyond the tattoos and beard almost immediately. There are several quiet conversations between them that felt just as meaningful as the action scenes. Pipe never tries to change who he is, and Cora never asks him to. Cora has her own issues because of how she grew up and seeing her work through her issues took a bit longer than Pipe’s but I loved that the two of them were perfect for each other.

The rescue itself kept me completely invested. Once Pipe and the Refuge team realize Lara may not have left willingly, the story becomes a suspenseful mission that had me wondering how they were going to get everyone out safely. I also appreciated that the danger doesn’t simply disappear after Lara is found. The continuing threat from the killer kept the stakes high until the very end.

If I had one criticism, it would be that some of the investigation wraps up a little faster than I expected considering how much danger had been building. I also would have liked a little more time spent with Cora and Pipe simply enjoying their relationship after everything they survived together. They earned a few quieter moments.

Narration

CJ Bloom and Ryan West made an excellent team. CJ Bloom captured Cora’s determination without making her sound reckless, and she handled the emotional scenes involving Lara with just the right amount of vulnerability. Ryan West’s performance fit Pipe perfectly. His calm, slightly gruff delivery matched a man who would rather observe than speak, making the protective moments land even harder. Together they gave each character a distinct voice, and the alternating perspectives made the romance feel balanced.

Final Opinion

Deserving Cora ended up being one of my favorite books in The Refuge series so far because it balanced romance and suspense so well. I came for the love story, but I stayed because I genuinely wanted to know what had happened to Lara and how Pipe and his team would solve the mystery. The opening bachelor auction was a memorable way to bring the characters together, and I smiled every time Pipe quietly showed Cora she could depend on him. If you enjoy protective heroes, capable heroines, and romantic suspense with plenty of action alongside heartfelt character moments, I think this audiobook is well worth the listen.

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