Almost Christmas and Zoe doesn't feel like celebrating. She's been hiding a serious illness and taking it one day at a time. Going to the local Supa-Mart store for some new books seems normal, but suddenly the shutters all come down and nobody can leave. She's locked in with some staff, customers and, though she doesn't know it, two men from another planet. They are TAKING STOCK.

Set in Florida, this story is peopled by reassuringly normal folks, whose annoyance turns to puzzlement and alarm as their phones don't work, the staff door is blocked and computers can't get connection. Kai and Rowe look like handsome men and react like everyone else; they have hidden symbiotic companions and can read each other's thoughts, and they know what is happening. The shop has been enclosed in a spacecraft and lifted clean away.

People start to fear that a sinkhole has swallowed them, but when they discover strong metal doors they start to suspect a plot - maybe a reality show. There's food and other items in the store. Talking matters over, they quickly establish a common factor - nobody has relatives or partners. This seems like too much of a coincidence, so have they all been selected? And what will happen if they lose electric power?

As this is a romance we accept that Zoe wants to make the most of what time she has left and propositions one of the handsome strangers. Kai has some physiological differences but she doesn't realise right away. When she does, oddly it seems like a good idea to have a threesome with Rowe as well. The second half of the story contains a lot of adult action. Author Barbara Elsborg has worked out a biology for her alien people which has similarities to ours but is also dissimilar, so Zoe has surprises in store.

I liked the practical attitude and determined efforts of the captives who tried for normality, even making a Christmas Day for themselves, which separates the story from something a horror writer might create. How would you behave in such a trying time, and would you care for others? The back and forth thoughts of the two men can be amusing. SF fans or readers who like a sexy, lively romance with a difference may find that TAKING STOCK by Barbara Elsborg hits the spot.