Suddenly Royal
By: Nichole Chase
Pub. Date: April 23, 2013
Pages: 464
Source: ARC provided for Blog Tour
Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes, or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation for the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed.
Alex D’Lynsal is trying to keep his name clean. As crown prince of Lilaria, he’s had his share of scandalous headlines, but the latest pictures have sent him packing to America and forced him to swear off women—especially women in the public eye. That is, until he meets Samantha Rousseau. She’s stubborn, feisty, and incredibly sexy. Not to mention heiress to an estate in his country, which makes her everyone’s front-page news.
While Sam tries to navigate the new world of politics and wealth, she will also have to dodge her growing feelings for Alex. Giving in to them means more than just falling in love; it would mean accepting the weight of an entire country on her shoulders.
All Samantha does is work. She works to pay her bills and to
pay for her fathers medical bills. But her life will change forever when she
finds out she is the Duchess of Lilaria. Now she must decide to stay in America , or to
accept her title and land in Lilaria.
Samantha was an awesome character. I loved how loyal,
independent and stubborn she was. She really took everything is strive and was
able to function into her new role wonderfully. Of course she made mistakes,
but she really handled everything a lot better then I would have thought.
I loved Prince Alex! He was so sweet and not what I was
expecting at all with his character. Alex and Sam definitely had a hot
connection! I absolutely loved the two of them together.
I liked that this story wasn't about back stabbing or
anything evil like that. It was just a fun story about an ordinary girl who
happened to be the long lost Duchess of Lilaria.
Learning about the history of Lilaria and why Samantha's
family decided to leave their country and riches was interesting. Lilaria seems
like a beautiful and peaceful country. If only it was real! I felt that the
descriptions were very realistic and I felt like I was actually there.
I really enjoyed Suddenly
Royal and I can not wait to read more from this very talented author!
The
idea for Suddenly Royal
I’ve always enjoyed stories about royalty, especially things
to do with Queen Elizabeth I. I find that whole time period to be intriguing.
This flamed the waves for my interest in modern day royals. I remember the day
Princess Diana died and the fact that media played such a large role in the
whole tragedy, the way Prince William and Harry were sheltered the best that
they could be, and more recently the wedding of Prince William to Kate. I write
about things that I find interesting, so I guess it’s a natural transition that
I would one day want to write a royal story.
A few years ago I had an idea for a character that didn’t
know she was from royalty. In fact, that character was as far removed from
royalty as she could get. I knew that I wanted her to dislike the idea of what
being a royal entailed. The shopping wouldn’t be as much fun, the froufrou
stuff a lot of girls enjoy would be a complete turn off for this character. I
enjoy books with a little romance. So my mind spun around this character and
knew that Sam would need someone to challenge her perceptions—someone her exact
opposite. The idea of a delicious prince was too much for me to resist. Of
course, that’s not a whole story; it was just an idea at that point. You need a
lot more than a girl and boy to write a good romance.
The idea percolated around in the back of my mind while I
worked on other projects. Samantha slowly developed in my mind—a character that
was smart, hardworking, and had very little family left. She’s loyal to a fault
and has a good sense of humor—even about herself. But as Samantha gradually
took life in my mind, I knew that she would need a very good reason to accept
her title. Little by little I pieced together what would force Sam to quit the
path to her dream and to venture into a world that scared her.
Of course, I can’t forget the yummy prince that’s part of
this story. I needed to know more about Alex, especially what would draw him to
a girl that hated the idea of all things royal. Why would Alex be one of the
people to tell her that she was from a long lost line of royalty? Was it an
excuse to take a vacation in the States or were there more serious reasons? As
the crown prince to a country, there is a lot of responsibility on his
shoulders. How would that shape him and his personality? Would he be reckless
and fight his role or would he accept it without thought? How would these two
characters twine together? Could it even work?
This little kernel of an idea never faded or went away while
I wrote other books. On the contrary, the characters were adamant that they had
a story to tell and the more they said, the more excited I became to write it.
In fact, it was almost a compulsion. I had to write this story; I had to share
Samantha and Alex. I would stay up until the sun rose, unable to disengage from
the characters until I had finished a scene. And then the next. And the next.
I felt everything right along with Sam in this book and I hope
the readers will enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read my post! I would love to know what you think, so please leave a comment below!