REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: SUDDENLY ROYAL by NICHOLE CHASE

Series: Suddenly #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Avon Books
Publication Date: 11/26/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3 stars

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.

Every girl (or thirty-something woman - whatever) loves a good princessy, royal story, right? You know, like Princess Diaries or The Prince and Me...those types in which an average girl learns she's from descended nobility or a handsome young Prince falls in love with her and spirits her away to a far away land in which she awkwardly learns the royal ropes while charming the masses. Though I've never been a Princess type, I've always liked that sort of story. In fact, I nearly wore out my Princess Diaries DVD when I was pregnant with my oldest.

My point is, I was looking forward to Suddenly Royal. A lot of my friends enjoyed it, the cover is cute, and I like a lot of Avon books. (Which, by the way, I don't think I've read an Avon book with such a sweet and mostly innocent tone.) I think I've become broken over the last few years, because it seems I'm just not into the sweet-long-lost nobility-story anymore. I was surprised, but I just didn't get into Suddenly Royal like I anticipated.

I liked that Sam was a wildlife biology major. My husband is a wildlife biologist -specifically, a fish biologist by profession (sexy, right? Stand back, he's mine), so I thought I might relate to that in a way because I should have an honorary degree by osmosis and tag-along field trips. It seems that this angle was covered pretty well, though I could have honestly done with more royalty and less raptor talk. And let me just stop to say that if me talking about birds and hawks and such is confusing you, because -shouldn't I be talking about cute princes? - I'm going on and on about this because all of this is in the book a lot. A lot.

And now that I think about it, I think I focused on the realities and science *shudder* because I couldn't focus on the royal aspect. Now, I can get down with vampires (BDB!) and some really unrealistic plots, in my paranormal, but in reality, I like for details to make sense. It bugged me that the home country is fictional (but I get why) and that it's smack in the middle of Europe, on top or underneath of Germany or something. It reminded me of that episode of Saved by the Bell when Jessie's dad was marrying that woman from Lichtenberg. I'm just...I get cranky about geography, okay? I worked really hard on memorizing all those teeny tiny countries and I need for that to make sense. I'm sorry. I won't even bore you with my thoughts on the feudal-type system going on in Lilaria or why it took sooooo many years to locate Sam's family.

You know what? I'll just say this: If you are into modern day, super sweet fairy tales, you'll probably enjoy Suddenly Royal a lot. It was a charming story, with very little friction, besides the awkward-ish love scenes that came out of nowhere. (I'm sorry! ) Because this was very reminiscent of other Surprise-You're-A- Royal stories, I pretty much knew what was coming the entire time. Every character was perfectly pleasant and everything pretty much went according to plan. I know I've had a crankypants tone throughout this review and it honestly wasn't intentional. I honestly thought I was still into this trope and I guess I'm not, at least not without more drama or in a different category. This book is very popular, and I can see why, for those who enjoy this type of story. Suddenly Royal was a nice story, in my opinion, which results in my overall good rating.



Favorite Quote:

  "Put down the knife, Samantha."
  "Why?" I hadn't realized I was still holding it. Mu voice was too high; excited. This close to him my brain was turning to mush. His blue eyes peered down into mine and I felt small and feminine.
  "Because I'm going to kiss you and I don't want to be stabbed when I do it."



GoodReads reviews from: Jenny and Aydrea

Suddenly Series

   
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About the author

Nichole Chase is a daydreamer. No, really, just ask any of the math teachers that had the misfortune of seeing her name appear on their class schedule. For years she has had story lines and characters begging for attention, but she resolutely pushed them aside to focus on more normal (read, boring) jobs. Well, no longer! She is currently heeding the voices in her head and frantically writing their stories. Nichole resides in South Georgia with her husband, energetic toddler, super hero dog, Sulcata tortoise, and two cats. When not devouring novels by the dozens, you may find her writing, painting, crafting, or chasing her daughter around the house while making monster noises.
  

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