Suddenly Royal (The Royal Series Book 1)

This review was originally posted at: [...]Samantha, a snarky wildlife biology grad student, is thrown for a major loop when visiting royals comes to tell her that she's actually a wealthy heiress and a duchess in the tiny country of Lilaria. One of the visiting royals is Prince Alex, an amazingly hot dude who instantly takes to her. She's thrown for a loop because Alex and his aunt want to take her back to Lilaria to see her lands and officially accept her title, but she doesn't want to leave her ailing father or her studies. After a lot of consideration (and some steamy kissing from Alex), she decides to go back, but warns Alex that they can only be friends as she's overwhelmed by her new status and scared of getting her heart broken.First of all, I have no idea how I found this book, but it's been on my Kindle wishlist for awhile. When I saw it for $1.99, I went for it...and I'm really glad I did. Guys, I had SO much fun reading this book - I stayed up way too late two nights in a row because I just wanted to sink into the book. This is the kind of book you read when when things aren't going so great in your life, and you really need a fairytale. Everything is fast-paced, and the dialogue just whips out zingers at you.Samantha is smart, sassy, pretty hilarious, and definitely a heroine you can root for. My favourite part about her is that you really believe that she doesn't care about being royal. She hates dressing up, and REALLY hates the media attention that she gets from deciding to take up her title. What she does care about is her family, her studies, and her heritage, and it's awesome to see how deeply ingrained those facets are in her.The other thing I really liked about the book was how much emphasis there was on the insane media/paparazzi, and the honest portrayal of the "job" of a royal. Samantha's title includes land holdings, but also a sort of caretaker status for the village around her. And because she's also a royal, she does a lot of media appearances, which she finds boring at first, but slowly comes to realize the importance of her standing and how her influence can be used for good. I felt like the author did an amazing job of explaining her roles and Sam's frustrations and determinations.Speaking of her frustrations, if there's one criticism I have of the book, it's the reasoning behind Sam not wanting to get together with Alex. Her issues are that he's a royal and she's not, and eventually, he's going to leave her for someone else so he can take on the crown. But the thing is, Sam *is* royalty, even if she doesn't believe it herself. That said, Sam is definitely scared of being heart-broken, and it's obvious that the conflict runs deeper than that. The problem was that the author had made her so brave about everything else that I felt like that conflict was a bit manufactured. I would have preferred to stick with the secondary conflict of Sam adjusting to her new life.That said...it's a minor annoyance when you consider what it builds up to...Bonuses:Sexytimes: Holy geez, guys. I'm fanning myself just thinking about this book again. There is a TON of sexual tension in this book. It's like, the foreplay of a century. And the payoff...even though I'm fairly new to the romance genre, my opinion is that this book delivers on the sexytimes tenfold - more so than any other romance I've read.Hot Guys: I can't get into this without talking about Prince Alex. He's about ten times more swoon-worthy than I expected him to be - not only is he sexy and smoldering, but he's also funny, caring, and completely smitten with Sam. He's the ultimate fantasy guy...and because of that, I both loved him and didn't love him. I felt like he was just a SMIDGE too perfect, you know? I can't think of a single thing he did wrong in the entire book, and that kind of made him not as authentic to me. That said, like I said, if you're looking for a fairytale...The Language of Love: Speaking of perfection, can I just say again that Nichole Chase NAILED it when it came to dialogue, both of the sassy variety and the romantic variety? Even though I found Alex a bit too perfect, his romantic voice was SO REAL. In fact, some of the things he said are things my husband has said to me - at times, it actually felt like she was pulling from his brain, and it made the dialogue that much more real to me.The Final Word:Billed as The Princess Diaries for adults, Suddenly Royal is a very entertaining, very addicting read. You will either love it or hate it - if you hate it, it will be because it's just a little too predictable. But if you're looking for a beach read or a guilty pleasure like I needed, you'll love it because it does exactly what you expect it to do. It's an adult romance that hits all of the right notes and leaves you wanting more of Alex and Sam.

5 Second look at Suddenly Royal by Nichole ChaseA Quick SummarySamantha is a grad student living her life. Taking care of her step-dad with cancer. Just living her life. When she finds out that she is a lost duchess.She is a fish out of water and struggles to be herself in this new world. She has a growing friendship with the Prince, but he wants more.Her new and old friends finally help Sam to see that being herself and being with the Prince are possible.My Take on the Book :I love a good fairytale. Loved this book, but after a re-read, it almost feels the steamy scenes weren’t really necessary.My Review of Suddenly Royal by Nicole ChaseLet's Talk About the Girl...Samantha Rousseau is a grad student. Living her life. She struggles to take care of her step dad who has cancer and study for classes. Same struggle different day. Sam is used to having to handle the problems that life throws at her. She is independent, self confident, and very capable. She’s feisty and stubborn and doesn’t mind telling you what she thinks.Sam loves birds and is in the process of getting her master’s degree in wildlife biology so that she can work with them. Her goal is to work for the Future Bird Trust, a charity created to help save the birds she loves.Let's Talk About the Guy...Alex D’Lynsal is the crown prince of Lilaria. But he is also a guy. After a ex shows her true color and tries to blackmail him into marrying her, he has stopped looking for love and stopped trusting women. He is in America to help his aunt and the his charity the Future Bird Trust raise funding. He isn’t looking for another relationship so soon after his last disaster ended.Let's Talk about the Story...Samatha is invited to dinner with some visiting royalty. She thinks that the invitation is about her college’s wildlife program. After being dismissed by the hostess and the manager for her questionable attire (a puffy jacket) and her beat up, noisy truck she finally gets to the dinner with the queen’s sister and the prince. Needless to say, Sam makes a impression by calling out the manager in front of them.She is informed at the dinner that they have actually come to America to find her. She is the lost Duchess of Rousseau. Many Decades ago, her family abandoned their home and life to escape another noble family who was trying to gain power by any mean possible. The escaped to France and never looked back. Now, she must decide if she wants to go back to the home and land that used to be her family’s.Sam decides to go, mainly to try and help her dad. He has cancer and Lilaria is known for their advanced medical treatments. But the moment she arrives her life is scheduled. She can’t be herself. She struggles with her new life and her feelings for the Prince. He has made it clear that he likes her and would like to have relationship with her, but she knows that she can’t be good for him or the kind of queen that his country needs.She goes home after staying in the capital and the palace for several days. When she arrives Sam is welcomed by the town and the staff of her future home. She loves it and helps where she can. She also gets advice from her new friends and they reminder the the Prince is a guy too. Not just a royal title. He is allowed to have happiness and so is she. Life is short and she shouldn’t fight her attraction to Alex.Things progress quickly after that. She dates the prince, helps her people, and befriends the princess. But one night at a club, everything changes when she gets a call from back home.

4 stars!To be honest, I didn't realise what I was buying, I just love Nichole Chase so it was an instant 1 click!!!! so even though this was a bit out of my normal reading genre I read it anyways and boy was I surprised!! I actually googled Lilaria as my geography is crap just in case it did exist but alas it doesn't :-( but I wouldn't mind going there on holiday lol!!Sam was a student currently completing her masters degree as a biologist (something that she inherited from her late mother) she was doing brilliantly on her program and juggling this and looking after her step-father (who she adored) who was ill with cancer. She is extremely intelligent, loves her work and her birds, loves her step-father, is cool headed but feisty, knows what she wants and goes all out to get it. She is however reserved to a certain degree and likes to keep herself to herself..she has a bit of armour there.Her life is totally turned upside down when she is summonsed to dinner by a Duchess from Lilaria who informs her that she has been sent by the Queen to ask her to come back to Lilaria and reclaim her title and land etc that is hers. Apparently, many years ago, her family (the Rousseaus) left Lilaria during an uprising and the Queen has been trying to trace all descendants so that she can reinstate the name and give back the rightful heirs what is theirs. On this visit the Duchess is accompanied by the Crown Prince Alex, also aptly nick named by Sam's best friend as "Prince Yummy".As you can imagine, Sam is scared, she is expected to go to a strange country and manage her little piece of the kingdom, bring it back to life..it has been ticking over for years by people that have been looking after it but the Queen wants Lilaria to be brought back to life and feels that Sam is the woman for job. Prince Yummy is on hand to talk all this through with Sam and as they share the love of birds too they have a lot in common, including a very strong mutual attraction!!The deal sealer for Sam is the fact that her step father can receive better care over there and so Sam agrees to pack up and leave America for Lilaria.Alex, is gorgeous, he is smooth, romantic, caring and charming and just down right utterly and utterly perfect¡Khe has a rep as a bit of a playboy but Sam soon realises that this is not true, she realises how the press can blow things out of all proportion. She soon realises that Alex was actually hurt in love and for him the love and attention he is showing her is not the norm and that they do actually have something special developing between them.This book takes you through Sam moving to Lilaria and her coming to terms with her new life and love..the side characters in this book are fab, I love her best friend Jess and her other half and I have such a soft spot for her PA Chadwick (he is gay and hilarious)he makes her see the light..such a great scene.Chadwick - "Don't tell me. Tell him. Everyone has baggage Samantha. His just happens to be very public. He needs someone who will be with him that he can trust. He needs someone who isn't going to use him or let him forget that he is human". Chadwick reached over and poked my shoulder "He needs you"Sam - "You just poked me" I looked at his fingerChadwick - "I did. I poked a Duchess" he snorted "That's a first"This was such a refreshing read, totally different, a little bit of make believe. I have read somewhere that this is "the adult version of the princess diaries" I have not seen or heard of this so cannot make any comparison but it is a bit of a Cinderella love story that I fell in love with. There are some great love scenes with Alex and Sam so deffo not for younger readers lol!!I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed and would actually ask for a sequel, I would love to see what happens to Alex and Sam going forward as I personally feel that their story is only just beginning.Loved it..totally different, but still loved it..reminds me of being a child again![...]

I bought this book whilst it was on offer for Kindle because literally my entire Twitter feed was people tweeting about how everyone needed to read it. Suddenly Royal follows Samantha Rousseau whose life is turned upside down when she finds out she's descended for Lilarian royalty. This book is New Adult and Samantha is a graduate student working as a student teacher, but the way it's written is very similar to YA and I think it would appeal to YA readers. There were a few swear words dotted throughout and some slightly steamier scenes with it being written with a main character who's that bit older. I found it really interesting to see a story like this told about an older character, though. And seeing Sam trying to balance her new found fame and studies was really interesting. The main plot of Suddenly Royal revolves around Sam finding out she's a duchess and being shown the ropes by some of Lilarian's royalty, including Prince Alex who quickly gains the nickname of Prince Yummy. I thought there was a really great balance between Sam dealing with her new life and the romance element. I absolutely adored Alex and their developing relationship was just so sweet. The flirting between them was so cute and I liked the Sam took her time deciding what she was going to do about her feelings for Alex. I laughed a lot during this book. Sam had so many hilarious lines (making Harry Potter references and some cracking moments revolving around her addiction to coffee!) and I think it helped that she had such great characters to bounce off. Alex, obviously, is so charming and the two of them had great banter. But I also loved the relationship between Sam and Jess, who is her roommate from back home. The two of them were hilarious and I really liked that their friendship was such an important thing to both of them and the story. Not only was Sam funny but I found her just be a really fascinating, well rounded character. She's one of the few characters who I found myself looking up to. She's studying something she'd passionate about, looking after her sick father and always putting other people first. I admired so much how she dealt with everything she goes though from homesickness to looking after her sick father. Plus she loves books! I'm always up for a character who loves books. Reading Suddenly Royal was such a fun experience, from the story to the layout/formatting of the book itself. It had little crown art at the start of each chapter with a newspaper heading below which related to Sam's current situation. I love little touches like that! I had a few niggles with the writing sometimes in that characters would move from one place to another with a jump and I'd lose track for a moment of where they were and what was happening, but overall I was really impressed. I'm so glad I picked up this book when I did and I'll definitely be recommending it in future. It had a bit of everything, from strong characters and romance to emotional moments that really tug at the heartstrings! I was so invested in the story that as I reached the final pages I just didn't want it to end. The great news is the author seems to have another book lined up in this series, and personally I can't wait to read it! I'll definitely be checking out more of her books.This review was also posted on my blog.

Sam is a grad student who is working hard to get her masters degree in wildlife biology, she specialises in birds of prey and she loves her studies and her job working with rescued birds at her university. When she is invited to dinner with a Duchess from Lilaria she assumes it is something to do with the program she helps run and hopes to secure a donation. The last thing she expects is to find out that her family not only came from Lilaria but that she is the heir to a title and the queen wants her to return and take up her inheritance. The one thing that tempts her to visit is the fact that they have superior medical treatment that could offer a cure for her sick father but it also has the advantage of allowing her to spend time with the gorgeous prince yummy. Alex is the crown prince of Lilaria and has had his heart broken too many times by women who are only interested in his title and his money. He is trying to keep his head down and stay out of the limelight for a change and the last thing he wants is to get entangled with a woman that the press is desperate to get a glimpse of. That was before he met Sam though, she isn't like most of the women he knows, she doesn't care about money or the latest fashions and is reluctant to accept her own title let alone start dating a prince. He promises to be by her side every step of the way if she returns to Lilaria with him but can he win her heart and get her to stay there with him?My friend loved this book so much that she convinced pretty much everyone she knows to join in a massive group read of it (there were 16 of us in total!). She had told us that Suddenly Royal was a fun, light hearted read with a Princess Diaries feel to it and no unnecessary relationship angst and I couldn't agree more with that assessment. I picked this up when I was in the mood for something light, something that would make me laugh out loud and leave me smiling and that's exactly what I got. In fact I think the smile was pretty much glued to my face the whole time I was reading. Yes, I'll admit that the story was a little predictable in places but how many romances have you read that aren't? I for one would be most disappointed if I picked up a romance and didn't get a happy ever after (or at least a happy for now) at the end of it! I started the story planning on reading a couple of chapters but before I knew it I was over 200 pages in and that to me is a sign of a good story.Sam was a likeable heroine, a normal every day girl and the kind of person any of us would be friends with. She had good friends, a loving father and she cared about people and animals. She was thrown into the public spotlight when she found out about her title and inheritance in Lilaria but she never let it go to her head, in fact she tried really hard to carry on with her life as normal. Not that she had much of a chance at doing that when she was being hounded by the press every five minutes and couldn't even open her front door without having her picture taken by photographers but she didn't let that stop her carrying on with her everyday routine at college. Her life does change rather dramatically when she agrees to visit Lilaria but rather than sit around complaining she does her best to get on with things. I loved the fact that her reaction to everything going on around her was so normal, her behaviour felt realistic and that just made me like her even more.Alex was a fabulous hero, he was cool, confident, compassionate and caring. He went out of his way to make things as easy for Sam as possible and he respected her opinion on things. He never once tried to force her into anything she wasn't comfortable with and he took the time to make sure she was OK with everything that was happening. It didn't hurt that he was sexy as hell and happened to be a prince too - don't all little girls have a prince charming fantasy at some point in their lives? I know I did! Sam is determined to resist Alex's advances because she doesn't think she could possibly be a queen and she assumes he is only interested in a temporary affair. She knows it would be too easy to get her heart broken if she gave in to temptation but she can't deny the chemistry between them forever, especially as Alex keeps proving to her over and over again that he will always be there for her.Suddenly Royal is such a fun book to read with a fantastic couple at the centre and some wonderful side characters who never failed to entertain me. If you're in the mood for something light and fluffy then you can't go far wrong with this and I'm definitely going to be on the look out for more from Nichole Chase in the future - especially now I've found out this is going to be the first book in a series!

I don't read a lot of romance, but I'm glad I got this one, it's my new favourite happy ever after.Overall, the book is well written, no distractions from typos or bad grammar. Characterization is good, the plot is almost believable, and it's full of feel-good emotions. I laughed out loud, I cried, and I rooted for Samantha and Alex from the start. Refreshingly, there were no tedious love triangles, no conspicuous plot devices, and the angst was kept to a minimum. Basically, girl meets boy, girl's life changes, boy is supportive, girl's father dies, boy is even more supportive, they get together, and pretty much everything is shiny and happy.It does contain a few sex scenes, so don't read it if you don't like that kind of thing. Personally, I thought the sex was extremely well written, passionate, and necessary to the plot.I'll be keeping this one to read again when I need cheering up, and I'll definitely consider other books by this author.

It was a nice book but I can't help but feel that nothing actually happened. It was Sam moaning about the attention for a lot of it or going on about birds. Alex wasn't a bad boy womaniser or whatever they called him, he was caught with his girlfriend once that's it. I only wanted a quick romance book to read and thought the idea sounded cute but their romance was too short and had no complications at all, which in a book basically about romance merely set in a royal theme, is not acceptable. However, I give the book three stars because it was a solid effort and I can see that soppier people than I may enjoy it.