Welcome to my stop on the
ROYAL PAIN, a Sweetwater Creek novel by Danielle Doolittle Blog Tour. Ms.
Doolittle is a new author to me but I’ll be reading her in the future for sure.
Hang in after the review because I’ve got an excerpt and giveaway for you as
well.
***eARC provided by
publisher in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.
Blurb for ROYAL PAIN:
Falling in love can be a royal pain.
A cocktail of sex, booze, and breakneck speeds is what sends
Prince Henry of Benignus into rehab. He’s expecting to skip out on lectures and
smoke behind the shed.
He’s not expecting Carleigh.
Carleigh Philips knows Henry is trouble. His bad-boy
attitude reeks of
self-importance and over-indulgence. She’s not expecting him
to lift a royal finger during his time at the ranch.
She’s not expecting him to be a threat to her heart.
When Carleigh’s life is on the line, will Prince Henry step
up to the plate? Or will he prove he really is nothing but a phony royal pain?
* * * * *
Prince Henry of Benignus
is a Royal Pain in the you-know-what from the very start. Just as you would expect
a member of a royal family to be, he’s arrogant, spoiled, and frankly, a bit
lazy. But if he was anything else, we wouldn’t have a story, and this is a great
story!
Carleigh Philips deals
with bad-boy attitude swaggering types all the time. She isn’t about to let
Henry get away with anything as long as he’s at Sweetwater Creek Ranch Center
where he’s been sent to work off a six-month sentence handed down to him by an
Iowa judge. What she doesn’t expect is to be so attracted to this playboy
prince and to discover he’s more than meets the eye.
ROYAL PAIN, book one in
the Sweetwater Creek series by Danielle Doolittle surprised me so much with its
wonderful characters even if the plot was rather predictable. Carleigh is a strong heroine. Henry is a spoiled pain in
the ass hero you wish you could totally hate, but who manages to wiggle into
your heart anyway. Ryan is a nasty and very creepy ex-boyfriend who you
absolutely do not like from the start, but my favorite is the most
delightful, sweet, mother-like character in Hattie, the ranch cook.
Although ROYAL PAIN by
Danielle Doolittle doesn’t carry a lot of heat, it certainly does a lot to
capture your attention, keep you on the edge of your seat, and cheer at the way
she takes her twenty-five year old spoiled rotten Prince P.I.T.A. and turn him into
the man Carleigh hoped he could be.
For those of you who
like a lot of romance with only a hint of steam, ROYAL PAIN, book one in the
Sweetwater Creek series by Danielle Doolittle is the one for you.
* * * * *
EXCERPT from ROYAL PAIN:
“All rise. The Honorable
Judge Freeland presiding.”
The bailiff’s voice
caused Henry’s brain to ricochet against his skull. He was slow to gain his
feet as an elderly man in a billowing, black robe walked briskly from a doorway
set to the side of the room. Henry watched his bald head reflect the light as
he took his seat at the bench.
The sooner this little
show was over, the sooner he could find his car and get back to Chicago. His
brother was expecting him. While he wasn’t looking forward to the idea of
dealing with official state business, Henry found he actually missed Alexei.
Must have been the hangover.
He hadn’t been home in
six months. Not since they’d issued him the ultimatum. It was either change his
ways on his own, or his family had resolved they would do it for him. He knew
how they wished to solve what they perceived as his problem, so Henry packed up
and headed to America.
Here, his only official
business involved deciding which party to attend and who he was taking back to
the hotel with him afterward.
“What have you to say
for yourself?” The old judge’s gravelly voice made Henry realize he should have
been paying attention.
“Sorry?”
“I said, after your
actions last night, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I can honestly say,
sir, that I sorely regret having to take the jobs of all the night staff at the
Hilton for allowing me to leave the hotel in such a condition. So if you will
let me be on my way, it would seem I have some business to attend to. And I
assure you, after today, you will never have to see my face again. Now, if I
could be on my way?”
“Hold it right there,
son.” Steel had worked its way into Judge Freeland’s voice. “I know who you
are, and I believe you expect it will allow you to walk away from this without
feeling any repercussions. I’m here to tell you, young man, that in that
assumption, you are very wrong.”
Henry felt himself shift
under the weight of the old judge’s glare.
“You will find that we
treat all offenders equally here in Sweetwater. You have quite a list of
offenses: DUI, assaulting an officer, public nudity.”
Public what?
“Now, see here!” Henry
was outraged. Who did this backwater, sorry excuse for a judge think he was?
Henry was royalty, nobility. Granted, he was currently on the outs with the
family, but that didn’t change anything. He was entitled to a standard of
treatment, and this old man was about to get a lesson in etiquette.
“Before you can launch
into how I have offended your noble lineage, Your Highness, you should know
that the District Attorney has been in contact with your embassy in Chicago.
The royal family has been made abreast of our office’s suggested sentencing and
has fully backed it.”
What? Those nosey
diplomats never bothered to stick their noses in his business before. Why start
now?
“While I cannot pass a
ruling on someone with diplomatic immunity such as you, I do have this
message.” Pulling a crisp sheet of paper from the manila folder he had carried
into the room, the old man cleared his throat before continuing. “It is the decision
of the Kingdom of Benignus that Prince Henry Xavier Bartholomew Reginald
Fitzgerald be sentenced to thirty days in supervised detox at Mount Mercy
Rehabilitation, followed by six months at Sweetwater Creek Ranch and completion
of their sober living program. If he does not comply with our stipulations,
steps will be taken to strip him of his immunity, and we will not interfere
with any who wish to prosecute him for his transgressions.”
“What?”
“I believe, despite that
splitting headache I’m sure you are suffering, you heard me clearly. Thirty
days at Mount Mercy, six months at Sweetwater Creek, and completion of the
program or jail. Your choice.”
About the Author:
With a bachelor’s degree
in English, Danielle has always had a passion for the written word. Initially
starting out to be a high school teacher, she soon realized writing was her
calling. Danielle lives in Ohio with her family.
When she’s not writing
(which is rare) she’s spending time with her husband, wrangling two
rambunctious boys and one rowdy little girl, and baking like she’s on Cupcake
Wars.
Danielle enjoys copious
amounts of coffee and dark chocolate, chatting on Twitter, and a good love
story. Oh, and an Alpha hero is a must!
Feel free to visit
Danielle’s website, as well as follow her on Twitter, and Facebook. Add ROYAL
PAIN to your reading list at Goodreads.
There is a tour wide
giveaway for the blog tour of ROYAL PAIN.
The following prizes are
available:
- a Grand Prize goodie
bag including a handmade bookmark, 3 3x4 magnets, a Royal Pain deck of cards
and a tote bag.
- 2 e-copies of ROYAL
PAIN by Danielle Doolittle
Please use the
Rafflecopter for entry. Happy Reading and Good Luck!
ROYAL PAIN, a Sweetwater
Creek novel by Danielle Doolittle, Entranced Publishing, available now in ebook
format at Amazon.
***click on links or cover for purchasing information
2 comments:
This sounds like a book I will be adding to my TBR list. I'm always on the look-out for new to me authors and Danielle D. is one.
Thanks for the excerpt!
Plus, a writer who's a cupcake baker?!! Awesome! Cupcakes are my favorite dessert, especially lemon ones....all cupcakes are super, but lemon is tops! :-)
Have a great day Amy!
LOL! I think you'll enjoy it. It's cupcake sweetness. Lemon cupcakes, huh? They do sound yummy. xoxo
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