Monday, January 13, 2014

Some Like it Royal by Heather Long


Going Royal
Some Like it Royal
by HEATHER LONG
It's the role of a lifetime…

Living out of a car and waiting tables to make ends meet is hardly the stuff of fairy tales. So when a gorgeous man approaches Alyx Dagmar with a wild story about her royal lineage and an even wilder proposition, the aspiring actress is sure he's got the wrong woman.

Self-made billionaire Daniel Voldakov needs connections before he can expand his software business into Europe. A blue-blooded fiancée would open all the right doors—and Daniel's certain he can tempt the pretty but penniless Princess Alyxandretta to accept the part she was born to play.

Alyx can't resist Daniel's offer, and throws herself into the role. But as the paparazzi fall in love with their "storybook romance," Alyx finds herself drawn to Daniel in ways she'd never imagined. Are his returned affections true, or all just part of the plan? He'll do anything it takes to prove his love, and to make her see that the only happily ever after he wants is with her…the real her.





Quick Facts:

Some Like it Royal
Going Royal
Release Date: January 13, 2014


About the Author:
National bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.

Contact Details:

Website: http://www.heatherlong.net
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/HVLong
Going Royal Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GoingRoyal
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490213-some-like-it-royal

My review:
As a big fan of Heather Long I was thrilled to be given an ARC by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review and was not disappointed.  This is a full length contemporary fairy tale.  In this modern day Cinderella the prince is a self-made man software billionaire who has lifted himself up and out of the trailer park and onto the international corporate stage.  Our Cinderella is an orphaned actress who is living in her car to save up enough to go to an immersion acting class.  Our hero finds her and convinces her to help him break into the European market using her royal heritage.  She finally agrees but doesn’t count on falling for him.  I love that she isn’t easy and doesn’t jump on the billionaire band wagon.  I thoroughly enjoyed this tale.  Sometimes sweet, at times painfully sad but always with a sense of humor this take on an old trope is well worth the read.  It doesn’t seem to matter what genre Heather long writes, it comes down to the fact that she tells a darn good story and I look forward to more in this series and from this author.





Enjoy the following excerpt for Some Like It Royal:

Three days later, he leaned back in the auditorium of the theater he’d rented for the day. His secretary’d placed an advertisement in all the papers for a casting call. They’d listed very specific qualities and appearance. He’d gone through every resume and photograph that arrived until he found Alyx Dagmar’s.
She was the only one he wanted, and she was the only one who made the cut.
He wrote the script himself. It was a bastardized version of My Fair Lady, but he didn’t care. The names and the places were all that mattered—well, and the princess in question.
The theater crew admitted her, gave her access to a dressing room and the pages she would cold read for the part. Right on schedule she walked out on the stage. He knew she couldn’t see him in the darkened theater.
Clasping his hands together, he sat back and watched as she took her spot. “Whenever you’re ready.” He called quietly, certain it would carry.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” She lifted her hand as though holding a glass up to make a toast. Dressed in the simple green strapless gown, with her glorious russet hair pinned up, she seemed as glamorous as any model. “It is time for us to remove our masks, to reveal ourselves to each other in the fine tradition of the old-world masquerade. Have you danced with a duke? Did you dine with a princess? Did you discover your true love?”
She flowed three steps toward the lip of the stage, the single spotlight highlighting the magnificent column of her throat. He held his breath. She was better than he imagined. With all the gesture of flourish she mimed the removal of a mask. Her smile lit up her face and he leaned forward.
An air of expectancy hung around her, cloaking her as her smile turned coy, secretive. The notes said she was to react to surprise with a hint of delight. But the riot of emotion she let play over her face captivated him.
With a graceful curtsy, she dipped toward the stage and her gaze roved over the audience. He could almost imagine she hunted for him in the shadows and when she paused to straighten, her chin came up. “Yes,” she said in a clear, true voice. “My name is Princess D’tente.”
It was a stupid name, he grimaced at it, but he’d wanted her to take the message in it.
“And at long last, I am reunited with my family.” She paused again, but this wasn’t in the script. Her smile faltered and fell away.
Her gaze arrowed straight at him, where he sat, arms braced on the back of the seat in front of him.
“You son of a bitch.”
Yep. That definitely wasn’t in the script.



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