Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Pitch to Palace - Modern Royals #4 - by Aven Ellis




ABOUT THE BOOK

She was a princess who found solace and happiness in books, determined to stay hidden from the world forever. But will her crush—a sexy Canadian footballer with a playboy past—be the one to lure her out of her shell and into his arms instead?

Comfort for Isabella York is found buried in the pages of books. Bookended between two beautiful sisters, she is a different kind of princess, quiet and studious. Judged harshly on social media and in the tabloids, which compare her to her thin, outgoing sisters, a shy Bella has no desire to become a working royal for the House of Chadwick upon graduating from university, preferring to work in the family’s dusty archives instead.

But hiding from the limelight may not be an option where Camden Tremblay is concerned. Sinfully gorgeous and with a wild past, Camden was the crush Bella longed for from the day she met him—and she knew he would never look her way.

Until he did.

Camden re-enters her life and they both see there is more to each other than meets the eye. He turns Bella’s life upside down like a snow globe, filling her life with a magic she has never known. But with each of them fighting their own insecurities, can this high-profile romance survive the intrusive eyes of the press—and the greatest crisis to face the monarchy to date?

If you love British royals, a sexy hero, a heroine who finds herself and a happily ever after, then you will love this heartwarming and romantic story.







PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited





EXCERPT 1

“Your Royal Highness,” he says, his voice shaking with a fury to match mine, “you can do many things, but telling me how I feel isn’t going to be one of them. You might not believe my apology, and that’s your choice. But you do not get to tell me I’m not sorry. Because I am. I am so damn sorry that I can’t get what happened out of my head, and it’s been weeks since I last saw you. This isn’t like me. I’m not haunted by women or what I’ve done in my past, except for this. I can’t shake this, Bella. I can’t.”
“Why? Because I’m kind? Sweet? Xander and Christian’s cousin, so you feel bad? Do you feel guilty because, oh, poor Bella had her feelings hurt when you forgot she existed the second Victoria appeared in the room? Well, you’ve made your apology. I’ll never speak of this again, and I’ll always be nice to you when our paths cross. You are cleared. Your conscience is free.”
Camden’s lips part in utter surprise. “But that isn’t what I want.”
Now the flames have reached a boiling point. I’m spilling over with hot, molten anger from years of playing this part, and Camden is about to bear the wrath as I do something I’ve never done in my entire life.
Let go.
“I don’t care if that isn’t what you want!” I roar at him. “This is about me. What I want. I don’t want apologies. I don’t want to be asked for forgiveness and if we can be friends. I don’t want to be the girl men just talk history with or joke with. I don’t want to be befriended by men who are hoping I’ll put in a good word with Victoria. I want to be seen for who I am. I want to be desired for the body I have. I want someone to not only like me for my intelligence but to find equal excitement in my curves. In my flesh. I want someone to look at me and want to kiss me until my lips are swollen out of passion. I deserve to be wanted for all those things, and I might never have that, but I won’t settle for less. I won’t! So take your apology and get out!”
I gasp as soon as the final shout of anger escapes my lips. Camden is staring at me in complete shock, and my anger is immediately replaced by horror.
Hot tears brim on my lashes. I’m shaking all over, trembling like a leaf. What have I done? My God, did all those words come out of my mouth? My throat grows dry. The room has no air.
“I’m sorry,” I manage to get out. “Your apology is accepted. Please go.”
Camden doesn’t even flinch. I notice his chest is rising and falling, too, no doubt in anger.
“Please,” I beg of him.
He doesn’t move. Not even an inch.
“Get out!” I cry in frustration, the tears now falling.
“No,” he says, his voice deadly calm amidst my emotional sea of torment.
My heart sinks in humiliation and despair. I have no choice but to go down this path of truth, as I am the one who set us both on this road.
“I told you what I need, and you don’t want to give that to me. So please forget this happened and please leave me alone.’
Something in him snaps with those words. I can see it in his eyes. Camden strides over to me in the blink of an eye. Before I can think, he takes my hand in his, and to my shock, he quickly leads me to one of the massive oak pillars in the room, whirling me around and pressing my back into it.
“You’re wrong,” he says, bracketing my face with his hands.
I gasp from the shock of his touch. The room begins to spin. Camden Tremblay is now inches from me, touching me. If he weren’t pressing me into this pillar, I’d faint. I’m sure of it.
“Look at me,” he commands sharply. “Bella, look into my eyes.”
I gaze up at him through my tears. My God. What do I see in his eyes? They are sparking with anger, that I can see, but there’s something else there, too.
“I can give you what you need,” he says, his voice raw with urgency. “Because I need it, too.”
And then his mouth is on mine.




EXCERPT 2

Camden stares down at me through his fringe of dark lashes. “I’ve been given a second chance by you, and I’m not wasting it. Tonight is about getting to know you, and I intend to be present for every second of it. Even if I didn’t have a match tomorrow, I wouldn’t drink. From this point on, I want to know what the hell I’m doing towards the end of the night. I want to wake up and know how I spent the night before. The way I used to drink and party is done. I can see there is more for me, Bella. There’s more.”
He picks up my hand and, in a sweet gesture, brings it to his lips and presses a feather-light kiss on it. My knees go weak, and it’s hard to stay upright when I feel his warm lips against my skin.
“That’s the only kiss I will give you this evening, I promise you that,” Camden says, his voice soft. “And if you will let me, Bella York, I’d be honoured to escort you to Frogmore House. I said I would keep my hands to myself, but I’d at least like to hold your hand for now. If you’re comfortable with that.”
I didn’t know such happiness could exist in the presence of a man.
“I’d like that,” I say.
“Then let’s go and see what the evening brings,” Camden says, smiling at me.
In a daze, I let him escort me through the lobby. My head is spinning with happiness. Camden sees me as I am.
And he thinks I’m breathtaking.
I relive these moments, collecting the glitter and holding it close. Camden as he greeted me at the stairs. How he kissed my hand.
As we move through the tables and chairs, I feel his fingers tighten around mine, as if to show how proud he is to be with me.
I squeeze his hand, and he looks down at me, a happy smile filtering across his gorgeous face.
Yes, I think, let’s see what this evening brings.
But I already know what is happening.
This is the start of my fairy tale.
And I can’t wait to turn the page and write the first chapter with Camden Tremblay at Frogmore House.            




ALSO AVAILABLE



AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

Book 1 is A Royal Shade of Blue and it stars CP (Christian Philip) and CJ (Clementine Jones) who meet online and she lives in Palo Alto in Northern California and he attends school in Cambridge England. Both are college students and the same age. This is a story of them falling in love through Instagram and text messages. The big reveal happens fairly early and it was so awesome. These two were sweet and romantic and they have some big secrets but they really fall hard for each other.



AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

Book 2 is The Princess Pose and stars Princess Elizabeth with  Roman Lawler, a gardener that she met thru her newly engaged best friend and cousin in law to be, Clementine. She met him and crushed super hard on him but can a gardener fall for a princess and have a happily ever after? This story centered on love, can it last? In this book we explore the secrets of the York family and in the previous book we saw the secrets of the Chadwicks. I liked the first book so much more. I think that was because I fell in love instantly with Clementine and I never really felt that Liz's voice carried this story well. The author wrote in the first person but this story really needed Roman's voice as well.



AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

Book 3 is Royal Icing is the story about the crown prince, Xander's path to love. In the previous book he dated India who he dated because she knew the royal life. I was so glad he dumped her and in this book he meets local baker Poppy Davies who was introduced in the previous book when Liz goes to her for a cake order and becomes a fan. In this story Poppy is working on the cake for Clementine's wedding to Christian and thats how Xander and her meet. In this story we also meet Camden who is a friend of Xanders and who ends up meeting his single cousins and causing some issues. This one was the best one in the series, and I absolutely adored Xander and Poppy. I might even have liked it more than the first book. It was flirty and fun and had awesome characters and was very romantic. In addition there are some things that happen that affect Xander's life and will carry on into the next book.






ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


USA Today bestselling author Aven Ellis began her publishing career in 2013 with her debut release, Connectivity. She currently writes romantic comedies featuring royals, billionaires, aristocrats, and athletes.

Her books are designed to make readers laugh out loud and fall in love. Happily-ever-after endings and good-boy heroes are guaranteed.

Aven lives in the Dallas area with her family. Aven loves shopping and fashion and can spend hours playing with fragrances in any department store. She can be found chatting it up on social media, eating M&Ms, and crushing on the latest outfit the Duchess of Cambridge is wearing.


AUTHOR LINKS





 This the Modern Royals Series, 4 books about the Chadwick siblings who are princes and their cousins, the York's who are princesses. I had never read this author before but I love royal romances so I was excited to check the books and stories out.

The family of Chadwick includes King Arthur, Queen Antonia, and they have three sons, the crown prince Xander, his younger prince brother Christian and James the baby of the family. 

Christian is featured in the first book, Xander in the third and James has not been written yet.

The kings brother is Prince Henry(also a Duke) and he is part of the York family, his wife is Arabella is a duchess they have three princess daughters, Elizabeth (age 23), Isabella (age 22) and Victoria (age 20). 

Elizabeth's story is in book 2 and this is book 4 and it stars Princess Bella. Victoria's book has also not been written yet.

Book 4  is the newest book coming out and its called Pitch to the Palace and it features Princess Bella and Camden. And after reading Royal Icing I could not wait for this story. All of the stories stand alone pretty much but I think you should definitely read Royal Icing first so you get to see Bella and Camden's first meeting as its an important aspect to this story. Plus other things happen in that book that affect the story in this book as well

Princess Bella is the middle child. She has size F boobs and has never loved her body. She likes to hide her body because she is not tall and skinny. She meets her brothers friend Camden who is interested in the history and artifacts of England and they hit it off until her younger sister shows up and then he goes crazy for her and spends the evening with her. This breaks Bella's heart. But when he dates Victoria it all fizzles. In this story, he has learned he made a huge mistake so he begs Bella for a second chance and wants her to see the real him and not the image he projects. Can he get a second chance? You will have to read and find out.

This story has several themes to the story. One of the top themes is about body image and the way the press and social media are just cruel and bullies. Another theme is waiting to have a relationship when its right. Many times in the story either a main character or supporting character was just not quite ready for the love they could have faced and the message in this story is that it is okay to wait until the time is right. Another message is that you can make the change in your life if its not working for you. Facing your past or your mistakes or your hurts is hard but its better than hiding who you are and that if you are not happy with who you are, you can always change and grow.

This was a really wonderful story. The main characters are on the young side in their early twenties and so they all make mistakes but they grow. I loved the writing and the characters and I am totally hooked on this series and this author. 

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