Title: Life Of Privilege
Author: Amanda Bretz
Publisher: Totally Bound
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blurb
Living the life of a celebrity isn’t always as perfect as it seems.
Katherine Dawson was born into a life of privilege as the heiress to an apparel dynasty. Between judging a reality TV competition for budding fashion designers and having been the face of her family’s clothing line for most of her life, she’s one of the biggest celebrities in her field.
When she becomes engaged to up-and-coming television producer Nathan Taylor, she appears to have it all. To any outsider, she has a picture-perfect life, so when Katherine leaves her groom-to-be at the altar and disappears, the tabloids are full of speculation over her sudden departure.
Fleeing New York to hide out in Seattle, she quickly finds that living the life of an heiress in hiding isn’t as easy as she thought, especially after she meets a magnetic writer named Royce Reynolds. In her new life on the West Coast, she struggles to keep her anonymity, and experiences a relationship with a man who wants her for the person she is, not the celebrity she used to be.
Excerpt
“Is everything cool?”
“Yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t things be okay?”
“You just have this look on your face like you’re tense or annoyed—or maybe both.”
“I’m fine,” she said absently and let out a slow breath.
When they reached one of the main corners of the market, she saw people milling around a bronzed pig. People laughed, smiled and posed while cameras and cell phones flashed as one by one tourists stopped to get their picture taken with the iconic statue. She wished she could join in the simple fun. A girl with long, shiny brown hair and black sunglasses flashed a white-toothed smile. She turned her head and puckered her mouth, her lips hovering next to the pig’s cheek. Her friends snapped more pictures of her with the porcine monument.
“You should pose with the pig next,” Royce told her with a grin.
He pushed her toward the landmark with a playful shove. She tried to be a good sport. After all, a part of her wanted to join in the merriment going on around her. However, once Royce nudged her toward the group of people gathered near the statue, her mood changed. It suddenly seemed as though the attention of those standing around the bronze hog had shifted. The crowd started closing in and she felt more and more eyes on her. And who could blame them for gawking. She was hyperventilating, sucking in air in loud, gasping gulps and wheezing like an asthmatic.
Before she knew what was happening next, Royce had wrapped his arms around her and steered her through the small crowd. She was thankful he was able to remain calm and that he knew his way around. He took her down the street and down a narrow passageway between two brick-sided buildings. A slight breeze hit her face and straight ahead there was water on the horizon. The passageway had a series of concrete stairs and railings that led to the edge of the waterfront.
“Shhh. It’s okay. You’re safe now,” Royce murmured gently in her ear and stroked her back.
Guest Post - Amanda Bretz
When Nurturing Leads to Love
Thank you for hosting me here at Foxylutely, I’m excited to be a guest on your blog today!
I like writing romance, because there are so many roads that lead us to love. In novels, we often see a lot of familiar tropes: friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, old flames reunited and even friends with benefits, which eventually end up in love. I think these tropes hang around the romantic fiction world because they are often mirrors of real life relationships.
In writing my latest release, I set out to play with a not often used trope and in doing so I hope to answer the question, can a somewhat platonic, nurturing relationship lead to love? In the right circumstances, I believe it can.
Initially, Katherine, the heroine in my current release Life of Privilege, is drawn to the sensitive Royce because he’s great at nurturing her, which is something she’s not had a lot of in her life. Katherine suffers from anxiety and on more than one instance she has a panic attack in front of Royce. There’s something about the way he comforts her and sets her at ease that appeals to her.
In fact, it’s his appeal that she struggles with. Despite being attracted to Royce physically and feeling a connection to him, she doesn’t want their relationship to progress beyond being platonic. Katherine has just left Manhattan for Seattle and upon first arrival in her new city, she wants to stay single. Part of the reason she’s fled New York for the West Coast is to find out who she is without all the pressures and responsibilities associated with her old life in the public eye. Her plan when she arrived in Seattle was to discover herself and she thought the best way to do that was by being alone.
Obviously since this is a romance novel, I had to work at changing Katherine’s mind about remaining single. It was a challenge at times, but I love challenges! Ultimately, what made Katherine open herself up to a romantic relationship was that Royce represented things that were missing in her life. She didn’t need him to be a complete person, but she needed him to truly become the kind of person she wanted to be.
I think what leads someone to falling in love, whether in fiction or in real life, is when the other person gives them something they need. Often we might not even know what it is exactly that we need until we find someone who provides it for us, and I think that’s what leads to that feeling of two halves forming a new whole.
With Katherine and Royce, it’s the way he comforts her that makes her see him in a different light. I think it is part of his nurturing way that not only soothes her anxieties away, but he also breaks down her walls in many aspects.
In the following excerpt, Katherine and Royce are out exploring Seattle and he’s taken her to the popular (and always packed) Pike Place Market. Katherine’s trying to live a more low-key life on the West Coast and when she feels like people at the Market recognize her for the celebrity she used to be in New York, a panic attack sets in. Luckily, Royce comforts her and all becomes right in her world again.
Meet The Author
In addition to being the author of contemporary, historical and erotic romance, Amanda Bretz holds a degree in communication from Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. She is a multi-published author of several books and short stories and has worked as a journalist in both print and online news. Amanda writes romantic stories with happy endings and invites readers to experience the rush of falling in love.
When not writing, Amanda can be found whipping up something delectable in her kitchen, spending time in nature or getting lost in a good book.
She resides in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband, Brandon.
Competition
Enter Totally Bound’s Life of Privilege competition for the chance to win a copy of Life of Privilege as well as three more titles from the What’s her Secret? Imprint.
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