My Royal Showmance by Lexi Blake

From New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake, discover The Park Avenue Promise Series...

Three young women make a pact in high school—
to always be friends and to one day make it big in Manhattan.

My Royal Showmance

Anika Fox knows exactly where she wants to be, and it’s not on the set of a reality TV dating show. She’s working her way up at the production company she works for and she’s close to achieving some of her dreams. The big boss just wants one thing from her. She’s got a potential problem with the director of The King Takes a Bride and she wants Anika to pose as a production assistant and report back.

As the king of a tiny European country, Luca St. Marten knows the world views him as one of the pampered royalty of the world. It couldn’t be further from the truth. His country is hurting and he’s right there on the front lines with his citizens. When he’s asked to do a dating show, his counselors point out that it could bring tourism back to Ralavia. It goes against his every desire, but he agrees.

When one of the contestants drops out at the last minute, Anika finds herself replacing the potential princess. She’s sure she’ll be asked to leave the first night, but Luca keeps picking her again and again. Suddenly she finds herself in the middle of a made-for-TV fantasy, and she’s unsure what’s real and what’s simply reality TV.

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the Park Avenue Promise series!
For book one, Start Us Up, click HERE.

 

 

Book 2
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Audiobook (US)
Narrated by Kitty Bang

 

 

“Ani, you’re my best producer. Do this for me and I’ll green-light your movie. The silly one about… What was it about?”

“It’s the story of one of New York’s first woman firefighters. Her life and struggles.” It is my dream project, and it certainly isn’t silly. It’s about empowerment and the fight against discrimination in the workplace.

Jess’s surgically perfected nose wrinkles slightly. “Could she be fighting aliens?”

I growl. It’s an alpha sound I’ve worked on over the years since no one takes a small blonde woman seriously in my business until they catch sight of our three rows of teeth.

Not that I’m like that in my normal life. I’m a regular young woman. I try to be nice and kind to everyone around me, and if they cross me, I will bury them and no cop will look in my anime eyes and think me capable of murder.

Sometimes the patriarchy works in my favor. Not that I want to give up bodily autonomy and equal pay just so I can murder someone a little more easily. But for now I’ll take what I can get.

“Fine.” Jess has her hard negotiator expression on. “What’s the budget?”

I can do it for ten million, but she’s sentencing me to six weeks of dealing with women who think they are going to end up being queen. It will be spray tans and claws, and I will hear the words “the right reasons” so many times. “Fifteen.”

Her eyes narrow like she knows exactly what I’m doing.

I sit and wait. Like she taught me.

Don’t show a minute of your emotions, Ani.

“Fifteen,” she agrees. “And you’ll be fast-tracked. If you get this done, I might even be persuaded to tell publicity they have a slightly larger budget.”

She really wants this.

I wish I could talk to my friends, but I know what’s at the end of this conversation. I won’t be able to explain why I’m taking a crappy assignment. Ivy has her own issues and won’t question it. She’ll be all “rah-rah, girl power,” but Harper likes a mystery, and, even more, she loves to point out when things are going wrong.

Still, I’d like their advice, but I’m not going to get it.

I’m on my own. “I’ll do it.”

Jess smiles like she would have gone to twenty.

She wouldn’t have, but I give her a frown because it’s always good to let the boss think they’re still in control.

“One more thing, dear,” she says, sliding a stack of papers my way.

Yep. There’s the very long and binding nondisclosure agreement. My mouth is going to have to stay closed. But my eyes will be wide open.

 

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary – ☆☆☆☆
I enjoyed the idea of this book and the first meeting between Anika and Luca. They met in a bar and ended up talking late into the night.

I wasn't crazy about the game show idea (I don't watch those reality-type shows), but I did enjoy the friendships Anika made while she was a contestant.

As I said, I enjoyed the story and if you are into reality TV, this book is for you.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the second book in the series about three longtime friends who promise to support each other through the vaguaries of life. Ivy met her true love, Heath, in the first book, now it is Anika's turn to be in the spotlight.

Working in production, Anika is ready to move up and get her own works created, but an offer from her mentor of promised funding if she goes and makes sure that a onetime bad boy director has truly reformed, has her going down a pay grade and working on a reality show. These are her own particularly hated genre of TV, but the lure of doing her own project is just too great.

Thanks to NDAs, she cannot reveal much to her two besties, but has one last evening out before she gets sequestered. She leaves them early though, due to meeting a guy she is very attracted to... even if only for one night.

Roll forward and we find ourselves on set with the mystery guy being the king of a small principality in Europe. He needs the TV show funding and publicity to save his country and has agreed to choose a wife from the 13 contestants.

As the crazy of this world is revealed to the reader, and the tunnels of the mansion enable friends to meet and promises to be made, we also have the underlying question of is the director a bad guy. As everything unravels, there is a clever twist and a move from the trip of girlfriends which saves the day.

Implausible to the extent that one can imagine it is true, I was highly entertained by the characters in the royal showmance TV show and behind the scenes.


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

Anika is a fantastic character. From the very beginning you saw how honest and real she was. She works hard, loves hard, and is loyal. I loved her mind set about her job, family, friends, and life in general.

Luca had amazing reasons for wanting to do this show. He wants his people to succeed and thrive. It’s a curve ball for him when he realizes that his heart could truly get caught in the web of love.

These two together are fun, witty, and lovable. You won’t be disappointed in their story. I think the only thing I wished for was more on the protagonists. I wanted to see them squirm.

 

 

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author LEXI BLAKE lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. Since starting her publishing journey in 2010, she’s sold over three million copies of her books. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings.

Connect with Lexi Blake!

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  TikTok  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Facebook Group: Lexi’s Literary Universe

 

 

For more information about Blue Box Press releases, follow them at:

Facebook  ~  Instagram  ~  TikTok  ~  Website & Newsletter Sign-Up

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of My Royal Showmance (The Park Avenue Promise #2) by Lexi Blake to read and review.

Start Us Up by Lexi Blake Release Blitz

From New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake, discover The Park Avenue Promise series...

Three young women make a pact in high school—
to always be friends and to one day make it big in Manhattan.

She’s a high-tech boss who lost it all…

Ivy Jensen was the darling of the tech world, right up until her company fell apart completely after she trusted the wrong person. Her reputation in tatters, she finds herself back in the tiny apartment she grew up in, living with her mom. When a group of angel investors offer her a meeting, she knows she has to come up with the new big idea or her career is over.

He’s an up and coming coder…

Heath Marino has always been fascinated with writing code. He’s worked on a dozen games and apps and is considered one of the industry’s more eccentric talents. But now he’s back in New York to spend time with his grandmother. She was known as one of the city’s greatest matchmakers, and he wants to know why. Surely there’s some kind of code in his grandmother’s methods, and he’s going to find them.

When Ivy meets Heath it’s instant attraction, but she’s got a career to get back to and he just might be her on-ramp. It could be a perfect partnership or absolute heartbreak.

 

 

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Apple Books  ~  B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  Kobo
Audiobook (US)  ~  Paperback (US)

 

 

“Were you planning on introducing me as your boyfriend?”

I shake my head. “No, but I wasn’t going to correct anyone if they got that impression, and now that I’m saying the words, I feel like an idiot. I’m not some sad chick who always needs a boyfriend. Nick was actually only my second long-term relationship. I’m perfectly content on my own. I don’t know what came over me. I can tell him the truth.”

“And waste my knight riding in moves? That feels harsh. Was the kiss that bad?”

“You know it was not. It was a perfectly fine kiss.”

“It was a pretty good kiss.” There’s a wealth of masculine arrogance in his tone, and I wish I didn’t find that charming coming from him.

It had been my only kiss in the last six months, and probably the most passion I’d had from a guy in a couple of years, and that was so sad. “It was a kiss we both need to forget because we’re going to be working very closely together for the next couple of months. We’ve got to hire at least one, maybe two contractors.”

“Where are we going to put them? I don’t know if you noticed, but neither one of us has a whole lot of space. I was a little worried about where I was going to put you.”

“They can work remotely if we can’t find someplace cheap.” The remote work might be a necessary thing since I intend to have one of the coders working on what I want them to work on—an interface for a social media/commerce app. I can give Heath a little, but I know what CeCe wants. The AI and Heath’s unique framework is what will sell this project.

“And if we get full finding?”

I like that he’s an optimist. One of us needs to be. “Then we find a small office probably somewhere in Jersey because that’s what we’ll be able to afford and we spend the next three or four years working our asses off only to fail because some asshole swoops in two months ahead of our launch date with something too similar. Then we can decide if we want to spend the money on the inevitable lawsuits, but that’s only if we get the choice. There’s also the possibility that someone out there gets word of what we’re doing and preemptively files for a patent that will block us even though the fucker doesn’t have enough to prove concept. Then, it’s back to the lawyers and we decide if we have deep enough pockets to fight, and that answer is almost always no.”

Heath stands, and I can’t help but notice how tall and fit he is. I need to take some me time because my brain is spending too much energy on how hot he is. He starts to lift one long leg over the railing.

I pop up. “What are you doing?”

His head turns slightly, lips curling in a mischievous grin. “Ending it all. I’ve seen the future, Ivy. It’s not worth it.”

He’s teasing me. I’m not sure why it rankles. Or maybe I am. “It can happen, and it does all the time. This is the big leagues, and it’s a battle every single day.”

He looms over me, so close I can practically feel the warmth of his skin. “Is it war or baseball? I need to know because you are the queen of mixed metaphors, and I want to be sure I’m all kitted up. So glove or rifle?”

He’s really not ready for this. “Both.”

“All right, then.” He glances down at his watch. “I should go. Apparently I’ve got both a game and a war to prepare for. I’m going to need some sleep. Now I know you said we shouldn’t kiss again, but we already went there so…”

I take a big old coward’s step back. If I let him kiss me now, it won’t be because someone’s watching and we need keep up our “cover.” It will be because I want him to, and I can’t want him to. I just can’t.

I’m lying to him. Oh, it’s for his own naïve good, but I’m still lying.

 

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary – ☆☆☆☆
I love this author and found this story funny, nerdy, and all-around good. Ivy Jensen was at the top of the tech world until she lost it by trusting the wrong person. Now she is back in New York and living with her mother.

Heath Marino writes code and has worked on dozens of apps. He calls Ivy when he has the perfect app and needs the ideal person to help him make it real. They hit it off almost immediately and they understand each other.

These two have lots of help, from his grandma, her mother, her BFFs, his friends, and her mentor, C.C., and all of them will get the job done and in the process, bring down someone from Ivy's past.

I enjoyed this story and am looking forward to the next one in this series.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the first book in a new series – and we are soon brought into the world that is going to be home to what I am sure is going to be a fun new offering from the talented Lexi Blake.

Ivy and her two school friends are holding onto their promise of friendship forever through the thicks and thins of life – in this installment, it is Ivy who is centre stage, but the other two are also going through their own dramas on the side! Betrayed by her boyfriend and CFO, Ivy had to walk away from her brainchild business and is just about ready to try again. Benefitting from a loyal benefactor, she hasn't realised that she just needed to ask, but she will find out that it is not all about money.

When she meets Heath Marino and looks into his latest coding project, which needs funding, she is not convinced that it will work as a matchmaking programme, but she loves the beauty of his wireframe and has lots of ideas of how it can be adapted. I loved that this had a degree of nerd, which suited me just fine! The rest is, as you might imagine, history – and you would not be wrong, although there are plenty of side plots, chemistry-driven encounters, and intrigue for future installments.

This was a win for me, with fun characters, good friendships, and the good girls and guys win out!


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆
M/F Romance

Hmmm, I'm not quite sure how to start. I enjoyed the story a lot, but it's not quite what I have come to expect from Blake's previous books. I'm not sure if Blake is expanding or what, but this was definitely a different feel.

Ivy is just recovering from losing her business. While she knows that she trusted the wrong person, she also knows that she had to do what she did in order to save her employees. What's worse, is that people believe since she was a woman in the business, that she just couldn't hack it.

Heath is working and keeping his nose to the ground, but has something up his sleeve. With an app to do some matchmaking, Heath needs someone to handle the money and the business. He just wants to code.

Ivy and Heath are a strange match. I thought that Ivy was a little too ho-hum for this story. I wanted her to have more of a backbone. Heath was kind and you could picture the nerdy look, but I wanted him to be stronger too. Both were too wishy-washy for me.

Overall, while the story did have some heat and was cute, it was too "cutesy" for me. I do hope the next one is more heat.

 

 

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author LEXI BLAKE lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. Since starting her publishing journey in 2010, she’s sold over three million copies of her books. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings.

Connect with Lexi Blake

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  TikTok  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Facebook Group: Lexi’s Literary Universe

 

 

For more information about Blue Box Press releases, follow them at:

Facebook  ~  Instagram  ~  TikTok  ~  Website & Newsletter Sign-Up

 

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Start Us Up (The Park Avenue Promise #1) by Lexi Blake to read and review.