Blog Tour: A Royal Pain by Megan Mulry (Adult) - Guest Post, Review and Giveaway

Good morning everyone!
I am so very excited to have the author of A ROYAL PAIN stop by and guest post on my blog today!
Here's Megan Mulry :)


"Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog! In order to gain a little perspective and inspiration, I re-watched the video blog that you recorded just before Hurricane Sandy hit, and I noticed we have something in common: we both juggle. 

I am a married mother of two. I write full-time, love my sweet rescue dog Daphne, and I am obsessed with thrift shopping. You get the picture. It's like it is for most women I know, this feeling of standing in a batting cage with fastballs careening at frequent, unpredictable intervals. I used to fret about all the balls that flew past me or knocked me in the head, but I've kind of gotten used to the action and much more accepting of what I can and cannot do. I like to write about women who are similarly engaged. Occupied. Sometime struggling, but always in the game. 

All of my heroines - I guess technically they are protagonists because my books are Women's Fiction, but they feel heroic to me - are trying to figure out how to keep is all together... or at least keep it all from exploding in all directions simultaneously, while still loving life. A few days ago I was talking to a new friend who's about ten years younger than I am; we are just starting to get to know each other better. We talked about how exciting things were happening for both of us - my first book coming out, her successful career in journalism - and then she mentioned she was single and hoped to start a family one day, but for now she was really loving her job. I talked about having two children and being married, and she said, "See! You have it all! My mom keeps saying I can't have it all." Um. I didn't have the heart to tell her that when I looked down to inspect this all-having self of mine, I was in a pair of pajama pants and a torn t-shirt that I had put on after dinner Sunday. It was Tuesday afternoon. 

All of that is to say, the whole having-it-all-thing is kind of a crock or a ruse or whatever, but it's also kind of true, depending on how you look at it. When I saw your video, I thought, "How does she read all those books and blog and get the kids ready for that Halloween party and remain calm about the approaching storm all at the same time! And why is it so quiet in her house?! Why aren't there screaming kids in the background like at my house?!"

Just goes to show that, one way or another, we are all on the outside looking in. And that's what I really loved about Bronte Talbott's character in A Royal Pain. Yes, she peers into the world of the British aristocracy, but it is so much more about Bronte's distance and isolation and view of herself than it is about the royalty. That was why I had Bronte meet Max in a bookstore, because I think people really can build a relationship on a shared love of books (*raises hand*: 18 years and counting...) With books... aaah, inside we go... so engaged, so connected. I don't know if it's with the author exactly, or with parts of ourselves, or just some magical middle place in the universe where we are connecting, but it's out there somewhere." 

Do books give you a feeling of being connected? If so, how?

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Thank you SO very much, Megan, for stopping by today and "chatting" with me :)

I most certainly feel like 'my books' give me a connection to everyone who loves them too! It's like a type of "bookhood" (you know, like sisterhood) - it's something you have in common!
It's another way of knowing that you're not alone in this world - it's okay to get all dorky and geeky over books. But more importantly, the subject matter of what you're reading can also bring you into contact with wonderful and understanding people too. Most are non-judgmental; and that feeling that you get that you can share just about anything with them is priceless. Many people have found their best friends, "book-mates", through books.
Who wouldn't want some sort of connection with someone who loves something just as much as you do! Right?!
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A Royal Pain

by Megan Mulry

Release date: November 1st, 2012

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark

Genre: Adult Contemporary, Romance 

Format read: ARC

SUMMARY

Bronte Talbott follows all of the exploits of the British royals. After all, they're the world's most preeminent dysfunctional family. And who is she to judge? Bronte's own search for love isn't going all that well, especially after her smooth-talking Texan boyfriend abruptly leaves her in the dust. 

Bronte keeps a lookout for a rebound to help mend her broken heart, and when she meets Max Heyworth, she's certain he's the perfect transition man. But when she discovers he's a duke, she has to decide if she wants to stay with him for the long haul and deal with the opportunities - and challenges - of becoming a royal. 

MY REVIEW

This book is an awesome combination of laugh-out-loud and endearing moments. I loved every moment with all of the characters...

Bronte Talbott is a New Yorker at heart - stubborn, independent, hard-working women with a hilarious trash-talking mouth - she's living a good, happy and successful life in New York. Until she's swept off her feet by a country boy and begins a long distance relationship. Thinking that things are moving along and that this is IT, she makes the decision to move to Chicago to be closer to him. What?! It's not like she's moving in with him and expecting more... she couldn't have been more wrong! Now stranded in Chicago all alone she fills her nights and weekends with books. Yes her job is doing well and everything else seems to be good. But her heart feels like its beyond repair and so she decides that what she's needs is a 'rebound guy' to get her over the heartache. In the meantime, she looks forward to her weekly trek to the local bookstore every Saturday morning in hopes of drowning her sorrows in a chic lit.
And then she sees him. 

Max Hayworth is every girls dream - he's charming, smart and British! Oh my, his accent alone had her in a puddle. Max is only in town for the next weeks - perfect! She found her 'rebound-er'... or did she?
After learning the truth about Max the book turns into an even more delightful page-turner!
How will the royals react to Bronte? Will she fit in? Can she handle being with a duke? And more importantly will she be able to not only love him, but let him give her the love and attention that she deserves too...

It was interesting and nice to see Bronte let her guard down and be vulnerable. Every tough girl has a romantic side where she wishes to be a princess. And in between all the sarcasm and tough-girl antics, Bronte is very sweet, loving and even though she knows she doesn't need a man, she wants one - could that possibly be Max? Can she be what he needs her to be plus meet all of her own expectations?


I adore this book and will definitely be re-reading it again!
I highly recommend adding A Royal Pain to your shelf :)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Megan Mulry

" I was born at French Hospital in New York in 1967.
Then I went to grade school on Long Island. 
My favorite teacher smelled of mint chewing gum and Halston perfume and wore a navy blue Vacarro turtleneck.
I lost the Third Grade Spelling Bee when I misspelled minute: m-i-n-u-t. Especially galling since I had just spelt San Francisco without incident. 
Then I went to boarding school. Four years of excellent educational opportunity foolishly taken for granted. Oh, what I would give today to read Austen, Twain, Dickens, Chaucer, Eliot, Conrad, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare while moping around in a faux-sheepskin collared jean jacket. 
Then I went to university. 
Four more years of excellent educational opportunity, not wasted exactly, but certainly not plumbed; highlights included Garry Wills telling me my final project was "jejune"... and then having to go look it up. 

Then I waited tables in Nantucket and traveled to Thailand, India, Nepal, China, UK and Greece. 
My husband says I always have to throw in that I went "backpacking in Nepal" and I say he always has to throw in that he "grew up on a farm."

Then I worked in a variety of interesting and not-so-interesting places and moved around a lot, and got married, and moved around some more. Eventually, we moved to London (for nearly four years) and then back to Chicago and now Florida for lo these many years. 

Details about employers, emotional entanglements, and life's little trials may or may not be forthcoming. 

In any case, all of the above led to the fiction writing. 
Which is what this IS all about. 

I write novels. I think about writing novels. I plot novels. I read (way too many) novels. This is relatively late-in-life development especially when I read about authors who wrote their first book in college. 
I did not do that. I am not saying I'm Grandma Moses or anything, but I wrote my first manuscipt from 2004-2006, then let it stew for a while (that's code for 'had another baby').
In 2010, I started writing in earnest. I aim to write three full-length novels per year. 

So far so good.

Official Website, Blog, Goodreads, Twitter  

*Watch for Megan Mulry's next to-be-released adult fiction, EARL MEETS GIRL, May 2013!

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Enter to win a finished copy of A ROYAL PAIN from Sourcebooks now!!!

Giveaway rules: 
- U.S. and Canada only, so sorry!
- Must be 18 years and/or older. 
- Fill in your info in the rafflecopter below.

Good luck :) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And a special thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for hosting this blog tour!