Title: Courted
Author: Jennifer Chance
Publisher: Elewyn Publishing
Release Date: October 6, 2015
Series: Gowns & Crowns #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Length: 222 Pages
ISBN: 9781943768042
Aspiring concert violist Emmaline Aurora Grace Andrews is torn between her love of family and her love of music. A year ago, she deferred entering a prestigious graduate program to help her parents recover from a devastating accident. Now the deferment is expiring, but her parents still need her. Worse, every time she plays her audition piece, she mangles it. Is it too late to be the musician she’d always dreamed of? Should she even try?
Determined to get clarity, Emmaline accepts a friend’s offer for a whirlwind European vacation. First Stop: a real live fantasy kingdom—the perfect place to sort wishes from reality.
Prince Kristos Andris was a respected captain in his nation’s military… Was. In the wake of the tragic death of his elder brother, he’s managed to avoid his duties as the new Crown Prince of Garronia for months. But now he must accept his responsibilities and leave his troops behind. Outraged at the restrictions of his new royal position, he’ll do anything for one last adventure. So when opportunity suddenly lands in his arms in the form of a dreamy-eyed American girl, he embraces it (and her) for all he’s worth. What’s the harm in a quick fling, after all? It won’t change what he knows he must do…
Only this is Garronia in the summertime, where passion has a way of ruining even the most sensible of plans.
Review:
Courted by Jennifer Chance is a sweet and sexy modern fairy tale of a story. First in the Crowns & Gowns series (Lauren and Dmitri’s story next–woot!), it pulls out the big guns right away, with our heroine, Emmaline Aurora Grace Andrews literally running into an actual crown prince, Kristos Andris while on vacation in the tiny kingdom of Garronia. As if the meet cute on the beach wasn’t enough, just a few minutes later he jumps into the sea to rescue her from a nasty undertow…all captured on film, naturally, and ready to be sent to the tabloids at the very first opportunity.
Ah, modern media. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty definitely lucked out that they didn’t have that kind of evil to contend with. Give me vindictive stepmothers and a fire-breathing dragon any day, thank you. 😉
Em and Kristos had immediate chemistry galore, but of course there’s the age-old problem between them that has plagued non-royal princesses-to-be since the dawn of time–princes are supposed to marry for their countries.
Darn it.
But Courted *is* a true modern-day fairy tale, so in fairy-tale fashion, they’re able to get around that pesky little detail in the end. Thank goodness–because you really, really want them to. They’re both such great characters, you just know that they deserve to be together.
So…100% realistic? Nah. Shades of insta-love? Yeah, probably. But all the best fairy tales have it, so really, it’s to be expected.
And pretty gosh darn hard to find fault with, in the end. 🙂
Did I mention Lauren and Dmitri are next? Bring ’em on, baby!
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
Add to your TBR List: Goodreads
Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
About Jennifer Chance:
Jennifer Chance is the award-winning author of the new adult Rule Breakers series as well as the modern royals Gowns & Crowns series. A lover of books, romance, and happily-ever-afters, she lives and writes in Ohio. In addition to her work in romance, she is also Jenn Stark, urban fantasy author of the Immortal Vegas series, and Jennifer McGowan, YA author of the Elizabethan spy series The Maids of Honor. She is truly NOT trying to become 27 Jennifers, but it’s getting a little dicey.
You can find her online at JenniferChance.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/authorJenniferChance and on Twitter at @Jenn_Chance.
Connect with Jennifer: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads