Why I Want To Be A Princess

My new series, Unexpectedly Royal, is about, you guessed it, princesses and a prince. Book one, out on 11/18, is The Princess Problem – and it’s about an average American woman who discovers she’s actually (gasp!) a princess. So it should come as no surprise that I’ve got a ‘thing’ for royalty.

Yes, I was definitely the little girl who wanted to dress up as a princess. My prom dress might’ve had one heck of a petticoat/princess vibe, as a matter of fact. And I got up at the crack of ass to watch not just Will & Kate’s wedding, but also Harry & Meghan’s and Princess Eugenie. I even had a friend over – yes, at 4:45 in the morning – and made scones and tea. (We wore yoga pants rather than dressing up, though, because we’re not obsessed.)

I’ll bet some of you are asking…WHY?!?!?!?!?! I know most of my friends did. (My husband was indulgent and understanding because he got some of the double-chocolate scones, too. And they were delicious.)

As a little girl, it was definitely about the clothes. Frilly, floofy, lacy, sparkly – I wanted it all. The jewels and tiaras were just the icing on the cake. Then as a teen-ager, tossing a handsome, charming prince into the equation bumped up my fantasy into overdrive. It was all about the beautiful things.

Except that my heroine, Kelsey, absolutely positively does not want to be a princess. Both her sexy bodyguard and her brother try to change her mind with the lure of private planes, yachts, jewels, and palaces. She sees it as attempted bribery. And nothing that compares to her life in Manhattan. They’re shocked. Befuddled, even.

Kelsey had seemed unimpressed as he’d reeled off examples of her newfound wealth. She’d cared not at all for the title he’d bestowed upon her. What had she called them? Princess Perks. And she’d said it with a sneer in her tone and on her pretty pink lips.

She goes to Moncriano despite the princess perks. Out of reluctant duty to her country and obligation to the family who has missed and searched for her for, oh, twenty-four freaking years. But she lives in yoga pants and tees. Stilettos and pencil skirts are decidedly not her jam. Despite the fact that once Kelsey gets settled into her palace, the princess perks start appearing like crazy.

Her sister twirled—twirled like a Disney princess—out of her closet. “Every time I go in there, your clothes have magically multiplied.”

Kelsey got up to look inside her walk-in closet. Well, the very large room with cupboards and shelves and even an island full of drawers that they called a closet. The amount of skirts and dresses had doubled overnight. Again. As had the shoes and purses. It was strange. Magical indeed. She kind of wanted to put a cookie in there tonight and see if they turned into a half dozen by morning.

My heroine being uninterested in everything I thought I wanted out of being royal made me think a little harder. Why was the idea of becoming royal so appealing? And then it hit me like a ten-pound crown had just been thunked onto my head.

It isn’t about the things (although if anyone wants to give me a ruby and diamond necklace, I won’t turn it down). It’s about how they make you feel. Getting dressed up makes you feel special. Important. So does wearing expensive jewelry. As does riding in a golden coach, and having millions of people worldwide watch your wedding on television.

When you’re a child, with no control over anything in your life, the idea of being able to give orders to people seems magically wonderful. And the thought of successful (obviously also ripped and thoughtful) men vying for your hand because you’re so special? Well, that certainly would give hope to a lonely teen buried in endless homework.

Even adults, mired in Monday blahs and routine, drowning in errands and feeling like an invisible cog in the wheel, want to feel special. Wanted. Needed. Adored. From the outside, at least, it looks like the title of princess comes with all of those traits. It’d just feel good. That’s the true fantasy we want to come true.

Of course, in The Princess Problem, Kelsey discovers that being a princess is about so much more than the perks. But I’ll leave you to read that in my funny, sexy romance.

And since I did mention sparkly jewelry, I have a giveaway!