Way back in November 2013, we started work on The Royal We, our new novel (and our first aimed at adults). It’s been more than a year of research and typing and reading and trimming and tweaking and re-reading and fussing about fonts, but at long last, we are delighted to be able to bring you a chance to win an advance copy before it comes out everywhere in April. The Royal We was a real labor of love, but also of time: from the first words we typed, to our research trip to England last January (the details of which you can read about here), to this past Monday, when we finally mailed in the completed final final final draft. Between that and our GFY postings, we barely left the house last year. So we must thank you all for your good-natured understanding when we were clearly totally fried or made ridiculous mistakes or published posts with just “WORDS” in it in it, all of which happened more than we’d care to recall. We think it was all worth it, and we hope you will agree.
When we get closer to April, we’ll have more news about how and where to download free preview chapters — oh, yes, there will be free preview chapters — but today is Giveaway Day, as well as a look at the final book jacket. Behold!
Our baby doesn’t officially arrive until April 7 (you can pre-order it, though, at Amazon, at Barnes and Noble, from iBooks, or your favorite indie bookseller), which makes this the book equivalent of posting an ultrasound photo on Facebook. The finished product is going to be a matte finish with an embossed title, and it’s going to be very pretty and tactile and eye-catching and fun. We hope you like its outsides, of course, but most of all we REALLY hope you love the words that are inside The Royal We as much as we do. On that tip, some really talented women have said some lovely things about it.
“The Royal We is full of love and humor, and delicious in too many ways to mention in one little blurb. I read this novel as quickly as I could, relishing any few minutes I had to turn back to its pages. An absolute delight.”
– Emma Straub, author of the New York Times bestseller The Vacationers
“A joy from start to finish. The Royal We is that rare novel that makes you think, makes you cry, and is such fun to read that you’ll want to clear your schedule until you’ve turned the final page. But be warned–Cocks and Morgan have created a world so rich, a romance so compelling, and characters so funny and alive, that you’ll be terribly sad to see them go.”
– J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Bestselling author of The Engagements, Maine and Commencement
“The Royal We is as engrossing and deeply satisfying as any royal wedding documentary, and it’s a thousand times more fun, from the fairy tale to the inevitable foibles. You will want Bex Porter to be your best friend. You will feel the same way about Cocks and Morgan, who are warm, witty, hilarious, and moving in their depiction of a very complicated relationship indeed.”
“A heartfelt exploration of a life lived in the spotlight, The Royal We balances dishy decadence with an honest look at the sacrifices required to stay princess to Prince Charming.“
We’re huge admirers of all of those authors, and we’re so grateful to them not only for taking the time to read the book — over the holidays, and/or while writing their own new works — but for embracing The Royal We so wholly. It’s an honor, ladies.
Although the book is obviously fictional, our inspiration for The Royal We stemmed from a high level of sympathy for the Duchess of Cambridge as she made the transition from Kate Middleton into the future queen consort. Whatever you believe about her, the fact remains that she’s a civilian who fell in love with a guy who is destined to be king, and presumably at some point had to decide whether a future with him was worth everything she’d have to sacrifice. It’s easy to imagine the advantages in that relationship but what of the difficulties? We packed as much humor and heart and feelings into this thing as we could; at one point, we cut about a book’s worth of words out of it, and it’s STILL full. We are beyond excited to share it with Fug Nation at last.
After the jump: the jacket copy and details about how YOU yes YOU could win one of THREE autographed advance copies.
First, the plot:
“I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they’ll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next.”
American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy-tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it’s Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain’s future king. And when Bex can’t resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.
Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick’s sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he’s fated to become.
Which is how she gets into trouble.
Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she’s sacrificed for love — her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself – will have been for nothing.
Spanning nearly a decade, THE ROYAL WE is a richly imagined, emotionally compelling novel that examines, with warmth and wit, what truly happens after your prince has come.
And now, the giveaway:
THE TASK: We will pick the winners at random, but in order to be eligible, please weigh in on the Question of Our Time: William or Harry?
THE RULES: All entries must be posted in the comments of this post by 9 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, January 18. Although the book is currently only slated to be published in the United States and Canada, we will happily post a copy internationally, so this contest is open to everyone. Good luck! (And FYI, if this is the first time you’ve commented here, the system will automatically kick you into comment moderation, but don’t worry, we will rescue you.)
