Spotlight & Giveaway: Code Name: Tiara by Sawyer Bennett

Posted September 13th, 2022 by Sara @HarlequinJunkie in Blog, Spotlight / 23 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sawyer Bennett to HJ!

Hi Sawyer and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Code Name: Tiara!

Hey, readers!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

I think this book is my favorite in the series! Jackson Gale has been tasked with “babysitting” Princess Camille of House Winterbourne when Jameson Force Security is hired to be her personal protection. Jackson assumes the princess will be a stuck-up socialite, but he is stopped dead in his tracks when he learns she’s anything but. Coming from two very different lives, they know their time together is limited…or is it?

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“You are Jackson Gale, former Navy SEAL and one badass motherfucker,” I say to my reflection after wiping the fog from the bathroom mirror.
I like my showers super hot.
Pressing my palms down on the vanity, I continue my pep talk. “You save hostages. You obliterate foreign terrorists.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

The kingdom of Bretaria is fictional, and I had fun playing around with the “rules” of the royals.
When I found the cover photo for Code Name: Tiara, I just *knew* he was Jackson Gale. I actually went back and added the description of his eyes to the manuscript, because how can anyone look at that cover and NOT focus on his gorgeous eyes??
I almost didn’t write Code Name: Tiara. I thought about ending the series after Code Name: Rook, but it just didn’t feel like the right time to walk away from the team at Jameson Force Security. I’m so glad I stuck with it.
I always like to toss in things that mean something to me when I’m writing a book. In Code Name: Tiara, Camille wants to visit Jonesboro, Arkansas to get a feel for a more “real” part of America. I chose Jonesboro as a nod to a dear friend I have that lives there.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Jackson, well, Jackson turned out a little dirtier than I expected him to be. *shrugs* He’s got a little bit of a dirty mouth on him.
And Camille…let’s just say Camille can give just as well as she receives. They turned out to be one hot couple who complemented one another at every turn.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

There is a scene when Camille meets a little girl whose dad is in prison, and it really rattles her. It makes her feel like she’s not doing enough to make a difference in people’s lives and Jackson helps her realize that what she’s doing DOES help. It’s an emotional and touching moment between the two of them:

“Let’s take a walk,” Jackson murmurs as he squeezes my elbow. He leads me across the gymnasium but my legs feel like lead. I manage to follow him out a set of double doors and down the hall past where Paul is stationed. He nods at both of us as Jackson turns us down another hall and we enter an empty office. He closes the door behind us and releases my arm.
I’m frozen in place, my eyes drifting to grime-covered windows where I can barely make out a parking lot filled with cars.
“What happened back there?” Jackson asks.
My body still feels stiff and unyielding, but I manage to turn to look at him, my brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”
“Something happened back there,” he says with a worried expression. “I was watching you. You went pale. You look like you’re going to vomit right now. Are you sick?”
I shake my head, lifting my hand to my mouth and subconsciously nibbling at my fingernail. It was a nasty habit I broke back in college, and now I only do it when I’m distressed.
“Camille,” Jackson says a little harshly, and my hand falls away from my mouth. “What’s wrong? Don’t make me ask again.”
That demanding tone, expecting subservience from me. It actually reaches past the numbness and shakes me out of my shock.
My eyes slide to the door and then back to him. “That little girl … her dad is in jail. She sees him once a week and tells him all about the sports she plays here at the rec center.”
While I see a measure of understanding cross Jackson’s features, he doesn’t seem to understand why this upsets me so much. “That might be common for you. I know it’s common in your country, and so you’ve probably seen it quite a bit.”
He nods, his eyes grave and somber. “One of our employees spent some time in prison. She has a son.”
He doesn’t elucidate but then again, he doesn’t need to explain what such a situation means to that parent and child.
“It’s just… upsetting,” I say sadly. “I know about these things. I studied humanities in college, and I’ve learned on paper all the horrors associated with poverty. Yet, I live in a palace high atop a hill overlooking a blue sea, and I don’t have a worry in the world. That little girl … it’s never been real to me. Do you know what I mean?”
“I can imagine,” Jackson says in a low voice.
“It’s not enough.”
“What’s not enough?”
I shrug with uncertainty and hold out my hands. “This. Giving away presents, making charitable donations. It’s nothing but putting Band-Aids on the wound and doing nothing to solve the problem of how this came to be in the first place.”
Jackson moves toward me, puts his hands on my shoulders, and dips his head closer. “Trying to solve all the world’s problems is like trying to drink an entire ocean, Camille. No one can. You can’t solve this country’s problems or even fix a small country’s problems. Poverty and crime and drugs… it’s pervasive. There’s no workable solution. The only thing that helps are the people who put Band-Aids on. People like you who give things that are desperately needed, or social workers who look out for the unprotected, teachers who work in horrible conditions just to try to reach one kid. Everybody comes together and does a little bit of something to make it better. So you do make it better. Without you, it would be worse.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

Sometimes love truly does conquer all.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

After Code Name: Tiara, I’ll have two more releases for 2021–Riggs (Arizona Vengeance, Book 11) releases October 26, and I cannot tell you how much I love Riggs and Veronica’s story! And there is another Jameson Force Security book coming December 14. Code Name: Disavowed is a second chance romance when Ladd McDermott goes to save his former fiancée after she is disavowed by the CIA.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed paperback of CODE NAME: TIARA (US only)

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Excerpt from Code Name: Tiara:

There are definitely two Camilles.
When I first got this assignment, I assumed there would only be one—a spoiled, bratty, entitled pain in the ass who would make my life a living hell.
She never turned out to be that.
On the contrary, throughout our travels in the United States, she proved to be genuine, humble, and down-to earth with a heart the size of Texas.
But now that we’re back in Bretaria, and I’m seeing her in her daily duties, I realize there is another Camille to behold.
Not a mere princess but a true representative of the crown. Someone who is stately, elegant, and gracious at all times. She is regal beyond measure and politically adept in all instances and yet refuses to let anyone treat her with less than the respect she deserves as a member of the royal family. On the business side, I’ve seen an inexhaustible work ethic, the ability to be magnanimous, but also the confidence to be ruthless when necessary.
She’s almost twenty-five going on fifty in her wisdom, grace, and abilities.
Every morning, I escort Camille to her private offices. I had my clothing moved into her room, and we get ready for our day together. That usually involves quality time in the shower, or me bending her over her bathroom vanity while she’s trying to do her makeup, but in the past four days since we’ve been back in Bretaria, no one has said a damn word about me coming out of her room every morning. The two agents stationed in the hallway each night don’t even make eye contact, and I’m not sure if that’s proper manners or if Dmitri has warned them all to mind their own business. He’s sort of inferred to me that as long as I do my job well, he doesn’t give a fuck what we do in our personal time.
The mere fact the king hasn’t thrown me in the dungeon probably means Dmitri is doing a good job keeping our secret.
In Camille’s private office, I take a chair in the corner so I am not a distraction. Sometimes I pretend to peruse my phone so she doesn’t think I’m bored, but I’m actually focused and attuned to her every action. I watch her take phone calls and meetings and direct her staff. Sometimes she meets with her father, either in his office or hers, and they often switch from talking about business to fond memories of something she did when she was a child. Thomas may be a little high-handed, but there’s no doubt he loves his daughter beyond measure.
I respect that.
Except for pressuring her to get married and have children. It’s ridiculous.
Antiquated.
Sexist.
More importantly, it sets her on a path to some destiny, hopefully filled with love and happiness, that doesn’t include me, and that chafes.
I asked Camille casually night before last just before falling asleep, “I know you wouldn’t, but what would happen if you gave all this up?”
“My father would designate someone else in the bloodline as heir.”
“That seems oversimplified,” I muttered in surprise.
“Yes,” she replied with a small laugh. “Very simple. But I’d never do it. It means too much to him, and it means even more to our people as the monarchy is sacred in Bretaria. And there’s so much good work to be done with our wealth and influence. After Jonesboro, I’m more committed than ever to build solutions.”
And if there was a sliver of hope hiding deep in my gut that she might walk away from the pressures and obligations, it died right there.
Three weeks ago, I would’ve laughed if you’d told me I’d be here frustrated and irate over the fact that I’ve started to fall for such a complicated woman. But fuck it all, I’m not the same man I was three weeks ago. Camille has changed me, and I don’t like the circumstances I find us in.

Book Info:

I joined Jameson Force Security for three reasons: the missions, the danger, and the money. I definitely didn’t join the team to be an overpriced babysitter for a spoiled princess. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you Jackson Gale is an adventurer through and through. Yet here I am, halfway across the world, watching over Princess Camille of the House Winterbourne. Even her name sounds stuck up.

After arriving in Bretaria, I realize that Princess Camille is nothing that I expected. Beautiful, smart, and sophisticated, Camille is the very picture of elegance and grace. But under her perfect façade, she is funny, adventurous, sexy as hell, and impossible to resist. And that is a dangerous combination.

The closer Camille and I become, the more obvious it is that while she and I are compatible in many ways, our destinies are not. She has a duty to the monarchy, and I’m just an average American who’s fallen for a princess. Everyone says we can’t be together, but how does one walk away from the other half of their heart?

Meet the Author:

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.

A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs.