Spotlight & Giveaway: The Duchess Effect by Tracey Livesay

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Tracey Livesay to HJ!

Hi Tracey and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Duchess Effect!

Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here with your wonderful readers.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

THE DUCHESS EFFECT, is the sequel to last summer’s American Royalty, which evokes the real-life romance between Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle, if Meghan was Megan Thee Stallion. Prince Jameson and American rapper Duchess have fallen in love, but that was the easy part. With everyone from the palace to Jameson’s job to the prospective buyers of Duchess’s company having an opinion on their relationship, will the intense international scrutiny be too much for their newfound love?
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

There are so many! But these are two I really like:

“That’s two people who felt the need to warn her about the Queen. What in the hell was about to happen? Should she be worried about some Get Out–type shit?
They did drink a lot of tea over here . . .”

“Always so controlled, her Jameson. But not with her. He tasted her, drank from her, as if every kiss before her was an unsatisfying experience and only she could ease the ache within.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I thought I’d done a lot of research on the royal family for the first book, but I had to do so much more for this book. Mainly because this book is more entrenched in the world of the royal family than American Royalty was.
• I loved writing the rap verses that were the headings for the chapters in Dani’s POV in American Royalty, but writing the media headlines for The Duchess Effect was really interesting. They’re all based on real headlines and more often than not, the real headlines were worse.
• Until writing this book, and the scene that happens about midway through it, I didn’t know those architectural structures on British estates, (like the one in the Pride & Prejudice movie with Matthew MacFadyen where Darcy first professes his love to Elizabeth) were called follies!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Since this is the second book in the series, Dani and Jameson are already a couple at the beginning. But in American Royalty, both would be the first to admit that the attraction was purely physical!

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

The scenes in the dressing room and the folly definitely had me blushing, but the black moment scene, with Dani and Jameson had me crying each time I read it.

[Jameson] sighed and his shoulders slumped forward. “I’ve thought a lot about this total control you want over your life. But that shouldn’t be surprising because I think about you all the time. You factor into everything I do. Every action I take. Every decision I make. It’s a wonder I have the brain space to devote to anything else.”
Her heart squeezed at the stark vulnerability of his words.
“But that control, it’s a fantasy.”
“No—”
“None of us have it. My grandmother is the queen of England, and she has to answer to an entire nation. We’re here, in part, because she’s lived her life, privileged as it is, deathly afraid the British people were going to get rid of her.”
[Dani] crossed her arms over her chest, her mouth suddenly dry. “It’s different.”
“It’s not, love. And I can guarantee you, as long as you deal with other people, you’ll never be truly autonomous. There will always be someone you have to answer to, someone’s feelings that will have to be factored into your decisions. You’re not a woman on an island all alone.”
He’d never get how different it was for her.
“Then I guess we should end it now, before anyone else gets hurt. We’re too different. And thinking we could make this work was naive.”
“Too late. Because if you leave, I won’t be hurt, I’ll be devastated.”

Readers should read this book….

if they want to have a good time getting swept up in a world of glamour and royal intrigue. Duchess and Jameson are fire together, with off the charts chemistry. Who wouldn’t want to watch them achieve their HEA?
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

Several years ago I participated in a holiday anthology and so I’m finally going to publish my novella from it. And then its on to the third book in my Girls Trip series.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 3 copies of THE DUCHESS EFFECT, US only.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: How do you feel about the public scrutiny around celebrity relationships? Do you think there should be limits? Or do you think being a public figure makes it all fair game?

 
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Excerpt from The Duchess Effect:

“I’m exhausted,” Dani said. “You know, the jet lag is catching up with me. Yesterday I was in the Middle East. At least I think it was yesterday…”
“Of course.” Jameson felt like a right prick, grilling her when she was certainly ready to crash. “I understand. Get some rest. I’ll check on you soon.”
“Yeah,” she said, biting her bottom lip.
He groaned. “Stop that. We agreed that was my job from now on.”
There was that smile he loved. The tightness in his chest eased. He rose from the window seat and rounded the small writing table that served as his desk when he was here.
“Hey Jay? There’s something else.”
“Do tell.”
“Remember how I said I’d be able to visit you at the end of next week?”
Remember? The fact was tattooed on his brain. He’d had three weeks of waking up with her in his arms or curled against him like an appendage he’d grown overnight. Of not being denied the privilege of giving her pleasure whenever the mood struck the both of them. These five days apart had seemed endless. Knowing he’d see her soon was what had been getting him through it.
That vise in his chest constricted. “Have you changed your mind?”
“Sort of. What if I could shorten that time frame?”
Excitement overtook him and it was all he could do not to throw his fists in the air in triumph, as if he’d scored the winning goal in the final match of the Queen’s Cup polo tournament.
“By how much?”
“I can be there in a few days.”
His heart beat maniacally against the protection of his ribcage, as if it sensed her impending presence and wanted to be physically closer to her.
Get in line, mate.
“Love, you’ve just made my day.”
Her eyes flashed and her lashes lowered. “I can’t wait to see you. I’ve been thinking about you so much. More specifically, what I want to do to you.”
The temperature in the room rose ten degrees. His cock throbbed. “You always have my attention. Now even more so.”
What this woman did to him!
He settled back, getting comfortable. This wouldn’t even be the first time that thoughts of her caused him to stroke himself to completion in one of his home offices.
“Are you home, baby?” she asked, her mind appearing to run along the same lines as his.
“I’m in my apartment at Kensington Palace.”
She moaned and the guttural sound of pleasure roused all of his nerve endings. “We never did spend any time there together. Would you like to pre-christen it with a little solo play?”
Fuck yeah.
He slid his hand down along the imprint of the bulge in his—
A knock at the door ripped through his growing sexual haze.
Bloody hell.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Against all odds, sexy American rapper, Danielle “Duchess” Nelson and brilliant reclusive royal Prince Jameson have fallen in love! They’ve decided to take their relationship public and find a way to make their two worlds coexist. On their terms.
Unfortunately, falling in love was the easy part.
Jameson and Dani’s love story has made them the most popular royals since Prince John, but that popularity comes with a price. Dani looks forward to signing the deal with a major cosmetics company that will make her skin care line, Mela-Skin, a force in the industry, and finally grant her the control over her life she’s craved since childhood. But the company wants to take advantage of their fame and involve Jameson in Mela-Skin’s marketing campaign. Dani is outraged! Her company has nothing to do with Jameson.
After stepping up for the royal family, Jameson yearns to retreat back into academia. But he’s fired when his university raises concerns about his newfound notoriety. And suddenly the queen, initially against the relationship, backtracks, seeking their cooperation when the family is embroiled in yet another scandal. This isn’t the quiet life Jameson was hoping for.
Dani and Jameson truly love each other. But under the scrutiny of the international spotlight, when the doubts, compromises, and secrets begin to take their toll, will their love be enough?
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Meet the Author:

Tracey Livesay’s latest release, THE DUCHESS EFFECT, is the sequel to last summer’s American Royalty, which evokes the real-life romance between Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle, if Meghan was Megan Thee Stallion. She is the 2021 Emma Award winner for Best Interracial Romance for Like Lovers Do, which was also named one of the 100 Best Fiction Books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. A former criminal defense attorney, she lives in Virginia with her husband—who she met on the very first day of law school—and is counting down the days until they have an empty nest. (Don’t worry, their three kids are well aware.)
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