Blog Blitz Bonanza -King of Nothing

This month, I’ve participated in several book tours and blog blitz promotions to help authors get exposure to their work. I’ve also featured some guest bloggers, such as Neill McKee, who visited last month and upcoming visitor Rosanne McHenry, who will be discussing how to choose a good book cover. I’ll also be doing a book review of her new release Tales from a Rogue Ranger. I just finished a book review on the incredible Mercy and Grace.

Today’s blitz is for King of Nothing by author Paula Dombrowiak. This bonanza hosted by Xpresso Book Tours includes a giveaway for a $25 gift card, so be sure to participate. Keep reading to find out about this new book release.

Book and Author Details

King of Nothing
by Paula Dombrowiak
(Kingmaker Series, #1)
Publication date: March 12th 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Check it out on Goodreads and grab your copy on Amazon, 

Synopsis

I’m not the sort of girl you take home to meet your parents.
But our marriage of convenience is the perfect revenge…
I find Darren Walker drowning himself in expensive whiskey. Young, handsome, and educated, he’s the playboy son of a U.S. Senator, and his father’s sudden death has hit him harder than expected.
When he offers me millions of dollars to marry him, I want to tell him that I can’t be bought.
But of course, that’s not true, and Darren is prepared to play dirty.
He’s made it his life’s mission to squander his potential in order to avoid living in his father’s shadow. But if he wants to see even one cent of his trust fund, he needs a wife. And not just any wife will do.

Ours will purely be a marriage of convenience, and I’m going to be his final, perfect revenge.
My name is Evangeline Bowen, and I’m an escort to the rich and powerful. But soon I’ll be the wife of a Senator’s
son, who thinks he knows all my dark secrets.
All of them, except for one…
King of Nothing is the first book in The Kingmaker trilogy, a steamy marriage of convenience romance full of
political scandal. The books must be read in order for the best reader experience.

Excerpt 1

“Your parents are dead, and you trash a hotel room.” His blue eyes look past me as he adds on, “And apparently fuck hookers.” 

I follow his gaze to see Evangeline coming from the bedroom, her hair still wet and dripping onto her shoulders while she holds her shoes.

“What makes you think I’m a hooker?” she asks as she slips on her heels.

Rausch assesses her carefully, his mouth pressed firmly in a tight line. “An educated guess.” 

“Jesus Christ, Darren. Do you know how much this will cost to fix?” Rausch gestures dramatically to the trashed room. I notice the TV mounted on the wall is cracked, and I just now remember that I hit it on my way out of the room last night, looking down at my knuckles to notice the bruises only just now.

“Just have the hotel send me the bill.” 

“Money is not going to fix this,” Rausch yells, “especially when you don’t have any.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

Alistair straightens. “Can we just calm down?” 

“I don’t think either of you fuckups really understand the gravity of the situation,” Rausch spits, pinching his eyebrows as if he’s talking to two disorderly students instead of two grown men. “Your parents are dead, and not only is that a difficult situation for Congress, but it also means your money – your parent’s money,” he makes a point to say, “is tied up in probate.”

“Can you – just stop saying that?” I throw my hands up.

“That your parents are dead? No, because the sooner you wake up and join reality, the better.”

“What do you mean, there’s no money?” 

“The money is locked up in probate.”

“What the fuck do you mean, probate?” I question, staring at Rausch with my chest heaving.

“You went to law school; did they not teach you about probate law?” Rausch doesn’t rattle easily, that’s why he got the reputation he has. Unbreakable, formidable, and effective – The Kingmaker.

Of course I know about probate law, and that means my parents money could be frozen anywhere from six months to two years.

I’m mad at Rausch for being the only one I have right now. I’m mad at myself for being such a fuckup. I’m mad at the pilot for crashing the helicopter. I’m mad that I feel anything. 

“Is that what you think I’m worried about?” I ask him.

“You have worried about no one else but yourself, Darren, your whole life,” Rausch lectures. “What do you think your mother would say if she saw you right now?” His eyes travel south, and then over to Evangeline, who is still standing next to me, eyeing the exit that is still blocked by the security guard. 

“This is what I’m talking about.” Rausch points to the overturned table. “It’s exactly why your parents put stipulations in their wills.”

I pull on the shorts and toss my hair out of my eyes. “Stipulations?” I ask, cautiously.

“Yes, Darren. If you weren’t being such a fucking child, you would listen to me,” Rausch continues, and he’s right. I don’t want to listen to him, but he has me in a stranglehold right now, like a boa constrictor around my neck. Worse yet, he knows it.

My father rarely discussed business with me, and he certainly didn’t make me privy to his will or his wishes, should something happen to him. He certainly wasn’t anticipating dying in a helicopter crash with my mom and leaving me alone to figure things out. 

When I look at Rausch I take that back, because my father did anticipate such things, he just put Rausch in charge—not me. He never would have trusted me to handle his estate. Right now, I’m at Rausch’s mercy, so I keep my mouth shut while the anger burns through me.

“You don’t get any money until you’re thirty years old,” Rausch says, and then after a dramatic pause, adds, “or married.”

Jesus fuck!

He’ll make me beg, give me condescending lectures, and torture me for the next three fucking years. My heart sinks into my stomach, and Rausch can see it all on my face – the realization that he owns me. A satisfied smirk appears on his mouth.

Perhaps if I had been the good son, stayed out of trouble, listened to him more, prayed at the altar of Emerson, who he loved so fucking much, maybe then he wouldn’t have put Rausch in charge of his affairs.

I narrow my eyes at Rausch because I’ve never been known to back down from a fight, and I still have skin in this game. It’s an impulsive move, but dire situations require dire action. I grab Evangeline, pulling her to my side. “Well, isn’t it convenient that my fiancée is right here?”

King of Nothing Excerpt 2

The tilt of her head causes fine pieces of hair to caress the side of her neck, and I want to run my finger over the arch, across her shoulder, and push the strap of her dress down so I can kiss the top of it, but I don’t. Instead, I hold my breath, wondering what she’s thinking, because her silence is killing me… and every moment she breathes instead of speaks causes a painful beat of my heart.

“It’s Emerson,” I say, stepping forward to stand next to her.

“I know,” she says with a hint of humor.

“You don’t like it?” I ask. “Because we can go back if you…”

“Shut up, Darren.” 

I do as I’m told, shoving my hands in my pockets and rocking back on my heels. She looks at the photograph as if she’s memorizing every detail, and I find myself jealous of her attention to something other than me.

When I can’t stand the silence anymore, I ask, “He’s not a particularly good-looking gentleman is he?” 

The profile accentuates his large nose and prominent chin. I realize I’ve never studied what Emerson looked like, only his words. But now, scrutinizing his picture, I can see why.

“It’s not just about someone’s physical appearance,” she says without looking away from the photograph, “it’s his words; what’s in his heart, and how he lives his life,” she continues. “I think he’s kind of beautiful.”

The way she talks about Emerson is hypnotizing – describing what’s below skin and muscle to one’s soul is the true meaning of beauty. 

The piece of Emerson I used to hate belonged to my father – self-righteous and hypocritical. She strips away all the awful parts, allowing me to see a new version of him. Just as she threatens to make me fall in love with him, I begin to wonder.

“Who made you fall in love with Emerson?” I ask, and she finally turns to face me, her wide blue eyes filled with trepidation, and I feel as though my question has hit the vulnerable muscle between bone and tendon like the piercing of an arrow. 

“Who says I’m in love with Emerson?” she asks, and it’s not lost on me that she’s evading my question, but I’m too distracted by the way her body moves and the red silk of her dress that leaves little to the imagination to keep hold of my thoughts.

“No love can be bound by oath or covenant to secure it against a higher love,” I provide her with a particularly lovely quote by Emerson.

“Nobody talks like that anymore,” she says, a romanticism in her eyes and her voice that makes me sad, because I’ve lost that innocence—or maybe I never had it to begin with—but I want a piece of it. I want to sink my teeth into it and shiver from its sweetness.

“It’s a dead language, like Latin,” I muse.

“Not dead. Just lost.” 

I sniff, loosening my bowtie and spinning around the room to look at all of the other framed photographs and paintings. “Have you ever had a client recite poetry to you in bed?” I ask. “Is that a kink?” 

“That’s a vulgar question.”

“I’m a vulgar man.”

Author Bio

Paula Dombrowiak grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois but currently lives in Arizona. She is the author of
Blood and Bone, her first adult romance novel which combines her love of music and imperfect relationships. Paula is a lifelong music junkie, whose wardrobe consists of band T-shirts and leggings which are perpetually covered in pet hair. She is a sucker for a redeemable villain, bad boys, and the tragically flawed. Music inspires her storytelling.

Author Links

https://www.pauladombrowiak.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3927865483902992/
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/paula-dombrowiak
https://facebook.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4c7df62fd27f859a1385296d1&id=e672b7110e
https://www.instagram.com/pauladombrowiakauthor/
https://twitter.com/PDombrowiak
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20529493.Paula_Dombrowiak

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Check out my other book reviews and my participation in blog blitz promotions through Xpresso Book Tours.

• Handsome Devil – blitz tour
• Mercy and Grace – book review
• The Space Between Us – blitz tour
• Awakening – blitz tour
• Catch and Release – blitz tour
• The Belle of London – blitz tour
• Seven Perfect Days – blitz tour
• Slashed Potatoes and Grave-y – blitz tour
• Write Out Loud – book review
• The Algorithm Will See You Now – book review
• Savage Passion – blitz tour