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The King of Nothing – Romantic Comedy Ebook
The King of Nothing – Romantic Comedy Ebook
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🎸 Walk the Line meets 👠 Miss Congeniality — a smart romantic comedy that invites you to rediscover the magic of a great love story.
🏆 2024 Firebird Award — 1st Place Winner: Romantic Comedy
🥈 2024 American Writing Awards Finalist: Romance
🥈 2024 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards — 2nd Place Winner: Romance
🥈 2024 Literary Titan Silver Book Award
⭐ 2025 Kirkus Reviews — “Get It!” Editorial Review Verdict
This is the ebook for The King of Nothing by Liv O'Day - an award-winning romantic comedy novel about a college dropout and a reclusive rockstar navigating a year-long contractual cohabitation in Malibu, California. With sharp wit, raw emotional realism, and a mold-breaking exploration of the rockstar romance subgenre, this strangers-to-spouses slow burn is the perfect beach read for book lovers experiencing romance genre fatigue from formulaic plots, flat characters, and bad writing. The King of Nothing is a snort-out-loud, tearjerking, truly organic love story that explores family, failure, and authenticity in a world obsessed with appearances.
Perfect for fans of Emily Henry who crave a bookworm romance with more teeth, and for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid who long for a literary love story with a sweet note.
What you get:
📖 The King of Nothing ebook - high quality, professionally formatted, and instant download - start reading in minutes
🎧 Bonus Gift: The King of Nothing book playlist listening guide in both ebook and printable formats. Author Note: As a rockstar romance, music is the beating heart of Ruth and Seba's world. The chapter titles are the book playlist, so I've put together a handy guide to help you listen as you read. The music is 80s-themed, baked into the DNA of the world like James Gunn & Guardians of the Galaxy, and designed to deepen sensory immersion into the reading experience
🔥 Flagrantly funny, low spice, feel-good romance with sharp meta explorations of the rockstar romance subgenre and fake marriage trope
The story:
Ruth Clark is one paycheck away from running out of road. She works in Malibu for an aging Hollywood diva, lives in a glorified shed in the hills, and has spent three years pretending she's still on track for Stanford grad school. She's not. She never even finished undergrad. Nobody knows — and she'd like to keep it that way.
Then she wakes up with her face smooshed on a toilet in a stranger's bathroom with a hangover from hell and twenty-seven pages of legal paperwork. Apparently, last night she signed a 369-day fake-marriage contract with none other than Sebastian Bontrager — the runaway rockstar whose brother just died on tour. Walking away costs them each millions they don't have. This accidental fake marriage is a dangerous game cooked up by Seba's out-of-touch famous friends, and the legal contract is binding. For Ruth and Seba, there is no way out but through.
They’ve both been hiding from the world. Now, these total strangers have no choice but to step into the spotlight as a couple. Can they work together to outwit this sinister marriage scheme, or will they fall apart in front of the flashing lights?
Some lies you can't take back, and some loves are never meant to be. Can Ruth and Seba rewrite this sad song, or are they doomed to sing it softly to the end?
Perfect for readers who crave an Emily Henry read with more teeth, or who long for a Taylor Jenkins Reid literary love story with a sweet note.
This book is for you if you love:
- Romantic comedy novels with dramatic undertones and a touch of suspense
- Finely edited, literary-quality prose
- Deep POV that feels immediate and immersive
- Complex emotional storytelling with studied psychological responses
- Refreshingly unfiltered, unapologetic humor
- Deeply researched, realistic depictions of places, professions, and activities (i.e. the author took surf lessons to write realistic surf scenes🌊)
- Fantastic wish-fulfilling circumstances deliciously contrasted with familiar contemporary settings
- Narratives inspired by a blend of firsthand experience, primary & secondary sources, and unhinged imagination
The perfect gift for book lovers who also enjoy:
🎵 Tastefully curated book playlists that are baked into the DNA of the story, not just tacked-on Top 100 hits, and add fresh dimensions of meaning and delight to the reading experience and allow you to reconnect with Ruth and Seba wherever you listen to music
🩷 Supporting indie authors and women-owned businesses directly - no corporate middlemen, no AI slop. Every purchase directly supports my next publication.
💡 Compelling story & product innovation outside traditional publishing and editorial censorship - Author Note: I seek to write your next favorite romantic comedy, full stop, and I believe the best way to achieve that is to retain full creative control. By publishing independently, I never have to appeal to anyone other than readers like you. It means I can promise that my writing will never be censored, constrained to commercial formulas, or ghost-written, and I can push the romantic comedy genre and book publication methods to exciting new heights. Like Walt Disney said: “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main…and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”
Technical Specifications
- Publication Date: August 27, 2024
- Compatible Apps & E-Readers: Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Google Play Books, Browser reading, BookFunnel reading app
- Available Formats: EPUB, PDF, and Legacy MOBI
- File Size: 1.3 MB
- Print Length: 448 pages
- Language: American English
- E-Book ISBN: 979-8-9910604-1-7
Delivery & Support
Once purchased, you will receive an email from help@bookfunnel.com with your download link. If you have any trouble, click the help link at the top of the BookFunnel page and the team will be happy to assist.
If you did not receive your download email, visit: https://bookfunnel.com/help
I really enjoyed The King of Nothing! Looking forward to reading other stories by this author.
Thank you Jeanette!! We're so glad you did. Happy reading❤
A wedding crasher accidentally finds herself in a fake relationship with a famous guitarist in O’Day’s debut romance novel. Ruth Clark has hit rock bottom. Her roommate Georgie has left her high and dry, her job as a personal assistant to elderly Hollywood actress Carol Ann Noble is a complete pain, and her prospects seem dim. Keen for an escape, Ruth sneaks into a fancy wedding at the property where she lodges. Drunk and eager not to blow her cover, she signs what she thinks is a waiver and ends up, due to the machinations of wedding organizer and model Griselda, married to the reclusive rockstar Sebastian Bontrager, known as King Seba. Seba is hiding from the world after the death of his brother Abel, and he has problems with his father. Ruth and Seba collide in a twist on the fake dating and forced proximity tropes of romance novels that finds O’Day exploring issues of mental health and grief through her complex main characters. The contrast between Seba’s rich circle of friends and Ruth’s struggle to make ends meet (which she hides to fit in) is compelling, mainly because the characters all have their human concerns, no matter how privileged they are: “On this beautiful beach, with these beautiful people and room to think, she was slowly coming around to the fact that there weren’t any magic erasers.” While the novel is enjoyable, there are patches in which O’Day’s writing style makes the story hard to follow—her words move so quickly, with unexpected details thrown in, that it can be difficult for the reader to try to catch up. However, Ruth and Seba’s love story will have the reader rooting for the characters to find happiness in each other and leave them yearning for more.
Thank you for your honest, glowing feedback, Kirkus! We know as an industry leader that you have a reputation of honesty to uphold, and we don't take this wonderful review for granted. We genuinely appreciate your review.
Liv O'Day's debut novel is a smashing success. Her writing style is deliciously addictive. I often found myself rereading sentences and paragraphs just to re-savor her prose a second time. Each time I finished a chapter I couldn't wait to begin another.
A common fault of the Rom-Com genre is that it is often filled with stories that are either too sappy, unintelligent, or both. Not so with Liv O'Day's debut novel. Her bold and brave entrance into authorhood is thoughtful and clever. It's one of those rare books that are so hard to put down because you can't wait to read what happens next. I am very much looking forward to her second release. I relish smart, well crafted plots.
Thank you thank you Dan! We really appreciate your glowing words. They mean the world.
Set against the backdrop of modern California living, follow Ruth on a journey of self-discovery, love, and friendship, all told in a style reminiscent of Jane Austen.
Thank you so much Ashlee!
The King of Nothing, by Liv O'Day, spins a captivating tale of two strangers, Seba and Ruth, whose lives become unexpectedly intertwined through an impulsive social experiment. Ruth, shaken by a heated altercation with her roommate and best friend, decides to crash a wedding in search of distraction. But what she crashes is far from an ordinary wedding celebration. Instead, she wins an unusual prize, and in a state of drunken exuberance, signs legally binding documents she doesn't fully comprehend. At its core, The King of Nothing is a romance set in the sun-kissed landscapes of Malibu, California. The novel explores the powerful theme of how honesty leads to true freedom. Ruth's story is marked by her struggle to confront the truths she's buried out of fear. [Line omitted due to Spoilers] To protect these secrets, she even takes on medical debt rather than reveal the truth to her family. Yet when [Line omitted due to Spoilers].
Liv O'Day's vivid descriptions bring Malibu to life, immersing readers in a story charged with emotional intensity. Her use of dynamic imagery and heartfelt dialogue pulls you into Ruth and Seba's tumultuous journey. The text is organized in a way that enhances readability, with strategic font changes that make it easy to distinguish between present events and flashbacks. I do feel that the frequent reliance on flashbacks detracts somewhat from the narrative's flow. I would love to have certain pivotal scenes unfold in real time. Experiencing these moments directly could have added immediacy and tension to the storyline, deepening the reader's engagement.
The King of Nothing succeeds as an emotionally rich, engaging romance. O'Day's storytelling balances humor, heartache, and hope, making it a memorable read. Ruth's evolution-from a woman paralyzed by her past to one empowered by the truth-is as inspiring as it is poignant. This novel is a testament to the healing power of honesty and the transformative nature of love.
Thank you Literary Titan for offering such a comprehensive honest review! A line that stuck out to me: 'O'Day’s storytelling balances humor, heartache, and hope, making it a memorable read.'