Crown of Lies by Pepper Winters
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“I met the man I wanted. But then he vanished, and a new man claimed me instead. My father approved, my colleagues congratulated, and behind closed doors, I was bedded by a stranger.”
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Noelle Charlston lives a fairy-tale life: a doting father, a powerful job, and a future blessed with financial security.
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However, two meetings with two men changes her happy existence forever. First, she meets the man who makes her heart sing. Three years later, she meets the man who makes her blood quiver.
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Broken-hearted from a teenage romance, Noelle’s freedom is no longer hers. It belongs to the stranger her father believes is her perfect match. The stranger who pulls his lies over everyone he touches.
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Including her.
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Seduced and manipulated, Noelle gives into the mysterious Penn Everett. The lies he spins, the truth he hides, the mystery he weaves—it’s all enough to slowly erode the woman she is and turn her into something else.
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Until her past collides with her present.
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And it’s her turn to lie.
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To everyone…including herself.
Crown of Lies
Hero or Villain?
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌏
Character development: 😬😍🥴😮🥰
The heroine: Noelle “Elle” Charlston – lived a fairytale existence even after her mother died when she was young. She was the precious daughter and heir of a wealthy CEO of the worlds largest department store chain called Belle Elle that has been in the family for generations and she is considered American Royalty.
The Heroes: The hooded man & Penn Everett – The hooded man is a possible superhero, possible vigilante, savior and heartthrob. Penn Everett arrives in New York three years later. He is dressed expensively and says he came to New York because his benefactor was ill and came for medical treatment.
The Story: Elle is a pampered princess, loved above all else by her father, from a very young age she has gone to work with her father, learning the business she is one day going to run from the ground up. On her nineteenth birthday, she has never gone out in New York on her own and never broken free from her gilded world for even a moment, so she takes off on her own for a day of fun, only to end up nearly being raped by two ruffians in a dirty alley.
She is saved by a man in a black hoodie, who and takes her to Central Park. Elle is extremely attracted to the man, though he obviously came from a rough background and was potentially homeless. He was her first kiss, first sensual experience. They had an adventure and she never even knew his name. Though she feels guilt for years after not being able to find him.
Fast forward three years, Elle is now in charge of Belle Elle and has become a workaholic, type A personality and quite a man hater. She doesn’t want a man who thinks to use her as a way to improve his career choices and pocketbook. Her father tries to fix her up with Penn Everett, who she sees as an arrogant jerk and a liar. Yet Penn is determined to have her. He wants to control her and she, who is in in control all the time in her life, wants to give up control.
The book was narrated by Kylie Stewart and Eric Rolon. It was done in duet narration where Eric did all the male voices and Kylie did all the female voices. This is my favorite type of narration and I really liked both of their voices. Kylie has a youthful voice which was perfect for Elle and Eric has a deep authoritative voice and was great at dirty talk.
“For your information, I’m not married and I prefer my dates with tits rather than balls!”
I liked Penn, he was an unabashed liar, but he also spoke the straight and unvarnished truth. This was a super steamy romance with hot and sexy intimate scenes. The two main characters fight and bicker but have explosive chemistry. Elle is a strong businesswoman, but is sexually naïve and doesn’t quite know how to handle Penn. Her one experience with the hooded man left her with a schoolgirl crush for years and Penn is a man in every way.
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
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