CROWN OF LIES
Series: Crown of Lies Duet #1
Genre: Dark Romance
Author: Pepper Winters
Release Date: January 31, 2017
“I met the boy 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.”
Noelle Charlston lived a fairy-tale life: a doting father, a powerful job, and a future blessed with financial security.
However, two meetings with two men changed her happy existence forever. First, she met the boy who made her heart sing. Second, she met the man who made her blood quiver.
Noelle’s freedom was no longer hers. It belonged to the man her father believed was the perfect match. The man who pulled his lies over everyone he touched.
Including her.Seduced and manipulated, Noelle lives two lives. The one everyone sees on the outside and the one no one sees on the inside. The lies he spins, the truth he hides, the mystery he webs—it’s all enough to slowly erode the woman she’d been and turn her into something else.
Until her past collides with her present.
And it’s her turn to lie.
To everyone…including herself.
Thieves can become saints. Saints can become thieves. Most of us deserve a second chance.
Without fail, this woman’s writing managed to blow me away once again. Lies wrapped in truth. Truths wrapped in thinly veiled threats. A mysterious draw wrapped in animal magnetism. This book completely owned me. It hypnotized. It enraptured. It was pure literary magic, weaving a story so spellbinding, it was impossible to put down.
It could be said that Noelle Charlston lives a charmed life. Growing up in luxury and set to inherit a retail empire, she wants for almost nothing…except a taste of normalcy. The youngest CEO in the history of the company, she may be rich, but she’s not a stranger to hard work. She barely leaves her office and her work is all she knows and all she does. Yearning for just a few hours of normal, she makes a decision that irrevocably changes the course of her life.
Now three years have passed since that fateful night that she’ll never forget. She’s a little older, a lot wiser, and even more disillusioned. Given up on love and finding a man that will want her for more than her money and empire, she’s lost herself in her work…until a man demands her attention in a way that’s impossible to ignore.
This man is pure animal magnetism wrapped in alluring confidence. He’s not used to hearing no and he won’t take it for an answer. The sparks fly between them; a mix of antagonism and undeniable chemistry. A hate lust so strong, it practically burns through the pages.
He wants to own her. She’s her own woman. He’s determined to break her. She knows no man ever will. He’s determined to mark her. She refuses to let him close enough. What takes place is a back and forth that’s so delicious, it was enrage you as much as it will captivate you.
The story is flawlessly written in Pepper’s signature fluid and lyrical style. It kept me glued to the pages from beginning to end, completely incapable of putting it down. I read this in one sitting while trying to savor every word because I didn’t want it to end.
This is book one in a duet, and I’m already vibrating to get my hands on the conclusion. If you’re a fan of this author, this book is not to be missed.
The conclusion, THRONE OF TRUTH, is releasing on February 28
I say when we are done and we are not. Not by a long shot. You’ve been taunting me for months. Years, pet. Now that you got my undivided attention, you can’t say you don’t want it. You can’t back down. I won’t allow it. You’ve been asking for it. For me. This is what you get: me. I’ll tie you down and fuck you so thoroughly you will be limp by the time I’m done with you.
Do you like broody, protective uber alphas who prefer monosyllabic conversations unless they’re in bed and letting their inner caveman do the talking? Do you like sassy as hell heroines that give as good as they get and have more zingers than an episode of SNL? Do you like a sizzling hot sexual chemistry that brews even hotter with a slow burn sort of pace the author sets? Do you like your erotica written perfectly balanced with an addicting sort of story and a dash of suspense thrown in? Well lucky day! Because do I have the book for you!
If you’ve read the previous books in this series, then you’ll remember Elle Cooper, Tate Cooper’s sister and now James Bowen’s sister-in-law? If you haven’t, no worries, because you can easily read this book as a standalone and not be even slightly lost. Jack Copeland is James’s shadowy and grumpy friend that now has a tie to Elle that he’s not too happy about. The woman infuriates him almost as much as she turns him on. And Elle absolutely loves to tease Jack to within an inch of his sanity.
Jack does an upstanding job avoiding all things Elle, until the day where Elle lands in life threatening trouble and Jack is determined to protect her at all costs. He’ll do his job and walk away afterwards, but Elle is determined to make him lose all reason and patience in the process.
I gobbled up this book with a pervy sort of glee I haven’t felt in a long while. I loved these two together. Nothing beats a good hate/love scenario for me, and boy do these two serve that up on a silver platter. You can’t help but love Elle even if she lands herself in scenarios where you’ll want to throttle her. Jack is everything I love in an alpha; broody, slightly crass, protective, and a dirty, dirty man in bed.
I had loved Jared once, but now I knew, without a doubt, that “my Jared” was gone.
God. This book. I mean, THIS BOOK. Words fail me to describe just how much I loved this. I’ve had this in my kindle for what feels like ages since I got it as a freebie way back in 2013. I’ve seen it making the rounds on Goodreads and for some reason I still hadn’t read it. If I can kick my own ass for not reading this sooner, I would, because this book? This book reminded me about all the reasons why I fell in love with New Adult romance to begin with. And I’m not talking about the manufactured angst, stupid decisions, at at times gratuitous sex scenes. No. I’m talking that all-encompassing feeling, just the right amount of gut-wrenching angst, you hate but love the hero, and you want to high five the heroine kind of read. It was like it was custom written just for me.
I can’t remember the last time a book kept me up all night, completely incapable of setting it down for even a second because I needed to know what happened next. I was sucked in from just the first chapter and read this in one sitting. This is exactly the kind of angst that I’m starving for. Imperfectly perfect, rage inducing and yet flawless. That probably doesn’t even make sense, but if you’re an angst whore like me, you’ll know what I mean. My absolute favorite trope is the enemies-to-lovers, hate/lust thing and Bully delivers that in spades. While there were parts I wanted more from, I still can’t rate it down for that simply because this book absolutely enthralled me. So much so, that I couldn’t even bat an eyelash at any minor quibbles it may have had.
