Logan Crowne needs one year from Ella.Twelve months living in his house, holding his hand, wearing his ring on her finger, and in exchange, she’ll get her father’s company in the divorce settlement.They have one year to convince his skeptical parents that they’re happily in love, and he’s settled enough to run Crowne Industries.Ella wants the company badly enough to live with a man who will never … who will never love her. She’ll sleep in his room and kiss him for show.
Her heart may melt whenever he’s around, and his touch may ignite a fire inside her, but surrender will break her heart.
She’s sure she can last a year without giving him her body.
She’s wrong.
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The delicious story of Logan and Ella!
This was a yum read. So full of sexiness. So full of love. All of it.
Logan, of course like all Ms Reiss’ characters is delicious. His dad gives him a time out running the company of Crowne Industries. He gives him an ultimatum. Get out. Have fun. Get married. Get married? Well ya. He doesn’t even know where to start. He lives and breathes Crowne Industries. He has no idea how to find a wife in such a short period of time.
Ella has been working with her step mom at her fathers clothing shop for years. Ever since she could remember. After her father passed away her step mom took over and made it a living hell
Logan needs a wife and Ella needs money to buy out her step mom. Perfect! All they have to do is pretend and not fall in love. One year. Divorce. They both get what they want. Or do they?!
Always awesome characters. Story is fun and sexy. Couldn’t be better!
* can be read as a stand alone.
CD Reiss
I love Logan and Ella! Logan has everything in his life planned out. He soon learns not everything stays that way though. Great storyline and characters! I highly recommend this book!
*Magic Beyond The Covers Book Blog*
Strong, independent female leads are always my favorite characters in a film or in a book. When I had read the first book in CD Reiss’ Crowne books, “Iron Crowne,” I immediately wanted to read about the other brothers, especially after the epilogue (which was the first chapter here on “Crowne of Lies.” BTW, if you hadn’t read the first book, it’s okay, they are perfectly understandable as stand alone books.
Reiss introduces Ella Papillion in “Crowne of Lies.” She’s a rebel, a cynic, an artist, a daughter, and a desperate woman. She’s leading a secret organization of artists who stage lavish and illegal art installations, but she’s also trying to live up to her dead father’s fashion legacy. She’s fighting to keep his company profitable, despite her stepmother’s ineligibility as the company’s head. On the flip side, Logan Crowne is a workaholic. In a pseudo-Cinderella plot, his father deems him only worthy to truly lead the Crowne Industries’ vast businesses when he’s married. As any rich heir would do, he, of course, marries the first woman desperate enough to do so.
The little plot twist, I find, however, is that Ella wasn’t really in a tight, desperate position. She seemed to be coasting along really well on a lot of anger and hatred against her evil stepmom (who was eventually redeemed in the story), and looked like she relished carrying ginormous chips on her shoulder. She just provided a bit of drama and a lot of life for the otherwise boring character that was Logan Crowne. IMO, the lies that both Logan and Ella told and lived were very clichéd – and, yes, I blame Logan’s dad. That stupid ultimatum and Logan’s inability to recognize that he was not living a well-balanced life made up the start of their joint lies. However, Ella’s personal lies to herself also impeded her own growth. Adulting was kinda hard for her, as her problems were ones she didn’t adjust all that well to as a kid. Together, however, Logan and Ella’s lying brought them a love and a partnership they never saw coming. Ella’s l’il dramas were annoying, I must admit, but hey, without them, “Crowne of Lies” wouldn’t be such a page turner (i.e., I wanted to quickly find out how Reiss was going to resolve the dilemmas her characters created for themselves).
Crowne of Lies
“Let’s hurt each other. Let’s hurt each other so bad we walk out of this thing on broken legs, screaming in pain. When it’s over, I want to be praying for death and wishing I could do it all over again.”
Contract marriage, one thing that people never think will turn out the best. This one however, well this one is for the naughty bookshelf you keep in your book room.
Logan needs a wife, but not just any wife, he needs Ella. Sweet, free spirted Ella to convince his parents he is happily married to keep what is his. Logan is a stuffy, hard working bore, but underneath all that beats the heart of a red blooded male ready to make this “fake” married real. The chemistry flares hot between the pair and when things finally start going their way, the lies shake the foundation they have slowly built. Emotions that they tried to keep out their “fake” relationship bleed through and the pair navigate through the mind field of truth over lies and a newfound trust.
Jump into CD’s book of adventure, love, lies and passion. Logan and Ella light up the pages with their story and it’s one readers with surely love!
Logan and Ella were stunning in this marriage of convenience romance. Logan Crowne has spent his life hustling to earn the right to take over the family company. The only thing standing in his way? His parents insist he settle his personal life – get married – first.
In a bid to do just that he finds a woman as eager for a marriage of convenience as he is. Ella, a free-spirited artist/fashion designer looking to regain her fathers fashion company, fits the bill perfectly. With a comprehensive set of rules, they set out to spend the next year convincing Logan’s family of their relationships authenticity.
Logan – ever the straight-laced rule follower – may have had the best laid plans, but nothing is ever guaranteed. Despite their stark differences, he and Ella grow closer the more they learn about each other. The situation gets even more complicated as Logan’s family becomes quite taken with Ella and show joy for Logans new relationship.
Keeping this secret under wraps will be impossible for even the most savvy business man … and as their relationship moves from fake to real, airing the secret might be the only way to move forward and develop something REAL.
I loved Ella’s hot-mess express eccentricity and how Logan defied all expectation and accepted that side of her. The focus on family – and how it isn’t all it appears to be – was so intricately weaved into the fabric of the story. The Crowne’s are an interesting group of distinct people that love each other fiercely. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the siblings have in store for us!
Logan’s story!!!! Trust me when I say that LOGAN is the epitome of a raw male sexuality!!!
We have our hot, sexy, Logan. And we have the one who catches his eye, Ella. It is a marriage of convenience… so it seems…it’s a rollercoaster ride of a relationship, but it is one heck of a ride.
Logan and Ella explode from the pages in this hot and steamy love story. I was rooting for them and I am not going to lie…it frustrated the hell out of me, but how it made me feel… when it eventually happened, it was OMG!
The writing is flawless. I loved the tension, the passion, the rollercoaster ride that it took me on.
CD REISS NEVER DISAPPOINTS!
Exciting and intriguing, this book is wickedly delicious!!
The cover alone put this book on must read status!
For Me, the cover set the tone, and I’m happy to report that reading this book was even better than drooling over the cover!!
I loved it!
A heartfelt, exciting and intriguing story of opposites attracting who are thrown onto an offer they couldn’t refuse.
This marriage of convenience genre is nothing new, but HOW it was executed was sinfully delicious with some unexpected fresh twists that made it stand on its own!
What a fun sexy story!
Logan and Ella couldn’t be more different, yet their banter was sharp and edgy and they complemented each other well. These characters were well developed and just sinfully decadent and delicious. Logan despite his prim and properness was an alpha god on steroids!!
Sizzling hot!
Ella well he met his match with her, even though he didn’t know it until…
Must read and find out!
4.5 stars!!
What is a king without his queen? Crowne senior, the patriarch of the Crowne family and empire, thinks that a king without his queen is lonely and unfulfilled…at least he does now. Crowne of Lies is about familial pressures that back you into a corner until you lie to get out and the consequences of those lies. It’s about a marriage and compromise. It’s about a contract between two people who couldn’t be more different but find love anyway.
Logan Crowne is my favorite Crowne sibling to date. His strong, loving family gave him a good foundation, and the sibling rivalry keeps him on his toes. Being the second son, he feels he has to work harder to gain (what he believes to be) hard-won approval from father. I loved that once he married Ella, he found himself falling hard for her. He definitely was committed to the idea of their marriage, but it took a few giant steps backward to realize the compromises needed for each partner to be fulfilled and happy.
Like most of C.D. Reiss’ female characters, Estella Papillion (Ella) is a very interesting character. She is fragile, but has an inner strength. The anger and resentment she harbors toward her family taints her view of reality. She directs her anger at her stepmother, but I often felt that her mother’s passing and her subsequent feelings of abandonment are the real source of her anger. I loved the meanings of Ella’s name and how the author blended those into her character’s attributes.
On paper, Logan and Ella don’t work, but the minute they reacquaint, their snappy banter brought a smile to my face because I knew the author had created a vortex that would pull these characters together. Their journey to fulfillment, love and family is a beautiful story written with C.D. Reiss’ usual poetic prose. A read that has me craving more of the Crowne family.
The Crowne men are going to kill me. Ted and Doreen Crowne have raised some seriously stormy, sexy, good men. Totally different yet so clearly brothers, and so clearly honorable. Meeting Logan Crowne in Crowne of Lies cemented this fact for me.
Logan is the buttoned up business man. All suit and swagger and dismissive sex appeal. The all work, no play brother who is so over the top that his parents forcibly puts his campaign for his ONE BIG THING – the top seat at Crowne Industries – on hold, so he can pursue what he thinks is his “other thing” aka the one that can wait – a marriage like his parents. The ultimatum – Logan’s on leave with the instructions to live life and fall in love. Of course, he hears that as “make a deal” for a marriage of convenience. Find a willing candidate. Negotiate. Sign a contract. Easy peasy. He’s just recruiting for a temporary hire, after all…
Enter Elle Papillion. A passing acquaintance from High School. Outwardly his opposite in every way. Tatted up. Pierced. A Creative. A DGAF girl. But appearances are deceiving. Her conflicting obligations and the weight of her legacy – protecting and growing her father’s design house – are crushing the life out of her art. Specifically the big white canvas sitting untouched, mocking her at every turn. Their exteriors may not show it but they are headstrong peas in a pod of ambition.So, when Logan comes along with his offer and a way to remove her biggest problem, her step monster, she’s no less buttoned up as he is, negotiating ruthlessly. She doesn’t even blink at a year of celibacy, but the contingency clauses do give her a moments’ pause. “Just in case” he says.
But we all know that marriages of convenience are never convenient for the heart. Especially when the sexual tension skyrockets and the “solution” is a “meaningless” coupling on the hood of a Ferrari supercar. More swoony filth for the ages.
And things get real – fast. The emotional arcs that Ms. Reiss puts her characters on are a delicate, graceful, always unique high wire act and Elle and Logan are no different. Their individual struggles with their ambitions and their coupling, and what one means to the other, is where this story soars.Watching Logan and Elle “sort their stuff” is really touching and beautiful. They’re both so wracked with the fear of not being good enough and what not being they’re “supposed to be” means in regards to their worthiness.
The emotional slow burn and tension is absolutely, deliciously addictive and had my holding my breath. Could they get out of their heads long enough to find each other? I think you know the answer.
#TopRead2020
#onehandedoneclick
#Swoonyfilth
Logan & Ella are marriage of convenience perfection! Absolute opposites yet they fit together as if this was their fate all along. Their relationship was a journey of emotions, explosive chemistry, finding themselves and figuring out what they truly wanted in life. Twelve months to go in, get what they both need and then walk away – that was the plan. It was a solid plan where everyone wins. Except somewhere along the way feelings developed and desires changed. What now?
I am a huge fan of this author. This series is one of my favorite which says a lot if you’ve met Jonathan(wink wink). Her writing is brilliant. Incredibly intelligent. I just love her words! They make me feel like a part of the story I am reading. I love the crossover of characters from her other books. I love the intricacy of her storylines that keeps me on edge every time. Reading becomes an experience – that good!
No lies needed, I enjoyed this book! 4 stars
This opposites attract, marriage of convenience had me intrigued from the beginning. Logan and Ella had a spark from their first kiss, and I couldn’t wait to see how their story would unfold. Logan was all about running the family business at first, but he had layers I didn’t expect which I loved. Ella was a fighter, survivor, artist who was still figuring herself out, and I liked her from the beginning. As I said they had a spark and attraction to each other, but what happens when feelings become involved after they put in a contract not to have a feelings? An entertaining, emotional, sweet story of two people falling in love after getting married that I thoroughly enjoyed!
*I received an advanced copy of this ebook for my honest review.*
Logan who is a work acholic and free-spirited Ella agree on a marriage of convenience for 1 year in order to convince his parents that they are in love, and for both to get what they want out of this agreement. No spoilers: this is a definite must read you will not be disappointed. This is a beautifully written story which is all-consuming, steamy, entertaining, passionate, and with witty banter and intense chemistry. I was totally hooked an intrigued throughout this addictive page turner, and I highly recommend for all.
I love the Crowne family! From Ted and Doreen to their adult children – Lord Byron and his Olivia and now Logan and Ella. They are the kind of people I wish lived next door. It’s a fake hurry up marriage to meet an agreement to an opposites definitely attract kind of love. Ella is a woman trying to figure out where she fits. She’s the daughter of the late Bastille Papillion, a famous clothing designer. She’s a graffiti artist/activist. She’s an orphan. Her mother died when she was a young girl and her step ‘momster’ runs the clothing design company. Logan is the guy that is trying to run the world. His father wants him to understand there is more to life than work, and he makes Logan step away from the family business until he gets married. A friend sets them up to be a beneficial business match for the other.
I love this new Crowne family series by CD Reiss!
#fakemarriage #HEA #standalone #holyhotness #strongwomen #guyswholovethem
I have eagerly been waiting for Logan’s book since first meeting him as Byron’s brother in Iron Crowne. Both brothers are fiercely intense and compassionate about their family but after that they each very much their own man. Logan is given an ultimatum, he needs to get married, prove he is truly happy and he will be given back the family business he cares so much about. Easy right, not exactly. Logan doesn’t do emotions or attachments so he does the only thing he can think of, a marriage contract. The lovely, feisty, independent Ella stumbles onto the plan and instead of being outraged she agrees because the terms help her as well. So this marriage of convenience should be easy they thought. Just fake it for a year they thought. What could go wrong they thought. Well the dirty talking, swoony Logan didn’t see Ella coming straight for his heart and even though Ella tried she was unable to stop the incredible connection between them. I loved everything about this book, the flawed pieces of themselves that Logan & Ella were forced to confront, the slow burn which ignited into incredible steamy flammable hotness, but most of all even though they are so different Logan & Ella are perfect for each other. Definitely will easily be your next 1 click!!!
Logan needs a wife stat to maintain his hold as the CEO of his family’s business. Enter Ella the girl who remembers from high school as the amazing seamstress, she is all about embracing life with her in your face attitude. A contract of one year to marry and get everything they both want in life, their family’s businesses. Being a Crowne is a world of being over the top, yet Logan wants the 1950s wife verison, so not Ella. For Logan and Ella to work, they each have to give a little of what they feel they need in life, to let the other in. Reiss writes a slow burn in the world of the uber rich, with some pointed this is not how everyone lives moments. Great characters and can’t wait to read more in the world of of Crowne.
I love a good opposites attract story. Logan is all business and proper, while Ella is artistic and funky. The fact that they can even agree to a fake marriage is hard enough, and getting people to believe it can be difficult. But they both have definite reasons and goals to achieve. And once they get together…. it is hot.
This is my favorite type of Christine read. Passionate and sexy emotionally charged journey that grabs you by the heart and doesn’t let go. It’s not often I call #TopRead without getting to the end but I knew it like I know myself at less than 25%.
These two made me happy. The unfolding of this story made me happy. Honestly, everything made me happy. I felt love pouring off these pages from beginning to end. Logan was the best hero anyone could ask for. He was passionate about Ella. He was passionate about his family. He was passionate about his goals. Gawd, he was so damn passionate and sexy and delicious! And Ella … damn ya’ll … I wanna be Ella when I grow up. She was passionate about Logan. She was passionate about her family. She was passionate about her goals. She was ridiculously self assured and sexy and delicious. Ella, Logan and this story were ALL THE THINGS!
sooooooooooooo many feelings you guys!
I am in love with Estella
I am in love with Logan
I am in love with their story
I am in love
This book is by far one of the best to come from the mind of CD Reiss since the Drazen family. Logan and Ella’s story is so much more than just a marriage of convenience. Both characters think they know what they want out of life but they truly have no clue. Until the pull of their attraction even though they are stark opposites is too much to contain.
Within the first few chapters I knew Ella was going to have Logan on his knees. The epitome of the wrong girl for him but she was exactly what he needed. The first half is a uphill sprint of sexual tension that combusts, showing Ella is in for way more than she bargained for with becoming “Mrs. Crowne”. By the time you start the second half you’re adrenaline is so high wanting to know what comes next for them. CD creates such a visceral representation of what falling in love, partnership and marriage is about. I cried, I cursed, I laughed, I was set on fire and then my black heart melted.
These two broke me.
The realness of them, the emotion the story evoked for me were something else. Seeing how the love grew even though the fight it.
How the aspect of family was a very strong thing in the story was refreshing, their insecurities… I know I keep saying this about her books but I have to. Sitting to read one of CD Reiss books are such a experience, even though it’s a trope, the way she portrait it, the way she writes… Is everything
So do this for yourself and get this book, you won’t regret it.
I absolutely loved reading Crowne of Lies by CD Reiss. An arranged marriage romance with a whole lot slow burning steaminess on the side. Logan needs his parents to believe he and Ella are happy and in love. They have one year and both will benefit greatly. They can fake it for a year, right? But nothing is ever as easy as it should be.
Logan is a workaholic who is dedicated and determined. He believed he was just fine and happy as things stood in his life. Ella was his total opposite. She was easy-going and a free-spirit of sorts. But they both wanted something this arrangement could give them. I loved watching them get to know each other and the slow burn happening between them. As soon as I started reading I was captivated. I just love the tension and chemistry between Logan and Ella. I devoured it and just lost myself in their story for one afternoon!
Happy reading!