Book Review/Giveaway: Crowned

Harley Laine is Louisville’s hottest rising reporter, and she knows that setting herself up at the top requires dressing for success. From all appearances, she has it all–a perfect job, great car, beautiful house, and designer clothes. A high-powered, successful man in her life might help her take things to the next level.

Ryan Temple is definitely not that man. Everything about him is absolutely wrong, from the way he dresses and his methods of employment to his living situation and his spiritual body art. He’s not even the kind of guy who would normally turn Harley’s head…but she can’t seem to get him off her mind.

When a gruff old biker and a teenage girl threaten to derail her planned rise to the top, will a quest for fame still be what her heart desires?

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“Snappy dialogue, believable characters, and deep takeaways make Crowned another of my favorite contemporary reads. Harley Laine is enigmatic, but we feel her lonely soul beneath her ‘dress for the job you want’ mentality. As Harley gets to know people who turn her world upside down, we’re reminded that fame and fortune pass away, but the quiet sacrifices of love last forever.”~Heather Day Gilbert, author of Amazon Bestselling God’s Daughter and A Murder in the Mountains Series

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Christina Coryell is rapidly becoming one of my favorite new authors. This lady knows how to write humor!  I was first introduced to her characters with book one in this series, Simply Mad. It’s reviewed here. After laughing my way through her first book, I was pretty sure she couldn’t write another book just as funny.  I was wrong. Crowned kept me up laughing way past my bedtime. I think one of the hardest things to write is humor. I know this because I can’t write a funny scene to save my life. I have tired, humor is so hard!

Harley Laine is the woman you are both jealous of and want to be your BBF. She’s a successful television reporter, beautiful, and appears to have her life together. She’s fashionable dressed and dates good looking guys. Her guiding goal in life is to be important.

She’s also the woman who spends every Friday night alone at a greasy diner, dressed down in comfy clothes because nobody really knows her. The people she feels closest to in this world are the line cook and the homeless man who sits on the bench outside.

Harley is a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover. Of course, that’s also a lesson she needs to learn. I loved taking this journey with her. We learn that she’s really a broken soul who needs Christ. Is it possible for her to find love when she doesn’t understand the power of His love? She has to go back and restore past relationships before she can move forward, but she is strong enough to do that without God?

Cheering for Harley and Ryan came easy, but watching her grow as a person was much harder. Christina did a great job of bringing this character to life.  She has the crazy family, nosey friends, and high-stress job that all add up to a late night read.

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GIVEAWAY!

I highly recommend this book. It’s not necessary that you read Book 1 first, so I’m giving away my copy of Crowned to one lucky reader.

Leave a comment with your dream job and you’ll be entered!  

When I was a kid I wanted to be an astronaut, which is funny because I could barely pass Math. Even to this day, if I was given the opportunity to go into space I’d jump at the chance. Some dreams never die! 🙂  Of course, now I write and that is my passion. One day I hope to see my books in print!

Now, what’s your dream job?

Contest ends: Friday, November 6th