Review - Passion on Park Avenue

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​​Passion on Park Avenue
​​Central Park Pact #1
​​by Lauren Layne
​​288 pages
​​Release date 5/28/2019
​​3 out of 5 stars


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​​Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for my copy!  All opinions are my own.
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​​According to the publisher, “For as long as she can remember, Bronx-born Naomi Powell has had one goal: to prove her worth among the Upper East Side elite—the same people for which her mom worked as a housekeeper. Now, as the strong-minded, sassy CEO of one of the biggest jewelry empires in the country, Naomi finally has exactly what she wants—but it’s going to take more than just the right address to make Manhattan’s upper class stop treating her like an outsider.
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​​The worst offender is her new neighbor, Oliver Cunningham—the grown son of the very family Naomi’s mother used to work for. Oliver used to torment Naomi when they were children, and as a ridiculously attractive adult, he’s tormenting her in entirely different ways. Now they find themselves engaged in a battle-of-wills that will either consume or destroy them…
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​​Filled with charm and heart and plenty of sex and snark, this entertaining series will hook you from the very first page.”
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​​This book is the ultimate NYC Rom-Com:  three strangers meet at the funeral of a man that they were all unknowingly in relationships with.  While this would cause instant hatred amongst most women, Naomi becomes best friends with her now-deceased boyfriend’s widow and his other mistress.  Armed with two new besties, Naomi staunchly decides that she will absolutely not fall in love with her “new” neighbor Oliver - that is, until she discovers that her childhood bully isn’t so bad as an adult!
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​​This book was super fun and extremely easy to read; the chapters will fly by without you even realizing!  The characters are likable and we even get a “happily-ever-after” to boot.  I can see this being something Netflix adapts in a really enjoyable original movie, which I will definitely watch.  The reason for my three star rating is that the beginning of the book felt too cliched for me, even for a romantic comedy full of cliches.  The manner in which Naomi simply tells the other women that they should become best friends, instead of letting being involved with the same man tear them apart, felt so very forced to me that it made their relationship throughout the rest of the book seem inauthentic. I wish that the author had taken a bit more time with character and story development, and we could have seen some really kick-butt-girl-power friendship, rather than the kind of flimsy, surface relationship we got.
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​​Nonetheless, this book would be a perfect palate cleanser between some heavier subject matter, or great for someone who really enjoys Romance books!  Keep an eye out - the second book in this series, Love on Lexington Avenue, was released earlier this month!

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