Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne-Reviews, Excerpt & Giveaway

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PASSION ON PARK AVENUE (Central Park Pact #1) by Lauren Layne-Dual Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

PASSION ON PARK AVENUE
Central Park Pact #1
by Lauren Layne
Release Date: May 25, 2019
Genre: adult, contemporary, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 25, 2019.

the first in a sizzling new series following the unlikely friendship of three Upper East Side women as they struggle to achieve their dreams and find true love and happiness in the city that never sleeps.

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 strongminded, 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.

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…

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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Sandy’s REVIEW:

PASSION ON PARK AVENUE is the first instalment in Lauren Layne’s contemporary, adult CENTRAL PARK PACT romance series focusing on three friends: Naomi Powell, Audrey Tate and Claire Hayes-three woman who would discover there were all in a relationship with the same man. This is thirty year olds, successful business-woman Naomi Powell, and architect Oliver Cunningham’s story line.

Told from dual third person perspectives ( Naomi and Oliver) PASSION ON PARK AVENUE follows Naomi Powell days after the death of Braydon Hayes, a man whose infidelities would bring three strangers together, forming a friendship that would push them closer together. Six months after the death of her mother Danica Fields, millionaire business woman Naomi Powell would be invited to join one of the wealthiest apartment units on Park Avenue-the caveat- it is the same apartment building where her life had spiralled out of control twenty years earlier, when her mother was caught having an affair with the man that she worked for. Fast forward twenty years, wherein, Naomi will come face to face with her past in the guise of thirty year old Oliver Cunningham, the son of the man that destroyed her mother’s life. What ensues is the enemies to lovers relationship between Naomi and Oliver, and the potential fall-out as Naomi is reluctant to reveal the source of her animosity towards Oliver and the Cunningham family, a reluctance that is about to blow up in her face.

Naomi Powell wanted retribution for her mother. Six months after her mother’s death, Naomi would discover that Danica Fields put into motion Naomi’s path for revenge, revenge that would stutter when Naomi comes face to face with her childhood nemesis. Oliver Cunningham has no idea why his new neighbor despises the ground upon which he walks. With her unwillingness to reveal the source of her animosity, Oliver can only presume that the woman with whom he is falling in love has suffered greatly at the hands of a previous love.

The relationship between Oliver and Naomi is a frenemies to lovers romance wherein Naomi battles between head and heart knowing that torment and loss her mother suffered at the hands of the Cunningham family. Oliver’s attraction to Naomi is instant but our heroine tries to keep her distance from the man with whom she will fall in love. The lone $ex scene fades to black and is mostly implied.

We are introduced to Audrey Tate and Claire Hayes; Naomi’s assistant Deena; Audrey’s best friend Clarke West; Oliver’s father Walter Cunningham; his caretaker Janice; Oliver’s friend and fellow architect Scott Turner. Claire and Scott’s story line is next in LOVE ON LEXINGTON AVENUE.

PASSION ON PARK AVENUE is a story of betrayal; of vengeance; of broken memories, heart break and loss; secrets and lies; forgiveness, romance and falling in love. The premise is captivating and emotional; the slow building romance is sweet; the characters are energetic, colorful and lost.

 

Barb’s Review

Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne is the 1st book in her new Central Park Pact series.   We meet our heroine, Naomi Powell, as she attends the funeral of her now deceased boyfriend.  What Naomi finds is that her ex was married, something she did not know.  When she decides to leave the funeral parlor, she ends up in a park and meets two other women; one the wife and the other a mistress.  From that point on, the three ladies will become friends, to help each from making another grave mistake in choosing another ‘bad boy’, and to be there for each other.   I really did enjoy the concept of the three women who actually got past the cheating husband/boyfriend, and turned out to be fabulous friends supporting each other.

Naomi, who is now a very successful entrepreneur, plans on moving to a new fashionable condo, but is offered a different and older condo that has a past that she cannot forget.  Seems Naomi’s mom was a housekeeper for the Cunningham’s a number of years ago, and when it is discovered that she was sleeping with the patriarch, the mother was let go.  They had to struggle for a number of years, and Naomi has never forgotten.   When she decides to move to the Park Avenue condo, she meets her childhood nemesis, Oliver Cunningham (our hero) and the Cunningham father, who now has Alzheimer’s. 

Oliver and Naomi get off the wrong foot, as she keeps her secret who she really is, and he cannot understand why she hates him so much.

Naomi’s coldness to Oliver and his father will slowly evaporate, as she begins to have sympathy for the father, who remembers nothing of when her mother was kicked out.  I did like Naomi, who as a tough, smart and savvy business woman who was determined to rise above the poverty they suffered during her childhood; however, at times I thought she was a bit hard on Oliver, but that changed. I loved her friendship with Claire and Audrey, which was a lot of fun and their camaraderie.   I really did like Oliver, as he was someone who was her equal in being smart and savvy, not to mention sexy. Slowly Naomi’s walls come crumbling down, as she realizes she is falling hard for Oliver, as he is not the 10 year old boy who tormented her.  The sins of the father no longer mattered, especially with his mind gone.

What follows is a slow built enemy to lover’s romance, that will have some hardships along the way.  What will Oliver do when he finds out who Naomi really is?  The story was very well written by Lauren Layne, as she also created some wonderful characters, which makes me want to see more of the other ladies in the future books; which I hear will be Claire’s book. Passion on Park Avenue was a fun story, with lots of charisma. I suggest you start this series.

 

Copy supplied by the publisher

The first thing Naomi had done after the shock of reading that Brayden Hayes was freaking married was to google the crap out of his wife, desperate for an indication that the Times had been wrong about his marital status. That it was a misprint or he was divorced. The paper hadn’t been wrong. There really was a Mrs. Brayden Hayes.
And she, too, had chosen Central Park over Brayden’s funeral.
Nearly even with Claire Hayes now, and with the sunglasses still providing Naomi anonymity, she dared to sneak a look at the other woman out of the corner of her eye.
Brayden’s widow looked pretty much like the picture Naomi had rummaged up online: a thirty-something Upper East Side WASP. Like Naomi, she wore oversize sunglasses, the Chanel logo glinting in a stray ray of sunshine. Naomi’s trained eye pegged the basic black sheath as St. John, and the basic black pumps Louboutins—identical to Naomi’s.
But unlike Naomi, Claire had a genteel poise about her. Like she’d never said darn, much less dropped an f-bomb. Naomi would bet serious money that Claire Hayes didn’t eat Kraft Macaroni & Cheese straight out of the pan when she was stressed and that Claire had never been so poor that she’d actually once considered taking home a neighbor’s discarded mattress, bedbugs be damned, simply because it was free.
Claire’s placid expression betrayed nothing as Naomi passed her, the glasses too large to reveal any emotion on her face. For that matter, Naomi wondered if women like her experienced emotion at all. It didn’t seem it. The woman was the picture of calm, except for . . .
Her hands.
Brayden’s widow’s hands were clenched tightly in her lap, the fingers of her right hand white-knuckled around the fist of her left hand. But it wasn’t the subdued pink manicure that captured Naomi’s attention. It was the bright red crescent moons beneath the nails.
Naomi had a lifelong bad habit of acting before thinking, and she did so now, crossing to the other woman and sitting beside her on the park bench.
“That’s enough now,” Naomi said, using her CEO voice, calm and commanding.
Claire didn’t move. Naomi wasn’t even sure the other woman heard her.
Naomi hesitated only for a moment before slowly reaching over and prying the nails of Claire’s right hand away from her left hand. Little streaks of blood were left in the wake.
Claire looked down in confusion, as though just now registering the pain.
“Does that Givenchy have any Kleenex?” Naomi asked, nodding toward Claire’s clutch on the bench.
Claire didn’t move for a long moment, then taking a deep breath, she calmly reached for her purse, pulling out a travel-size package of tissue.
“We’re wearing the same shoes. Same dress, too,” Claire said, dabbing at the blood on the back of her hand with a tissue, using the same casual indifference of one dabbing up a drop of spilled water.
Naomi nodded in agreement, though Claire’s St. John was a knee-length mock turtleneck, and Naomi’s Chloé was a boatneck that hit at midthigh.
For a long moment, neither said anything.
“I’m supposed to be at a funeral,” Claire said, balling up the tissue and dropping her hands back into her lap.
“Why aren’t you?”
Naomi was genuinely curious. She knew why she wasn’t at that funeral. But the widow being a no-show . . . that was some serious Page Six–worthy gossip right there.
Claire opened her mouth to respond but shut it when a pretty young woman with dark brown hair walked past them. Naomi waited for the other woman to pass and, when she gave the brunette a closer look, realized the other woman was walking a bit too slowly, as though tempted to approach. She looked vaguely familiar. Naomi was fairly sure they’d crossed paths at a couple of events, though Naomi couldn’t put a name with the face.
Brayden’s widow, however, could. Claire went rigid beside Naomi, even as she called out to the other woman, “Audrey.”
Unlike Claire and Naomi, the brunette wasn’t wearing sunglasses, and Naomi saw her round eyes go even wider. “You know who I am?”
“You’re Audrey Tate. I did a little digging after you called the house that night,” Claire said quietly. “I know you were sleeping with my husband.”
Naomi’s head whipped around in surprise, and then surprise escalated to shock as she realized Claire wasn’t talking to her.

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Lauren Layne is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen romantic comedies.

A former e-commerce and web marketing manager from Seattle, Lauren relocated to New York City in 2011 to pursue a full-time writing career.

She lives in midtown Manhattan with her high-school sweetheart, where she writes smart romantic comedies with just enough sexy-times to make your mother blush. In LL’s ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books.

Lauren Layne and Simon and Schuster is graciously offering a paper copy of PASSION ON PARK AVENUE to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

1.  If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

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8. Giveaway open to USA only

9. Giveaway runs from May 28-June 1,2019

 

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26 thoughts on “Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne-Reviews, Excerpt & Giveaway”

  2. Reading this review makes me want to read this book. Thank you for the chance. Following author,you, don’t do Twitter or Tumblr following on Goodreads.

  5. 2. suegaluska@yahoo.com
    3. Already LIKE and Follow Lauren Layne on Facebook
    4. Already LIKE you on FACEBOOK and GET NOTIFICATION
    5. Already like THE READING CAFE on Twitter
    6. Already follow THE READING CAFE on GOODREADS
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    Thanks for the chance and please enter me in the giveaway. I just adore Lauren Layne’s books!

  9. When you hear of relationships like this in the news it usually ends up horribly. I am
    glad there is a more positive way to handle this. I am suddenly wanting to read a contemporary story and this one is it! If it as good as Sandy says I will be looking for
    “the rest of the stories”.

    Yes, I want it! Please count me in. Thank you!

  14. Please enter me in the giveaway. Thanks for the chance!
    turtle6422 at gmail dot com
    Liked & Following Lauren Layne on FB
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    Following The Reading Cafe on Twitter (@jtb2642)
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