Just what I needed for a Friday night read! Lauren Layne has done it again- perfect blend of romance, chic power and friendships, and characters you can’t help but love. First in a series with hints of stories to be told of the other two friends of an unlikely trio, this is sure to be a hit among readers.

I am in love with this story!! Lauren Layne did a fantastic job with this one. The characters were excellent and I absolutely loved diving into this novel! Go out and read this one!

This book had a slightly more dirty feel of Maid in Manhattan. a women who was not going to settle for what her family and peers thought she should do, but a women who rises thru the ranks by using her brain and her wits. This book has an incredibly strong female lead which I love and of course you have to throw in the wealthy privileged man Oliver, who is always there to continually push Naomi to her limits.

Series are a real treat for avid readers. Who doesn't like delving deep into the lives of unforgettable characters in more than one book? We do! That's why New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne's new release, Passion on Park Avenue, has us buzzing this spring. The first installment of The Central Park Pact is rich with drama (which we like!) and lots of passion (who can resist that?) making it Momtrends' book club pick of the month.

Naomi Powell is a successful entrepreneur. As the brains behind one of the most successful jewelry empires, she appears to have it all, but she doesn't. She still has one thing left to prove ... her self-worth. As a child, she and her mom barely scraped by. Now she can buy whatever she wants, including a fancy apartment on Park Avenue, right next door to her childhood nemesis, Oliver Cunningham.

As if Naomi doesn't have enough on her plate, the Bronx-born businesswoman is having some romantic woes too. When Naomi's boyfriend passes away, she learns the truth about his secret life. The best perk from her disappointing affair is her budding friendship with Claire and Audrey, two women with which she has a lot in common. The unexpected trio soon becomes inseparable in the city that never sleeps.

Passion on Park Avenue is a chic read with relatable characters and witty humor. The inclusion of an ailing parent suffering from Alzheimer's, a situation some of us are all too familiar with, brings out Naomi's compassionate side lending depth to the storyline. The relationship between the three women is just beginning to blossom as each tries to find her own way. Momtrends can't wait for the next book in The Central Park Pact series, Love on Lexington Avenue, set to debut in early fall.

(This review will appear on Momtrends.com in late May.)

I have to admit it pains me to give this book 3 stars because I love Lauren Layne's writing so much but I have to admit this one just didn't do it for me. The premise is interesting enough and I was curious to see how it would play out but neither main character got me invested in their story. Yes, I felt bad for Oliver for having to deal with his father's condition, especially since he admits several times he didn't actually like his father before he developed Alzheimer's. Naomi's character was lukewarm for me. I admire that she made so much of herself through hard work and her own grit but she just wasn't as likeable as the heroines in other Lauren Layne books. Without caring much for either character I never really became invested in their relationship.

As for the storyline itself, it wasn't bad but the ending was a big turn off for me. I didn't care for the conflict, especially the way Oliver reacted. It made me actually dislike his character for being so cruel and brushing off Naomi's feelings and past. I also felt like Naomi let him off too easily in the end and that he never truly felt remorse for the things he said to her.

The saving grace for me in this story was actually the supporting characters. I loved Naomi's friends, Claire and Audrey, and I am hoping to see Clarke get his own book!

Another fantastic book by Lauren Layne. I was anxiously waiting for Kennedy's story and it was worth the wait! It's sad to see this series end but this was the perfect ending.

I squealed with glee when I was approved this ARC! The start of Passion on Park Ave was a little slow, but that very well be me because it’s a new series with all new characters and I didn’t know any of them yet. I loved how Naomi, Claire and Audrey met! I’m not sure I would be so understanding in real life, but LL makes it work.
Without giving away the plot too much, I loved the complexity and backgrounds of both Oliver and Naomi. I will be honest and state that it took me some time to warm up to Naomi, but I fell fast and hard for Oliver! Both of them have their own demons that they have to work out, but I loved their backstories for making them who they are.
I’ve read A LOT of LL romances and I will say that this novel isn’t so heavy on the sexy times as some of her previous reads. But it doesn’t take away from the novel either. I honestly can’t wait for the next book in the series and I’m hoping that it’s Audrey and Clarke’s love story - so much spark in the few moments they were together in this book! **ARC provided by NetGalley and the Publisher. Special thanks to TastyBookPR for giving me the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own**

I absolutely adored this new enemy to lovers romance from Lauren Layne! I can’t wait to read the other books in the Central Park Pact series.

Naomi is one hell of a book heroine. She is fierce and empathetic. Her approach to all the various situations thrown her way not only impressed me but also endeared her to me. I thought Naomi's approachable yet tenacious personality made her relatable as well as realistic. I really enjoyed getting to know her.

Here's her deal. Thanks to a meddling mother, Naomi is moving into a new building on Park Avenue. (We should all have such imposing parents!!) What she does so not expect is to find a grown version of the child she was once stuck with as a new neighbor. The problem is that Naomi finds him to be nothing like the mean, hateful boy she remembers. Oliver turns out to be sexy, and charming - irresistible.

Ahhhh, Oliver and Naomi are compelling together!! I loved their budding romance and I quickly forgot her new neighbor was childhood nemesis. I wanted them to surrender to their passion and attraction. Their chemistry and sexual tension is palpable. Plus I loved the banter between the two - basically, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted them to keep throwing jabs or to make out with one another. It was awesome.

But every great love story needs to have a conflict and Oliver and Naomi share a past ... but it’s one that he does not remember, and she cannot forget. So, when the opportunity arises for Naomi to finally seek revenge for past, she jumps at the chance. Except nothing about the situation is how she imagined it would be.

What unfolds is romantic and hilarious. Sweet. I devoured their story and read it in one afternoon. I was a smitten reader and I cannot recommend meeting these two enough. Grab your copy of Passion on the Park Avenue today!

This was my first read from Lauren Layne but definitely won’t be my last! Something I really enjoyed from this story was not only the romantic aspect but also the focus on friendship. Naomi befriends two women in an unlikely circumstance and the three women become best of friends. This story also has a level of revenge involved. Naomi continues on a plan that her mother started without Naomi’s knowledge prior to death, and she continues it in an attempt to find out why her mother did what she did. That revenge involves Oliver and his family. Unbeknownst to Naomi, Oliver’s father has developed Alzheimer’s, not to mention that Oliver doesn’t remember who she is. The only downside of the story was how long it took Oliver to recognize or realize who Naomi was. As the pair get to know each other as adults, they struggle with different problems both apart and together. I enjoyed the pace of the story and also the growth in Naomi’s character. Essentially her character starts off with a huge chip on her shoulder that slowly starts to go away through her figuring things out. While I was a little confused in the beginning, it all starts to make sense early on, so keep reading! In the end, it’s definitely a HEA, and I am actually looking forward to seeing what happens with Audrey and Claire!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

There are some authors that you know you're going to enjoy the book. LL is one of those for me. However, even with that said, I was not prepared to be as blown away by Passion on Park Avenue as I was.

Strong, sassy, successful, self-made CEO Naomi's life gets thrown a curveball when her boyfriend dies suddenly. However, the real adventure begins when she meets his wife, and other mistress (neither of whom she was aware of) at his funeral. These three women decide to become friends and support each other as they navigate everything life will throw at them. With the support of these new friends, Naomi sets out to "prove her worth" to those who treated her poorly as a child, including the son of the family who ruined her mother's career.

With all the humor, awkward moments and slow burn of the classic RomComs, complete with a couple "What are you doing Naomi?!" moments, this book hooks you in and the next thing you know it's 2am. This book focuses on not only the chemistry between Heroine and Hero, but the friendship between the woman as well, giving you all the sisterhood feels, as well as the romantic ones. LL doesn't shy away from some heavy topics in this one: cheating, revenge, childhood trauma, homelessness, Alzhimers, and more - yet remains witty and clever.

This book has earned a place on shelf next to the Shopaholic series to be read over and over. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to wait a year for the second (and even worse, two years for he third!).

*HUGE Thank YOou to Layren Layne, Tasty Book PR, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

3.5 Stars

Not my favorite from Lauren Layne, but enjoyable all the same! This is a new series for this well known author who always gifts us with strong heroines, endearing casts of characters, and hot heroes. This book didn’t fail in that category.

A group of three women, this book introduces us to them- all three cheated on by the same man at the same time, a bond of hurt and friendship blooms from the rubble.

The book features Naomi Campbell, a woman who grew up in the Bronx with a single, poor mother and clawed her way to the top. Now the CEO of her own company, she has the chance to exact revenge on the family, her mom’s ex-employer, who threw them out on the street. When an apartment opens up on Fifth Avenue, the very spot they lived and were thrown out so heartlessly, she can’t help but move in and show them just what she’s made of. She just didn’t realize how much all the players changed over the years. Is the revenge worth it at this point?

This book is super cute but very tame for Lauren Layne standards. If you’re looking for a sexy read, this leans more on huge anticipation within an enemies to lovers trope. I didn’t expect to wait so long! She didn’t make this easy on our heroine and hero but alas, ‘‘tis life!

I’ll read anything from this author and I look forward to the next book in this series!

Naomi is quite the spitfire, “well, it’s not like you were an invited guest,” she snapped, turning toward him. “You just came in here with your fancy booze and your stick-up the-butt—” The door clicked closed as Audrey and Claire left. Naomi pointed at the door accusingly. “Look what you did.” Sometimes Oliver just needs to shut his woman up, "Oliver hauled her toward him, cutting off her bacon bragging with a searing kiss." I liked this book, I loved Oliver.

I really enjoyed this book, which was my first Lauren Layne novel. I was about 20% of the way into the book before I really got hooked, but once the story got me I didn’t want to put it down. The beginning was a little far-fetched for me in terms of how the three women became friends, but stranger things have happened. I did forget that this is the first book in a new series so by the end I was wondering what was the purpose of those friendships and how they met in the grand scheme of the love story central to the novel. Having remembered that this is just the first book in a series it now makes sense and I’m really looking forward to exploring Claire and Audrey’s stories in the future. Although the book was a bit of a slow start for me, I soon got hooked on Oliver and Naomi’s burgeoning relationship. I was rooting for them. I thought Oliver’s reaction to finding out who Naomi is was a little bit intense especially in light of what she went through because of him and his dad, but Naomi had some annoying pettiness in her too. I loved how their characters developed and how their stories ended. By the end of the book I felt like all was right with the world. Quite a cute, fun love story with some depth to it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to reading more Gallery Books in the future!

I’ve been a fan of Lauren Layne’s writing for several years now. I haven’t always loved every story she’s written, but the ratio of her books that I love definitely outweigh the ones that I did not. ”PASSION ON PARK AVENUE” went at a very slow pace for almost the first half of the book. I was worried that this was going to go on the shelf of books that I just couldn’t connect with but, I do love this author, so I stuck it out. Thankfully, the pace started to pick up during the second half of the book and I really did enjoy the story. This is an ”enemies to lovers” story that began when the Hero and Heroine were just young children. So many years have gone by since they last saw each other but it seems that one of them wasn’t able to move on from the past.




At the heart of the ”Central Park Pact” series is the friendship that develops between three women who find out at the funeral of the man they each were involved with that, he was a lying womanizer. Instead of tearing each other down, they form a bond and make a pact to help to steer each other away from the “bad boys”.




Our first Heroine to find love is Naomi Powell, a self-made billionaire. She, unlike her two new friends, came from impoverished beginnings. She lived with her single mother who made so many poor life choices. For a brief portion of her life, she lived in a luxurious apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on Park Avenue, when her mom got a job as a live-in maid. The couple had a son who was a few years older than Naomi and lived to bully her. When her mother ends up having an affair with the man of the house it eventually ends disastrously and Naomi and her mom are kicked out on to the streets. Naomi never forgot how horribly the family treated her and her mother. Fast forward to present times, and Naomi has a shot at buying an apartment in that very building on Park Avenue. Turns out that the son and father still live there and she can’t help but want to throw her success in their faces. But as she gets to know Oliver, who is no longer the bully she knew from childhood, she starts to question the grudge she’s been holding on to for so many years.




Oliver was the perfect book boyfriend. He was sexy, smart, and self-sacrificing. His father was a horrible person for most of his life but when he was inflicted with Alzheimer’s, Oliver didn’t hesitate to put his life on hold to take care of him. This guy was a saint!




The thing is, when Naomi moves in, she is going by a different last name and Oliver doesn’t recognize her as his nemesis from childhood, and so she doesn’t reveal her identity to him. I had a hard time warming up to her but when she starts to form a bond with Oliver’s father, my heart softened towards her as well.



Naomi isn’t a believer in true love. Life has shown her that men are only after her for one thing and she believes that she will always be the “other woman”. Will her unwillingness to open her heart to love cause her to lose her true soul mate? When Oliver finds out Naomi’s true identity, will he still feel the same?



Here are my overall ratings:

Hero: 5
Heroine: 4
Plot: 4
Angst: 4
Steam: 3
Chemistry Between Hero & Heroine: 4.5

I really enjoyed this novel. Naomi is like the sassy, red-headed "B" who is actually really great. She has gone from rags to riches and now has the opportunity to get even with her tormentors from her past. But she quickly learns that a lot can happen to even her enemies in twenty years and getting even isn't as black and white as it once seemed.
Lauren Layne has a special way of making the unlikeable, loveable and the unlikeliest of friendships come amidst a horrible tragedy. She uses charm and humor to make her characters face their demons and deal with reality.

Lauren Layne is one of my favorite authors. She creates characters you remember while her beautiful writing style is distinct and notable. I love that she puts humor into her stories as well as having intelligent dialogs between the characters.

In this story we have Naomi, our h, who hasn’t really recovered from her childhood. She’s a little unconventional but again stems from one of her parents, who angered me.

Next we have Oliver, our H and her childhood enemy, who is next to a perfect stranger when she meets him again. He’s nothing like she expected, and remembered, which turns into conflicting emotions. This is where the funny dialogue comes in, bring on the snarky and chemistry that shoots to the sky. It’s so palpable, cue in some eyebrow raises! 😏

I can’t wait to read Claire’s and Audrey’s. If they are anything like this one...👌🏻😈😈😈

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest view. Thank you to them, the author and publisher.

Thank you Net Galley for my ARC. I really enjoyed the 1st book in this new series.

Three women become unlikely friends and make a pact about dating. Naomi Powell has developed a successful jewelry empire but still does not feel part of the Upper East Side elite. A move to a new apartment has her face a time in her life that she still has come to terms with and a person from her past she hasn't forgiven. A charming, fun read with romance and some girl power along the way. I definitely will be watching for the next book in this series!

Naomi and Oliver have history. Old money, no money history. Fast forward in their late 20's early 30s.....

Naomi is self made, hard working, with a chip on her shoulder about the fancy old money type crowd.

The book opens up and that alone will pull you in. I was like "Whaaaaaaat the Whaaattt?"

But it introduces us to some good characters for future books, and I am definitely looking forward to it. Okay to back to Oliver and Naomi.

Naomi is brought back to the place she resents, back to Fifth Avenue, where she comes face to face with Oliver Cunningham. The little troublemaker from her past. Although Oliver does not recognize her, he is intrigued by her. There is more he wants to know, but the woman is just giving him whiplash.

I loved the "carrots" reference, it was one of my favorites growing up and the fact that it was referenced, its a big plus in my book! While it was frustrating seeing her still stuck in the memory of why she hated being in that building, I enjoyed their story, I am looking forward to reading the other gals story!

Lauren Layne has created a new series that epitomizes her well crafted style of distinctive and memorable characters, who have unique and relatable personalities. Ms Layne is well know for the wit and intelligence of her dialogs...but not more so than her brand of romance that is unmatched by other authors of the same genre.

The trademark of her characters are that they’re captivating, their stories fresh and relevant...creating an emotional attachment early on in her stories keeps the the pages turning as the characters evolve, pulling you further into their sphere.

At the center of this story is the heartbreak of a little girl, Naomi, that grows into the need for a sense of closure for the woman she becomes. How Naomi goes about doing so may appear unorthodox, yet it puts her into the position of closing the chapter of a part of her childhood poisoned by her mother’s anger and vindictiveness. Her childhood nemesis, Oliver, is nothing of what she expects when she encounters him again...thus begins the turmoil of conflicting and confusing emotions...intertwined with witty and snarky banter...and an off the charts palpable chemistry that ignites an unforgettable passion between Naomi and Oliver.

I am now anxiously awaiting Audrey and Claire’s stories as the series continues.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Lauren Layne does witty, fun stories. Passion on Park Avenue is one of her best and a not to be missed treat. The characters are charming and the story of female friendship is probably one of my favorite parts.