The story follows Harper, a constructor, and Reid, interior designer, while they have to colaborate on a project for a reality show. Despite their initial antipathies and different ideas of how the final product of the renovation should look, they soon find themself drawn to each other.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to continue reading past the first hundred pages.
I appretiate the somehow unconventional setting of the book and the author’s attempts to incorporate feminist elements (especially that she made the guy the interior designer, not the woman) but other than that the book had many flaws big enough to prevent me from reading any further.
The characters felt very flat, one dimensional and most of them were also, frankly, quite annoying, the “villains” – Harpers family, especially lacked any nuance and I felt their sole function was to get the point — that this is a feminist book — across. The writing itself was not very smooth and it really took it until around that hundreth page to start having any kind of flow. The dialogues were very unnatural and mechanic and the whole story just didn’t really hold together. What was especially frustrating was the lack of any buildup or tension leading to the their first kiss and lack of chemistry between those two generally.
It really was mainly how sterile both the characters and the story itself felt what made me pook the book down.

Honestly, I did not know that this is part of a trilogy. But you don't have to read the others in order to enjoy this one. And enjoy I did!

This is about Harper, single, disappointment to her dad that she's not a boy, disappointment to her mom she's not married and popping out kids, disappointment to her family because she doesn't allow them to use the family business as a piggy bank.

Her BFFs, her support system, Ani who just married a prince, though the country is suffering issues. Ivy who's a tech genius. Both found love and are getting hitch and about to get hitch. Made Harper felt like she's being left in the dust.

In walks Reid, arrogant ass, but hot as heck as a man. Saw her and fell for her, until she opens her mouth. They don't see eye to eye on a renovation project, and as they work together, things happens, they get pull taut, and the chemistry is fun and all around.

First off, I love how their banter. I literally started reading and took me 2.5days to finish (yes work got in the way). But it's lovely to see how damaged both Harper and Reid are, yet they work thru it. There is a 3rd act in there, but bless Harper for having a breakthrough, and be the solution and the hero for saving what she really should be saving

Second, I really hate the fact that Harper's blood family are all assholes including her own mother. I really want to reach in and hug her so so much. However, also super glad she admits what she knows all along, her support system, is her found family. And they are all great in their own way.

Third, love ALL of the side characters (besides the villain of course). But I would love Jeremiah as my gay-husband, and have the BFFs and moms that this crew have. All the men that were brought into the mix knows how to handle/love their girls, who can be silly, crazy, sassy, understanding, and loving.

Gosh, why didn't you people tell me about this series sooner?! Now I'm going back to read the first 2 books. Again, it's not needed in order to enjoy this one. But now I want to know. .

Thank you to NetGalley& Blue Box Press for the ARC

This was such a fun read with amazing found family and an enemies to lovers love story.

THOUGHTS 💭
🔨 I read this as a standalone, but this is the third book in the Park Avenue Promise trilogy; it looks like I’ll be going back to read Ani and Ivy’s stories!
🪴 I love supportive friend groups in my books and found family is one of my favorite tropes. This book is the epitome of the found family trope and I loved how these people love and support each other.
🔨 This book is FUNNY and our FMC has the best inner-dialogue. She has a dry humor and her “radical feminist” self is one I loved.
🪴 The antagonistic relationship between Reid and Harper is one that shows dislike and love are two sides of the same coin. And that antagonism, you can tell from the first interaction, turns into the BEST spice.
🔨 At first glance, our MCs seem like they’re from different worlds; I enjoyed seeing how similar they really were with their shared dedication and responsibility towards their families.

Thank you so much to Lexi Blake, 1001 Dark Nights & Blue Box Press, and Get Red PR for the ARC of this beautiful book!

Built to Last is book 3 in the Park Avenue Promise series by one of my favorite authors. Lexi Blake (the author) is known for her writing style, creating characters that are relatable, funny, sexy, hot and interesting. Her stories make you laugh with the way the characters interact and the comments made (many of them sarcastic but funny). This book has several supporting characters who contribute to the fun, and with loving friendships created.
Built to Last is Harper’s and Reid’s story and the final installment in the series. Harper is a contractor who inherits and becomes the CEO of the family business. Reid is an interior designer who partners with his brother in the business and give off vibes of a certain pair of reality TV brothers from the HGTV channel.
Harper and Reid immediately clash, but with the clash, is the sexual tension. A fun, sexy, friends to enemy (not to worry, it doesn’t last too long), great chemistry and the additional family is those you choose. The story is really well written, warm and has a really lovely ending. Even though I have not read the first two installments, I was able to jump into the story and enjoy it very much.

I love this series, The Park Avenue Promise Series. The First on Start Us Up and My Royal Showmance are fun as well.


Harper Ross has always wanted to renovate a brownstone on Park Avenue. She gets the chance when one of her friends buys a home and she gets to renovate it. She also wants to have it televised.

Redi Dorsey is also working with Harper as the “new voices in design”, however things don’t go smoothly. What is it about the saying “opposites attract”? Will this be the case. Will they be able to work together or ruin the project and their dreams?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
First let me say, I LOVE Lexi Blake! Her Masters & Mercenaries series and all the other connected series are some of my favorites. I know I’ll always get great banter, snappy dialogue and fun characters from her books. Unfortunately, this one didn’t excite me like her other books.
I had a hard time getting into the book and it never really managed to grab me. Occasionally the pacing/ transitions were kind of weird. One second they’re in the ballroom and the next a hotel room and I thought I missed something.
I wanted to love it bc HELLO! Lexi Blake! But, in the end it was just fine.

This book was a cute and easy read. Harper, a contractor at her family’s business, is brought on to work a renovation with her best friends and duo of designer brothers. One of the brothers, Reid, is instantly attracted to Harper.

Besides romance and a little spice- this is a story of chosen family, boundaries, and authenticity. The ending was a perfect wrap up and happily ever after. Though this is part of a series, it’s the first one I read and I had no problem following along.

DNF at 24%. The premise is a romance centered around the main characters renovating a home, and so far, there's been barely any renovations? Maybe it's because I haven't read the first two books, but the plot at this point feels like it's focused on events/couples from the prior books thus I'm not connecting with the story at all.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 🌶️

Thank you for the ARC 🫶

Built to Last is a delightful conclusion to Lexi Blake's Park Avenue Promise series. Harper Ross, a determined contractor, and Reid Dorsey, a meticulous designer, are forced to collaborate on a Park Avenue brownstone renovation. Their clashing personalities lead to fiery banter and undeniable chemistry. Blake masterfully balances humor and heart, delivering a slow-burn romance that feels both authentic and engaging. The backdrop of a high-stakes renovation adds depth to their evolving relationship. A must-read for fans of enemies-to-lovers tropes with a touch of NYC glamour.

Book 3 in the series, Built to Last follows Harper as she gets a job working in her favorite Park Avenue brownstones. Determined to grow her family's construction business, Harper becomes the designer on the project on her new tv production company.
Reid is a designer who also is working on the project, and he and Harper butt heads on the design and restoration of this property. A true enemies to lovers, forced proximity romcom, Built to Last will have you cackling and swooning over these two characters.

I had never read anything by this author, but I must say that the thing that struck me most was the writing. I loved reading every part, from the descriptive ones to the dialogues. Each character was perfectly described and she managed to make the voices of each of them appear in my head. The plot is quite simple, what really makes this book special are the themes covered and the characters: feminism, prejudices, family relationships and addictions, treated in a way that is both delicate and funny at the same time.
I devoured and LOVED it.

What a sweet read! I needed a good palette cleanser, something light yet meaningful and this delivered on all fronts! It was a fast paced, quick read that provided comfort, laughter and cozy feelings!

Three and a half stars.

Harper Ross inherited the majority stake in her family's New York construction business when her father passed away suddenly. Since then she's discovered he and her uncle had a very sketchy idea of how to run a business, which mainly seemed to be using the business as a family slush fund, giving jobs to family who have no construction experience, and the big one, never paying taxes! Since then she's been trying to get the company on an even and legal footing, but it has required her to sell some of her shares. Now every one of her many relatives is moaning because they want a new car, or to join a sorority, or equal pay with her. Her mum just wants her to get married and pump out babies and let a man run the business.

One of her ride-or-die BFFs has bought an old brownstone on Park Avenue and intends to stage a reality TV renovation show, with the sale proceeds from the renovated house going towards disaster relief in her country. Harper is excited to be renovating such an historical building, its her great passion and she wants to do it justice. Then she discovers that two reality TV house designer brothers, Reid and Jeremiah Dorsey, are also part of the show (think Drew and Jonathan from The Property Brothers), Harper is immediately bowled over by Reid's good looks and sharp suit, now she wishes she wasn't still in her construction work wear, but her admiration turns cold when she overhears him talking about ripping out all the old features. Then he compounds his gaff by assuming she's a set runner.

What Harper doesn't know is that the house has already been sold and Reid is working to the new buyer's requirements, as they bicker over every little detail. But fight as they might, it only makes the attraction burn stronger.

My heart sank when I realised that Harper's BFF has married the King of a (fictional) small European country, in fact I put the book down for several weeks because I just can't bear those sort of books. Luckily Anika and Luca are just side players (I now know that this is the third book in a series which features each of the BFFs) and when I picked the book up again I raced through it.

It was fun, flirty, all about home renovations (which I love), sure it was pretty predictable why Reid blew hot and cold and who the mysterious house buyer was, but that didn't stop the enjoyment. Reminiscent of Lauren Layne. Perfect, undemanding beach reading.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Flipped roles- love it! A female construction boss and a male designer. Other women hold positions of power. This book rocks!

The romance is a good one- lots of tension followed by sweetness. I wish I had read the other two books in the series since I enjoyed this one so much, but I didn’t feel any sensation of lacking information or being lost. Five stars.

I throughly enjoyed this book and would love to read more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

I love and Lexi Blake writes. I was very excited of opportunity to read this early. This series has been such a fun ride. Built to last takes place after My Royal Showmance. In this story Harper finally gets what she has always dreamed of and is working on one of the magnificent brownstones of Park Avenue. However the new contractor Reid and Harper can’t agree. The story goes from there and it is an extremely enjoyable ride. I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley, Lexi Blake and Blue Box Press for this ARC

This book wasn't for me too sex in the city vibes. The book is well written, just not for me and that's ok.

The book was okay but not exactly did it live up to my expectations but it wasn't a bad read . I don't really like the relationship dynamics between the lead characters but the renovations dynamics was interesting and well written. Overall it was a good read.

Thank you Get Red PR, Lexi Blake, and 1001 Dark Nights for the gifted copy!

Contemporary romance • Grumpy and grumpier • Enemies to lovers • Opposites attract

“I choose me. I choose us.”

This was such a nice surprise. The cover originally drew me in. Then I thought the premise sounded cute and fun. But it was so much more. Complicated characters full of heart, breaking past internal barriers to truly experience joy. Thriving not just surviving anymore. The push and pull, hilarious banter, and tender moments of letting the curtain fall. I laughed and I cried. I couldn’t love the ending more.

“Yes, this is a mistake, but I want to make it. One selfish decision. Something only for me.”

“I want this. I want to love someone, to go through life with these people who fill my soul. With people I can’t leave alone to face the storms inside them.”

“You can’t. You can’t give up your dreams for me.” “What if I just figured out you are my dream?”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🔥🔥

The story goes like this: a beautiful house needs renovations and two opposites are hired as constructor and designer (I liked the switch in typical roles, she's the constructor, he's the designer) but this whole project is going to be filmed to be a show (that part felt lacking, I wanted more TV show scenes).
-
We get this amazing setting: a historical Gilded Age house in NYC and a woman who's in love with it. So if like me you have a thing for architecture and history this backdrop is incredible. I liked the strong women vibe, particularly because this is the first book of the series I read. But I didn't feel like I missed something (so cheers to that).
Harper's (FMC) struggles of who she really was and who her family expected her to be was super relatable. Now for Reid (MMC) I wished he was less I'm-a-designer-don't-care-about-the-building-per-se (if that makes sense) but I liked his loyalty, not cared much for his initial vibe unlike his brother's personality that was super charming.

I sometimes felt like there was too much going on and like mini stories between side characters that weren't really necessary and a bit distracting.

If your looking for a fun story this book is just that, easy to read and with characters you wish you knew in real life, particularly the women.