There is a lot to like about this novel-- it's got a fabulous central character whose narration is very fun, a jet-setting mix of locations, depth in how it looks at wealth and upward mobility (especially for Korean Americans)-- but I think it was a wee bit soapy for my taste.

Rich people behaving badly? Say less.

If you're craving a smart beach read with drama, secrets, and family power plays, Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh needs to be on your list. Think Crazy Rich Asians meets Big Little Lies—but make it Korean American wealth, legal intrigue, and glamorous backdrops.

✨ Adult debut from a beloved YA author

🎧 Audiobook is fast-paced and plotty

📚 Great for book club convos (trust me, you’ll want to discuss that ending)

Have you read it yet?Let me know your thoughts, or drop your favorite “rich people behaving badly” book rec in the comments!

📍Save this post for your next reading binge

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley, for the gifted copy for review.

This was a very fun escapist read! I really liked how clues were revealed slowly and everyone seemed unreliable, so I was completely pulled in to the story and had to know what would happen. The story had an interesting element with a mystery narrator interjecting between chapters and speaking directly to the reader, very Gossip Girl or Lady Whistledown vibes, that made you question if you had caught all of the clues. Narrator Michelle H. Lee delivered so much suspense and intrigue with these interludes, she was fantastic!

While this book starts out as rich people behaving badly, and some of the story is very over the top with its excesses, all of the characters have so much dimension that you end up rooting for them anyway. Nobody is exactly how you would expect them to be based on the original impression the author builds. This book is also a coming of age story for Jia, the protagonist, as she figures out how to shake the expectations of others and learns to be true to herself, which was an element I really enjoyed. The ending was perfect, surprising but also felt true to the story.

4.25 stars

First thank you to Macmillan audio, flat iron books and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: jia song is the daughters of immigrants that own several bodegas in NYC. However Monet was tight. She is working at a prestigious law firm that offers her the opportunity to work on a divorce case of the ultra wealthy park family. She discovers so much about all of the family members and herself.

What I liked: Michele Lee narrated this book and she was perfect. Their chemistry park family is extremely wealthy and her voice had that air of sophistication when needed. She also narrated a part where you don’t know who is talking but it really added a lot to the story. I don’t want to spoil anything so will just say that. Jia’s life is further complicated when she starts having feelings for someone associated with the case. I think the author balanced the juicy wealthy gossip along with insights how wealth impacts people, her life as daughter of immigrants and the need to succeed. I have to admit I went in thinking it would be a fun wealthy people behaving badly book but it ended up being a lot more.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

This was a great book - I loved the format, which worked exceptionally well as an audiobook. There were regular characters, and we heard most of the story through them, but there were also short chapters where a mystery narrator spoke directly to us, the listeners. We didn't find out who that narrator was until the very end, and it was fun to guess which person it would be.

The true narrator for the audiobook, Michelle H. Lee, did an excellent job of alternating between the various languages used in the novel (English, Korean, French, etc.).

I'd recommend this book for anyone who enjoys mystery, drama, and romance! 4.5 stars from me.

This book is described as being for fans of Crazy Rich Asians, Schitt’s Creek, and White Lotus. Ambitious attorney Jia Song is pulled into the high-stakes unraveling of a billion-dollar Korean beauty empire. As she attempts to salvage the Park family’s legacy at a time of scandal, secrets, and global drama, Jia must untangle their mess while confronting whether the life she’s chasing is truly the one she wants. I was hoping for a plot similar to Pineapple Street that would really grab me, but it just didn't. Not a bad book, I just wasn't totally into it on audio. I think you have to really love Crazy Rich Asians to love this book too. While I liked Crazy Rich Asians, I didn't love it.

Audiobook
3.5 Stars

A young newly-named Junior Partner at a prestigious law firm is sucked into the sordid lives of a ultra-wealthy Korean family. A father is pitched against a mother and her children in the control of millions of dollars, and Jia Song must use all of her wits to keep from the shrapnel of lies and subterfuge, while also coming to terms with her own rags-to- (almost) riches tale.

The description of CRAZY RICH ASIANS meets SUCCESSION is apt. Renee Ahdieh crafts a story of spoiled, wealthy arrogance with a tenderness to keep you connected to the main characters. For someone who is not fashion-savvy, there is a lot of detail paid to high-end brand and style descriptions, which went over my head. But overall, this was a good listen.

An advanced copy provided by Flatiron Books and Macmillan Audio via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This very much gave Crazy Rich Asian vibes and I enjoyed every minute of it. There was plenty of family drama and mystery that pulled me right in. I was invested in the siblings, the lawyer, and the house manager and the twist at the end was something I did not see coming! I listened to this in one day!

4.5 rounded down. I flew through this one! It was a fast paced, fun mystery/family drama that I couldn’t stop listening to. The audiobook narration was fantastic and I’d highly recommend this one. It’s a great summer read that despite being an easy read the characters are well developed and story was well written. Loved it!

I know we’re only halfway through the year, and there are still plenty of amazing books on my TBR—but I’m already calling it: Park Avenue is one of my favorite reads of the year so far!

This is quintessential chick lit in the best way possible. Even though the Park's family drama is central to the plot you still get to see every dimension of Jia as a friend, lover and lawyer.

I appreciated seeing Jia work through her dilemma to chase her ambitions and honor her values. I'm already planning to buy the physical copy so I can revisit.

It's true what they say: this book is a mix of Succession and Crazy Rich Asians with a pinch of Gossip Girl thrown in.

The story begins with Jia Song’s desperate quest for a very specific Birkin bag she’s dreamed of owning since she was a child. At first, I was a little put off by this, but it doesn’t continue to be the focus. Instead, the story follows Jia's journey to hopefully becoming the youngest ever senior partner at her New York City law firm. However, her goal seems to slip farther from her grasp when she meets the Park family - heirs to the Korean beauty conglomerate, Mirae.

The Parks are desperate to uncover their father's duplicity after he files for divorce from their terminally ill mother, leaving her with less than she deserves, and running away with his mistress. When Jia promises to help them find the truth, she's unprepared for the strife in the family, her growing feelings for the Parks' house manager, and the lengths that the Park patriarch will go to hide his fortune.

Considering how the story starts, I thought Jia would be a bit vapid, but her character provides a lot of depth to the story, and she has a strong sense of right and wrong. I love a strong moral compass, and she certainly is that.

We toggle back and forth between Jia’s perspective and a mysterious narrator. I listened to this book on audio, so for the first quarter or so, I was a little confused by the back-and-forth. However, as the plot unfolded, that second perspective became more intriguing. I wanted to know who this duplicitous person was. The air of mystery is what propelled me forward.

Is it the most intriguing book I’ve listened to? Not necessarily. It was entertaining, but not something I craved coming back to.

Park Avenue is a fun book with calls to Korean culture and complex family dynamics that I enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh hits shelves on June 3, 2025!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian audio for early copy for review*

I have always loved Kdrama's that feature messy rich people. This is especially true when we have a character like Jia who came from nothing and gets thrown into the "chaebol" lifestyle. This book scratched an itch from those shows and even included a villain to hate. This would have been a perfect five star for me, but I feel like I am missing a scene between Paris and the climax on the yacht. Besides that this was an excellent debut and I can't wait for what Ahdieh brings us next.

Park Avenue by Renee Ahdieh, I listened to the audiobook narrated by Michelle H Lee and OMG this is a twisty read about people who are mega rich with deep dark secrets family rivalries a good and bad twin hidden money and in the middle of all of it is Gina song. She grew up the daughter of bodega owners and as soon as the children of the richest Korean skin care line sees her they immediately believe she is only there because she is Korean. if Gina can sway the family to become a client she is promised to make partner and class and opulence is everything Gina aspires to but after getting to know this family she will learn not everything you want is actually what you need. for those like me who like a little lol moment and such serious plots you’ll definitely find it in this book. There’s so much more I want to say but just know there’s a romance and lots of messy drama that makes up this twisty awesome read. Not to mention the anonymous narrator in between the chapters which I thought and it’s such a great touch to the story and couldn’t wait to see who it was. I thought the narrator did the best job anyone could’ve done with this awesome book she really is a top notch performer and totally proves that with the many different characters in the novel. This book says so much about perspective and what we think and what is actual reality money does not buy you happiness but Gina song just may find it in the middle of this dysfunctional family. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer,#MichelleHLee, #ReneeAhdieh,#ParkAvenue,#McMillanAudio,

Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh had me hooked from the start! I went into this one blinded by the pretty cover so I completely side stepped the synopsis and dove right in without a clue on what it was about. I quickly put 2 and 2 together to find that it is a mystery/thriller. It had well-placed clues with a shocking and satisfying ending. You might see it coming, but I did not!!

With a focus on the plot, there were just enough twists and turns to keep things exciting. There were romantic sparks flying, but they coyly took a backseat to the main story. Much of the story was built around Jia’s Korean culture and her dream of making it big, which included scoring the Birkin bag of her dreams. There was quite a bit of globe hopping , too, so it was fun to travel along with Jia as she searched for clues.

I enjoyed listening to this one on audio. It was narrated by Michelle H. Lee and she did a great job of creating a dynamic and expressive narration, especially with the interjection of Korean words throughout the text.

Overall, 4 STARS from me and I’d recommend this to anyone who is wanting to get lost in a mystery and have fun traveling the world.

Huge thanks to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. The opinions posted are my own.

"Park Avenue" initially reads like a glossy legal drama before revealing its beating, complicated heart. Ahdieh transforms the familiar ambitious-lawyer narrative into something far more nuanced through Jia Song, whose hunger for success feels both relatable and worthy of examination.

Michelle H. Lee's audiobook narration elevates the experience to another level entirely. Her distinct voice for Jia captures both steely determination and underlying vulnerability—you'll feel the emotional weight when Jia's carefully constructed world begins to unravel against the backdrop of Manhattan's elite circles.

The Park family dysfunction unfolds with the addictive quality of the best telenovelas. Their feuding initially seems tedious and privileged, but Ahdieh brilliantly peels back those layers to reveal raw, tender moments that humanize even the most infuriating characters. The patriarch emerges as a man impossible to like.

The anonymous narrator device creates mounting tension that feels almost unbearable as connections between seemingly separate lives begin to crystallize. Each revelation had me reassessing everything I thought I understood about these characters.

This isn't merely a story about wealth and status—it's an intimate exploration of what we sacrifice at ambition's altar. The dual threads of Korean-American identity and professional ambition intertwine in ways that will resonate long after trends in contemporary fiction have shifted.

If you crave stories that balance delicious drama with genuine emotional depth, "Park Avenue" won't just satisfy—it'll haunt you with questions about your own definitions of success.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my complimentary Audiobook for review. Opinions are my own.

This was a fun one! Jia recently transitioned to junior partner at her law firm, and one of her first projects was getting paired up with a super high-level client - the mega-famous and wealthy Korean family, the Parks. The patriarch is in the process of filing divorce from his dying wife, and the three siblings won't stop bickering with each other. Through it all, Jia is determined to show her worth despite the chaos of this particular case.

I enjoyed following along these different characters and witnessing each scandal that unfolded. I can picture this being a great movie as well. The narrator did a great job bringing these characters to life.

There is just something about this novel that sticks with me. I read an audio version that was extremely well narrated by Michelle H. Lee. Park has a double meaning. It's the name of the ritzy street in Manhattan and the name of the obscenely wealthy and, if possible, the more obscenely dysfunctional family that forms the center of the story. The writing and the plot are quirky and totally entertaining. Yes, it is what I'd call a cotton candy book as one would read it purely for escapism/fun. There are a few takeaways about one's values that help drive the plot and choices people make but it's essentially a very well written, well plotted, fluffy book about the very rich and how money affects families and the successful but not born rich who are trying to make it.

When Jia Song, a first general Korean was thirteen, the ghost of her grandfather appeared to her at the moment of his death and said she was responsible for the family. The Song family was doing okay as owners of a Bodega but they couldn't afford the fancy upscale things or even a simple vacation. Jia finds herself yearning for very expensive purses, a metaphor for her ambition. To be fair, she also has the ultimate goal of making her parents life carefree as they age. But along the way, some luxury for her is very welcome. Jia is a new junior partner in a very fancy NY law firm when a senior partner brings her into a sensitive matter involving a Billionaire Korean family, the Parks. The mother, Jenny, is dying of cancer. She built a dry cleaning empire with her husband, whose name in an audio book sounds like "Seven." He left Jenny because of her illness and has been living with a mistress the same age as his twin daughters. Again, due to audio book reading, I need to call them Twin 1 and Twin 2. Twin 1 married a very successful doctor, has a boy and a girl, and is miserable in her marriage as her husband cheats and that cheating extended to a fling at a party with Twin 2. Not good. Twin 1 walked in on them. The flimsy excuse that everyone was in costume doesn't fly with her or with me. This shows up so early, I'm treating is as not a spoiler.

Twin 2 seems totally flighty. She's creative, irresponsible, yet keyed into the mess Jia is hired to work on in a way the others seem not to be. Twin 1 instinctively dislikes and distrusts Jia. The third child of the Parks is a son who would have been groomed to run the family business and who is a fabulous financial expert. However, he is gay. Thus, Seven felt fine abandoning his three children when he left Jenny, although partly because they were on her side when he left. At the start of their engagement of Jia and her firm. Seven has indicated he wants a very fast divorce from Jenny offering her $25 million and the Park Avenue apartment. The kids would get a small amount. He has clearly hidden a lot of his billion dollar worth while Jenny raised the kids and also worked with him on creating the business.

The plot involves Jia, working with all of these characters and a handsome family advisor/son of the former butler or something like that. She must jet set all over the world to try to track people with information and where the money is stowed. She has four weeks. From time to time, Ahdieah breaks the fourth wall with a word from an unidentified writer who is clearly messing with the family's efforts. Jia, fresh out of a long term relationship with a fellow high intensity lawyer from a rival firm is not about to trust anyone. Plus, she is really, really competent and creative, which comes with high level lawyer competence, but can also get one in trouble when clients bitch to your bosses.

The fun in Park Avenue is that the characters are not all one-dimensional but they can live and appear to be one dimensional. Very few of them are pure evil, but they all appear to be evil hear and there. It is fun to find out that the devious Seven is not so smart as he thinks when up against Jia. She's often one pace ahead of him and then.... something gets in the way. This book makes you cheer for a bunch of spoiled and entitled adult kids because their characters and experiences in the Park family make you find compassion for them. Is one of them the mole, being paid off by Seven to scuttle any challenge to his cheapskate offer. The novel also involves an arc that is a coming of age story for Jia. Her personal growth through the nonstop intensity of this case and her general adherence to doing the right thing and usually the legal thing makes her interesting and not stereotypical. When you face a totally corrupt, selfish and mean spirited opponent, that's sometimes hard to navigate.

I waited a while to write this review because I wanted to convey the pure pleasure that goes with reading this book AND the need to suspend disbelief because it often is in the nature of a farce. I loved it. Hope you do too. Recommend the audio!!

Jia is a newly minted partner at a high powered NYC law firm and daughter of Korean shop owners. She's obsessed with getting the perfect Birkin and making senior partner. Her first case in her new role is to investigate the ultra-wealthy Park family. After building a business with his wife, the patriarch has left her with a terminal cancer diagnosis, to marry and have a new heir with a much younger women. His children have hired Jia to find evidence of his enormous wealth to increase the terms of the settlement offered to them and their mother, so Jia starts off on a globetrotting hunt to find it before Seven can cut them off. In the meantime, she falls for the family's EA and has to figure out if this is what she wants out of life.
The story is suspenseful (the unnamed until late narrator drops in little hints now and then, Gossip Girl-style) and the wealth/conniving is entertaining (Succession/Crazy Rich Asians comparisons), and the whole plot moves along at a good pace. The reader was quite good, not overacting but covering a good range of voices and accents and drama without being overwrought. A fun summer listen.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Renee Ahdieh's first adult novel and something very different from what she's written before! Park Avenue is contemporary fiction about a Korean-American woman who has just made junior partner at her law firm assigned to clients from a super wealthy (and super messy!) Korean-American family.

The mom is dying of cancer, the dad is divorcing her to be with his much younger pregnant mistress, and the kids want legal help because he's trying to hide the majority of his wealth in order to keep their rightful inheritance from them. And the kids have their own messy conflicts to contend with. Jia Song is thrust into the center of this elite family drama, whisked away on private jets to luxurious destinations. It's interesting and keeps you entertained along the way. It's periodically interrupted by a narrator a la Lady Whistledown, which is an unusual choice. The audio narration is great- easy to listen to and fits the vibe of the book. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

This is an excellent debut mashing gossip girl with succession vibes. Jia has 30 days to uncover the secrets hidden by the ultra wealthy Park family to protect the inheritance of the Park children amidst their parents divorce. This glamorous story has Jia traveling the globe and trying to determine who can be trusted. An addictive read!