Thursday, January 23, 2020

Review - Marriage on Madison Avenue

Author:  Lauren Layne
Series:  The Central Park Pact #3
Genre:   Romance; Women's Fiction
Publisher:   Gallery
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   288
Date of Publication:  January 28, 2020
My Rating:  5 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne, comes the final installment of the Central Park Pact series, a heartfelt and laugh-out-loud romantic comedy that’s perfect for fans of Sally Thorne and Christina Lauren.

Can guys and girls ever be just friends? According to Audrey Tate and Clarke West, absolutely. After all, they’ve been best friends since childhood without a single romantic entanglement. Clarke is the charming playboy Audrey can always count on, and he knows that the ever-loyal Audrey will never not play along with his strategy for dodging his matchmaking mother—announcing he’s already engaged…to Audrey.


But what starts out as a playful game between two best friends turns into something infinitely more complicated, as just-for-show kisses begin to stir up forbidden feelings. As the faux wedding date looms closer, Audrey and Clarke realize that they can never go back to the way things were, but deep down, do they really want to? 

MY THOUGHTS:

Romance novels often use familiar tropes, and as Lauren Layne closes out this trilogy, she definitely did an entertaining job with friends to lovers. In the Central Park Pact series, three women met at a funeral only to discover they were all involved with the same man. They have become the best of friends and in this third and final book of the series.

So, what is Audrey Tate's story? Well, she has been best friends with Clarke West for years. Platonic yet they loved each other deeply. When Clarke becomes frustrated with his mother's matchmaking, Audrey agrees to pretend to be engaged to him. In making it look convincing, a gently touch, a long look, a lingering kiss leads the pair wondering if they could possibly be friends with benefits long enough for Clarke to get his mother off of his back.

I loved this book and it was easily my favorite of the series. I loved how Audrey and Clarke were forced to face their feelings. I also loved the humor this book contained. However, the thing that I loved with Marriage on Madison Avenue, as well as with the first two books in the series, Passion on Park Avenue and Love on Lexington Avenue especially because of the friendship that existed between Audrey, Naomi and Claire. Although their friendship started from very unusual circumstances, it is powerful and gives the stories a nice emotional edge. These books could be standalones, but I encourage readers who enjoy romance to read the trilogy as a whole.

Many thanks to Gallery and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lauren Layne is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than two dozen romantic comedies. Her books have sold over a million copies, in nine languages. Lauren's work has been featured in Publishers Weekly, Glamour, The Wall Street Journal, and Inside Edition. She’s based in New York City.



9 comments:

  1. Yes,I want this book! I love the cover and I love the sound of the story.

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  2. I'll have to look out of this series as I love books set in New York. Great review.

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  3. I think I saw this title on a most anticipated romance reads list on Goodreads! Maybe I'll pick up the first book in the series and give it a shot.

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  4. Friends to lovers is such a fun trope. 💜

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  5. Never heard of this , great review

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  6. Lovely review! Romcoms are such enjoyable reads.

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  7. new to me author but not for too long... the books sound delightful..

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  8. I love Fake dates to love stories. And this one is so cute, I know I will love it.

    Gayathri @ Elgee Writes

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