The third in a series which focuses on the friendship of three women who meet in unusual circumstances - at the funeral of the man who it turns out has been in a relationship with all three of them. This book tells the story of Audrey and Clarke, long time best friends, who fake an engagement and begin to discover their true feelings for each other. A classic friends to lovers story, it is a sweet and funny romance that provided a welcome few hours of escapism.

As someone who only discovered Lauren Layne through this trilogy, she has definitely risen to the top of my list for when I am looking for some fun and easy reading. And I should say that whilst this can be read on its own, its definitely worth reading as a series, particularly as one of the strengths of this book is the theme that runs through all three - the friendship between the women.

I have only just discovered Lauren Layne books this year and I think my reading is better for this discovery. This book was an easy read and opened up a new set of books for mr to enjoy. Light and fun, exactly what I needed.

Over the last year, I often saw people rave about the novels in the Central Park Pact series, so, when more recently, I kept seeing the latest novel in the series, Marriage on Madison Avenue, popping up on my Instagram feed, I decided to give it a try, because I love romantic comedies and, as featured in this novel, “fake” relationships. Me being me, I started the series from the latest book, Marriage on Madison Avenue, that it can easily be read as a stand-alone, and I became addicted to it.

The Central Park Pact series revolves around three best friends who met under quite unusual circumstances. Each novel focus on one of them and in Marriage on Madison Avenue the protagonist is Audrey. She and her best friend from childhood, Clarke, fake an engagement to get back to his controlling mother and an annoying internet troll, but how much of it is really fake? We all know how it’s to going to end, but what I loved about this story is the humour, the witty and entertaining characters, and the friendships.

The story is refreshing and hilarious. Misunderstandings, jealousies, and some drama make for a very enjoyable and funny read. I loved the characters (even Clarke’s controlling mother) and the close friendships between them.

The story is set in New York, which for me it’s always a plus, even more so if the characters are organizing a wedding that takes them to the Plaza and the more exclusive places in Manhattan.

If you are looking for a brilliant and captivating romantic comedy that will keep you entertained for a few hours and make you forget everything else then don’t look any further, because this is it.

Claire Hayes discovered that her husband has been having numerous affairs, and now, after his funeral (no, she didn't kill him!) she becomes friends with two of the "other" women, Naomi and Audrey. They have a pact to never let the other one to fall for a womanizer again.
Fast forward 18 months and both Claire and Naomi are in happy relationship. But Audrey has fallen again for a wrong man. And then somebody writes about it on social media. To avoid scandal, Audrey and her best friend Clarke decide to fake engagement. Can it work between best friends?

This book is being sold as "romance", though after reading the description it sounded more as a rom - com to me. However, it should be advertised as a YA, me thinks. It absolutely didn't convince me, I felt like reading a book for a teenager, and I am, well, a bit older than that. There was little that kept my attention and in the end I found myself skim - reading without a feeling that I'm missing something, as every single page was almost the same, the will they/won't they between the characters, the main heroine all the time changing her mind. Also, this fake engagement DID not work for me. I think it would, but it didn't. It was too... yes, fake, unbelievable. There was no chemistry and the characters themselves didn't seem to believe that something is happening at all. They were calling themselves best friends and they could not communicate with each other. Gah.

I didn't realise it is a third book in the series and for a long, long time - never, actually - I couldn't get what was so special in Audrey and why would anybody be interested in writing about her. I still don't know it. I couldn't connect with her, she was under - developed, pretentious, spoiled and self - centred. I much better preferred her friends Naomi and Clare, they were much mature and funny.
Clarke was so perfect that he felt absolutely unbelievable und unrealistic. Not only incredibly handsome but also oh so gorgeously understanding, caring and affectionate. Not a single negative thing about him. Meh.

Altogether, the whole plot seemed too far - fetched and overdone, with things either impossible to happen at all or happening too conveniently. It was all pink and bed of roses and the problems the characters had seemed so trivial. It seemed that the author went through the motions when writing this story, ticking all the boxes that belong to such a story. Simply, it was not a read for me, though if you are looking for a soft, light and heart in the eyes kind of read, just give it a go.

Third book in a romance series, set in a glamorous, well-funded NY world. This felt like it would have been a better read for me if I had read the other two first. There was a lot if exposition of the three friends' relationship, before the story could unfold. I liked the set up idea, bringing three women together through an unusual connection, and making a positive from a destructive experience. I also like the friends to... trope but wasn't overly struck by these two. But they had two earlier books to build as characters, so again, maybe better if read as in series order.

(An ARC)

An enjoyable read, but found it a bit too predictable and the pace seemed a bit rushed at times, the characters were nice and it was a cute read to pass the time, enjoyable but needed a bit more

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Marriage on Madison Avenue is the final novel in the Central Park Pact by Lauren Layne and my first experience of one of her novels!

The story followed Audrey (an Instagram influencer) and her best friend Clarke faking a relationship for a number of reasons. I loved the sound of this book and friends to lovers and fake relationship tropes are ones I really like, so I was disappointed that this fell flat for me.

Although I would probably have benefitted from reading the others in the series, I don't think I missed anything specific that would have changed my overall opinion.

It was an easy read and passed a few hours, but I didn't like the characters enough to really root for them and I thought the basis for the fake relationship could have been stronger. I enjoyed it at the time of reading, but the detail of the plot was not memorable enough for me even when writing this review.

I actually own one of the others from this series and I will read it eventually, and I would try another novel from Lauren Layne, but this was only okay for me.

Many thanks to Headline and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lauren Layne has done well with the third instalment of this series! I was expecting more from the last book. However was good to see the relationship develop between the girlies too! Love a story regarding friendship, love and weddings!

Having read the rest of the trilogy, I was looking forward to Marriage on Madison Avenue by Lauren Layne. It was certainly an enjoyable read, although it did feel a bit rushed. Audrey was an interesting character and I liked the details we got about her family background. Her relationship with Clarke was, of course, a cliché but it was well written.

Marriage on Madison was a light fun read tying together a series about three Manhattan businesswomen connected by the death of their cheating husband/boyfriend.

This final book focuses on Audrey and her best friend Clarke as they fake an engagement and then a wedding, while predictably falling in love for real. There are the usual ups and downs through meddling families and self doubt, but obviously everything works out in the end.

Not particularly original, but a quick, fun read.

What a unique opening to a book. Certainly not the circumstances I'd normally expect a female friendship to form in. I was hooked from that point on and it was early in chapter 1 when I realised that perhaps not reading the others in the series was a mistake as I worked have loved to know their stories.

That being said Audrey and Clarke's story is pretty much perfect, taking the fake boyfriend trope to a whole new level.

I loved their reasons for the fake relationship and as best friends they were always going to have each other's best interests at heart. But equally I think I'm not alone in hoping that the story progressed in the way it did.

I loved the scene in the lingerie shop, it was hilarious. And all interactions between Audrey and Clarke were fabulous.

This is the first book I've read by this author and it definitely wont be the last. I loved every minute of it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline Eternal for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Marriage on Madison Avenue is Lauren Layne at her best. A great central romance, a wonderful supporting cast, and an excellent friendship among a group of women (it’s not an exaggeration to say that my favourites of hers all centre around such groups) make up this book and that, for me, turns it into an amazing read.

The book takes up Audrey’s story (and Clarke’s too, but really, Audrey’s the important one here). When Clarke’s mum springs a surprise visit from his ex-girlfriend on him, he claims to be engaged to Audrey in a fit of desperation. And then Audrey agrees to maintain the pretence because some internet troll is sending her hate about something I can’t remember. Anyway. It’s the perfect set up for fake dating/engagement and best friends to lovers.

Like I said, my favourite Lauren Layne books are those that centre on a friendship group of women. The ones which have tended to give more pagetime to male characters (*cough cough* the Oxford series *cough cough*), I haven’t enjoyed nearly so much (although here I can put up with it because I actually like Clarke). So this was always likely to be one I loved. And I think it could be my favourite of the series, even – though, full disclosure, I haven’t yet got round to book 2. I loved returning to the dynamic of Naomi and Audrey and Claire, and getting to see more of Audrey’s story.

And also, because friends to lovers is a god tier trope, I obviously loved Audrey and Clarke together. (So much so that I’m already debating going back to reread the whole thing.) The way their relationship developed, from them faking it, to actually going through with it (and then, obviously, realising they were in love and not really doing it for the convenience). It was just beautiful.

If there’s anything I wasn’t so keen on about this book, it was the source of angst. Like is it really necessary to have Clarke’s dad be such a dickhead and then Clarke to somehow regress to joking about that? But it was resolved so quickly it didn’t really matter in the end (though I remain confused why Clarke said what he said, but okay).

Overall, it was an excellent romance, and definitely up there with my favourites from Lauren Layne.

The story of Audrey Tate and Clarke West. Best friends, they start a fake relationship that will benefit them both, but will they stop before they get too far and actually end up getting married?

A great read!

This is the third book in this series about three women who discover that they have all been sleeping with the same man: his wife, his mistress and his girlfriend. On the day of his funeral they meet for the first time and make a pact to support each other and prevent them from entering into another disastrous relationship.

This book features Audrey Tate, a social media influencer, and Clarke West. They have been BFFs since they were at school and nothing is ever going to change that. Heck Clarke frequently announces his engagement to Audrey to deflect over-eager girlfriends, or in this case to stop his pushy mother matchmaking him with his ex-girlfriend. At first this fake engagement is no different to the others, then Audrey's past catches up to her and she decides that prolonging the fake engagement could help her profile. Soon the fake engagement gathers a life of its own with an engagement party, cake-tasting and trying on wedding dresses. But the longer they fake it the more they realise this engagement feels more like the real thing than anything they've ever done.

This was cute and fun, I love the friends to lovers trope, and the fake engagement trope so mixing the two together with Manhattan and social media in a sexy cocktail is just so satisfying. Light, funny, frothy and sweet this was a perfect light-hearted read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A nice gentle read. It was a tad predictable with very few surprises. It's a quick read but I wish there was a little more depth to it.

This was a really cute and fun read but it did leave me wanting a bit more if I’m honest. I would have loved for them to discover their true feelings for each other earlier on in the book rather than nearly at the end and I’m not a huge fan of the miscommunication.

That being said, I did really enjoy it and read the whole book in one sitting, what a gorgeous cover it has too! I liked the role the friends had in this book and now I want to go back and read the two previous books! I loved that she was an Instagram influencer and it actually talks about what it’s like behind the scenes and how much work it really is.

Their relationship was lovely to read regardless of my personal issues, I loved how they were best friends and how important that was to one another.