such a compelling and enjoyable read. i loved getting to know Jia world and just where she came from and where she drives herself forward to be. she yearns money status and all the things she couldn't have given herself before getting there. but done it she has and has worked her way up from her families beginning to a top law firm and no junior partner. things are on the up and up. but then she is given a case that come with mess attached. a family who are all in chaos one way or another. the mother is dying of cancer and the dad is leaving to be with a younger mistress. and the kids know hes hiding his wealth and will do anything to bring him to justice and hand over the money, their inheritance no less! and Jia is pushed hard and fast in the middle of all the drama and their drama comes with buckets of the stuff. she is taken away in luxurious destination on private jets and put in front of secrets and also often feels behind certain secrets.
there is one side with family loyalty and then the other which comes from money and the greed that inevitably follows it.
the mirror it shines on Jia's own yearning is not lost on me as a reader. they have all she wants. dont they? i loved how her home visits kept pulling her in and down to earth but she was never far from the expectation she feels on her shoulders and her own inner demons of finally finally needing acceptance.
getting to know the siblings was a hoot. in good and bad ways. they come with some traits i tell you that now. but again there are layers to each of them including the mum and dad. its the way Renee forms these grey areas is done to perfection.
i also really enjoyed seeing Jia come into herself or at least try to. but how things can knock you back with each learning curve. and what you want or think you want can sometimes be at odds with morals or family loyalty.
and really how your never done asking yourself questions and forever want to be!

I really enjoyed this legal drama which combines the exciting fast-paced lifestyle of the ultra privileged with some serious reflections on happiness, family and the trappings of wealth.
The characters are interesting and layered and the plot moves at a great speed.
I was a little unconvinced at times by the behaviour of the main character. A woman in her 30s (that was the age range impression I got) who has successfully made junior partner in her firm is going to be a little more poised around someone she's attracted to that she meets in the course of her work duties. Some of the initial moments with Darius just seemed a little immature when she's being her professional self.
But overall I really enjoyed the book and it was a great h0liday read with just the right amount of critical reflection,

I absolutely loved this book. Our characters were intricately written and fascinating to read about.
The story ever bit as compelling as the best Chaebol filled Korean Drama.
I was hooked from the start, and it kept me hooked throughout.
I'm so thrilled I got the chance to read this book.
An easy five star.

Interesting insights to the difficulties of being a successful female from an ethnic minority. On one hand you have to be prepared to fight to get to the top but then you are not being feminine and subservient enough. How do you win?
A fast moving chase through many jurisdictions to track money being hidden in a divorce case.
Very enjoyable until the ludicrous and unbelievable ending.

Park Avenue has a great plot and cast of characters. Set in New York the story centres on a fallout in the mega rich Park family and lawyer Jia who is tasked with winning the case in 30 days to secure a senior partner position. I enjoyed the structure of the story which is well paced and leaves the reader intrigued to read on. I rate it 3.5/5 mainly as I did not like the twist ending and found the narration to be a bit flat in parts.

Park Avenue was a story that started really strongly. I was invested in Jia, her hopes and dreams and determination, and drawn in by the various members of the Park family and their staff. Things initially moved at a good pace, but my interest waned a little around the middle of the book when it felt like little progress was happening in the narrative and I begin to skim, waiting for something more to happen. Luckily, things picked up again in the final third, with a few twists and turns as we reached the story's conclusion. Jia definitely grew as a character over the course of the tale and I found the ending mostly satisfying. I am giving this book 3.5 stars. It was an interesting read, but you do need to persevere through the middle section. Recommended for fans of contemporary fiction, family drama, and books with a bit of a mystery twist.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A deeply satisfying slice of life following the Korean-American diaspora, as an ambitious attorney fights for the beleaguered soon-to-be-ex wife of a powerful CEO and their fractured family. Armed with sparkling prose and masterful storytelling and plotting, Park Avenue weaves a story about greed, grief, power, and redemption that makes it one of the year's best.

Renée Ahdieh’s Park Avenue offers a sharp, compelling story about ambition, family, and the cost of success. Jia Song’s journey from the daughter of Korean bodega owners to junior partner at a prestigious law firm is inspiring, but it’s her involvement with the powerful Park family that really draws you in. As Jia navigates their bitter disputes and hidden secrets, the stakes become incredibly high—both professionally and personally.

Ahdieh’s writing is engaging and nuanced, weaving themes of cultural identity and loyalty into a fast-paced narrative that keeps you hooked. The characters feel authentic, with complex motivations that make the drama feel all the more real. Jia’s growth throughout the book is particularly well done, especially as she begins to question what she truly wants from life.

Park Avenue is a thoughtful, engrossing read for anyone who enjoys family sagas laced with corporate intrigue and emotional depth.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh is a deliciously addictive read that serves up family drama, high-stakes legal intrigue, and the complications of identity and ambition with both flair and depth.

At the heart of the novel is Jia Song, the daughter of hardworking Korean immigrants who rose from a bodega in Queens to the polished halls of a Manhattan law firm. She’s finally within reach of the life she’s always dreamed of — but her latest case threatens to unravel everything.

Jia is pulled into the orbit of the ultra-rich and deeply dysfunctional Park family, a Korean-American dynasty whose glittering public image conceals secrets, betrayals, and buried agendas. Hired to assist in a tense divorce between the powerful matriarch Jenny Park and her estranged billionaire husband, Jia quickly realises this is no ordinary case. What begins as a legal challenge becomes a personal trial as she navigates a minefield of betrayal, family infighting, and a mysterious narrator bent on manipulating events behind the scenes.

Renée Ahdieh masterfully balances sharp wit and emotional complexity. The novel is full of satirical fun — lavish lifestyles, backstabbing siblings, and a morally grey, high-powered protagonist you can't help but root for. Yet it also explores serious themes, from the immigrant drive to succeed in elite spaces to how wealth both empowers and isolates. Jia’s ambition is relatable and grounded, her desire for success driven not only by personal hunger, but by the weight of family responsibility and sacrifice.

The Parks are a chaotic blend of opulence and dysfunction. With a cast that includes entitled twins, a closeted financial genius son, and a patriarch who mistakes wealth for wisdom, the book offers no shortage of juicy conflict. But what makes Park Avenue more weighty is Ahdieh’s refusal to let any character remain a caricature — every one of them has moments that complicate your judgment.

Part legal thriller, part social satire, and part coming-of-age story, Park Avenue is unputdownable. It’s a perfect storm of gossip-worthy scandal, clever plotting, and emotional resonance. For fans of drama among the wealthy, strong female leads, and stories that unpack the American dream with heart and humour, this book more than delivers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this, it felt like a mix of Crazy Rich Asians, the TV show Partner Track and Suits. Really well plotted and a great twist at the end that I didn't see coming at all! Will be recommending, perfect read to escape into for the summer!

I started reading and loved the protagonist as a child. Once she became an adult the apparent preoccupation with material, branded items, triggering lots of my judgments and made me want to stop reading, I wondered if I’m just too old for this book. I’m not writing a spoiler but would recommend you keep reading if you’re having trouble with this at the start of the book. I usually read the start then end then middle of a book. I would not recommend skipping to the end with this one, I think it would spoil it and I would avoid reading spoilers.
The writing was excellent and the characters and the plot kept pushing me to read, just another chapter. I really started to enjoy it once the investigation began and the tone changed. It became really interesting, the characters were fully formed and I actually cared about them.
I loved when the author breaks the 4th wall. It feels so, well personal. I completely missed the point of these chapters until the very end and think I might reread it.
I found the end surprisingly moving, if feeling rushed but that might be because I couldn’t put it down after I got past a third of the way through.
I so enjoyed this book and will definitely seek out and read the rest of this author’s books which I think is the best compliment I could give it. I don’t think I’m who the book is aimed at and yet I found it so enjoyable and I’m glad I stuck with it.

From being the daughter of immigrant corner store owners to becoming employed in a high flying US law firm, young Korean- American lawyer Jia has been making the transition many successful next generation immigrants dream of.

So, the last thing she expects is to be thrust into a situation that takes her right back to her roots and the country that is linked to her family origins. But when she is unexpectedly appointed the fixer for a very broken, very wealthy Korean family that is going to pieces in a spectacular fashion (and hires her firm for damage control purposes), Jia finds the situation demanding more of her emotionally than she expected from her job...

This is an enjoyable read that looks at family dynamics and identity politics in an entertaining fashion. It gets 3.5 stars.

Ah, I so wanted to ADORE this book, and while I did enjoy it overall, it fell a bit short of my expectations. I found the first ~40% of this really slow-paced and hard to get into. It was a lot of long, drawn-out meetings with lots of characters thrust at us at once, and I didn't feel like we ever truly got to know Jia throughout this book. I liked her, sure. She was nice and honest and self-aware and funny. But I didn't really get the depth I was looking for - from her, or any of the characters for that matter.

However, I will say that the second half of the book saved it for me. This is where the drama really kicked in, and I found myself wanting to keep reading to find out more. The suspense in this half was great - I wish we had more of this, or at least this pace, early on. I loved Darius and Jia, too. Loved that it wasn't super cliché or like the story was all about them - this was very much Jia's (or - spoiler - Jenny's) story, but the little splash of romance was very much appreciated and done well.

I also LOVED the Gossip Girl-style narrator. This was unlike anything I'd read before, and I would've loved to see more of it! I kept forgetting this was a thing until it popped up occasionally, but I think it could've honestly been every other chapter. That's this book's USP!

Overall, this did actually turn out to be a fun read, I just wish we could've got to see more of the characters. It felt like the story focused solely on the legal proceedings, which I know were the crux of the plot, but as a result I felt like I didn't really get to see the characters just hanging out or bonding or showing emotion, and I struggled to really feel invested in any of them. Don't get me wrong, I was starting to by the end, but I think this story could've really had potential to rip my heart out at the end (in a good way) if I'd already fallen deeply in love with Jia and the Park family.

This was a fun, light read though, and the writing itself was beautiful.

I initially wasn’t too sure about this book. The story seemed a bit stilted with the main character, Jia Song initially being obsessed with wealth and success which made her seem a bit vapid.

But this book grew on me. There were several chapters in which the book breaks for fourth wall talking to you directly as the reader. This isn’t something you regularly see in books and as a device it’s something that I think authors should do more regularly. As a device it was refreshing and broke up the narrative at points making you as a reader take stock of what was happening.

Although the story is about the 1% and family wealth the human issues that come with families shone through. Regardless of economic status, no one can get under the skin of anyone as much as family. This is what made the book. Jia Song is observing family feuds and longstanding issues that has nothing to do with the legal case that she has been tasked with.

Throughout the book it is clear that Jia cannot trust anyone involved. I couldn’t tell who she should or shouldn’t trust, which is what made this is a good read. Despite initially being unsure about the book I ended up wanting to read more. The book grew on me and was an enjoyable read.