Name: Marriage on Madison Avenue
Rating: 4.14 (7 reviews)

The third and final novel in the Marriage Pact series and it's my favourite. Naomi and Claire's stories are hard acts to follow but somehow Audrey's journey to a happy ending manages to slightly eclipse them.

Audrey Tate and Clarke West's story is as slow-burn as you get. These childhood friends are close but they've at no time overstepped the platonic boundary. When Clarke needs Audrey to pretend (again) to be his fake fiancée, she happily plays along, as she usually does. Only this time, his matchmaker mother calls his bluff. The result? A situation neither of them expected to get into...together… ever!

When it comes to romantic comedy, Ms Layne is my go-to author. The humour she injects into every narrative is flirty, fun and littered with a great deal of intelligent witty dialogue. As a friends to lovers novel, this romance is as stunning as the glamorous Manhattan backdrop.

Finally, It's fitting the end of this trilogy comes full circle and finishes where it all starts in Central Park. Only this time, these three women who met under awkward circumstances have vastly contrasting lives to the ones they had when they first met… perfect!

***arc generously received courtesy of Gallery Books via NetGalley***

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Life long best friends, Clarke and Audrey, had both determined that marriage wasn't in the cards for them. However, when Clarke's mother meddled in his love life and Audrey's name started popping up in the gossip columns, both agreed to a fake engagement in order to squash both situations. As the engagement progresses, both get caught up in the joy of it all, but will they finally see what had been obvious to everyone else?

Layne was saving the best for last with this book. It was my absolute favorite of the series, and I think it's because it was the most straight forward romance of the three. Though we learned about Clarke and Audrey's "baggage", it played a much smaller role than it had for the couples in the previous books. Therefore, more time was dedicated to getting to see these two slowly falling in love.

I had had the opportunity to see Clarke and Audrey interact in previous books, and I was shipping them back then. It was just easy to see that they belonged together. There is something so beautiful about seeing a strong friendship become more that never fails to move me, and this was a long and storied friendship, built on love and trust.

They knew so much about each other, good and bad, and they still loved and accepted one another. It was not hard to see that they were each other's "person", and Layne did a wonderful job taking me through this journey with them, as they slowly realized that, perhaps, they had always felt a bit more for each other. And, the little ways they showed their love hit me right in the feels. The depth of emotion they showed at times hit me so hard at times, and gosh! I really wanted this love match, and it was terribly important to me, that they got their HEA.

This book was also a lot of fun. We got to plan a big budget wedding, and we had the help of one of the Belles (I love a little crossover action)! I had a stupendous time hobnobbing with the wealthy Manhattanites and getting a peek into their world, but I also loved that Layne kept the friendships front and center.

Our three Pact members spent lots of time on page together, and as always, they were there to share in the good and the bad with each other. We also saw the men really embrace Clarke in this book, and I am always up for a good bromance.

I cried happy tears and felt lots of feels. What a wonderful way to end the series!

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Marriage on Madison Avenue (Central Park Pact, #3)

by Lauren Layne

Marriage on Madison Avenue (Central Park Pact, #3)

by Lauren Layne

Reviews

Lynn

Sam@WLABB

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