Naomi Powell has come a long way from her poor Bronx upbringing and is now CEO of one of the biggest accessories companies in the country. Yet she still feels like an outsider, especially when faced with Manhatten’s upper class. When Naomi has the opportunity to move into an apartment on Park Avenue, she takes it, especially when she realizes the boy who ruined her and her mother’s lives, Oliver Cunningham, will be her new neighbor. Naomi is filled with thoughts of getting revenge on Oliver but when he doesn’t recognize her and when Naomi starts feelings things other than contempt for Oliver, she may have to change her mind.
This was a fun chick-lit type book. I really liked the chemistry between Naomi and Oliver and I thought the author did a great job of conveying their backstory to the page. I liked the emotional connection the two had and all the sweet little things they did for one another. I really enjoyed Naomi’s growth as she struggles from yearning to exact revenge on Oliver to falling for him instead.
The main conflict in the story is that Naomi has not told Oliver who she is. While it got a bit old and I thought it would have been super easy to just slip that information in during one of their conversations, I did like that Naomi wasn’t always thinking about it. So many times where there is a secret between characters, the character with the secret is just constantly thinking about it which is a bit of overkill. I loved the way the author handled it here.
Although once Oliver finds out Naomi’s identity, he gets angry for about a week and then it seems to all blow over. So in a way, it didn’t seem like such a big deal which is why it was frustrating that Naomi was hesitant to tell Oliver.
This book is the first book in the Central Park Pact series. There is a secondary plot that begins when Naomi goes to the funeral of her deceased boyfriend and meets his wife and a second girlfriend. The three becomes friends and make a pact to help each other never get involved with the wrong guy again. The two other books in the series revolve around the other women. I thought this was an interesting plotline, although I did wonder, for Naomi to become such good friends with these women so fast, did she not have any other friends? The author does make a throwaway reference that Naomi was always too busy for friends in the past, but I still thought it a bit odd.
I thought this was a cute book. I don’t think I’ll read the rest in the series, but that’s because I have such a long to-read list, that there are other books I am more interested in reading right now.
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