Start Us Up
A Park Avenue Promise Novel
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4.1 • 13 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake, discover The Park Avenue Promise Series...
Three young women make a pact in high school—
to always be friends and to one day make it big in Manhattan.
She’s a high-tech boss who lost it all…
Ivy Jensen was the darling of the tech world, right up until her company fell apart completely after she trusted the wrong person. Her reputation in tatters, she finds herself back in the tiny apartment she grew up in, living with her mom. When a group of angel investors offer her a meeting, she knows she has to come up with the new big idea or her career is over.
He’s an up and coming coder…
Heath Marino has always been fascinated with writing code. He’s worked on a dozen games and apps and is considered one of the industry’s more eccentric talents. But now he’s back in New York to spend time with his grandmother. She was known as one of the city’s greatest matchmakers, and he wants to know why. Surely there’s some kind of code in his grandmother’s methods, and he’s going to find them.
When Ivy meets Heath it’s instant attraction, but she’s got a career to get back to and he just might be her on-ramp. It could be a perfect partnership or absolute heartbreak.
Reviews for Start Us Up:
“This book is funny, emotional, swoony and basically has everything a romance book should have. It’s certainly one of my top reads of 2023!” ~ Dutchiereadsromance
“Start Us Up was so much fun to read, I couldn’t put it down and read it in one day.” ~ Tcantstopreading
“With START US UP, Blake writes what may be my favorite book of hers and is a showcase for the women of her newest series, Park Avenue Promise.” ~ Reads & Reviews
“So many great messages, such honest representations of relationships encountered in life, laughs, tears, smiles, this is one epic read you definitely don't wanna miss.” ~ bookreviewsbyjames
“I loved this book. L-O-V-E-D IT.” ~ bookshelfofmydreams
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this fun and witty romance, the worlds of coding and love collide. Ivy Jensen was riding high in the tech world—until she wasn’t. Now she’s back home with her grieving, difficult mom, trying to find her feet again after she lost it all very publicly. Then she meets Heath Marino, who’s working on an app based on his Sicilian grandma’s matchmaking business. The two need each other to succeed in business, but it quickly becomes way more than that. In the first book in the Park Avenue Promise series, author Lexi Blake introduces a wonderful cast of characters, from Ivy’s group of ride-or-die besties to the formidable businesswoman CeCe. The complex dynamic between Ivy and Heath feels super realistic, with lots of twists and turns on the road to love. (Remember, never mess with a Sicilian nonna.) Entertaining and emotional, this sweet rom-com has a lot of heart.
Customer Reviews
Emotional yet captivating
START US UP is the first instalment in Lexi Blake’s contemporary, adult PARK AVENUE PROMISE erotic, romance series focusing on three friends: Ivy, Harper and Anika. This is twenty-nine year old, tech whiz Ivy Jensen, and coder Heath Marino’s story line.
Told from first person perspective (Ivy) START US UP follows in the aftermath of the failure of Ivy’s online medical platform Jensen Medical Solutions. Struggling to move on from the humiliation, and the professional fall-out, Ivy is invited by a well-to-do investor, to meet and greet with up and coming talents but Ivy has been approached by a possible partner, a young man who is hoping to make it big in the world online dating and AI (artificial intelligence). Enter Heath Marino, coder and gamer, and the man with whom Ivy will fall in love but all does not go according to plan as Ivy’s past refuses to let go, and in doing so, threatens to destroy Ivy, all over again.
The world building introduces Ivy’s best friends: Harper Ross who owns her own construction company, and Anika Fox, who works in television production. Since the collapse of her online medical platform, Ivy has been floundering, struggling to discover or uncover the next best thing but working with Heath Marino finds Ivy falling for a man who has fallen hard for our story line heroine.
The relationship between Ivy and Heath begins as a business arrangement in which Ivy refuses to cross the line between business and pleasure, a line that all but destroyed her previous career. Eviscerated by her former partner, and humiliated in public, Ivy battles between head and heart, fearing another failure at the hands of someone she loved. The $ex scenes are passionate and emotional without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters include Ivy’s best friends: Harper Ross and Anika Fox whose tough love behavior threatens years of friendship and support; Ivy’s investor and mentor Cecilia Foust aka Cece; Heath’s roommate Darnell Green, as well as Ivy’s antagonistic mother Diane Jensen, and Ivy’s ex partner Nick Stafford.
START US UP is a story of betrayal and deception, mental illness and acceptance, family and friendships, relationships and love. The premise is emotional yet captivating; the romance is seductive; the characters are dynamic and desperate.
Great start !
What a way to start a new series, with a BANG! Ivy is a wiz who trusted the wrong person. She returns home to start a new chapter in her life. She starts to work with Heath on a matchmaking app that is a replicate to his grandmother's matchmaking . This a slow burning, sweet story that is very entertaining and also very different from Lexi Blake's other series and I loved it! Who's next to find their perfect someone.