Start Us Up

A Park Avenue Promise Novel (The Park Avenue Promise, Book 1)

By: Lexi Blake

Narrated by: Kitty Bang

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2023 Lexi Blake. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrator Kitty Bang draws the listener into the story of Ivy Jensen, who is returning home to New York after her tech company failed because she trusted someone she shouldn't have.… Ivy has a wealthy mentor, CeCe, and Bang has just the right touch of arrogance and haughtiness in her performance. As Heath and Ivy grow closer, Bang infuses Heath with warmth and tenderness as he tries to overcome Lexi's uncertainty about their relationship. Listeners will be totally rooting for them.”—AudioFile Magazine

Entertaining

It’s no secret that I love Lexi Blake’s writing. In fact, I think I have read almost all of her books. I was so excited when I heard that she had a new series releasing and I could not wait to dive in. Start Us Up is the first book in the Park Avenue Promise series and it was an entertaining, well written story that ticked the boxes for me.

From the first chapter I was invested in Ivy Jensen and Heath Marino’s story. After losing her company that’s to trusting the wrong person, Ivy has returned home to lick her wounds and contemplate her life and where to go now. When an opportunity to present to new investors arises, she knows she needs to take a chance otherwise her career will be over.

From the moment Ivy and Heath met, the sparks flew but Ivy needs to focus on resurrecting her career. Heath writes code and has an app he wants to promote, could he be the one to help her breathe life into her career?

I enjoyed their journey as their relationship progressed and cannot wait to read more in the series. The narration by Kitty Bange, a new narrator to me was entertaining. SHe brought both the story and characters to life for me.

an unexpected romance

This is a very cute romance. Ivy is at a very low point in her life. She lost her company and was deceived by her boyfriend. The last thing she needed was a work related romance but..... Here we are, And Heath and Ivy are adorable together and a really fabulous read.

This was a nice book with a good plot!

I was a little hesitant to read because when you read books about women in stem it can be cringey, but this was actually cute. And the plot for the female main character was original. The male main character was a sweet and spicy nerd😝

Man oh man!

4.75 Stars 🌟

Man oh man. I know that I sound like a broken record, or would it be a broken typewriter..?? (hmmm??) Regardless, I absolutely LOVE Lexi Blake and have read everything she has written, or at least everything that I have been able to get my hands on over the last many, many years.

This is Ms. Blake's first foray into, well, I'm actually not sure of the genre. Would this be considered romantic comedy? Like a Rom-Com? Yep, I think that may be fairly close.

This book introduces us to Ivy and Heath. Ivy is a brilliant and tech savvy business person who has just been forced to sell her company because of the actions of another.

Heath is the cute and adorable nerdy guy who is also a brilliant and tech savvy guy, but he is a coder while IVY was CEO.

Let's just say that tagging along as these guys met each other and began the first step on their journey was absolutely fun. This book is at times funny, interesting, heartbreaking, and down right touching. I LOVED IT!

The great thing is that this is the beginning of a new series and now the wait begins for book 2!

A Swoony Series Starter!

4.5/5 📖 Spice Level: 🌶.5

Let’s hear it for the hot nerd book boyfriends!! Start Us Up is the wonderful first book in Lexi Blake’s new Park Avenue Promise series. What do you get when you combine a hot nerd cinnamon roll, a tech genius vixen, and a matchmaking grandma? A lovely, saucy, funny, steamy Lexi Blake romcom. For the queen of romantic suspense, diving into the lighter side of the romance spectrum was a bit of a departure, delightfully so. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my men of Sanctum; they can melt me with their growls and snark any day. But I also love this softer side of Lexi’s storytelling. I thought this was a great series starter, and I can’t wait to read more! If you like low-angst, steamy, workplace romcoms with a splash of tech espionage, Start Us Up is a must-read!

I thought Kitty Bang gave a lovely performance in this single first-person POV narration. Her character voices were marvelous, I especially loved Nona and CeCe, they were a hoot and she brought them to life with hilarious style. There were a few points in the audio when her pacing was a little slow for my taste, but I loved her overall delivery and cadence. I thought she embodied Ivy perfectly as we follow her journey from the career-focused, love-averse, calculating Ivy to the warmer, more relaxed, open-hearted Ivy who Heath helped her find. I LOVED Kitty's voice for Heath, she brought all of his cinnamon roll with swagger charm to life perfectly. If you're looking for a new series with eccentric characters, a glimpse of complex family dynamics, and heartening romance, press play on Start Us Up!

Great start to a new series

This is the first book in this series about three friends who have stayed friends for years. Ivy and Heath are great. Kitty Bang's narration was great.

Wow! This book spoke to me in so many ways.

I love this new book and can’t wait to listen to the next up in this series. I’ve been a long time fan of Lexi Blake’s work, but began to want more depth and complexity and this book was it! I loved how she did a deep dive into Ivy’s character and self reflection.

Love this new storyline from Lexi Blake!

I am a long time fan of Lexi Blake and honestly haven’t read anything she has written and I’ve not loved. Wasn’t sure about this one at first as it took me a few chapters to get onboard with the characters-

But Lexi didn’t disappoint. She presented a story that resonated with me on many levels. As a female in the world of business, I could so understand the emotions and challenges our main character had to overcome. Lexi’s voice exploring the childhood baggage and emotion scares we don’t even know we have hit me where I live.

Can’t want to see what healing journey Lexi will take me on in the next two books in this series.

Great Start!!

I'm looking forward to this series. It's fun and the characters are wonderful. I don't think the narration does the comedy of the story any justice. There's something missing in the delivery. Having said that, the narration isn't bad... it's just meh. The Bliss books have the same problem. Such GREAT humor... and it's just run through like it didn't really happen. God I miss Ryan West on her stuff.

Anyway, I love the characters so much. There's a lifetime of potential for this series!!!

Excellent story

For me the beginning was Very slow and a bit plodding but as the story got off the ground it got better and better. I knew that Lexi would come through with a wonderful story so I kept going and was rewarded with a beautiful story. I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out.