#An Upper West Side Story by Rachel Cullen

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An Upper West Side Story [ARC Review]

Release Date: 6th July 2023  Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ [3½ Stars] Drama Level: 🌶️🌶️

[I apologise for the low-res cover; this is the clearest one I could find online!] 

My Review: 

Contrary to the reference it's title, An Upper West Side Story by Rachel Cullen isn't a dramatic tragedy. It's a lighthearted read you can breeze through in a couple of days.

Jump back in time to 2004 with Jess, Tory, Robin and Zach on the Upper West Side.

Jessica Barlowe had plans to move in with her boyfriend until he completely blows up their lives. With her current roommate moving out in anticipation of Jess' move, she is left stranded on her own.

Tory Wallace's home life had always been difficult. Between her parents' fighting matches and her father's constant put downs, it all comes to a head. Tory has to escape and forge her own independent path.

Robin Cromwell is left with the perfect apartment. It's a classic six - which includes two bedrooms, two & a half bathrooms (what in the world is a half bathroom??) and a kitchen - in a prime location. With her roommate and best friend moving out for her residency, Robin has to comb through all the Craigslist creeps to find the perfect roommate.

Zach Sullivan is a tech executive who owns his own apartment on the Upper West Side. He has always been reserved. But when he crosses paths with someone he can't seem to stop thinking about, he impulsively ends up renting out his spare room.

***

This book was honestly a mixed bag for me. It was very easy to read and I flew through it in a couple of days. I also think Rachel had an interesting set of characters with a lot of potential.

That being said, while all the characters had the ingredients of standing out from one another, all their 'voices' in their respective POV felt very similar. This is most likely due to Rachel's writing style coming through. I definitely think the girls could had more of a distinct tone to set them apart. I was slowly able to differentiate them by Act 2.

Jess, Tory and Zach had all heartfelt backstories and trauma they had to resolve and it was done very well. I am especially a fan of how Tory's arc and storyline unfolded. Her family history was interesting to read about.

However, I felt that Robin wasn't done justice. While the trio I mentioned had backstories that added depth to their characters and raised the stakes for them, Robin's issues about dating and her career felt like small potatoes. The book could have used at least a 100 more pages fleshing out Robin who was a lovely character to read about.

All in all, the way all these characters intersected and how each of them impacted different arcs was cool to read about. Another thing that could have been done better is the conflict and pivotal moments. I felt that a lot of important scenes that should have unfolded on the page happened off-screen. I felt cheated out of getting those POVs at times. As for the conflicts, a lot of it fell under the miscommunication trope. It felt like watching a 90s sitcom episode without it being funny, I was just very frustrated with the characters at that point.

The ending was really sweet and gave me the fuzzies. All that's said and done, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a lighthearted read where you don't need to think much and can read it quickly in a day.

Thank you to Lime Street Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

[fayteorchid]

Review: Book: An Upper West Side Story- Rachel Cullen

Title: An Upper West Side Story Series: Standalone Author’s Name: Rachel Cullen Publisher: Lime Street Press Genre: NA Women’s Fiction Page Count: 340 Pages ISBN:  979-8986383019 Author or Book Website: ​​HOME | mysite (rachelcullenwriter.com) Link to Amazon purchase page: ​​​an Upper west side story: Cullen, Rachel: Amazon.com: Books Link to Goodreads: ​​An Upper West Side Story by…

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ARC/Reviews Masterlist

ARCs

Reviews can also be found on my StoryGraph

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