West Side Love Story

This was a really cute read! Culture, enemies to lovers, family conflicts and drama and love!!! Spice level is 🌶️ . It’s easy to read and fun.

I got this years ago as an Amazon Kindle First book. I put it off because it wasn't a priority at the time. Books I get for review from publishers take first priority, and then I have such a backlog of books that I want to read on my own that it took a long time to get around to this one. I finally decided to pick it up.Obviously, West Side Love Story is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. I was worried about this book following too closely to the source material. Certain pieces from the original need to be done, but not all. And Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy after all. I don't so much enjoy reading tragedies. I don't mind a book making me cry, but I want the ending to be filled with hope and not so much death and finality.I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I ended up hooked pretty early with West Side Love Story. Mariana and Angelo meet one night randomly but don't learn who each other is at that meeting. They have chemistry and share a moment that neither one of them can easily forget. Angelo first finds out who Mariana is and has to talk her into being friends with him. A shaky friendship turns into an alliance and then into more.Angelo's parents are both dead and he is the sole guardian of his younger sister who is fourteen years old now. His uncle offered him a place to live and a job when his parents died, and he's been very thankful for that. Only he's never understood his uncle's feud with the Capuleta family. Working for his uncle, he's never seen any illegal or underhanded business dealings that his uncle is rumored to participate in, but Angelo now has a reason not to turn a blind eye to such things.Mariana is adopted. All of her siblings are. Her parents have taken in many girls who needed a home and a family. And they run a community center that helps many other families and members of their community. Mariana is used to keeping her family together by being the one that most of the others turn to. Her pride in her family and their love for each other was heartwarming. It made them all so easy to root for. Each of the sisters had personalities to jump off the page, especially Cat and Nina (the youngest and newest member of the family, currently just fostering).The physical scenes are mostly mild. Any actual acts are mostly skipped. I will say there was more description leading up to events or imagining them than what actually happened.West Side Love Story was better than I expected. Some of the retelling pieces from Romeo and Juliet was a bit "on the nose", but I also appreciated where Priscilla Oliveras decided to detour from the source material. I liked the side characters. Cat was a little bossy and pushy for my taste, but I will say that I'm interested in her story which is book 2. Ultimately, I give West Side Love Story 4 Stars. Have you read West Side Love Story? What did you think? Let me know!

West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras is a Latinx romance and book one of the Queens of Mariachi series.This story is about a family who has fostered and adopted many girls and helped them focus their energy on creating music! The family forms a mariachi band that is set to compete against a rival family.West Side Love Story is a play on Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story. It centers specifically around Mariana, the oldest adopted sibling, who is an ER nurse. She's determined to help her family win the Mariachi band competition. But what happens when a member from a feuding family and Mariachi band catches her heart?I absolutely enjoyed this story so much and can't believe that this book sat on my shelf since last summer!!! It's such a beautiful, modern-day, cozy love story. With these feuding families, you definitely get the star-crossed lovers and forbidden romance vibes. I enjoyed the drama aspect between families.I rooted for Mariana and Angelo from the moment they graced the pages together. I felt their connection instantly. They are both the rock of their families and are perfect together. Love this story so much and will be diving into book 2 right away!

'West Side Love Story' was enthralling. Its captivating plot was filled with a Latin-filled interpretation of a family feud between the Monteros and the Capuletas as opposed to the Montagues and the Capulets. There were feuding families, fierce musical Mariachi competitions, tension, benevolence, and love. Mariana and Angelo, the protagonists, were soul mates and gushed with chemistry. Additionally, I liked the author's writing style: engaging characters, interesting settings, vivid descriptions which included imagery, lots of Spanish words intertwined and figurative language, and a storyline loosely based on "Romeo and Juliet" which held my interest throughout. Overall, I liked the mesmerizing narrative which was the perfect homage to Shakespeare.

4.5/5 🌟I liked this story I especially loved giw much I related to both the characters the sense of family the need to choose between what is right for family and what is right for yourself I absolutely loved the way my culture was shown as well as told.The reason for the 4.5 is because while I loved the family aspect as well as the romance I wished we got more of Mariannas back storyThe small glimpse were nice to see but I wished her story wasn't side stepped for Nina's which honestly wasn't necessary at least not the last few pages of itOverall the story was good and I enjoyed it and I can't wait to read more from this author ^^