West Side Love Story

By: Priscilla Oliveras

Narrated by: Karla Serrato

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A heart-stirring romance of star-crossed love, feuding familias, and the bonds of sisterhood by USA Today bestselling author Priscilla Oliveras.

Two familias in Texas, both alike in dignity, rivalries, and passion...

Having grown up in the nurturing household of Casa Capuleta, Mariana will do anything for familia. To solve her adoptive parents’ financial problems amid their rapidly changing San Antonio comunidad, Mariana and her younger sisters are determined to win the Battle of the Mariachi Bands. That means competing against Hugo Montero, their father’s archnemesis, and his band and escalating a decades-old feud. It also raises the stakes of Mariana’s forbidden attraction for a certain dark-eyed mariachi who sets her heart racing.

To Angelo Montero’s familia, Mariana is also strictly off-limits. But that doesn’t stop him from pursuing her. As their secret affair intensifies and the competition grows fierce, they’re swept up in a brewing storm of betrayals, rivalries, and broken ties. Against the odds, they vow to bring peace. But sacrifices must be made and consequences weighed for two star-crossed lovers to make beautiful music together.

©2022 Priscilla Oliveras (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Karla Serrato's animated, upbeat voice enhances this charming enemies-to-lovers romance. Her moderately paced narration quickly picks up as a midnight kiss sparks an affair between Mariana and Angelo, mariachi musicians from rival bands.… Serrato's emotive performance evokes the forbidden passion that draws the pair together.… Serrato notably gives each band member a unique voice befitting their personality, and her use of Spanish and accent work highlights the musicians' community.”—AudioFile Magazine

“Romeo and Juliet gets a fresh retelling through two rival San Antonio families and their dueling mariachi bands.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A sparkling tribute to the rivalries of Romeo and Juliet, with none of the tragedy and all of the swoony romance.”—Library Journal

Sisterhood

I loved this story focused on Mexican American lives, relationship, and sisterhood. How even though the family is of a collectivist culture they still encouraged goals, dreams and aspirations.

swoon!

This is the first book I've read/listen to by Priscilla, but I can promise it won't be my last. I love the cappulette familia! and don't get me started on hot swoon worthy Angelo was! I also can't wait for Cat to fall super hard for someone so she feels bad for how harsh she was to Mariana!

Priscilla makes you feel all the feeling in the book so hard! Cue to me bawling about 80% of the way into the book, and needing to put the book down when Mariana and Cat have a fight.

The voice actor Karla also does an amazing job with portraying those intense feeling Priscilla puts forth. Also is really adds somthing when the voice actor actually speaks the secondary language in the book!

if I could I would give it some many more stars!!

Beautiful story

I absolutely loved this story. This was a cool twist to Romeo and Juliet with a little West Side story mixed into it. I couldn’t put this book down once I started it.

A tale as old as time

Very reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet with families fighting and a guy from one family falls in love with a girl from the other family.

That being said, this was a very fresh take on a classic story. Two Mexican American families who are both very musical Mariachi groups compete in a contest. One is all male and one is all female.

The main characters are Mariana Capuleta and Angelo Montero. Mariana is the oldest daughter and she is strong and has plans to become a PA from her current status as nurse. Angelo is working under his tio’s (uncle’s) thumb and is strong but feels indebted to his uncle. Angelo has custody of his teenage sister after the death of his parents.

La familia was the central theme which was written really well. I personally really enjoyed that key phrases were in Spanish in this story. Quite understandable for non-Spanish speaking folks.

The narration by Karla Serrato was extremely good and added depth to the story I don’t think I would have appreciated as much by just reading it.

A Wonderful Westside Story Retelling

This was amazing modern version spin of the classic “Westside Story.” The author did a great job on putting her own touch to the story and the narrator was a perfect match for this story.

It's how Romeo and Juliet should've ended…

I got this title free for World Book Day from Kindle & for $1.99 I bought the audiobook to go with it. And I am very happy that I did! I feel like this audio book has so much more depth than the written book probably would have for me if I had just read it. Being a native American English speaker, with very little Espaniol, my eyes would have naturally glossed over the Spanish with little to no understanding, but hearing it spoken and seamlessly translated without it feeling like a translation, really drew me further into the culture that was being portrayed.

I do have to confess that for whatever reason it took me a while to catch on to the fact that this book is a unique take on Romeo & Juliet. The feuding family names eventually gave it away though and I immediately started worrying about the story ending in tragedy. I was invested in the characters at that point, and knew that anyone dying, let alone the two main characters, would devastate me, not to mention ruin the book's overall vibe for me. I am relieved to report that my fears were not realized, and though I'm not going to spoil anything more than I already have for you, I would like to say that I believe the ending that Priscilla Oliveras gave her characters was in my estimation much kinder than Shakespeare was to his iconic Romeo and Juliet. Enjoy!

Cute cute cute!

Such a fun light read/listen. The plot is one we've heard before with a modern twist that is relatable to young readers especially in marginalized communities. I found the love story to be well paced and very natural. The protagonists walk the line of being too perfect but the Author does well to flesh them out as people. My only critique is that sometimes the author gets a little wordy and tells us the same information over and over but it doesn't effect the story much. Overall very cute, medium spicy read that I would but a hard copy of

Fantastic twist to a classic

A perfect retelling of a classic love story with some Hispanic flavor added in it.