DNF. I just couldn't get into this one. I may try again on audiobook.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this ebook.

Cecily is by far one of my favorite authors and I believe she has done it again with this book. It’s very different from her usual Gossip Girl style books but refreshing and captivating all in the same light. Thank you for giving me early access to this book.

Cobble Hill explores themes of love, family, friendship, and community. Ziegesar is known for her ability to create characters that are both relatable and entertaining. Cobble Hill is no exception, featuring a diverse cast of individuals with distinct personalities and quirks. From the attention-seeking ex-groupie Mandy to the unconventional school nurse Peaches, each character brings their own unique perspective to the story. The novel also offers a glimpse into the specific social and cultural dynamics of Brooklyn's affluent neighborhoods. However, the narrative tends to delve deeply into the minutia of mundane elements, for instance the street by street turns of one character's trip to Staten Island. Readers are introduced to the area's brownstones, trendy restaurants, and private schools, providing a backdrop for the characters' privileged yet often dysfunctional lives. The background is colorful and the dialogue on point, and I enjoyed the novel's sharp wit and engaging characters, but the plot presents as a thinly designed diary entries. All the characters are interconnected but there is little to build on. Conflict is nonexistent and the characters do not develop or grow in any meaningful way. Overall, Cobble Hill is a light and entertaining read that provides an interesting look into the lives of privileged families in Brooklyn. However, readers looking for a deep and thought-provoking novel may be disappointed.

Overall I liked the character development in this book and seeing the relationship between the characters. Seeing the daily lives, the ins and outs of these people and families was a great aspect of this book. I would recommended this book to those that enjoy family and character development stories.

She felt a little left out. Stuart knew all these people, and she knew no one. But that’s what you got for pretending to have MS and hiding in your house with boxes of other people’s food and a whole lot of weed.

With Cobble Hill by new to me author Cecily von Ziegesar, we are introduced to a plethora of people living in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Cobble Hill. Writer types, musician types, artist types and even people who lie about being afflicted with a debilitating disease and stealing their neighbor’s gourmet food deliveries from their front stoops. I want to live in this neighborhood. Prior to authoring this book, Cecily von Ziegesar had already made a name for herself with her Gossip Girl series, which I haven’t tackled. This book, however, is full of snarky wit, humor, sarcasm and the most eclectic group of people I have ever met.

Roy Clarke, his wife Wendy and their daughter, Shy are new to the neighborhood, having moved over from across the pond. Roy is a best-selling author struggling with his next book while his wife struggles to remain relevant in the highly competitive fast-paced world of magazine publishing. Their daughter is struggling with all of her classes, except Latin and her crush on her tattooed Latin teacher.

Stuart Little, (not the mouse), former lead singer of popular boy band, the Blind Mice, his wife Mandy, his high-school sweetheart who now struggles with her weight and self-esteem issues and takes it one step further by lying to her husband about her health and stealing. They have a young son, Ted, who is developing some behavioral concerns.

Peaches Park, the nurse at Ted’s school, an avid drummer who has a major crush on Stuart, her husband Greg, who teaches music and wears noise cancelling headphones everywhere and their teenage son, Liam, who has a crush on Shy Clarke and practically jumps at the chance to tutor her.

Rounding out the group are Tupper, an inventor of sorts and his wife, Elizabeth, an artist who is as mysterious and strange as the works of art she creates using prosthetic limbs.

I enjoyed how all of the lives of these characters intersect in the most unusual but entertaining way. It felt like those movies that have a bunch of people with different storylines, but then at the end, you see how connected they are to one another.

My Final Verdict: Overall, I found this story to be enjoyable with equal parts drama and humor. My takeaway from this story is that we all have the opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people living right in our neighborhood if we just open the front door and step outside. Readers who enjoy women’s fiction and stories about families and relationships will enjoy this book.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Cobble Hill from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I can see the similarities to the Gossip Girl books, which were a staple of my middle school years and I have a fond nostalgia for. However this doesn't hold the same kind of appeal for me whether that's because I'm an adult, I've been to NYC, these characters are upper middle class not 1%, or I just prefer my books to be a little more distanced from reality now.

Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for my chance to review.

This was a fun read and the way it was written had me feeling like I was right there in Brooklyn along with the story and characters. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

I'm not entirely sure what I just read. I can't say that I didn't enjoy many parts of this book, because the humour was definitely present throughout and I certainly laughed.

I found the characters interesting and eccentric, however the plot was meandering and it felt like a 4 hour episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm or something. I also really wasn't sure why one character had to be repeatedly described as fat (or any other synonyms that exist).

It also wasn't always clear whose perspective the reader was supposed to be in at the time, as this was constantly changing, even withing scenes without breaks.

The two stars I awarded are for humour, because I definitely laughed from time to time, but all in all not a favourite.

I was excited to read this as I'm a fan of the author but was slightly disappointed. The characters had potential to be really interesting but there just wasn't a plot for me to get enticed. When I was about 80% in, I knew this would be a story about nothing and it took me quite a long time to get through the last 20%.

I wanted to like this quirky book more, but it just didn't pull me in like I"d hoped it would. The characters and their plotlines felt disconnected to me, and while I liked some of the stories, others were just difficult for me to relate to. I think this is the beauty of reading though - it is so subjective that, while a book may really resonate with one reader, it might fall flat for another.

Regardless, I'm thankful to Netgalley, von Ziegesar, and Atria Books for my gifted galley.

I had such high expectations for this book! I was an avid Gossip Girl reader and loved the series (and spin offs). This book honestly just fell a little flat for me. I got fairly bored about halfway through and just felt as if there was not a lot of plot.

This book read like an uneventful book adaptation of the show "Desperate Housewives" however, it also gave you the perspective of the desperate husbands as well.

You either are going to like this book or not (revolutionary right?). If you like stories that follow the average, everyday lives of characters living in the same neighbourhood/city, you might like this book. Until the end of the book, there isn't really anything that makes this story exciting or entertaining. It is a glimpse at the lives of these characters.

When it comes to these characters, I will admit...I didn't really like ANY of them. That's okay because there are plenty of books that I enjoy with unlikable characters. But this book took unlikable characters to the extreme by creating a full of cast of them. These characters were irritating and when it comes to the character of Mandy, also problematic.

Did I hate this book? No. Did I enjoy it? No. It's one that I read and will quickly forget about because there was nothing about this story that was memorable.

The Gossip Girl author is back with an adult novel set in Brooklyn neighborhood, Cobble Hill that focuses on four married couples and their children.

As much as I loved the Gossip Girl novels, this one didn’t live up to those. The characters seemed disconnected and the story didn’t come together as well as it could have.

Cobble Hill was a good book about families with some interesting drama but it fell a little short for me. I found the characters to be difficult to relate to and the plot was a little slow for me. The writing was great though.

This was such a fun book that perfectly encapsulates this specific Brooklyn neighborhood and the mannerisms around it! It was such an enjoyable read!

A glitzy story of place, family and drama. I really struggled to get into this story. It felt a bit surface level and frustrating. I started and stopped many times and find it difficult to connect to any of the characters. It is a good story of place, but just not the right book for me at this time.

I love books like this--that explore different characters or families all in one book. Especially books that are set in NY, specifically "new" Brooklyn. This was an enjoyable read that let us into the lives of four different families in Brooklyn. It's similar to The Husband's Secret in a way in that the families are tied together with a night that rattles them all and changes the individual characters in different ways. A nice read and a nice change of pace from this author's prior series, Gossip Girl.

Such a letdown after Gossip Girl! I loved Gossip Girl, and even this being a different book/series isn't what disappointed me. It just felt forced and I coudn't understand why I should be interested in these characters. Disappointing.

COBBLE HILL by Cecily von Ziegesar has a gorgeous cover & is a fun romp through the lives of the characters who live in the Cobble Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn. Written by the author of the GOSSIP GIRL novels, I was curious about how the author would create a world & characters. Told from the point of view of multiple characters, this book was like a series of phone calls with friends and acquaintances that fill you in on everyones’ behavior and foibles. A fun book, I really enjoyed reading it! Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

this was more women's/literary fiction than romance. But, it was ok. I was kind of confused because I thought it would be kind of like a Gossip Girl type story where the reader knows but this was just executed in a way that was confusing for both the reader as well as the characters