I saw really bad/low reviews for this but I decided to give it a try anyway. Almost immediately I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it. It read very pretentious and I was not interested or invested in the characters at all. Thanks anyway for the ARC but I’m DNFing this one.

Parts of Western Alliances are interesting, parts of the book feel like nothing is happening for pages. Most of the time I liked the family, and the satire readers get from their tale.
I can see why this is considered part travelogue and part family drama because that really is what you get as you travel through time and read all the absurdity. A bit long for me given the type of book it is, but this shouldn't deter readers especially if they enjoy a bit of family drama.


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy, but this book did not draw me in. I am counting this as a DNF.

I had really high hopes for this book but it fell so flat for me. It was a lot of words to have written where nothing really happened. It promised humor.... I didn't even crack a smile.

Nothing about this book was what I was hoping for. The author has a real skill with words but I wanted to laugh and flip pages like a manic.

It was just ok for me. I would say if you are a fan of the author, you will likely enjoy it.

The Costa family is pretty dysfunctional. Brother and sister Roberto and Rachel have been traveling Europe separately for years on daddy's money when the financial crash of 2008 takes place. How they deal with the money train stopping is a sad look at the upper crust.

I looked forward to reading the book based on the description and the humor that was supposed to be in it. I really didn't find a lot of humor, so was disappointed in that. It is well written and very descriptive in the locales around Europe.

Roberto is the main character, his bisexual sex life is a main focus of the book and there are in-depth details around most of his sexual encounters. This will not be appropriate for our HS library by anyone's standards.

There are detailed descriptions of the towns and most importantly the Romanesque architecture of the 11-1200's; something I know nothing about and really didn't care. Except for their father Sal, I wasn't really drawn to any of the characters. The book had a lot to say about Western ideals and financial trickery but it went so off track for me in the art and sex that I couldn't connect.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I received an ARC of this book. Story was okay, but I didn't really enjoy reading it. Complicated family drama. I found it hard to follow.

Overprivileged siblings who have way too much money and no sense are squabbling with their parents and trying to bilk each other out of large sums of money. Other reviews compare this story to the HBO series Succession. I agree. The bulk of this book is about rich kids and their romp through Europe. I was bored after the first few chapters, but I persevered and finished it so I could give a fair review. Unfortunately, that is time I will never get back. The only thing that saved this from being a two-star review is that the writing is pretty good. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Lots of dark humor and wit. I think this would make a great TV series. Set in 2008 and centered around the financial crisis, it's a very humorous take on that situation.

Salvador, the patriarch, runs one of Wall Street’s biggest banks the summer before everything collapses in the 2008 financial crisis. Roberto and Rachel, his two children, have never worked a day in their lives; and Lena, his ex-wife, is a scheming hypochondriac. Part travelogue, part epic family drama, the novel follows Roberto and Rachel across Europe as the two dilettantes come to terms with their father’s choices and the repercussions of his actions.

When I read in the one of the blurbs for this book that the characters were comparable to those in Succession, I was intrigued. We had just finished binge-watching all of the seasons and loved it, so I thought I might love this as well. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. At least with Succession, there was some depth to the characters. The only real likeable character was the father, Sal, and he played only a minor role in the book. Mostly it was about Roberto and Rachel. Rachel had zero redeeming qualities, and the majority of Roberto's story was either him trying to one-up Rachel, talking about him travelling all over Europe with various travelling companions, or going into great details about his sex life (or lack thereof). Their mom had to be the least motherly person ever. She spent the entire book trying to scam her children out of their money. The book really should have been titled "Rich people behaving badly". I wish I could say I enjoyed this, but I didn't.

I initially started reading this book in the physical form and I was so confused. It felt like I’d started the story in the middle of everything. Then I got the audio and listening made it a lot more easy to follow. The narrator was EXCELLENT. This family is witty and spoiled and selfish. Their European escapades were beautiful to picture. Most of their relationships (which each other and outsiders) were pretty sad. I liked the interactions between Sol and Roberto the most- their father/son dynamic was sweet and interesting. There’s some unique sex scenes that were maybe unnecessary, but this whole book is a satirical rollercoaster spanning decades and every little detail added to the layers of somewhat quirky nonsense. It kind of reminded me of all the wild stories Alexa tells in Schitt’s Creek about her escapades when they were still rich… and I don’t think this family ever really came to grips with the financial crisis they (and all of the US) were facing. This book is political and funny and I’d say if you like that hilariously fall-from-grace and flounder storyline, you’ll definitely like it.
It wasn’t all shallow: there was depth in Roberto’s search for sexual identity, Rachel’s search for self-assurance, and Sol’s search to right what his industry had done wrong. As much as this book seems surface level about money, travel, and lavish living, the family really did have some endearing qualities when they weren’t being incredibly frustrating.

Western Alliances had some clever dialogue and was funny at points but in the end didn’t make much of an impression. A travelogue of the rich during the stock market crash of 2008 seems to have the potential for satire or commentary that may make following the rich heirs interesting or biting but instead felt mostly forgettable.

Wilton Bernhardt’s newest novel, Western Alliances, reads like a modern-day sitcom.
Roberto, a well-to-do family patriarch, and his wife Rachel, have always loved the good life, traveling all over the world, with none of the cares of the everyday man or woman.

Then the stock market crashes, and the rest of the story is hilarious chaos for the couple and their two spoiled offspring. The author’s unique writing style is sharp, quick, and sarcastic. Readers will love this story of the privileged as they struggle to make it on their own.

Tough call on this one because it's hard to feel sorry for Roberto and Rachel, children of Salvadore and Lena, who take off to Europe and elsewhere when the 2008 financial crisis means the end of the money train, While Bobby and Rachel, and all the places they visit are well drawn the pair just aren't likable. Nor btw, are the parents especially Lena, This caroms around, mostly focused on Bobby and it's at times over the top. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, Wasn't for me but those who like comic novels of unhappy families might enjoy it.

This story is about a well-to-do family whose patriarch loses everything during the Wall Street crash. His two kids, Roberto and Rachel, struggle through what most regular people can’t even relate to- the lack of unlimited funds from Daddy. While certain scenarios made me chuckle, I was confused for most of the book. The writing style was hard for me to follow. I may be spoiled by being spoonfed by some plots of stories I read, so that may play a role in my awkwardness in staying on point with this storyline. So don’t take my word for it, please read the book for yourself. This is a well-written author, and he deserves your time and own assessment, no matter what some readers feel.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is August 1, 2023.

I hate giving such a low rating after the author worked so hard on this but I just don't think it's for me. I thought the characters were horrible people, only interested in themselves and their own pleasures. None of them seemed to care for anything but themselves. I certainly don't blame Sal for cutting them off from their trust funds. Mom is a joke and not in a funny way. When I picked it up I expected something like Schitt's Creek but I didn't find anything funny about this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a digital copy.

Both the characters and storyline are severely lacking in development. I had to force myself to finish the book and do not recommend it.

This book was an enjoyable romp through Europe with Roberto and Rachel. I learned some things about art.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you St Martin's for the review copy of Western Alliances by Wilton Barnhardt; audiobook copy from MacMillan audio.
Western Alliances is a witty, humorous set of adventures with the Costa family. I wanted to like this, I could tell this is a funny and observationally acute writer, which usually works for me but this is a situation with characters who I did not quite connect with... What was meant to be funny was a little flat as I could not feel a real connection with the characters.
I felt more like I was dropping into a story already in progress, catching a book or show mid series where characters had established patterns and relationships and I could not catch up. For me the focus on financial/business themes also sometimes distanced me from engaging with the book.

This story is sometimes like a travel blog through Europe. The brother and sister Robert and Rachel spend their life trying to best each other. This is not helped by a manipulative mother and a father hiding secrets. There is a lot of details in the story which will require the reader to pay close attention.

When I saw this being compared to Succession by multiple readers, I knew I had to drop everything and pick up this book. Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. This cast of characters is a group that you certainly love to hate but the excess of secondary characters were hard to keep track of. Lots of running around Europe and visiting architecture and very little else.

I rated this book 2 stars. While there were some moments I really enjoyed, on the whole this novel wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.