A review by elvang
Up on the Roof by A.L. Brooks

3.0

I appreciated how the author showed the impact cultural differences can have on a character’s personality. We know Lena suffers from OCD and wow, that is well spelled out. What made this story more than just another inclusion by a writer of a person of colour to impress a broader audience was how effectively other Lena’s life was shown to be from the usual WASP perspective. Well done.

I also appreciated how effective the author was at pointing out what a doormat poor Megan and her low self esteem proved to be. She’s a nice person who has suffered at the hands of family and friends yet maintains her sunny disposition. As crusty as Lena was portrayed, I think her strong personality was needed to show Megan she could be stronger around others. That said, Lena didn’t win any points for constantly lashing out at Megan. This romance was a hard sell.

Too bad about the cover. Ylva needs to find a cover designer who’s read a draft of the book to know that the clumsy oafish Megan and voluptuous Lena do no match the characters portrayed. And lose the cat. It’s false advertising.

ARC received from publisher for review.