What a fun, interesting place The Chelsea Hotel must have been.

Hazel was in a family of performers, but Hazel wasn’t a performer. Hazel was a playwrite.

We meet Hazel when she was on tour with the USO during the war. Hazel met many actors and became friends with them.

We follow Hazel as she moves out of her childhood home and into The Chelsea Hotel during the McCarthy Era. When her friend, Maxine, from the USO, moves in too their friendship is renewed.

The description of the hotel's decorations, the secret places and passages in it, and the furnishings was fascinating. The impeccable research Ms. Davis had to do definitely shows. I had do a bit of googling of the hotel myself. :)

History buffs and theater goers will again be treated to a very descriptive story line that has Ms. Davis taking you back in time.

I do have to say THE CHELSEA GIRLS was a bit tedious to read for me, but I loved the history of the hotel and its inhabitants. The characters in the book were believable and most were likable.

The ending was satisfying and nicely wrapped up the story line. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NETGALLEY in exchange for an honest review.

I always like to read the lower rated reviews to see what I might have missed in a book. I can appreciate the criticisms about character development, slowness of plot, etc. However, the bottom line for me was that it was still a very intriguing story, set in a time we read very little about, and the fact that the Chelsea hotel was a character unto itself. A good read for me and I would recommend it.

This is a story about the friendship between two women spanning 20 years. From the War, to the McCarthy Era to 1960’s Broadway. Chelsea Girls was not as riveting as this author’s other books. I found the section on the McCarthy Era to be a bit repetitive.
It was just an okay book to read.