Tag: kasie west

ALC Book Review: We Met Like This by Kasie West

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 363 pages
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Saturday Books
Release Date: September 16th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Beloved author Kasie West’s sparkling adult rom-com debut about a hopeless romantic falling for the one man she never expected

Can a swipe right turn into swept away?

Margot Hart is a hopeless romantic. That’s why she wants to be a literary agent—to help bring romance books to the world. It’s also why she hates dating apps with all her romance loving soul. She wants her own love story to be just as much fun as the books she reads—a mixed up coffee order, a mistaken identity. She’s not going to tell the story that she swiped right on future husband’s shirtless pic for the rest of her life.

The problem is that her most consistent relationship over the last several years is with Oliver, a guy she keeps rematching with on the apps. They’ve only been on one date and it was a disaster…well, until the make out session in the car before parting ways. But, she keeps reminding herself, a make out session does not a relationship make. And so there will not be a date two regardless of how witty their app banter is.

When Margot gets fired from her job on the same day she meets Oliver again, her life becomes a veritable shit show. Her dream career is dying right before her eyes, and Oliver thinks she’s interested in only one a repeat of the hot make out session they had three years ago so she can get him out of her system. And maybe that is all she wants from him, because she and Oliver are definitely not compatible—he doesn’t hit the snooze button, he runs five miles every morning, he reads nonfiction, and worst of all, she didn’t meet him in cute way! But in her scramble to keep her dream career alive, by opening her own agency, Oliver is there with his golden retriever energy, more steady and helpful than any man she’s ever dated. Just when she thinks she’s overcome her app bias, she realizes that maybe it’s not her who’s holding back, but him. And his reasons are more than she bargained for.

Kasie West’s romantic and sexy adult debut is full of witty banter, meet cutes gone awry and, ultimately, true love.

IT GOT BETTER.

I stand firm on the fact that this book could have (and should have) been started in different manner. I think it was unnecessary, but I digress. I’m grateful the rest of the book went much better.

There were a handful of nuanced things I didn’t like in this [adult] debut but I think the bones were there and I’d read another KW romance. I’ve loved her young adult books for years and this was a decent jump into another category.

I liked Oliver the most and thought he was charming with some good golden retriever energy. He kept showing up (in a good way) and proved to Margot a lot of things she was missing out on. And I loved the family dynamics too. They were complicated and had plenty of squabbling but I think it felt realistic and I enjoyed seeing that side of the story too.

Margot was fine. Occasionally frustrating, but in the end, she had a good arc and got to where she deserved to be. I did like her inner dialogue and the banter between her and Oliver.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 3ish open door
  • Violence: low

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Book Review: Better Than Revenge by Kasie West

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Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: December 31st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.

Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school’s podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she’s left confused and betrayed. 

Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost. 

By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen’s spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen’s cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can’t let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?

Thank you to Get Underlined for the gifted copy.

NEW KASIE WEST FAVORITE.

Well I was just absolutely charmed with this book y’all. At the core is a true young adult novel with a lot of relatable themes and content that’s appropriate for this age group. I loved the the teenage drama wasn’t over the top and lent itself to many great moments of character growth and self reflection for Finley.

And I was smitten with the romance. It was so sweet and also showcased mistakes and communication and hearing each other out. I loved the support Theo gave Finley in her endeavors and his kind nature. The banter was cheeky and fun and I loved the chemistry between them.

I also loved that Finley worked on her friendships, finding out what the next life step was and realized the true nature of being a vengeful person can become. All of the grandma content was really sweet and I was very involved in knowing her story. It was a great addition to the plot and seriously, this book was an absolute gem.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Content Warnings: a grandmother in the early stages of dementia

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ARC Book Review: Borrow My Heart (Borrow My Heart #1) by Kasie West

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: June 13th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When a girl overhears a guy getting verbally destroyed by his friends for being catfished, she jumps in to save the day—and pretends to be his online crush. A young adult romance from the critically acclaimed author of Places We’ve Never Been.

Wren is used to being called a control freak. She doesn’t care; sticking to the list of rules she created for herself helps her navigate life. But when a cute guy named Asher walks through the door of her neighborhood coffee shop, the rulebook goes out the window.

Asher is cute, charming . . . and being catfished by his online crush. So Wren makes an uncharacteristically impulsive decision—she pretends to be the girl he’s waiting for to save him from embarrassment. Suddenly she’s fake-dating a boy she knows nothing about. And it’s . . . amazing.

It’s not long before Asher has her breaking even more of her own rules. But will he forgive her when he finds out she’s not who she says she is? Wren’s not so sure. . . . After all, rules exist for a reason.

Thank you to PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook.

GREW ON ME.

I admittedly got into this and realized that maybe this book wasn’t going to work for me. Luckily, by the end I was pretty charmed and at least appreciated that this fit into a true young adult category and that that audience could enjoy it.

All of the dog content was adorable. I loved the shelter work and seeing Bean find his new home. The romance was sweet. I thought Asher was the cutest cinnamon roll and he and Wren got along well. There is a third act break-up, but I felt more forgiving in age context and I liked how both side apologized and made amends.

It’s a short book that’s light and fluffy but also filled with good themes and conversations. I didn’t LOVE all of the Tiktok content (that might be my age showing). All in all, maybe I’m not past my Kasie West era…yet.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: parental abandonment

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Book Review: Places We’ve Never Been by Kasie West

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Rating: ★★☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 31st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A sweet and swoony contemporary Young Adult novel about a cross-country family road trip that puts one girl and her childhood best friend on an unexpected road to romance!

Norah hasn’t seen her childhood best friend, Skyler, in years. When he first moved away, they’d talk all the time, but lately their relationship has been reduced to liking each other’s Instagram posts. That’s why Norah can’t wait for the joint RV road trip their families have planned for the summer.

But when Skyler finally arrives, he seems…like he’d rather be anywhere else. Hurt and confused, Norah reacts in kind. Suddenly, her oldest friendship is on the rocks.

An unexpected summer spent driving across the country leads both Norah and Skyler down new roads and to new discoveries. Before long, they are, once again, seeing each other in a different light. Can their friendship-turned-rivalry turn into something more?

MMM.

I go up and down with Kasie West books (big winners for me are P.S. I Like You and Sunkissed). This unfortunately fell deep in to the miss category.

The whole premise of the book is based off of a silly miscommunication between two friends who moved away from each other. That’s it. That’s the story. OH WAIT, alongside that is a sub plot about a parent choosing to hide information from her children (that, I understood to some degree, but didn’t love the way this went about). Both of these were red flags in my final opinions.

I did like the road trip antics. Those are fun, traveling in massive RV’s, eating by campfire, meet new friends. All good stuff. And there were some cute romance scenes too! Once both Norah and Skyler stopped acting ridiculous it was great. I thought they handled their relationship so much better after, ya know, COMMUNICATING.

We’ll see what the next West story holds.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: a parent with cancer

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