It's been a while since I've enjoyed a YA book as much as this one. To be fair, I am completely aged out of the target audience, but I like to read the genre from time to time. This book felt a bit more fresh with the layers of social media, face time, and text to add to the ways in which characters could communicate. And, for the first time in a long time, I got a main character that I can very personally relate to. That may've biased me more heavily in favor of the novel, but I own up to that. I think my younger self would have really benefited from a book that showed the complicated ways that a young girl deals with "mommy issues".

Cute contemporary teenage romance. I really enjoyed this down to earth young romance between teens. I like how it brought in current aspects of teen-hood in the modern day without feeling forced or through the lens of an adult. Definitely a book I would recommend for new young readers!

I loved Borrow My Heart! This book, like all her others, was absolutely adorable! I loved Wren for being so real and relatable (even while pretending to be someone else), and I loved Asher for being so incredibly sweet all the time.
I loved a lot of the side characters too, especially the animal ones. Bean was hilarious, and the relationship Wren had with him was really fun. I liked her friendship with her best friend, Kamala, even more though. I don't think there's anything better then a good friendship, and theirs was one of the best.
This book is short and sweet, without being too predictable! It's a perfect little romance mood lifter for anytime you need a light-hearted palate cleanse! I'll probably be coming back to this one as much as all her others.

This was a very cute, very innocent YA romancey story. I liked the main character, although she kept being self-described as kind of mean and that she doesn’t like people, which I didn’t really get much of a sense of otherwise. They love interest is supposed to be extremely likeable, but after about 75-80% through it, I wasn’t so sure any more. He makes some decisions and treats Wren in a way that doesn’t exactly fit with the good guy character he’s supposed to be. The writing quality was pretty good. When Wren has everything go wrong. About 3/4 of the way through the book, I really felt bad/emotional for her. In the end, even though she was betrayed, she forgive everyone almost immediately, which I honestly wasn’t a fan of. I actually wasn’t rooting for her and Asher in the end. They “I love you’s” in the also felt waaaay too soon, It doesn’t seem like they’d even spent all that much time together. They’re teenagers, so maybe it’s not completely unrealistic, but I didn’t think that was necessary. This book had zero spice, which is completely fine, but the way it was written, although pretty immersive, made it feel like it was geared more to young teens.
I enjoyed this book enough to potentially check out further books in the series.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me this eARC for my honest opinion!

This book was a quick fun read, and very relatable. All about putting your heart out there and hope it does not get broken. It has all the feels, family drama, lovable characters including dog named Bean.

Wren is lovable main character who overhears guy at coffee shop getting destroyed from being catfished. She decides to help this poor guy out and pretends to be his online crush. Which is out of confront zone because she is normally a control freak. This is not something she would ever do, but feels she had to. She plans on telling him the truth, but she can't bring herself to do it. Why is that? The more time she spends with Asher, the harder it is. Slowly, he is becoming one of her favorite person to hang out with. What will happen when she tells him the truth? Will she lose him?

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for copy of this story for my honest my review.

Borrow My Heart is a light and fun YA romance novel. And the best part of all is that the books was filled with dogs which made the whole story more endearing. If you are looking for a YA romance read filled with summer adventure and fun then this is the book for you!

A curmudgeon pup and his teenage human equivalent are known for the walls they have built up to protect themselves. Will the new volunteer at the pet shelter help them change their ways and breakdown their barriers? Katie West has written another great YA dealing with friendship, love, animals, and social media. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced preview.

Loved the commentary on this one regarding social media and consent, but also the different ways social media can explode and go sideways away from the original intent.
It was a cute teen story without being too juvenile to feel comfortable for an adult audience. Also clean enough I'd feel good about my younger reader reading.

#arc
#netgalley
#borrowmyheart

I've always been a big fan of Kasie West's young adult rom-coms. Borrow My Heart was super cute and makes for a great light-hearted summer beach read. The characters are sweet, the catfishing is handled with well and the adoption centre really tugs at your heartstrings. It's just a sweet and enjoyable young adult contemporary!

The cover is adorable and instantly feel in love with Bean. Loved the strong beginning, diving straight into the story. The pacing was quick and a bit confusing at times. The lying felt drawn out and I wish there was more backstory with the dynamic of Wren’s family. Overall, it’s a decent read YA read. Just wasn’t for me.

I am not much of a romance reader but I know a lot of my teens are. They do check out a lot of Kasie West's books that I have in my teen department. I skimmed through this E-Book to ensure that it is appropriate for teens and that it can be engaging for them. I enjoyed it myself after reading the first four chapters and will be purchasing it for our library.

I always enjoy books by Kacie West, so it was no surprise that I found this book enjoyable. It would be a solid addition to a public library’s YA collection.

When I started reading YA, Kasie West. Was my go to and even though I tend to stay away from YA now, I’ll go back for a Kasie West book.
This was really cute! I love how Wren just jumped in and put herself in Asher’s orbit. I was a little nervous about the catfishing aspect, usually not my favorite trope but it was handled well.

The doggos made the book!!

Appealing characters and lively interwoven plots made for compelling reading.

Borrow My Heart is a wonderful new contemporary young adult romance that touches both the heart and the funny bone. The situation Wren puts herself in will strike a chord with the tender-hearted, the save-the-dayers, animal lovers, and social media users. Wren and Asher are a cute couple, each complementing the other while providing the warmth and support each one needs until a big misstep derails their journey to a HEA.

Wren is a sympathetic character who’s been hurt in the past and erected some big boundaries around her heart, spelled out by the “Rules for Dating” that head each new chapter. She has a best friend in Kamala, who really knows and understands why she is the way she is, and is a stable and safe voice of reason and support.

Two additional compelling storylines are woven into the main plot and hooked me: Wren and Asher’s mission to find the dog, Bean, a forever home, and Wren’s relationship with her mother and sister, Zoey. The couple’s efforts to market Bean’s desirability for adoption were creative and filled with fun and surprises. Though hopeful at the outset, Wren and Zoey’s visit with their mother at the Lake Tahoe commune proved to be a reality check. Unfortunately, both secondary storylines mirror circumstances that can be seen daily in real life, and the plots may resonate with many readers. Thankfully, there are some HEAs in the offing by the book’s end.

With its engaging characters and lively plot, I recommend BORROW MY HEART to readers who enjoy contemporary young adult romantic fiction.

I think this is my first Kasie West book that I haven't absolutely loved. I still enjoyed it, but it had a handful of tropes that just aren't my cup of tea. Love triangle and intentional deception being the two biggest. I was going to call it miscommunication, but it wasn't. It was straight up lying. For way too much of the book.

The ending was also not to my satisfaction. Maybe I'm just a bitter, grudge-holding kind of person, but forgiveness from me after what Wren found out had happened would have taken much, much longer, if it would have been extended at all.

Luckily there was enough in the book that I enjoyed that I didn't completely give up on it. I loved Wren's friendship with Kamala and I enjoyed the time that we got to see with Wren and her sister Zoey and how that was strained and then worked through a little bit. I also enjoyed all of the scenes with the animals at the shelter. It made for a really fun setting.

I'll still keep reading West's books, because usually I like them a lot more and I truly think this was just a case of the tropes not being on my favorites list.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I always enjoy Kasie West's work. She always is a guarantee for a cute, low angst, feel good romance. In this one we have Wren, who has "rules" and tries to control things around her due to abandonment issues caused by her mother. (I absolutely did not like this selfish woman and unfortunately there was no redeeming qualities or a redemption arc with her character!) As much as Wren tries to keep her heart under wraps, she is very tenderhearted. She overhears a conversation and tries to save Asher from the humiliation of being publicly catfished while the situation is recorded by his friend. Throw in some sweet animal moments and a budding romance between the two lead characters. Of course, this is somewhat predictable. The couple finally get together and then there is an obstacle the two must overcome to get a happily ever after. Overall, this is an easy, fun read.

3.5 stars

I usually love Kasie West books but this one was a miss for me. Mainly because I felt like there was a lot of deception and lying that just got brushed over.

Asher was deceitful to Wren several times and rather than address it and solve the problem, it just got ignored. Especially in the ending I feel like the author missed an opportunity to really dig into a common problem with young adults and address it with a sincere conversation. Instead, this problematic part just got glossed over.

Overall this felt very superficial compared to the authors past books.

Did not finish (DNF) at 25%. This book might be good for a lot of people, but it's too cutesy for me. I am not enjoying Wren or Asher as characters, and while I fully admit they might get better as they spend more time together, I am just not into this book enough to find out how it ends (even though I can pretty much tell where it is going).

Thank you to NetGalley,
Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and Kasie West for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

This book was hard to get through. I probably spent the first half of it ready to DNF it & move on. But I powered through & for the most part enjoyed it.

Beans the dog has to be my favorite character in this book, although I did really feel for Wren.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @delacortepress for an early copy of Borrow My Heart by Kasie West. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

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.

I had high hopes for this novel as Kasie West always made the cutest and most heartwarming young adult romance novels, but this one is sort of a miss for me. Borrow My Heart is a chill and light read, but I felt like the story flow and the characters were quite bland and each character’s personalities were like, just stuck with one or two; there’s not much depth really. I didn’t feel much chemistry between Wren and Asher as well, given the beginning of the story.

While the catfishing aspect seemed interesting, I hated how Wren handled the situation she involved herself with. I cringed for most of the book as she was catfishing Asher in person. Not really a fan of that.

I did enjoy the story setting though – being a part of it in an Animal Shelter. Bean was the most interesting character for me; yes, the dog who is just too adorable. He seems to have a lot more personality than the other characters to be honest.

Rating this ⭐⭐/5. Released June 13th, 2023