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

I thought this book was really cute and perfect for younger teens! It's short and wholesome and I really don't have much bad to say about it. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone older than the age of 16 because it was very juvenile, but it is a YA novel so that is definitely to be expected. Overall, a really cute book

*4.5

Borrow My Heart was an incredibly cute story in Kasie West’s signature sweet style. Borrow My Heart was different compared to West’s other titles- her growth as an author is definitely evident in this novel. I loved the characters and, while I guessed the plot twist, their romance took a somewhat unique and funny turn that I really enjoyed. Asher was such a sweet character and I appreciated how much personality each character had- they were easily distinguishable. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves sweet romance, fake dating, and loveable pets.

I loved the pet rescue aspect of this book and Bean the dog!! However, I was a bit confused by the whole catfish scenario and how it all wrapped up but other than that this was a cute story!

Really cute and sweet rom com story. Great story about letting your walls down and letting people in.

Borrow My Heart by Kasie West is a solid young adult romcom. The plots twists were well done and the characters were so cute. The writing was just amazing and you could really feel how each character felt.

A cute YA romantic comedy gone awry!

Wren, an animal shelter volunteer, takes pity on a boy being catfished at a coffee shop. In pretending to be his date, she opens herself up to a world of paddle boarding, Dungeons & Dragons, and social media campaigns. Little does she know that the boy she decided to protect had secrets of his own.

A super cute, sweet YA novel about a girl who rescues dogs during her summer vacation and, at the same time, trying to help a stranger by being his supposed online date in a sort of backwards catfishing incident. I loved that the book has an adorable rescue dog named Bean (the same name as my pup!) and they go to Lake Tahoe, one of my favorite places in the world. It's a super easy read as well, I read it in two sittings over a weekend. I love West's writing and this is no exception!

4/5 ⭐️

This is an adorable fluffy, wholesome YA romance. I really enjoyed this books it was a cute fast read.

Our main character Wren deals with dysfunctional family dynamics. She struggles with the abandonment of her mother. And her need to have control of her life as well as her dating life.
Then she meets Asher and her point of view on dating begins to change.

There are some very important social media topics addressed in this story (the use of video without consent and catfishing)

Overall I really loved the story, it was a fun, cozy read. I definitely recommend if you enjoy YA romance with tropes like:
-Grumpy/ Sunshine
-Secret Identity
-Fake Dating
-Animals(specifically grumpy dogs 🐕)

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

While I don't read much YA, I found this cute. Since it does start of with a lie, you are waiting for the shoe to drop when Asher finds out the truth about Wren. I do have admit that I found the romance bewteen Asher and Wren a bit lacking. However, all of the time spent at the shelter made up for that. I was growing attached to Bean the dog as the story progressed!

All in all, this will be a cute summer read for younger readers.

Wren is a control freak, so when she steps out of her comfort zone and helps a stranger, things get complicated. Asher is being cat-fished, and to save him from total humiliation, Wren pretends to be his online crush. Then, Asher, and his skeptical friend Dale, keep showing up and Wren has to continue the charade.

As someone who volunteers regularly for an animal shelter, the scene where the woman gets mad at Wren for not "reserving her dog," hit me - it was super realistic, so Kasie West obviously did her research.

The characters were realistic, the situation was interesting, and the plot was paced nicely. I enjoyed this book a lot, and I would definitely recommend it during reader's advisory.

What a cute summer read for teens! Fans of fake dating and pets will love this book. It was such a sweet, summer story.

Borrow My heart is such a sweet story. It is told from Wren's perspective. She is a high school student on summer break, living with her father. She works at a pet rescue and has a best friend Kamala.
Wren was visiting her friend Kamala at her work - a coffee shop, where she overhears these 2 guys Asher and Dale. Dale is giving Asher a hard time about a girl Asher has been talking with. This is where Wren steps in. Wren kind of takes on a fake identity. I will stop there so I don't reveal all the sweet moments. This is the perfect book for young adults to read on a summer day at the beach. Fall in love with Wren and Asher as they get to know each other even with a secret in the way.

"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇," 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, "𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒃 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖?"

My top reasons to read this book ~

• I loved how each chapter started with a dating rule and the plot turned out to be opposite of that.
• This was cute, charming and if you love rules and also love to break them, read this.
• This was a light hearted emotional roller coaster with great characters and lovable dogs, specially Bean.
• Social media, catfishing, family dynamics are main theme here.
• This YA romance has a twist that you won't see coming.

The first part to create buzz was funny.
I wish Wren let's Asher know because he is definitely going to get hurt was my first thought while reading this but what happened was unexpected. Dale and Asher were stupid stupid. Wren was my absolute favourite.

I recommend this sweet read.

This is a sweet YA romance with some teens dealing with social media. I really enjoyed this book and I'm a big fan of the author.