If you’re looking for a fast-paced cute and funny YA romcom with fake dating and hidden identity then you can give this one a try!

What I love the most from this book is the friendship between Kamala and Wren, I love their interaction with their sarcastic jokes and how they support each other.
I also love the animals, especially Bean – he definitely steal my attention throughout the story when he pops up. I love the games they plan to help Bean find a forever home.

As for the romance, I like Wren and Asher growing relationship, how Wren started to fall for Asher by breaking every rules on her list and 'let loose' for a while when she's spending time with him.
I can’t blame Wren when Asher is a hilarious and kind human being!

Not just a romance story, it also discussed some deeper issue like family abandonment and the positive and negative effect of social media towards teenagers and I think the author handled it really well.

Overall, this is a really good read and I finished it in one sitting, it’s sweet, funny, enjoyable and highly entertaining.
This is my first timer reading from this author and it's not gonna be my last! Looking forward to read more books from this author in the future!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Abandonment

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tour, Netgalley, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book and for having me on this book tour. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!

I don’t read a lot of Kasie West, but I rated Places We’ve Never Been 5 stars, so I was so excited for another fun summer YA. Unfortunately, I found this straight up bad. The writing was horrible, like I truly don’t know how it’s the same author. It felt so unauthentic and Wren was the absolute worst. I also hate any plot that involves lying, so it bugged me that the lie continued for so long. Thankfully it was short, otherwise it would have been a DNF. I’m sure young teens may like this one, but I’d skip it for my fellow adults.

1.5⭐️

Borrow My Heart is everything we've come to expect from Kasie West. Sweet with a side of sass. Kasie has a way of writing these loveable, often over the top, characters & this book is no exception. From the humans to the dogs, this cast of characters begs to borrow your heart.

Borrow My Heart was typical Kasie West with interesting characters and a story that has a huge heart. Wren’s back story made her someone who protects her heart against hurt living by a set of rules she’s made that puts a wall between she and anyone who tries to get close. On the flip side, Asher is an open book. He’s sweet, easy to talk to and seems to prop her up when her insecurities make her want to hide her heart. The perfectly complemented each other and it was easy to see how they would work as a couple. I was totally on team Wrasher!

The reader is in on Wren’s secret the entire time she’s developing a relationship with Asher which amps up the tension because we know that train wreck is coming. Although, truthfully, Asher seems like such a sweet guy that I can’t believe he wouldn’t be understanding. What actually happens, I did not see coming. Which made this story totally fun to read.

This is a young adult novel that has a lot of heart and a considerable amount of angst. It surprised me, which made me like it more than I had initially thought I would. Never underestimate this author, it’s rare that she doesn’t deliver a great story. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review and it was honest.

Borrow My Heart is the latest release from Kasie West. It is the sweet teenage romance story of Wren and Asher and their joint mission to get a special dog adopted. They were so adorable together that I couldn’t help but root for them from the very beginning.
I couldn’t put it down. It was such a moving romance full of great characters. I highly recommend this story to anyone who is looking for a great teen romance with an unforgettable dog, who ends up stealing the show.

3.75 stars

I am a HUGE Kasie West fan. A few years ago I went on a binge of all of her YA romances, and I ate them up like they were candy. I swear I own at least 11 of her books, and I’ve read every one. As expected, I blew through this one just as fast.

Borrow My Heart follows Wren as she jumps in to help a guy getting picked on by his friend for being catsfished. She pretends to be Asher’s online crush, but she ends up really falling for him. The book was super entertaining, fast paced, and had some adorable moments. I liked both Wren and Asher, but I feel like Wren should’ve came clean sooner and taken longer to forgive Asher. It bothered me a bit how the ending went down and how fast Wren forgave Asher. But, that’s also just my personal opinion and I still really enjoyed the book.

The absolute star of the show was Bean, who was this adorable yet very rude dog from the shelter than Wren worked at. He hated literally everyone but Asher and Wren, and they worked together to try and finally get him adopted. They created all these videos and spent so much time with him and it was the highlight of the book. Kasie West put so much personality into Bean and I would adopt him myself if I could. He really brought Asher and Wren closer together too.

Overall, it was a great read, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite of all of her books. Definitely check it out if you’re looking for a quick YA romance to read this summer!

The book is both light-hearted & deep without shoving a “lesson” down your throat. The story can both make the reader smile, but also empathize with the family/relationship issues presented. The book is pretty fast-paced and can be read quickly. The ease of which I read this book did not detract from how much I liked it. It flowed nicely and smoothly to create a perfectly created coming-of-age story of love, growth, and self-awareness. Again, the plot/storyline of the book was highly relatable. While I enjoy PNRs and fantastical stories, it was a comfort to read a book that was realistic, one I could see myself staring in when I was that age. A girl who works at an animal shelter, catfishing, and a boy who is nerdy AND charming? Sign me up!

A very sweet and quick read. I was surprised that the plot was NOT too predictable. As always, I had my theories on how the story was going to go and what was going to cause the third-act complication, but I DID NOT see anything coming. Amazing! I really enjoy a book that can surprise me.

I liked seeing the FMC going out of her comfort zone, learning to leave her life and make new experiences. All the books I've read by Kasie West are sweet and fluffy, and they make me feel better about people and life!
But honestly, my favourite character was Bean, the dog - he is the best!

One thing, aside from the romance, that I really liked about this book is the influence of social media on our life. Not just the risks (for example being catfished), but also some of the issues related to posting content on the web. We do not often think about some of these things, so I loved how it made me reflect.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"It's not a fun feeling to let your heart out of its cage, is it?"
I took another bite of the cookie. "It sucks. And it's only out for loan."
"Your heart?"
"Yes, I'm just letting him borrow it for a while. It's a trial run."

"Hi. This is Kamala." I thrust the container of cookies forward.
'You named the cookies?" Asher asked, taking them and ushing us inside. "Individually? Or is that what they're known as collectively?"

Kasie West is an auto-read author for me. I've got two books of hers that I need to go back and finish, but I always know that I'll enjoy her books. That being said, I don't always love characters that live by a strict set of rules. It seems that Wren's rules are mostly assigned to her dating life, which up until now has been really minimal. Her rules have sort of gotten in the way. I liked the way Kasie West worked this though. Wren has her rules in place because of her mom. Her mom left her father, Wren, and her sister several years ago. Her mom is flighty and unpredictable at every turn. The only thing predictable about her is that she's unreliable and she will ultimately let Wren down.

One thing the description got wrong is that Asher only has one friend ragging him in the coffee shop about whether or not his online catfish will show up. Wren feels like his friend is particularly harsh so she heads out back, changes clothes (she happens to have a change on her), and re-enters through the front pretending to be Gemma. Wren is waiting for an opportunity to talk to Asher without his friend so she can explain and let him down easily, but he never seems to be without his blasted friend Dale. Thus she uses this as an excuse to carry on pretending to be Gemma.

Wren also works at a local pet shelter. Before meeting Asher she'd been interested in Chad, a coworker at the shelter. Chad hadn't shown much interest in her until Asher starts volunteering. Wren's boss assigns Wren the task of personally seeing that their longest resident dog, Bean, gets adopted. Wren and Bean have a bit of a connection, but Bean can't seem to get a similar connection with any visitor that comes in looking to adopt a pet. Wren's father is allergic so she's a no-go on adopting him herself. Bean was truly at the heart of the story. And I wanted to meet him myself to see if he'd approve of or reject me. Because Bean approves of Asher, he joins the crusade to get Bean adopted.

There was one part where all of the conflicts in the book were coming to a head at the same time and I literally teared up for Wren. I don't often tear up in Kasie West's books, or any book really. I didn't quite cry, but man I felt for her with everything hitting at the same time. Great writing.

Borrow My Heart was such a good read. Kasie West explained all the questions I had except two. What happened to the real Gemma? And did Asher ever stop talking to her? All else was addressed and done so in a way that satisfied my curiosity and didn't feel forced. I noticed that this was book 1 in a series so I'm hoping that book 2 will follow Kami and Dale. Borrow My Heart gets 4 Stars. Have you read Borrow My Heart? What did you think? Let me know!

5⭐️

Wren likes to be in control. Her best friend says it’s a trauma response to her mother leaving at a young age, but Wren swears it’s normal to rules for everything. She likes to be in control and when she overhears a guy getting bullied by his best friend because he’s been stood up by his date who was clearly a catfish, she steps in.

Asher is cute, charming and unpredictable. After their supposed first date, he does whatever he can to breakdown some of Wren’s boundaries. He starts volunteering at the animal shelter Wren works with and she’s surprised to find that Bean, the picky Pitt Bull that’s been at the shelter the longest actually likes him. Asher helps Wren set up a social media campaign to help Bean find a home and Wren starts to think that maybe she can trust someone.

This was an adorable quick read. It had rescue animals, a sweet Pittie that will literally turn his back on a person if he doesn’t like them. It has cat fishing and viral TikTok videos, which feels very on brand, and also looks at uncomfortable mother/daughter relationships and the importance of boundaries.

Wren being so steadfast in her boundaries not only with her mother but almost every other aspect of her life made her highly relatable. I liked that her boundaries give the story just enough drama and that Asher’s wild personality is the perfect catalyst to her finding that she can let down some of her walls.

I’m apparently a person that cries at romcoms now. That or I cry at dogs. It’s probably just dogs…

Thanks Netgalley and Delacorte Press for providing this ARC to me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book!

I have read every single one of Kasie West’s books and I have enjoyed all of them. While this one wasn’t my favorite of her’s, I still really liked it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read and a sweet, clean romance.

This was a super cute read with the always fun trope of fake dating. Wren comes to Asher’s rescue when she overhears at a coffee shop that he was catfished and his friends made fun of him for it. She steps in claiming to be the date Asher is waiting on, and things look promising as the continue dating. But what will happen when Asher learns the truth? Such a fun light read!

Kasie West does it again. She writes teen angst and tension like an absolute boss. I loved Wren’s
story and saw So much of myself in her character!

When the description said fake dating this is not what I was expecting at all. The two of them were really cute together and I love that he brought out the best in her. The entire plot with Bean was adorable.

I received an arc through netgalley.

The absolutely adorable YA romance your summer reads!

I've always loved Kasie West, but this book is my favorite yet. From a kind-hearted introvert who saves the day to a dog that's persnickety enough that he sabotages his own adoptions, this book warms the heart.

Wren spends her time working at a dog shelter and hanging out with her best friend, Kamala, at the coffee shop where she works. When she hears a boy's friend roasting him and threatening to humiliate him when his blind date doesn't turn up, Wren decides to help him save face. She pretends to be his blind date. But all this is complicated when she decides she really likes Asher. She risks losing him by telling him the truth, however.

When Asher starts volunteering at the animal shelter where Wren works, he gets the stamp of approval from Bean, the dog who hardly likes anyone but Wren. Asher agrees to help her get Bean adopted, leading to all kinds of fun shenanigans. Bean is an absolutely adorable grouch. From turning his back on potential adopters to peeing in the pool at an adoption event, he's his own worst enemy. But maybe he's just holding out for the right person?

Each and every character is absolutely delightful. There's Asher, who helps Wren overcome her fears. Dale, the rich kid who pretends to be a bigger jerk than he really is. Kamala, who loves Wren through all her faults and quirks. There's Wren's flaky mom, whose free-spirited lifestyle causes chaos for her children, and Wren's dependable dad, who picks up all the slack. I loved each character, except for maybe her mom, instantly.

This book left me with a huge smile on my face.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a fun read. I really liked the main character alot and realted to her a ton. I thought that this was a fun take on fake dating and i also loved the puppy content. I like that this book had a unqiue third act conflcit and also really liked all the side characters and hope to see them in future books! It was a quick read and one that i enjoyed by this book and loved the unque premise!

This was such a cute, heartwarming, YA story, AND it has dogs! YES!

Wren lives by her rules (mostly for dating) after she's abandoned by her mom at a young age. She needs the order and control that those allow for. However, when she hears Dale threatening to publicly embarrass his friend, Asher, because of a failed online date meet-up, Wren finds herself being spontaneous for the first time in her life: She pretends to be Asher's online date. Soon she finds that even though she's breaking all of her rules, she's enjoying this time with Asher, even though she's living a lie. When Asher starts volunteering at Pawstacular, the local animal shelter where Wren works, she has to figure out how to keep her lie hidden as they grow closer or come clean and risk losing his friendship and relationship.

My biggest reason for this not being 5 stars is that it felt like Wren was too jaded for an 18 year old. She acted like she had nobody when she was surrounded by a best friend, a dad who loves her, and her sister.

The side characters make this story so much fun (especially Wren's best friend, Kamala). I also loved that there were shelter dogs as a key plot point and how amped up Wren and Asher were to try and find a disagreeable dog a home. Using social media to show how amazing a shelter baby can be is almost always a smart move.

The ending was a fun wrap up that didn't feel rushed and was incredibly touching.

Overall, this was a fun summer read and would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to #netgalley, Delacorte, and Random House Teens for an eARC of this story! All opinions are my own!

Borrow My Heart is a cute contemporary romance.

Wren steps in to help a guy out, not wanting him to continue to get razzed by his friends for being catfished. I was a little worried when she continued to be the other girl (lying isn't the answer people), but when everything got all worked out there I was satisfied.

Asher is the boy who needed saving, but Wren and Asher end up saving Beans, an adorable pitbull (why isn't there a pitbull on the cover?). He's been at the rescue a long time so Wren and Asher start devising ways to get him out there more so that he can be adopted. This was a really cute aspect of the story.

Perfect summer read, though at times it isn't super light (Wren's mom has been out of the picture for some time now so there are some issues there).

I die hard love Kasie West and man o man how I wish she would dip a toe into New Adult!! These light hearted romance stories are some of the very best. This one was so freaking cute and great for this summer!

Absolutely adorable, YA rom-com written by Kasie West. Very clean and sweet. Recommended to those with a tender heart. I’m definitely a new fan of hers and can’t wait to read her other books!