Borrow My Heart, by Kasie West

I’ve mentioned before in my IG reviews (still in the process of being migrated over here) that I don’t have a lot of experience with Romance as a genre.  I have a handful of books under my belt now, which is more or less enough that I can understand the ebb and flow of the Romance template. I also understand why it works, and I enjoy books that follow the formula.  

The premise for this one is: when Wren sees a cute boy out at a cafe being made fun of for getting catfished by a girl online, she jumps to the rescue. She pretends to be the girl Asher (the boy) was supposed to meet, all so that his friend stops making fun of him. But of course, he’s also a dreamboat, gives good hugs, and is an all-around great guy. So she keeps the facade going on through DnD campaigns, visits to the pet shelter she works at, and other trials and tribulations that follow the general ebb and flow of the romance genre.

If you’re an avid reader of romance, this book delivers. If you’re not, it’s a good introduction to the genre with little in the way of challenging material (it’s pretty low-spice, even by my newbie standards). Borrow My Heart varies from other Romances in my experience in a few key ways:

The first variance is, it’s a YA romance. A lot of the issues in the book revolve around more teenage issues–tiktok videos, being made fun of by your schoolyard chums, etc. This is my first YA romance, so it was harder to predict what might happen in the plot, which is something I enjoyed. It was genuinely sweet reading about how much Wren enjoys Asher’s hugs, as an example.

The second variance was that a key to Wren’s hangups (she’s presented as a very controlling and controlled person) was her relationship with her flaky and irresponsible mother. This issue never gets resolved in the sense that Wren and her mother stay distant. I’ve been told repeatedly that it’s important to show a strong parental relationship for YA protagonists. In my own book, my YA protagonist’s relationship with her mother progressively deteriorates and becomes irreconcilable. It was vindicating to see a book can leave a mother-daughter relationship unresolved and still be successful.

There were other small variances, but no deal breakers. For me personally, the story really came into its own at the pet shelter where Wren works. Her boss tells her and Asher they have to get Wren’s favorite dog “Bean” adopted. Bean is a sweetheart, all the animals at the shelter are great, the writer obviously has a passion for animals. I recently had to say goodbye to my own cat Ralph (18 years was too short buddy!) and so reading a book about people who love animals really spoke to me personally.

Anyway, it’s a good one. The protagonist is spunky and determined, the love interest is kind and funny and understanding. The friends are funny, the setting is believable. It has everything you need in this kind of story. It’s not going to change your life, but it was a delightful 10 hour listen.  Definitely recommended.