Review: Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West

Synopsis from Good Reads:

Talking to other people isn’t Kate Bailey’s favorite activity. She’d much rather be out on the lake, soaking up the solitude and sunshine. So when her best friend, Alana, convinces Kate to join their high school’s podcast, Kate is not expecting to be chosen as the host. Now she’ll have to answer calls and give advice on the air? Impossible.

But to Kate’s surprise, she turns out to be pretty good at the hosting gig. Then the podcast gets in a call from an anonymous guy, asking for advice about his unnamed crush. Kate is pretty sure that the caller is gorgeous Diego Martinez, and even surer that the girl in question is Alana. Kate is excited for her friend … until Kate herself starts to develop feelings for Diego. Suddenly, Kate finds that while doling out wisdom to others may be easy, asking for help is tougher than it looks, and following your own advice is even harder.

Kasie West’s adorable story of secrets, love, and friendship is sure to win over hearts everywhere.

I always look forward to new books by Kasie West. They just make me happy and Listen to Your Heart was no exception.

I liked all the characters in this. I found Kate funny and relatable. I loved her and Alana’s friendship. I liked Kate’s relationship with her family, especially her cousin Liza. Her home situation was a little unusual and I wish it would have been a little more explored than it was, though. I felt like there was a lot of potential there that wasn’t really explored, but I did like what we got to see of it. I really liked Diego and even Frank grew on me as the story went on.

I wasn’t sure what I would think of the podcast plotline, since I don’t generally care about podcasts. However, I thought it was really interesting. It wasn’t an overwhelming amount of information, but I felt like I got a good idea of how producing one would work. I wish there were cool classes like that when I was in high school. (Though, I don’t think podcasts were a thing when I was in high school. Dial-up internet was what everyone had back then – if you were lucky enough to have the internet at home at all. I know, I’m ancient.) I liked how it brought Kate out of her shell a bit and gave her more confidence.

As with every Kasie West book, I thought the romance was adorable. It was definitely a slow burn and it made the end result just that much sweeter. I wish there wasn’t so much miscommunication between the characters, but there were still a lot of cute moments, so I can forgive it.

Overall, I really enjoyed Listen to Your Heart. I liked the character and the relationships and the romance. It was a fast read that I finished in a day. I definitely recommend to fans of Kasie West and Contemporary YA.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars