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A review by alibookedup
Borrow My Heart by Kasie West
emotional
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A cute and lighthearted YA romance about Wren, a girl who has a wall around her heart and an extensive list of rues, and Asher, a boy who comes in to knock down that wall and re-write everything. Their meeting is unlike any other as Wren steps in to save Asher from being duped by his online crush (and possible catfisher) by pretending to be her and accidentally becoming a catfisher herself. She gets sucked further and further into the lie as she starts to care about him and begins to wonder how much longer she can keep up the charade.
I would say I liked this one and thought it was cute with its somewhat simple plot line. I liked Wren and Asher - they played off each other well and were actually surprisingly funny together. I also thought the author did a good job at showing conflicting sibling relationships and issues that come along with each of them dealing with a missing/flakey mother. I was actually surprised because Wren and her sister, Zoey, made me tear up because their personalities and their conflicts reminded me of my sister even though our parental situation is nothing alike. Kami was a great best friend and I loved how she dealt with Wren with patience and love even if she disagreed with the whole insane catfish situation.
The entire social media and TikTok storyline was also interesting as I think it is good commentary on how it is affecting current generation's relationships and views of the world. However, I don't think the author fully committed with the full consequences of using social media to gain followers/fame without the person who is being filmed giving explicit permission (no matter how much is meant well by it). I think Asher and Dale were too easily forgiven -- I think it was good for Wren to forgive them and move on, but I felt like the issue was never really discussed past "I'm sorry". Again, I know that Asher and Dale meant well, but never felt the full impact of how social media can hurt people other than Wren being mad at them for a couple of days. This could also be the fact that I'm a millennial so the idea of Wren just jumping in to save a random dude in a coffee shop from embarrassment from his best friend about maybe being catfished (it's his best friend, not the entire school...I think dude would've been okay) is just absolutely crazy and unbelievable to me. Letting the lie on both sides go on so long did also not scream cute to me and gave me more of a "this is a REALLY hurtful lie", but again, I'm in a totally different social media generation so maybe I don't get it and that's what kids have to do nowadays (wow I sound old). I think it would've been better if Wren came clean early on and worked together with Asher in a fake relationship to either keep Dale from knowing Asher had been catfished and/or to find out if he had been catfished by finding the girl online.
All in all, an enjoyable and sweet read that might not blow your socks off, but is definitely entertaining. I would say it is a perfect, light palette cleanser if you are in a book slump and/or just read a long, intense book.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for early access in exchange for an honest review.
(****Spoiler ahead*******-------------------------> I think it was also crazy that Wren said ily directly after what happened and after only knowing Asher for a month. I personally did not think that was the correct ending. Their relationship was perfectly fine without having to throw that in and felt like it was just thrown in because it's a romance book and it has to be said.)
I would say I liked this one and thought it was cute with its somewhat simple plot line. I liked Wren and Asher - they played off each other well and were actually surprisingly funny together. I also thought the author did a good job at showing conflicting sibling relationships and issues that come along with each of them dealing with a missing/flakey mother. I was actually surprised because Wren and her sister, Zoey, made me tear up because their personalities and their conflicts reminded me of my sister even though our parental situation is nothing alike. Kami was a great best friend and I loved how she dealt with Wren with patience and love even if she disagreed with the whole insane catfish situation.
The entire social media and TikTok storyline was also interesting as I think it is good commentary on how it is affecting current generation's relationships and views of the world. However, I don't think the author fully committed with the full consequences of using social media to gain followers/fame without the person who is being filmed giving explicit permission (no matter how much is meant well by it). I think Asher and Dale were too easily forgiven -- I think it was good for Wren to forgive them and move on, but I felt like the issue was never really discussed past "I'm sorry". Again, I know that Asher and Dale meant well, but never felt the full impact of how social media can hurt people other than Wren being mad at them for a couple of days. This could also be the fact that I'm a millennial so the idea of Wren just jumping in to save a random dude in a coffee shop from embarrassment from his best friend about maybe being catfished (it's his best friend, not the entire school...I think dude would've been okay) is just absolutely crazy and unbelievable to me. Letting the lie on both sides go on so long did also not scream cute to me and gave me more of a "this is a REALLY hurtful lie", but again, I'm in a totally different social media generation so maybe I don't get it and that's what kids have to do nowadays (wow I sound old). I think it would've been better if Wren came clean early on and worked together with Asher in a fake relationship to either keep Dale from knowing Asher had been catfished and/or to find out if he had been catfished by finding the girl online.
All in all, an enjoyable and sweet read that might not blow your socks off, but is definitely entertaining. I would say it is a perfect, light palette cleanser if you are in a book slump and/or just read a long, intense book.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for early access in exchange for an honest review.
(****Spoiler ahead*******-------------------------> I think it was also crazy that Wren said ily directly after what happened and after only knowing Asher for a month. I personally did not think that was the correct ending. Their relationship was perfectly fine without having to throw that in and felt like it was just thrown in because it's a romance book and it has to be said.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment