Two Better-Than-Chocolate Novels by Kasie West

The spring season is in a full swing. The weather is beautiful and longer evenings are calling for reading in the garden or outside your favourite coffee shop. Today I am here to recommend a couple of books that are perfect exactly for this occasion. Kasie West has become one of my all time favourite contemporary authors ever since I've read her book The Distance Between Us three years ago, which pulled me out of a serious reading slump and made me smile every morning on the bus on my way to work. Every single book by her I picked up after that has proven to be even better than the previous one. I wasn't lying in the headline of this post, her books are seriously better than chocolate - even the one filled with caramel...

Title: Love, Life, and the List
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing date: 2018
Pages: 374

This book tells a story about an aspiring artist Abby and her long time friend Cooper, who is known to be fearless. Abby has had a crush on him since the very beginning of their friendship, which has proven to be one-sided last summer when she told him the truth. She laughed it off then and tried to keep her feelings hidden ever since. This summer is filled with new opportunities, though. Abby compiles a list that is supposed to help her become a better artist, and when Cooper sets to help her accoplish her goal, they both might learn a thing or two about their hearts in the process...

"Nobody else's opinion about...[you]...is going to matter to you until yours does."

Over the last three years since I've discovered Kasie West, her books became my go-to stories when I need a pick-me-up. They have a similar vibe to Sarah Dessen's novels and they are just as important to me. I found out it's best to stash them up on my shelves like one would stash a chocolate for the times of need. I usually end up reading two at a time, for it's just impossible to stop after one. Well, just like you can't stop after one square of chocolate. What's even better about them is that they actually make you feel better after reading them. You simply can't overdose. So it's a good thing that Kasie West publishes two books almost every year...

Love, Life, and the List is a beautiful book about finding yourself and overcoming obstacles that hold you up from doing what you love. I thoroughly enjoyed the friends-to-lovers trope, which is quite rare in books, but is my absolute favourite to read about. It was done in a very touching way and I loved everything about it. Kasie West is very skilled writer - her books always flow so effortlesly - but she is especially good at capturing the feeling of being young and in love with the whole summer filled with possibilities ahead of you. If you love contemporary books as much as I do, you definitely can't miss out on this one...

Title: Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing date: 2019
Pages: 384

In this book, we follow a side character from the previously mentioned book, Lacey, who is an aspiring actress. In fact, the book is set in the middle of her shooting a zombie movie alongside a big movie star everyone adores. Lacey soon realizes, though, that this job isn't as fancy as one would thought. Someone is actually trying to sabotage her onset and if she lets them do it, her dream career might be over more quictly than it began. The fact that her dad isn't supportive in her pursuing her dream makes the whole situation even worse. And to top it off she might be developing some feelings for her tutor...

The thing about Kasie West's books is that each one I love even more than the previous one, so Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss is probably my absolute favourite so far. It was definitely the most action packed of all of her books I previously read, and I really enjoyed the unexpected twists and turns of the story. The love interest in this book is incredibly swoon-worthy, let me tell you. But the best thing about the cute guys in Kasie West's books is that they always make great friends to our main characters. They joke around but also listen to their struggles and help them out. They are so dreamy you just wish they were real the whole time you read about them. I also really appreciate the female friendship that is always present in Kasie Wests novels. Her stories are just really relatable and I will read every single one of them she puts out. And you should too, if you don't want to miss out on a whole lot of fun...

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