NEW BOOK REVIEW

                                              Love, Life, and the List ... By Kasie West

                                 
What do you do when you’ve fallen for your best friend? Funny and romantic, this effervescent story about family, friendship, and finding yourself is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han.
Seventeen-year-old Abby Turner’s summer isn’t going the way she’d planned. She has a not-so-secret but definitely unrequited crush on her best friend, Cooper. She hasn’t been able to manage her mother’s growing issues with anxiety. And now she’s been rejected from an art show because her work “has no heart.” So when she gets another opportunity to show her paintings, Abby isn’t going to take any chances.
Which is where the list comes in.
Abby gives herself one month to do ten things, ranging from face a fear (#3) to learn a stranger’s story (#5) to fall in love (#8). She knows that if she can complete the list, she’ll become the kind of artist she’s always dreamed of being.
But as the deadline approaches, Abby realizes that getting through the list isn’t as straightforward as it seems . . . and that maybe—just maybe—she can’t change her art if she isn’t first willing to change herself.

MY REVIEW

This is going to be the most unusual review that I have ever done...why? Because I'm reviewing Love, Life, and The List by Kasie West without reading the end as of yet...why?...read on.

Will this story effect you the same as it did me, probably not as we are all in different places in our lives at different times, feeling the ups and downs that befall us. Ms. West  doesn't need to write with a ton of descriptions, as what she does give us through the story plays as a movie in my head with my own visions of the characters.

I absolutely loved the character development which I could easily relate too. (although they are young adult and I am not) My emotions were stirred as Cooper and Abby grew and changed, and how Abby's depth of feelings made her step out to become bolder and stronger and to take her rightful place in the art world. I also could see a new Cooper emerging even though it might not be a better one...we'll see at the end of the book.

I stopped at a particular point in the book (not giving any spoilers) where Abby and her new friend make a plan to claim what she thinks she really wants, to step forward and realize the person she really is and what to do about it.

I myself realized what a new found freedom can come from just looking inside yourself to find the real you (as Abby did with her List) and to see what you are made of. Confusing?  Not really! When I come home tonight after using MY new found freedom and rightful place, I plan to curl up with Love, Life and the List and see how their ending turns out, no matter which way it goes, hoping they will be as happy as I plan mine to be.

So...strange as this review is, this is an amazing read for all ages...full of fun, youthfulness and great insight.




                                        Amazon Review