Listen to Your Heart - Kasie West

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): 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.

MY OPINION: ***

MY OPINION: ***

I actually finished this book around half a week ago but haven't gotten around to writing my review.

CHARACTERS:
Kate Bailey, our protagonist, is an introvert. That's the word I would use to describe her. She enjoys being alone, she doesn't like to talk to others, and her favorite place is alone on the lake in the sun. Her best friend forces her to join the school's podcast class and lo and behold, Kate is forced to come out of her shell when she is chosen as one of the hosts, along with co-host Victoria. It's actually fairly interesting. Their podcast is an advice show. Basically, people can call in or email their problems and Kate (dubbed "Kat" for the podcast against her will), and Victoria give their unprofessional advice (and yes, they do give out a disclaimer every single time that they are not experts).

Every day, this one guy calls in, talking about his anonymous crush and his family life. He quickly becomes a fan favorite. However, Kate knows this guy in real life, but decides not to tell him that she knows who he is (like WHY).

Diego Martinez is Kate's BFF's crush of the year (because apparently her best friend just goes through guys every year). He's cute, sweet, nice, and works at a tutoring center that one of Kate's cousins goes to. Kate deludes herself into thinking that he has a crush on her best friend and does everything possible to get them together, even though he so obviously likes Kate What's with Kasie West writing the most oblivious characters ever?

Alana, Kate's best friend, is encouraging and extroverted and energetic. She's basically everything Kate's not and they balance each other out. She has a crush on Diego but her strategies for getting guys really made me roll my eyes every five seconds. Like, don't play hard to get; it's not a good strategy at all.

We also have this other guy named Frank Young (I think). I forgot to mention that Kate lives on the lake with her family, and her business is keeping care of the lake and the WaterJets or something or other. The Youngs have been trying to take over the business for years. Frank and Kate basically hate each other because of a feud between their GRANDPARENTS. Like, hello?? Get over it. It's like Romeo and Juliet except they're not in love. When he asked her out to the fall festival, I thought it was cute but I really liked Diego and felt bad for him the entire time

Now it's time for a spoiler-fest

*Diego and Kate. Aww, they're pretty cute. THE WAY THAT HE TRIED TO ASK HER TO THE FALL FESTIVAL WITH THE MAGAZINE AND WRITING OUT WHAT HE WANTED TO SAY WAS SO CUTE OMG. AND THE FACT THAT SHE DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO OPEN THE MAGAZINE MADE ME WANT TO MURDER HER.

*He thought she was asking him out when in fact it was ALANA and that made my heart hurt.

*I thought that Frank and Kate were going to end up together at first but then I realized it was going in a completely different direction

*Um, girl code people. Don't fall in love with your best friend's crush. Surprised that Alana took it so well, tbh

Okay, so overall:

Did I hate the book? NO
Did I like the book? YES
Did I love the book? NO

So three stars. Mediocre. It's cute but I liked the one with Seth and Maddy better (I've read so many Kasie West books that I don't even know which one is which anymore haha)

I would recommend this book to readers looking for a cute summer read chockful of cute/cheesy romance

Main Character: Kate
Sidekick(s): Alana, Diego, Frank (yes), etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, girl code, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.