Love, Life, and the List - Kasie West

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"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."

For me, Kasie West books are a great palate cleanser after reading heavier books. They're like the sorbet of the book world. You can always count on them to have a small amount of drama but overall be fluffy and end happily. If you're looking for something fast, light, and fun to read, this book is a great option. That being said, I did have a few gripes.

Gripe numero uno: It was hard to feel invested in their friend circle when there was ZERO character development for the two that were on vacation the entire book. I know whole point of the book was that Cooper and Abby were going to be alone all summer, but it's a weird decision to establish that this friend group is like the end-all-be-all of friend groups without including two members of the group in the book. Gripe two: Could have done without Iris's presence in the book. It rubbed me the wrong way primarily because she ended up actively pitted against Abby, which is just...such a tired storyline...but it also bugged me because throwing her in the mix kind of made Cooper come off like a d-bag at times, particularly toward the end of the book. 

And, drumroll please...my final gripe...

I know I said above that you can always count on these books to end happily, but truth be told I was kind of excited at the prospect of a Kasie West book where in the end the main character learns to be fine being by herself and expands her social circle beyond the one guy she's ever really socialized with (aside from the other guy friend who, again, is absent the entire book and also has a weird arc where he's sending Cooper texts but not Abby), but noooooo. Honestly, with this book, the ending almost made the entire book feel pointless. There were all these realizations from Abby and character growth and revelations about how she could have other friends and rely on people outside of her little group, and then it was like "jk, Cooper does like me! We're together now!" Fine, if that's how you're going to end it...but at the very least if they were going to end up together don't have him totally blow off her art show because that made him completely irredeemable in my eyes.