Listen to Your Heart - Book Review

Kids these days have so many cool options. Like a podcasting class. As a high school elective! I totally would have signed up for that! Too bad I didn't go to school in Kasie West's new YA novel Listen to Your Heart.

Kate Bailey, our book's main character, isn't as into talking in front of people or on the air, but her best friend Alana convinces her to take the class anyway, and then somehow Kate ends up as one of the podcast's advice-giving co-hosts!

But it turns out, she needs a lot of advice in her own life.

This is one of those books with pretty predictable plot points, but watching how the characters go from Point A to Point B is very entertaining. I never wanted to put the book down because I just wanted to know what would happen next! There's so much Jane Eyre-esque miscommunication and wrong assumptions that I found myself internally yelling, "No! He likes you! No! Go back and talk to him! No! You're missing the signs!"

Add a gorgeous California lake setting and themes of friendship, love, bullying, and "what do I do when I grow up" that any teen can understand, and you've got a great summer read for kids (girls especially) ages 12 and up.

Listen to Your Heart is published by Point, an imprint of Scholastic. It is available on bookstore shelves now. I received a free advance review copy for my honest opinion.