Moment of Truth by Kasie West | Book Review

Hello, book lovers! 💕

The following is from Goodreads:

At sixteen, Hadley Moore knows exactly who she is—a swimmer who will earn a scholarship to college. Totally worth all the hard work, even if her aching shoulders don’t agree.

So when a guy dressed as Hollywood’s latest action hero, Heath Hall, crashes her swim meet, she isn’t amused. Instead, she’s determined to make sure he doesn’t bother her again. Only she’s not sure exactly who he is. 

The swim meet isn’t the first event the imposter has interrupted, but a little digging turns up a surprising number of people who could be Heath Hall, including Hadley’s ex-boyfriend and her best friend’s crush. She soon finds herself getting caught up in the mysterious world of the fake Heath Hall.

As Hadley gets closer to uncovering the masked boy’s identity, she also discovers some uncomfortable truths about herself—like she might resent the long shadow her late brother has cast over her family, that she isn’t as happy as she pretends to be with her life choices…and that she’s falling for the last guy she ever thought she would like.

MY THOUGHTS:

In the past, I have really enjoyed Kasie West’s books, but the last couple that I’ve read from her have felt kind of juvenile to me. That’s probably because I’m no longer a teenage girl who is dealing with some of the issues that the main character, Hadley, goes through during the story. But I’m going to start with some things that I did enjoy in the book, because even though I wasn’t a big fan of it, it was still an enjoyable read.

There was a sense of mystery (and anyone who’s been following my blog for a while knows how much I enjoy a Cinderella Story type mystery where one of the main characters doesn’t know who the other is. But in this story, the mystery revolved around a masked student at the school who did crazy stunts at different events. That alone was enough to keep me reading the entire time.

I also really enjoyed the love interest. He was cocky and witty and just overall a lot of fun. His personality made for some interesting dialogue between him and Hadley. That made the story feel lighthearted and fun, even when there were some serious topics thrown in throughout. And in the end, the main character learned some really important life lessons.

But all of that didn’t make me love the book. I liked it, but there were parts where it fell flat for me. And that was mostly with the way that Hadley reacted to a lot of what was going on, especially with the masked student. It seemed like she was always looking to argue when something didn’t go her way. I know that’s probably partially because of her age, but it made her seem a lot more childish.

Also when the mystery was revealed (I won’t spoil it for anyone who still wants to read the book), it felt kind of anticlimactic. Though I wouldn’t have guessed who was behind the mask at all. But it didn’t leave me stunned or anything. I was just like Oh okay, so that happened and moved on.

Overall, I did enjoy the book for what it was: a fast-paced, lighthearted YA contemporary that was pretty cute. Would I recommend it? Sure, if you’re interested in YA contemporary and have read other books by this author. But I wouldn’t say that it was anything groundbreaking or that it changed my life in any way.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Have you read any of Kasie West’s previous books? I’d love to discuss them in the comments below!

Advertisement