Review: Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC novel from Edelweiss and HarperTeen Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Abby is an aspiring artist, and loves to paint. It is her true passion and what she wants to do for a career. Right now, during the summer before senior year, she is working at the museum being surrounded by art every day and she is also hoping to be one of the artists featured in the yearly art gallery where all proceeds go to a charity.

The only problem is that she does not meet the age requirements...by ONE year!! But she decides to try since she works for Mr. Wallace and has an "in" now.

Except Mr. Wallace said Abby has no heart in her art. They are mere copies of standard pictures. He said that Abby needs to experience and grow in her artwork before she will be considered a true artist and be seriously considered in the art world.

Which broke Abby's heart because art is her life. If she's not good at it, then what's the point? But Abby's not going to give up. In fact, she's decided to make 5 entirely new paintings before the exhibit and try again, and this time, she is going to challenge herself to do 11 things on a list to live life and change her painting style.

And who better to do that with than her best friend Cooper. Who she might have a crush on. But after a failed attempt of telling Cooper her true feelings a year ago, Abby is working hard to keep her best friend instead of losing him because she has stronger feels than he does for her.

So together, they go through the list of things for Abby to try and experience and see if it will make her paintings have more heart.

But trying new things and going out of comfort zone makes Abby realize a lot of things. And most of them are not the great news category. In fact, this whole summer has opened her eyes and has made Abby realize that she needs to do the things that make her happy, otherwise is she really living?

I adore Kasie West's books and have read all of them that have been published so far, so I was so excited to get this next installment! And I loved it just as much as her previous books!!

I felt so much for Abby. First she gets rejected by her best friend who she has been in love with for a very long time. Then she gets told that her art is not that great and she has a lot to learn. For being 17, that is a lot of rejection to have already!

But Abby doesn't let that stop her. In fact, she takes all of that rejection, and she decides to fix it, rather than let people put her down with their negativity. Abby channels all of that criticism and decides to better herself and grow as a person to achieve her life long goals. And that is something to admire so much, because many people in the world do not respond in that way.

I also loved how she had to make really tough decisions, not only about Cooper and her feelings toward him, but also with her mother. After taking baby steps around her mom and trying to help her get better, Abby just exploded at her when her sickness made her miss a really big night of Abby's life. And instead of treating her mother like the glass doll everyone has been doing lately, she decided enough is enough and gave her some tough love. I loved every minute of it.

I'm really glad that Abby decided to try to make new friends over the summer. It's nice to have a close knitted group of friends, but it's also great to get out there and make more. It doesn't mean that she has replaced any of her friends, but that she is learning to go out there, meet more people, and have fun.

Abby had a really crappy summer, but it was so full of new experiences that she will take with her for the rest of her life. It made her grow into the person that she will one day become, and it made her realize that life is not always fair, but we will get through the tough times so we can enjoy the amazing times after the struggle.

This is a great novel, and I think that it will appeal to so many readers out there! I'm so happy that I got an eARC and I cannot wait for the next book by Kasie West :)

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