Monday, March 30, 2020

REVIEW: Moment of Truth by Kasie West


Moment of Truth by Kasie West


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 is falling for the last guy she ever thought she would like. 
MY THOUGHTS
Kasie West is usually an auto-buy author for me, ever since her debut novel Pivot Point. I don't think she can be an auto-buy author for me anymore since she hasn't written a five-star book for me since Pivot Point. Did I like this book? Yes, but I think this is just a predictable YA romance and I was hoping for more.

Hadley loves to swim but when swim meet is interrupted by the 'Heath Hall', she vows to find out who he is. For the last few years, someone has been putting on a Heath Hall mask and interrupting events, and Hadley thinks it's someone from her school. She ropes her friend into solving the mystery, stalking Heath Hall events and his social media pages, but she can't ignore what is really bothering her. The feeling that no matter how much she swims, she cannot live up to the memory of her brother, at least in her parents' eyes.

This book has two main components, the mystery and Hadley's family. The mystery has an interesting concept. There's someone running around town in costume, interrupting events and creating their own events. This 'Heath Hall' (which is the name of a fictional TV character who the mask depicts) has become a celebrity in this town. This could be a fun concept to play with, and it was fun at times, but I figured out who 'Heath Hall' was really early on which made me frustrated because Hadley wastes so much time on this. [highlight to view spoiler] That it was more than one person. I thought it was obvious based on how different 'Heath Hall' acted at each event [end of spoiler] I do think the idea of Heath Hall and how it was presented at the end of the book was interesting.

I found the family and self-discovery more interesting in the book. Hadley's brother died before Hadley was even born and her parents have immortalized him in such a way that Hadley feels like she cannot compare to this perfect boy that died too soon. Yet, she never discusses this with her family and feels guilty for even thinking about herself when her brother is dead. This was another interesting concept and the way it was written, we really could feel for Hadley and understand her. I wanted to shake her at times because she was bottling all of this up, but I do think this was dealt with well in the book.

As for romance, I really didn't care for it. It wasn't bad, but it was just there. I knew who Hadley was going to end up with from get-go and I just expected it to happen. I didn't really care about him and I didn't get any strong feelings from the romance.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did like this book but it was a bit too predictable for me. I don't know if I will read more from Kasie West or not. All of her recent books have just been 3-star reads for me. Maybe if she writes another book like Pivot Point.

I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it

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