story craft

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Reasons to Love 

-enemies to lovers
-sweet best-friend relationship
-classic truck (or is that just me?)
-independent, strong FMC
-goofy but secretly deep MMC

Cautions: a couple of passionate kisses, but not too intense or super descriptive; no foul language; the whole book deals with the depths of grief and how different people walk through it; it’ll definitely tug on your heartstrings, but could be difficult to read if you’ve lost a child or a sibling

Format: Hardcover

Genre: YA romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Favorite quote: 

Snapshot: Beautifully heartbreaking hope. Those three words pound in my head and my heart when I think about Hadley’s story in Moment of Truth. Holy wow, I felt my way through this book. Not only did Kasie give us all the feels through Hadley’s emotional growth from indifference and the pursuit of perfection to anger and grief and eventually acceptance, forgiveness, and love.

Though this story is definitely a precious romance that wrapped itself around my heart in a warm hug, Kasie did a brilliant job with Jackson. At first, he comes across as a goofball with absolutely no cares and no depth. But the way he gives Hadley a safe place to feel these emotions that are so foreign to her and so uncomfortable, the way he brings her out of her shell and makes her laugh? Ah, my heart, my heart, my heart. Kasie’s writing is so clean, fun, and breezy, but then she goes and dives into the deep wells of grief and tragedy and what it looks like to just “pretend” at life—and she excels there too.

If you can’t tell, this book hit me. Plus, as a lover of the peace the lake brings, so many parts of this story hit close to home. I simply loved it, and the only thing I can say I want now is sweet Amelia’s story.