About the Book:
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 2019
Genre: Fiction; Contemporary YA
Source: Purchase
Find the Book Elsewhere: Goodreads
Find the Review Elsewhere: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★½
Maybe this Time by Kasie West | Book Review
STORY | Working in her small hometown at the local florist isn’t what Sophie’s long term dreams are, but for now, she makes do as she finishes senior year. What she doesn’t anticipate is the arrival of the snooty Andrew. The son of a former TV personality chef, Andrew has a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and Sophie doesn’t have a good first impression of him. But the trouble is, Sophie and Andrew will be seeing a lot of one another as Andrew’s father is here to help the local catering company; which happens to be owned by the family of Sophie’s best friend.
The thing that makes this worse is, as a florist employee, Sophie is at all of the small town’s big events, from funerals, weddings and seasonal festivals, Sophie and Andrew just may have to learn to get along.
REVIEW | No secret is ever made about how very much I enjoy a good Kasie West contemporary. Maybe This Time is no different. The only difference is, there is one thing about the book that could have been a little bit better expounded. Let’s get that complaint out of the way first. The story takes place over the course of (nearly) a calendar year. We begin on Valentine’s Day, and end on New Year’s Eve. Throughout that, the only times we meet up with these characters is through the nine events they work at during the year.
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Cute as this is, I think this kind of limits the plot; or more specifically, the growth and eventual shift in the feelings between the characters. There’s a kind of lid on the believability of the change in their feelings, but again, like any novel by West, this one is still all kinds of adorable – and sunshine! I love her stories, and despite my personal quibbles, I still adore Maybe This Time.
We see Sophie come into her own, and make time for her dreams. There’s a crack in a friendship to repair, and a kind of Darcy-and-Lizzy match trope. What is well done is the fact that there’s no “I love you” declarations which in my book, always, undoes everything that’s cute and sweet about a book that hasn’t spent a great deal of time on fleshing out an impacting love story. In the instance of this novel, it’s because of the timeline.
The book is a quick read, and is another prime example of a solid Kasie West novel, one that yet again doesn’t put me off from reading more of her delightful stories. There’s lots of sweet elements in the story, and the actual design of the book is beautiful with its flower doodles, and the chapter breaks of flower descriptions. Plus, I really like to read about Sophie as a main character, and a fellow creative. In short, Maybe this Time is a cute little novel; it makes me smile, and being the simple girl I am, that’s all I was looking for.
'Maybe this Time': One Girl & Boy & and Unexpected Fun Match. Anyone who enjoys #KasieWest novels should add this sweet #YALit romance to their '#mustread' TBR! Click To Tweet
Content: There may be a minor use of profanity or innuendo, but overall, this one is clean.
I am a huge Kasie West fan as well. I do agree with you that this one isn’t her best work. I did love all of the gooey sweetness the story had, though. :)
I still thoroughly enjoyed this one because it still holds all the trademarks that is Kasie West, but yes, I think the fact that the couple is apart so much kind of dampers the “romance” that we’re meant to believe in. Glad to meet another fan of Kasie’s! :)