Review: Moment of Truth by Kasie West

Moment of Truth is the companion book to Love, Life and the List and Fame, Fate and the First Kiss. If you’re a fan of West’s, you know this book has been in the works for years. Its previous titles were The Sun, the Moon and the Truth and Hearts, Heroes and Heath Hall. 

Swimming is everything to Hadley Moore. Hadley and her best friend Amelia spend their life at the pool (Cooper’s sister). So when the swim meet gets interrupted by a guy wearing a Heath Hall mask, Hadley’s determined to find the guy who rattled her confidence. 

Quickly, Hadley shows up to any event that she can find that Heath Hall will crash. But, the more she does, the less she feels she knows about the masked guy. She accuses her ex-boyfriend, the swim team assistant coach and the cute and annoying guy, Jackson, who won’t leave her alone.

But, Hadley seems to be going after the mystery to have something to focus on. Her home life is less than optimal. Her mom’s constantly busy with a charity she runs for kids with cancer. It’s rewarding work, but she does it since Hadley’s older brother died of cancer in high school. Only Hadley never met him. Her parents had her after he already passed and she’s forever in his shadow.

When everything in Hadley’s life seems to be out of control, maybe falling love with an unexpected person can help keep her head above water. But, can Hadley finally open up to someone?

We’re thrilled that West’s latest book was a fun read! We rated her last book Maybe This Time 2 stars. While we didn’t love this one as much as her earlier books, it was completely enjoyable.

Hadley can be intense at times, but that’s only because she feels she has to constantly prove herself to everyone. We felt bad for her. West has a knack for creating realistic and complex family dynamics. 

The romance was super cute in this one. Jackson and Hadley’s relationship started as a slowburn. Once Hadley began to trust Jackson, the two found comfort in each other by sharing their insecurities. Even though she found him annoying and childish at the beginning of the story, Jackson surprised Hadley (and us!) with his secret depth. 

We also loved getting updates from former characters. Abby and Cooper are still together, no surprise! They even make a cameo. While we never saw Lacey and Donovan, they were mentioned! We’re so happy that this amazing couple is still making it work. Donovan served as the perfect nerdy love interest. 

Without spoiling who Heath Hall is, we enjoyed the resolution of it all. It was more complex than we thought and Hadley learned a lot from the revelation. The moral of story, face your fears and put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to go after what you want!

In the end, this solid book from West made us ready for her next contemporary. We didn’t quite swoon as much as we did with our favorites from West, yet we had fun reading this sweet story. You can find our rankings of all her YA contemporaries here! Let us know which books from West are your favorite. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐