Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

The Quick Cut: A girl takes on challenges to develop her emotional maturity and painting skills. 

A Real Review:

 No one handles rejection well. We all want to succeed. So, if someone told you your artwork is emotionally empty, how would you react? For seventeen year old Abby, that involves finding a way to create that needed depth. 

 Abby lives to create her artwork. She's passionate about the creations she makes with a paintbrush and wants to be included in the museum's amateur night. However, when she asks her boss at the museum to include her work, he says she needs to wait until she's developed her artwork more. After talking to her mom and grandpa about it, she decides to tackle a list of ten items to emotionally develop her. Will it work or will she just end up in the same place? 

 The story and how Abby truly matures is an enjoyable one. Seeing how the multitude of people in her life interact with her and push her to pursue her passion is motivating. That much support is so rarely seen in reality. However, the primary relationship in this story is the one between her and her best friend, Cooper. 

 Abby has an unrequited crush on Cooper, which is where a significant portion of the emotional angst comes from. As much as I appreciate the setup, it hits a certain level of unbelievable to me considering it's a year plus after Abby admitted her feelings that things fall apart. 

 On top of that, Cooper ends up looking like a real bad guy in the end. His reasoning for acting the way he did is shady as hell too without a good reason for it. What should be a likeable character ticked me off. 

 A few fumbled in storytelling, but an overall enjoyable story. 

My rating: 4 out of 5