The one thing to say about Kate Voegele, is don't judge her until you've heard her. Or more specifically, until you've given this album a listen. I discovered her, and the majority of her English fans surely did, on One Tree Hill, where she plays the role of fictional singer/songwriter Mia Catalano, and fell in love with her voice when she sang 'Hallelujah' on the show. Having downloaded her first album, I waited eagerly for the second, and have not been disappointed.
Kate has come on in leaps and bounds since her first album: this recording is more mature, more musically accomplished, and more varied in it's sound than her previous release. Not only that, but her voice has also matured, and some of the tracks on this album are simply beautiful. Even the tracks that I was originally not that bothered with (Lift Me Up being the main culprit) have grown on me as I've come to realise they're tracks that have a lot of meaning. This is the kind of album you can listen to and realise that every track is real, every track sounds as though it was written about something that happened somewhere, rather than being cliched and 'typical'. 'Manhattan from the Sky' is probably the best example of this.
For me, the highlights of this album are 'Angel', 'Manhattan from the Sky' (both of which were featured on One Tree Hill), 'Inside Out', 'Say Anything' and 'Playing With My Heart' -- but there is no song on this album that I don't like.
On on last note, this album is certainy expensive for what it is as this CD has had no official UK release, but is imported from America (or at least the version Amazon sent me, is) but it is worth it, and presumably if this album becomes succcessful in the UK her next work might get a better release. I also advise paying the extra £3 to get this extended edition rather than the standard: for that you get four new tracks, and a beautiful acoustic version of 'Playing With My Heart'. It's definitely worth it!