REVIEW: By Your Side

By Your Side, by Kasie West
Publish Date: January 31, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
Genre: YA contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) In this irresistible story, Kasie West explores the timeless question of what to do when you fall for the person you least expect. Witty and romantic, this paperback original from a fan favorite is perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins and Morgan Matson.

When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her. Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumors about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to be stuck with. Still, she just keeps reminding herself that it is only a matter of time before Jeff, her almost-boyfriend, realizes he left her in the library and comes to rescue her.

Only he doesn’t come. No one does.

Instead it becomes clear that Autumn is going to have to spend the next couple of days living off vending-machine food and making conversation with a boy who clearly wants nothing to do with her. Except there is more to Dax than meets the eye. As he and Autumn first grudgingly, and then not so grudgingly, open up to each other, Autumn is struck by their surprising connection. But can their feelings for each other survive once the weekend is over and Autumn’s old life, and old love interest, threaten to pull her from Dax’s side?

If you have to get locked in a public building, at least it's the best possible public building out there (THE LIBRARY), and it's with the cute bad boy from school. Things could definitely be worse, right? 

When Autumn finds herself locked in the public library for a long weekend along with Dax, the quiet, broody bad boy from her high school, she honestly doesn't think things could be worse. She was supposed to be with her friends at a cabin for the weekend after spending some quality time with her crush, Jeff. But, then they all leave and she's lamenting drinking that last soda which made her have to run back into the library one last time to pee. 

After realizing that the library is closed for three days, the heat was turned down, everything requires a key in order to open it and Dax is really not her biggest fan, Autumn realizes that yes - things can definitely get worse. And after she is discovered and realizes all that had happened to her friends while she was locked in the library, things go from bad to worse. To complicate things even further, she now has this crazy connection to Dax that she doesn't understand, and isn't sure she wants to. 

I absolutely LOVED the idea of this book. Although the execution had me scratching my head at times (what library closes down the entire long weekend for Martin Luther King Day??), I was able to overlook it because the idea was just so awesome. I mean really - what would YOU do if you were locked in a library for three days with no apparent way out and no cell phone to call for help? 

A voice in the back of my head told me to calm down before I made this worse. Everything was fine. So I was stuck alone in a library, but I was safe. I could read and jog the stairs and stay busy. There were plenty of distractions here.

What was surprising for me was that the library portion of the book didn't even encompass half of it. It was a bit of a bummer, because I really loved that part, and I loved watching Autumn and Dax get to know one another. They are truly an odd couple - think Claire and Bender from the Breakfast Club.  Autumn finds she wants to help Dax with his crappy home life and Dax really softens toward Autumn when she comes clean to him about her anxiety issues. 

How had he made me so relaxed? How could I say whatever I was thinking to him? Do whatever I was feeling? Maybe because he was the only one around.

Of course, life was going on around them while they were locked in the library, and after they get out, they have to deal with everything that's happened during those three days. Autumn has to face her friends, she has to reassure her family and she has to find a way to balance her new feelings for Dax once they're back in school. 

Every other Kasie West book has always been a homer for me, but this one fell a little short. I still had a lot of questions at the end of the book that I didn't feel were answered as cleanly as I wanted. There's some unfinished business between Dax and his mom, some unfinished business between Autumn and one of her friends, and even some questions left between Autumn and Dax. Don't get me wrong - Dax and Autumn are definitely in a happy place at the end, but for me, it felt like their future was still a little uncertain. Although, I guess when you're only 17 and 18 years old, whose future IS certain? 

Overall, By Your Side was a good book that I read through very quickly and enjoyed a lot. The questions I still had at the end didn't necessarily diminish my enjoyment of the book, and I can guarantee that Kasie West's next book will be a one-clicker just like this one was. 

EARLY REVIEW: P.S. I Like You

P.S. I Like You, by Kasie West
Publish Date: July 26, 2016
Publisher: Point
Format: e-ARC, provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
Genre: young adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 5 STARS

(Synopsis) What if the person you were falling for was a total mystery?

While Lily is spacing out in Chemistry one day, she picks up her pencil and scribbles a line from one of her favorite songs on the desk. The next day, someone else has written back to her on the desk! Soon enough Lily and the mystery student are exchanging notes, and lyrics, and even sharing secrets. When Lily finds out that her anonymous pen pal is a guy, she's flustered -- and kind of feels like she's falling for him. She and her best friend set out to unravel the identity of the letter writer -- but when the truth is revealed, the guy is the LAST person Lily could have ever imagined it to be. Now that Lily knows the truth, can she untangle her feelings and gather the courage to listen to her heart?

From beloved author Kasie West (The Distance Between Us) comes an utterly charming story about mixed messages, missed connections, and the magic of good old-fashioned secret admirer notes.

I have a total girl crush on Kasie West. Because she writes the best books that make me smile SO BIG. 

I adored the concept of P.S. I Like You. Lily has a secret pen pal, and she knows that this person is not only in the same grade as her, but also in the same high school. This person shares the same desk with Lily in a different period of chemistry, and every day they share a few words about their lives in a note lodged under the desk. Lily has no idea who this person is, but before she knows it, she's sharing more of herself with this stranger than she does with most other people. 

I loved the fact that Lily had no desire to discover the identity of her mystery pen pal. She recognized that part of the magic about the entire situation existed in the fact that neither of them knew who the other was. They were much freer with their words and thoughts and feelings. It was such a special relationship - and they didn't even know each others' names. 

P.S. I Like You was so much more than this budding relationship between Lily and her secret admirer. Lily's home life is happy, but crazy with lots of siblings that never give her any privacy. She's awkward and not at all in with the popular crowd. She loves music and writing lyrics, but she is dealing with writers block, along with an insufferable year in a chemistry class she hates. 

There's a boy she likes from afar who barely knows she exists and a boy she hates very openly who seems to make opportunities to irritate her. Both boys are very much not what she expected when she has a chance to get to know them, and they both play a part in her fantasies about who her secret pen pal is. 

I enjoyed everything about this book. It is witty and smart. The concept is fresh and new in an old school kind of way. The romance angle is sweet and completely adorable. It was the perfect book for me to read in between heavy, suspenseful emotional books. It was like a breath of fresh air, and I never wanted it to end. 

REVIEW: On the Fence

On the Fence, by Kasie West
Publish Date: July 1, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: paperback, borrowed
Genre: young adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4.5 STARS

(Synopsis) For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she's spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game.

To cope with the stress of faking her way through this new reality, Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with Braden by the fence that separates them. But their Fence Chats can't solve Charlie's biggest problem: she's falling for Braden. Hard. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen a Kasie West book cover come across my social media feeds, and thought to myself, "Why haven't you read something by her yet?" Then, I saw she was going to be a part of Apollycon 2017, and I decided that I needed to do something about this. My bestie Jen over at At Random has several of Kasie's books on her shelf, and on a recent visit to her house, I came home with two of them. On the Fence is the first Kasie West book I've ever read. 

And again, why the hell did I wait so long? It was such a fun book - I literally finished it in a few hours. It was a quick and light read and the perfect way to spend a Saturday evening. 

On the Fence is about Charlie, a 16-year-old tomboy to beat all tomboys. The only female in a house with her father, three brothers and her neighbor who might as well be her brother, she loves all sports and knows nothing of dresses or makeup or anything else even remotely feminine. But, a love of sports doesn't stop the flow of hormones or prevent the notices of boys. And, all of a sudden, Charlie is started to look at some boys differently. She's starting to feel differently about herself. And she's starting to wonder what her life would've been like if her mother had lived to help her through these things.

I have one brother, and we're not super close. I've always been envious of books that feature sibling relationships like the one Charlie has with her brothers Jerom, Nathan and Gage. They clearly have some fierce love for one another. Charlie is the youngest, so she has a lot of boys protecting her, even when she doesn't really need or want protecting. But, no matter what idiotic things they say or do, it's so obvious that they adore their sister. 

On the Fence gets its name from the late night chats that Charlie and her neighbor Braden have with each other outside by the fence between their yards. Charlie confesses her feelings of inadequacy and Braden confesses his feelings about his awful father. It's like their safe place, and it's the place where their feelings for each other start to confuse and complicate matters. 

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Charlie's realization of so many things in her life. It was poignant and sweet and funny and sad at times. It makes me glad that I'm not 16 anymore too. And it made me highly anticipate the next Kasie West book on my list.