Review: By Your Side by Kasie West

By Your Side

Author: Kasie West

Series: -

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release date: 31 January 2017

Pages: 352

Amazon

Synopsis (Goodreads)

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?

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

I instantly fell for the premise of this book, a girl and a guy locked in a library for a weekend, to me it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship so I was eager to see how this would play out and as we realise it isn’t at all as easy and drama free as what we’d like and we see the repercussions of this.

Our MC is Autumn Collins who has plans with her almost boyfriend Jeff and her friends to go to a bonfire and cabin for the weekend but her plans quickly change when she finds herself locked in the library with no way out and no signs of her friends returning for her. She soon discovers that she has company in the school bad boy, Dax Miller.

Dax has a bit of a reputation, he is a loner and is apparently a troublemaker and to be honest he was a bit of an ass in the initial stages despite Autumn’s best efforts to get him to open up. We learn a lot about Dax as the book progresses and soon begin to understand why he is the the way he is and I came to really like him as a character, he was sweet.

The romance is slow to burn but to be honest I couldn’t feel a connection in the early stages at all, it all sort of came on very suddenly. This may be because of Autumn’s loyalty to Jeff after an incident that happened but I couldn’t really feel their growing bond until the very end which is what let it down for me.

I always love Kasie West’s writing style, it is gripping and engaging and you can’t help but always want for more; I felt that By Your Side had a more serious tone than what her other books have. She dealt with the subject of anxiety realistically, I liked that Autumn’s issues weren’t brushed aside.

A small gripe that I had was the lack of resolution with Dax’s mother, it was a little open ended; I would have liked more closure. The incident with Jeff was also a little light-hearted, there were no repercussions for his actions.

All in all, I enjoyed By Your Side; interesting characters, a small amount of drama and a slow to burn romance.

Waiting on Wednesday - Last Year’s Mistake by Gina Ciocca and The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West.

Hi everyone!! thank-you so much for stopping by today.

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My WoW’s for this week are Last Year’s Mistake by Gina Ciocca and The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West.

Author: Gina Ciocca

Series: -

Genre: Young adult

Amazon pre-order

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release date: 2015

Goodreads 

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Before:
Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...

After:
Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.

Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.

Author: Kasie West

Series: -

Genre: Young adult

Amazon pre-order

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release date: 5^th May 2015

Goodreads 

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

What are most anticipating this week?

PS. If you are interested in children’s book reviews (3-12 years), I have started a new review blog Here – Little Ones Read

ARC Review: On the Fence by Kasie West

On the Fence

Author: Kasie West

Series: -

Pages: 320

Publisher: Harper Teen

Amazon

Release date: 1^st July 2014

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…

Charlie Reynolds can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world. To cope with the stress of her new reality, Charlie takes to spending nights chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence between their yards. As she grows to depend on their nightly Fence Chats, she realizes she's got a bigger problem than speeding tickets-she's falling for Braden. 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.

Fun, original, and endearing, On the Fence is a romantic comedy about finding yourself and finding love where you least expect.

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

On the Fence is an entertaining contemporary filled with great characters, wonderful humour and a sweet friend to more romance. Kasie West has written another amazing page-turner that held my interest from the very first page.

Charlie Reynolds isn’t a girly girl at all, she is clueless when it comes to anything feminine; be it clothing, interactions or make-up so when she is forced to get a job by her police officer father to pay for a speeding fine she finds herself in strange territory when she commences work at a clothing and accessories store.

On the Fence was a story about self-discovery and acceptance, Charlie misses her deceased mother terribly, has nightmares about her often and finds herself outside having nightly heart to hearts with her long-time neighbour and her brother Gage’s best-friend Braden who has a tough family life of his own and feels more a part of the Reynold’s family.

Charlie was such a great character but did have a few immature, unsure moments, Braden was wonderful and you could tell from their first interaction how he felt about her yet she was oblivious. The secondary characters were all amazing; I adored Charlie’s family dynamic, with three loveable yet protective brothers there were a lot of fun pranks, sporting games and hilarious banter; Charlie’s relationship with her dad and new friends were also great to read about, she was learning a lot about herself and progressed considerably as a character throughout the course of the book. 

I would have loved more sweet moments and interactions between Charlie and Braden, my favourite parts were the stolen touches and gestures, sure they had their brief fence chats but I don’t think we got a lot of fun alone romantic moments with them – it took a very long time for them to come together and to admit their feelings.

On the Fence is an enjoyable feel-good romance; the friends to more tropes are definitely one of my favourites and this one was written extremely well and came without the unnecessary angst. There was a brief moment where Charlie dated someone else but it was a small part of the storyline and was a relationship that didn’t appear at all like it would progress to much which I was relieved about.  

Kasie West is fast becoming an auto-buy for me, her amazing characters and witty, fun dialogue makes for entertaining story-telling, fans of Contemporary YA are sure to love On the Fence.

Thank-you to Harper Teen for the opportunity to read and review On the Fence.

About the author:

(Goodreads) I write YA. I eat Junior Mints. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. My novels, published through Harper Teen are: PIVOT POINT, its sequel SPLIT SECOND (Feb 2014), and THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US (a contemporary novel). I also have two more contemporaries, ON THE FENCE coming out July 1, 2014, and THE FILL-IN BOYFRIEND coming out the summer of 2015. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.

Goodreads - twitter - website

Review: Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1) by Kasie West

Author: Kasie West

Series: Pivot Point

Pages: 352

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Harper Teen

Amazon: Pivot Point

Release Date: 12^th February 2013

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

Pivot Point was kindly provided to me by HarperTeen/Edelweiss and is the debut novel for author Kasie West.

Pivot Point follows the story of Addison Moore who is a Searcher; she has the unique ability to see into the future and choose the right path and at the onset of the book needs to make the decision to either remain in the Compound with her mother and other paranormals just like herself or moving to Dallas, Texas to the Norm world with her father since her parents have decided to divorce. The two outcomes are very different, making it one of the hardest decisions she has had to make.

Addie was an amazing character who I grew to admire, she was smart and tended to avoid using her ability to advantage herself; I adored everything about her – strength, courage and a wonderful personality; she literally drew me into the story.

The plot flowed well and the pacing was spot on for me and despite my initial confusion of reading two differing storylines, the way in which Ms West wrote Addie and her parallel lives showed her talent, it was also wonderful to see the character progression in each of her alternate lives. The subplot involving a murder mystery I also found to be written well and bought more suspense to the novel.

Not only do we get two different worlds told from two POV’s, we also get two love interests, but no love triangle which is a relief – Trevor is a Norm and I absolutely adored him, so sweet, charming and likeable, Duke is the love interest in her Compound future and I wasn’t as invested in this relationship at all, he is the star football player and someone I could never quite trust.

I loved Kasie West’s detailed writing, imagination and creativity, the world she has weaved is so intriguing and utterly unique; having Supernaturals living in a world apart from unknowing humans in a form of parallel world made for an exciting read.

Overall, Pivot Point is a wonderful debut novel for Kasie West; it was emotionally gripping and filled with likeable characters, fantastic world-building, sweet romance and an ending that makes you want the sequel now.

Thank-you to Harper Teen for the opportunity to read and review Pivot Point.