General
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
Pages: 312 (Paperback)
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Harper Teen (Harper Collins), August 2014
Links: Goodreads // Amazon
Overall Rating: 2.5/5
*I bought this book with my own money*
Plot Summary
Caymen works at a doll shop her mother owns in a rich town. One day a boy name Xander stops by and picks up a doll for his grandma. She thinks he’s charming and handsome, but too rich to be any good. However, she enjoys spending time with him…
Favorites
I liked the best friend the most. Skye was really the only character that made any sense and acted somewhat logically. Xander’s grandma was also a decent character.
Not-so-faves
The characters bugged me a lot. The main character was kinda dumb to be honest. She acted illogically and was extremely immature. The main guy character was just kinda meh. There was nothing charming or interesting about his actions. The plot was not very innovative and really cliche. Girl meets rich boy, boy likes girl, love triangles, predictable patterns.
The cover and title of the book makes no sense as well. “The Distance Between Us” makes me assume that this story is about a long distance relationship, it’s not. I get that its the “distance” between their social class because of money etc… but I think it’s not a good title for the book. I don’t believe the girl or guy ever wears that outfit either, kinda misleading of a cover.
Rating
Characters: 1.5/5
Plot: 2/5
Writing style: 2.5/5
Overall rating: 2.5/5
Final Thoughts
This book was really a disappointment. It reminded me of a Korean drama gone bad. The plot was uninteresting, the characters were unlikable, and the writing style was just okay. The majority of the book was really boring to me because it was very predictable. The ending plot twist made no sense to me and was definitely unnecessary. The book felt like it was trying too hard for a very simple plot. I heard a lot of people really love this book, unfortunately it was below average for me. I didn’t hate it a lot but I didn’t like it definitely. This is my first time reading a Kasie West book and it was definitely disappointing. This whole book was just too cliche and kind of a mess (by trying to entangle too many different themes). I felt like it is not up to par, in comparison with other YA contemporary romances. I ended up giving it a 2.5/5 stars because of the lack of engagement I felt for this book. Nevertheless, I did finish the reading the whole thing.
Thank you for reading my review! Hope you enjoyed it.
love, Jeanette
☾ myriadinklings × books, stationery, + life 
this book didn’t blow me away either. i really liked on the fence so i was looking to liking this as well but it was more like a low 3 star read for me. i just didn’t really love xavier and caymen together. the biggest thing i had trouble with was how money was handled in the book. i just really hated that oh wait, caymen actually was really rich!!! like hey now she can go to college and do whatever the heck she likes! that just totally ruined the book for me. i thought the writing was still good because even despite not being totally sold on the romance aspect and the other things i had trouble with, i still flew through this book. but it’s definitely not my favourite out of kasie west’s books. i don’t know if you’ve read on the fence yet but that was one book i really really enjoyed so it helped for me that i read this after i read on the fence. i feel like if i read this book first it wouldn’t have made me so eager to read kasie west’s other books.
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That’s how i’m feeling right now, this is the first i’ve read by her so i’m not 100% eager with reading her other works yet 😦 I totally agree with you! Throughout the book, it was okay, but the ending totally blew it for me. If the ending was better i probably wouldn’t have felt so bitter about this book… I’ve been kinda “on the fence” (haha) about getting on the fence because of this book but i definitely will give it a try because of your recommendation, thank you! 🙂
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