If I ever had the chance to meet Kasie West in person one day, I would tell her that her books contained too much sweetness that it tortured me to the point where it was almost unbearable... yet here I am, silently arguing over which book of hers I should order next because apparently I'm as stubborn as a mule.
After completely swept off by how cute P.S. I Like You, The Fill-in Boyfriend, and By Your Side were earlier this year, I finally decided to try Distance Between Us yesterday. For me, the first three books of hers had lived up and exceeded the hype, so I was pretty sure that this book was going to be as awesome. The result didn't disappoint. I'm more than satisfied to announce that Kasie has done a really great job maintaining her writing quality. Something about her characters, even though they're sometimes too good to be true, is unique and swoon-worthy. I felt like a high school girl all over again yesterday while giggling over a fictional high school boy because of Kasie, thank you so much.
It had been almost a month since I last picked up something as cute as this book and it certainly felt so good to finally be back on track. If contemporary is my go-to guilty pleasure, a regular dose of Kasie West's books is what I need to be fully charged. I'm delighted that I chose to read this book yesterday. It turned out to be a quick yet fun read, undoubtedly everything I could ask for in such a gloomy week.
Distance Between Us follows the story of Caymen Meyers whose mother despises the rich so much due to her bitter experience in the past. Caymen doesn't exactly share the same hatred with her mother but she certainly has a certain thought about the rich. The story itself starts in the small porcelain doll store Caymen and her mother run for a living when one day a very rich boy named Xander Spencers comes by to buy a doll for his grandmother. To Caymen, Xander is just another spoiled rich kid who treats the poor differently, though things eventually start to change when she gets to know him more little by little. The thing is, Caymen now sees Xander very differently that a warning flag starts to fly inside her head and it scares her so much to not be able to say no to him.
Without taking into account the fact that it was almost too good to be true, I adored both Caymen and Xander very much. From her very first overly sarcastic response and wit, I immediately knew I would like Caymen as much I loved Xander for being Xander (his gentleness got me weak in my knees). Caymen's dry humor, which was certainly the highlight of this book, was hard to resist and therefore hard to put down.
I quite liked the balance of seriousness and humor throughout the story, especially when Caymen and Xander had to go through some activities outside of their comfort zone in order to discover what they really wanted to do in life. It's always a pleasure to figure out a different side of a character, preferably the hidden one, and I think seeing Xander being super carefree was very refreshing. With that being said, I not only adored their interaction as a couple but as friends, too.
I believe good characters made a good story, therefore it's understandable that I had another adorable pairing in mind friendship-wise: Caymen and Skye. I even adored the quirky Henry with his own way to show kindness beneath all those eccentric layers. Though, too bad Mason's part ended a little too early as I genuinely thought he had the potential to make this story even more challenging for both Caymen and Xander.
However, no matter how cute I found this book was, I still couldn't change the fact that the way Caymen's mother acted was a little questionable. I could understand her hatred and all that, but in the end I still couldn't answer these three questions about her. I'm not sure whether these will count as spoilers but skip ahead if you haven't read the book and you don't want to get spoiled.
Question number 1: Why were there so many empty boxes without dolls in the storage room? Was it because of the bankruptcy that Susan had finally stopped ordering the new ones?
Question number 2: Caymen's father, anyone? I thought he would be one of the characters mentioned throughout the book so I waited the whole time, but well he still wasn't there.
Question number 3: Maybe we were supposed to guess, but it would be great if I could know for sure where did Caymen's mother go every afternoon. I had a few guesses in mind but wasn't really sure that Susan went to the hospital that often.
Distance Between Us was overall an enjoyable read for me. Even though someone as good as Xander in real life is probably rare, I'm thankful for the lesson Caymen taught me about the importance of being ourselves no matter how hard our struggle might be. For the cute and unexpected ending that greeted me in the last few chapters, I want to kiss all the characters goodbye and give them a note with a big see-you-later written on it. A reread is certainly gonna happen in the near future.
Last but not least, thanks for making my day, Kasie. I'm satisfied and now fully charged.
