Tag: kasie west

By Your Side – Kasie West

May 2, 2017

I’ve always been a fan of Kasie West and she’s one of my go-to laid back contemporary authors who’s books I fly through and her new novel wasn’t any different. As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I was instantly drawn in, it’s a contemporary romance set in a library, that’s a book lovers dream. I was surprised then to find out that we got a lot more from this book than just a cute romance set in a library, we dealt with mental illness, child neglect, friendship, and trust.

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. 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?

Like most of West’s books, the storyline was filled with cute and romantic scenes as well as humour and it was refreshing to see her focus more on mental illness but in a real and genuine way as it wasn’t glossed over but instead presented in a serious and relatable way. Kasie takes things slow, giving Autumn and Dax a fair chance to find reasons why to fall in love, ones that exclude physical attraction and I enjoyed slowly uncovering their secrets and backgrounds.

If you’re a fan of Morgan Matson, Stephanie Perkins or just looking for a cute, relaxing read then this and many other of West’s books will be perfect for you. Plus like I’ve already mentioned this isn’t your typical contemporary and I appreciated the fact that it addressed lots of different elements such as mental health in a proper and realistic way.

On The Fence – Kasie West

September 25, 2016

Kasie West never fails to make me fall in love with her writing, story and characters as they are all just so cute.’On The Fence’ was a lovely and easy read which only took me a couple of days to read, I only wish there was more of it *hint hint*. Once again her characters were unique yet down to earth and relatable which I really enjoyed and it was very easy to fall in love with all of them!

‘On The Fence’ follows the story of sixteen year old Charlie, who can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows thanks to her three brothers 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.

Like I’ve already mentioned I loved every single character, especially her brothers who were all really understanding and cool and I loved all the banter between them! My favourite had to be Gage as he was the brother who understood her the most and couldn’t keep a secret from her as well as being the one she would seek advice from and to. To some extent I could relate to Charlie, as I love sports, I’m never one for skirts or dresses and don’t have much knowledge of make up etc. so it was nice to be able to relate to a character for once. 

In my opinion, Braden was the perfect match for Charlie. He was understanding and he always knew what to say as he would tell her to date a guy that would like her for who she really is and not for who she is pretending and trying to be and to find a guy that enjoys the things she enjoys; and he was the answer. He was the one that would go to his front yard and talk to Charlie at midnight and from these chats we learned that he was the one who knew her better than she knew herself.

The storyline was cliche and predictable but I didn’t mind that because at the time I was only looking for something cute and fun to read and that is exactly what I got from this book. All the events in the book were cleverly linked with simple and heartfelt writing you could easily go along with and I really enjoyed reading from Charlie’s POV but I would have loved to have seen some scenes from the POV of Braden.

In conclusion, it was a perfect summer read which was easy and cute read which I recommend to all those who are looking for something light and fluffy to read! I would probably give it 4/5 stars because it was such a lovely read but when I compared it to other contemporary books it just wasn’t as good.

 

The Distance Between Us – Kasie West

November 16, 2015

As soon as I saw the cover of this book, I knew it would be a cute and loveable contemporary which I would enjoy! And I did. Kasie West is now another one of my favourite contemporary authors along with Morgan Matson and Stephanie Perkins.

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers is just a typical teenage girl who spends most of her time working for the family business. That is until she meets Xander Spence, a charming, smart and oozing rich boy who is one of the only people who understands her. But if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she’s beginning to enjoy his company.

I liked the fact that the book wasn’t completely centred around romance. Yes, there was still a lot of romance but there was also a lot of other underlying themes like Caymen’s relationship with her mother and her mothers relationship with her parents. I thought Caymen’s relationship with her mother was so sweet and it was nice to see that she really cared for her mother but at the same time she begins to form here own opinion on matters and strays away from her mothers bias.

Kasie West on the other hand also writes the type of romance I love to read. It’s not cheesy or over the top. It’s not unbelievable or unrealistic. It doesn’t make you roll your eyes or make your head collide with a wall from frustration. It’s just cute. Caymen’s relationship with Xander was perfect and the banter between them never failed to make me smile. Their ‘career days’ were also really cute and I loved after each one we learned something new about one of the characters. Caymen’s sarcasm was another thing I really enjoyed however I can see why some don’t like it as it very intense and repetitive at times.

The only negative I have about this book was the ending. It just ended. I feel like it needs a sequel or just a few extra pages informing us of what happened to the shop, Caymen’s mother and how all the different relationships panned out.

Overall, I really enjoy this book as not only was it a easy it, it was also cute and loveable! I rate it 4/5 stars, just because of the ending but apart from that it was fab!