Novel Review: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)

Publish Date: July 2nd, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because 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.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• "'Because that’s my life: screaming without making a sound.’” (Paperback, pg. 4)
• "'Feelings, my dear daughter, you will perhaps learn one day, can be the most costly thing in the universe.’” (Pg. 77)
• "It’s weird to see something created from nothing.” (Pg. 220)

The Cover:

I love this cover. It's embarrassing, sure, but it's so cute. It gives the perfect feeling for what's in the book. And I just love the way they're posed, and the clothing even fits the characters. I just love it.

Review:

I was expecting to like this. I was not, however, expecting it to be so good that I read it in one sitting. But it was, because I did. And then immediately added West’s other books to my own-very-soon list.

This was a very lighthearted, cute, funny story.

Caymen, the heroine, is great. She’s sarcastic, wary, growing up, scared, but trying to do her best. She works for her mother’s doll store, which isn’t doing very well. Her father isn’t around. Her grandparents aren’t around. But she has her mother, and she has her best friend. And then Xander shows up, a rich boy in town, who quickly forms an attraction to Caymen. And Caymen likes him, because he’s fun, and sweet, and funny. But he’s rich, and she’s not, and she’s grown up thinking that rich equals bad.

I read another book with a similar pretense lately (I think it was This is What Happy Looks Like, although maybe there was another one), and honestly I’m not a big fan, logically, of the rich-or-poor thing, even though I do like reading stories featuring it. And mostly my problem about it in this book, was how Caymen’s mom was so against it, without giving any reason. And how this caused so much angst for Caymen and Xander, which was so unneeded.

Otherwise, though, this book was fantastic. I loved Caymen, and her relationship with Xander was great. I liked the little bits we got to see of Xander’s family, and how both of them grew a bit by the end of the book. I was really surprised by what happened with Caymen’s mom at the end of the book, but I really liked that. It was needed, for both of them, and it was heartwarming.

This whole thing just impressed me, a lot. It was fantastic. I haven’t read West’s other book, Pivot Point, yet, but it’s high up on the list. And I know she has a couple other contemporary books coming out next year, and those are very high up on my list of to-get.