Friday Reads: On The Fence by Kasie West!!

Hello everyone! Happy Friday!

Today is India's Independence Day and for no related reason it is also a holiday in Spain (mostly a religiously related one). I do have to work and morning shift at that, but at least I won't be getting more slips for parcels to be picked up on the PO! One week I'm not around in the mornings, and I get all the parcels!!

The first book for this week's Friday Reads is one I knew I had to read not only because of the many positive reviews from all my bloggy friends but also because all the books I've read written by the author, I've really liked or loved!



On the Fence by Kasie West

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the fourth book by Kasie West I've read and loved, so I guess that I must add her to the auto-buy list already!

On The Fence is the story of Charlie and her journey of self-discovery, with quite a few swoony moments as she discovers she doesn't feel as sisterly towards the guy she had considered as one of her brothers since childhood.

Charlie has been raised by her father with her older 3 brothers since her mother died, and she's always been one of the guys and considered herself too much of a tomboy to get the guys to see her as anything else but one of them. That had never concerned her too much, but she's been wondering a bit more as of late. And everything changes even more after her dad decides that she needs to get a job to pay for a speeding ticket.

She finds a job at a quirky boutique and discovers she needs to change her way of dressing and as a way to win some extra cash, she also sits as make up model. And all of a sudden she has these two different lives that she doesn't want to mix up, and she finds that some of the girly things that she's discovering aren't as bad as she had dismissed them at first.

Charlie was a very interesting character and she did a lot of growing up and development in the duration of the book, and even though on occasion I wasn't exactly her biggest fan she did grow on me and I was quite clearly rooting for her well by the second half of the book. She might have been a bit callous and not very thoughtful on occasion, and some of her choices were not the wisest, but she was never scared to own up to her mistakes and deal with the consequences.

Charlie's dad and brothers were quite a riot, and they clearly loved Charlie very much. I loved how important the family was in the book, and none of the families had to be the perfect typical family, but felt very realistic and Charlie's family was not very typical, with just his dad to raise them all, and even more with the rather tough happenings from the past, those that Charlie will have to deal with during the book.

Charlie finds a job, makes some new friends and tries being a different person and while doing so she realizes, it's not that she's being someone that is not herself, it's that she's finding there are more sides to herself that she even knew before. She even starts dating even as she realizes that she might be feeling more for Branden, something that gets bigger and bigger as they both share confidences and fears at night at their yard fences.

Their relationship truly develops by the end of the book and although all the set up till there was a joy to read and quite necessary for the progression of the plot and characters. I wish there would have been more Branden and Charlie! This was a perfect summer read, fast and feel good kind of book, and I cannot wait to see what Kasie West has in store for us next! 4 well deserved stars!



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Friday Reads: Split Second by Kasie West!!

I'm starting this week's Friday Reads with the sequel and final book in Kasie West's duology. I reviewed Pivot Point for Mark This Book Monday, and I'm reviewing Split Second today. I was very glad I got to binge read the books back to back, cause leaving these characters as the first book started for a year would have been painful!


Split Second by Kasie West

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After the ending of Pivot Point, I couldn't be happier when I could just close it and open my Kindle copy of Split Second! I didn't want to leave much time for the absolute heartbreak to sit in, and I wanted to find out how things will go!

I'm not sure how to review this book without spoilers, and I don't think I can avoid spoilers for book one much, even if I'll try my best to keep them to a minimum.

Binge reading a series back to back is always fantastic because you have all the details from the previous book clear in your mind, and when it's a series like this one when you feel so connected to the characters emotionally... it's fantastic to continue the journey right away!

Split Second starts were Pivot Point left us, with Addie having made her choice, staying at the Compound with her mother and finding out that her boyfriend manipulated her and her best friend betrayed her. Addie and Laila are still mending their relationship and Addie feels like she needs some time away from the Compound, and when her dad invites her over to spend Winter break with him at the Norm city where he lives, she jumps at the chance.

Laila finds herself checking the note Addie gave her once she finished the Search for her future and asking her to erase her memories of what she had chosen, so she wouldn't remember what she was choosing and loosing. But she made the note for herself, so she could keep the promise she made to Trevor. Once she finds that she erased Addie's memories and that somehow she could be the key to recover them, Laila starts her own search for answers.

Split Second alternates POVs from Addie to Laila, and even though at first I wasn't too sure I was gonna like it, it really was the right choice! Laila's voice is fantastic and the story needs to be told from both POVs. We get to see Addie and Trevor meet again, and we also get a new couple to root for, Laila and Connor.

I loved both Addie and Laila in this book. Addie is still her own slightly insecure self but in this books she keeps on trying to recover her memories, and not only that but she's trying to find out the truth about many secrets that are around her. She keeps on trying to keep control on her life and doesn't believe what she's told just because. Her interactions with Trevor are beyond adorable, though they're a bit painful since we know the history that is missing there.

Laila is a firecracker, she's tough and caring and she's trying to keep her family together and herself even if she isn't as self assured as she seems and even if her home life isn't something to look forward to. Then while trying to find a way to progress her ability to help Addie, she meets Connor and aha! We got ourselves one excellent relationship of hate to love (with a certain instant attraction too) full of amazing banter between two very protective of themselves people!

Awesome characters, check. Great relationships, check. What about the plot? Well, there's a certain conspiracy that permeates the whole book and that ends up threatening all the characters and relationships and that end up being resolved with the help of some unlikely allies.

All in all, a wonderful book, very character driven and that made me fly through the pages! Left me with a bit of book hangover but the happy kind! Well deserved 4.5 to 5 stars!



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Friday Reads: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West!

For the last Friday Reads of the week I have a contemporary book! In case you might not know it, I really am not very keen on contemporaries so I only pick up those that come up very highly recommended from other bloggers and which blurbs don't strike me as "same old, same old". This one came highly recommended from Stacee at Adventures of a Book Junkie, thank you Stacee!


The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A fellow blogger recommended this book (thanks Stacee!) and Kristen from My Friends Are Fiction suggested we'd do a read along for it since neither of us had read the book nor are big contemporary fans.

The Distance Between Us is a quick, fun and very entertaining read! I found myself wanting to continue reading and not stopping at our designated chapters. It's a contemporary I enjoyed even though I didn't connect with it as deeply as with other books.

Caymen and Xander come from very different backgrounds and meet when Xander goes to pick up a porcelain doll from the doll shop that Caymen and her mum run as their only form of income. Caymen is used to make every penny count and has inherited a certain distrust from people with money from her mum. Xander is used to have everything and don't wonder about where or how it came to be. They both have an instant attraction and connect about their common refusal of taking the path their families have marked for them.

I loved how their relationship started from a spark but built up little by little with them hanging out together, trying to figure out what they'd really want to do with their lives and how despite the differences in their worlds they find a common place for themselves.

Caymen is a fun character to read, with her witty sarcastic humour and her loyalty to her mum and their shop despite not liking working there at all. Xander can be a lil cocky and arrogant at first sight, but he's trying to learn how to be his own person. He's got some really swoony moments and as any guy, some moments when you just want to smack him silly!

The ending was what seemed the most cliched bit of the whole book for me, not so much how their relationship progressed but whatever else happened. I'm not gonna say much more cause I want to keep the review spoiler free, but it just seemed too "movie for TV" kinda ending for me.

I really enjoyed the book but the ending left me a bit meh, that's why this book isn't getting a higher rate than 3.5 stars. But for someone that doesn't tend to like contemporaries per se, this was a fun read!



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