Book Review: On the Fence by Kasie West

Title: On the Fence
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing Date: July 1st 2014
Length: 304 pages
Keywords: YA, contemporary, romance, friendship, tomboy
Source: Publisher

She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…

Charlie Reynolds can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world. To cope with the stress of her new reality, Charlie takes to spending nights chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence between their yards. As she grows to depend on their nightly Fence Chats, she realizes she's got a bigger problem than speeding tickets-she's falling for Braden. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

 Summary by Goodreads

Charlie lives with her three brothers and her dad. Her life is dominated by sports and all-male topics, so no wonder she's grown up being a tomboy. The five of them were such a great team and always supported each other that I couldn't but want to be a part of their family. Charlie and her brothers can be goofy, dare each other to do the most hilarious, disgusting or reckless things, but they can be serious, too, when necessary. Charlie lost her mother when she was very young and her feelings about that and how it has always influenced the direction her life has taken, are an important part of who she is and who she can still grow up to be.

This summer is about the person Charlie wants to be and the person she needs others to see. Missing a mother, Charlie has never been into makeup or shopping like other girls her age. When she decides to get a job in a hip boutique, her constantly being confronted with girly clothes and makeup and the possiblity of actual girlfriends, finally give her the confidence to discover a more feminine side of herself. Besides that she's running a lot and is very good at sports, too, so every reader should find something to like about this story or find a piece he or she can identify with. It was fun to see Charlie's transformation and I wish I could've been there for her along the way, holding her hand and telling her that a little lipstick wouldn't ruin the boys' respect for her. 

Charlie and Braden have been friends for quite some time now. He's been kind of like a brother to her. So you can imagine the emotional distress any romantic feelings for him would cause Charlie. Things are shifting between Braden and Charlie, feelings changing over time. And of course it takes her more than a few chapters to realize what the change in their relationship is all about. 

A relationship starting off as a new or even deeper friendship always has a different dynamic to the whole way the story gets under way. So the realization of Charlie and Braden's romance is kind of slow and, surprisingly, I was fine with that. The advertised Fence Chats tough weren't everything I had imagined them to be. They could've been even more emotional, intimate and frequent, so that they would've been a more significant determinator of how the entire story would develop and so I could remember them as more of a highlight to the story.

Braden is Charlie's neighbour, too. So this is the story of the girl who falls for her neighbour/friend/quasi family member/substitute brother. There's a lot factoring into the building of their relationship. I'm a fan of those kind of relationships that grow out of familiarity, knowing another person and his or her flaws and best qualities before developing stronger feelings. Charlie and Braden were just too cute to be true.

Kasie West made sure fans of her YA contemporary debut were reunited with some of their beloved THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US characters. I'm really hoping Kasie continues to connect her YA contemporary books with each other so that we'll never lose contact with our ON THE FENCE characters either. Would be so happy to catch up with Braden, Charlie and her brothers sometime, for they have become characters who are very dear to me.

4,5/5 ****/* ON THE FENCE - Friendship is the new romance! And this is your #1 feel-good summer read in 2014!

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US didn't really work for me but ON THE FENCE threw me off my feet. It revived the Kasie West fangirl feelings I felt when I read her fantasy novel PIVOT POINT in 2013. Kasie West's star on her way to one of the most popular YA contemporary authors is rising fast.

'I laughed.

Braden let out a large yawn. "Okay. I better get to bed or you're going to school me in soccer tomorrow."

I smiled. Considering how crappy I felt when I came outside, I was surprised at how my insides seemed to soar. "Make sure you wear the right shoes."

"Always."' ― p.73

ON THE FENCE you might enjoy MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick, LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins and CATCHING JORDAN by Miranda Kenneally. Three stories that are about falling for the boy next door and/or your best friend, with CATCHING JORDAN also exploring how a girl can also be football star.

* THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US is Kasie West's YA contemporary debut novel. You should read it if you liked ON THE FENCE.

* Kasie's next book, THE FILL-IN BOYFRIEND, comes out May 2015.
 
* Click here for an excerpt of ON THE FENCE.

* Want to meet Kasie West? Check out her summer tour dates.

* For more information about Kasie and her books visit www.kasiewest.com. 

* Thanks to Harper Collins International for the review copy of ON THE FENCE! 
 

Book Review: Split Second (Pivot Point #2) by Kasie West

Title: Split Second (Pivot Point #2)
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publishing Date: February 11th 2014
Length: 360 pages 
Keywords: YA, fiction, romance, paranormal gifts, friendship
Source: Publisher

Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

Summary by Goodreads  

You know that PIVOT POINT was among the top three of my favourite books of 2014. I read it as a standalone and was ecstatic when I found out there was going to be a sequel, because things weren't completely wrapped up in the end of book one. Now I poured all my hope in SPLIT SECOND for Addie and Trevor to find their perfect ending. These two characters really grew on me in the first book and I was heartbroken about how things ended for them.

So I'd pinned my hope on SPLIT SECOND, but after reading the second book early in December I wasn't sure this book was the sequel I had been dreaming about for so many months. That was mostly because Addie and Trevor's romance couldn't pick up right where it was at its best in the first book and practically repeated itself only in a much more unfortunate way. Nonetheless, I adore the idea behind it that they would always find back to each other, no matter how many times you'd wind back things to a point where the two wouldn't know each other. 

What I thought of as a nice bonus in advance fast became my favourite part about SPLIT SECOND. I'm talking about the additional point of view that has been added to the story. Chapters are alternating between Addie and her best friend Laila. Now that Laila has got her own story to tell, we are granted an extra hot romance in her chapters. Connor is just as tough and unrelenting as Laila and theirs is a very fierce love story that will have you fanning yourself.
Furthermore there's a great emphasis on the close and honest friendship between Addie and Laila which was another of my favourite parts about SPLIT SECOND. Not many YA stories are all set on taking time to develop a profound girl friendship beside all the drama that would be possible in other parts of the story.

Believe me, you will want to read this and want to know what happens to Addie, Laila and her friends. It isn't like I've completely fallen out of love with the characters and the world, on the contrary. Sometimes the plot just didn't feel like it was going in the right direction, at least not purposeful enough. Knowing that SPLIT SECOND would be the final book in this duology, I often criticized that the story was too hesitant and undaring in the end to pose as a model of a final book.

Kasie West didn't make as much use of Addie's talent as in book one. And that where Addie's special power to see two alternate futures, go through them and pick only one, contributed a lot to an irressistibly fast-paced, multidimensional PIVOT POINT plot.

While I was torn about the love story of Addie and Trevor and absolutly swooning over Connor and Laila, their paranormal community, hidden from people's eyes, continued to amaze me. Abilities are expanded, boundaries pushed and authorities provoked to dangerous extends. 

What I love so much about the two books is that the story is set in a secret part of our world. It's not a completely new world, but something that's special enough to be kept from anyone who's not a part of it. If this book series were a TV show it could easily be one of my favourites. The mystery factor and paranormal activities would be its strong suit and there would be enough room for awesome romances and conspiracies, drama of all kinds. 

4/5 **** SPLIT SECOND - Addie and Laila are two leading YA ladies who are linked by a strong friendship and who can conquer anything with their cohesive forces. 

While SPLIT SECOND is just as remarkably well-written as PIVOT POINT, there were plot deficiencies not even a very strong second leading lady and her swoon-worthy love story could completely counterbalance. And even if I didn't get all the feels and heartbreak and excitement from this sequel like from Kasie's debut novel before, I can easily imagine reading two or three more books set in her secret community of paranormally gifted. Now I'm wishing on the gift of thought manipulation so that I could persuade Kasie West to write more books about Addie and Laila. 

"He slammed the case shut. I tried a memory wipe one more time, but it didn't work. Tucking the chip into my pocket, I left his garage. What was wrong with me? Was I losing my ability? No. That was impossible. He must've been using something that protected him from Memory Erasers. Did he know that was my ability?

I'd get information from him. I'd just have to find another way." ― p. 42

SPLIT SECOND you might also enjoy LINKED by Imogen Howson, TAKEN by Erin Bowman and ARCLIGHT by Josin L. McQuein. I haven't read any of these, but can imagine that they could cure my pain of parting with the PIVOT POINT series. All three have mystery and paranormal aspects to their stories that sound so very thrilling.

* Want to read something different by Kasie West? Then you should read THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, her YA contemporary debut.

* Click here to read an excerpt of PIVOT POINT.

* Want to meet Kasie West? Here are the dates of her The Lovestruck Tour with three other YA authors.

* For further information about Kasie and her books visit www.kasiewest.com.

* Thanks to Harper Collins International for sending me a copy of SPLIT SECOND for review! 

Book Review: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publishing Date: July 2^nd 2013
Length: 320 pages
Keywords: YA, contemporary, romance, small town
Source: Bought

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.

Summary by Goodreads

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, as its title so skillfully indicates, is a YA novel dealing with problems inflicted by class differences, prejudices and secrets. Setting is a small town at the west coast inhabited by quite a number of people with status. One of them is Xander Spence, heir to an hotel empire. And our story starts when he walks into 'Dolls and More' one fine day to find slightly annoyed,  master of sarcasm Caymen behind the counter.

A doll shop must be the weirdest place for a love story to originate, so that award definitely goes to Kasie West. Just as Caymen, whose mother owns the shop, dolls creep me out to a certain and slightly unhealthy extent and they weren't exactly helping me to get in a  romantic mood.

Feigned disinterest and a surprising instant attraction are the foundation for a relationship between two teens from two very different parts of town. Caymen is helping her mother with her shop whenever she can to help paying the bills. She and her mother live in a small apartment above the selling floor. Xander is a rich boy who surely knows about his good looks and the effect of his family's money. Sometimes he appears to be living in a different world with his super expensive clothes and car park.
But he isn't as dumb as some might think. He doesn't let himself be controlled by his money and obligations, Xander has a mind of his own. And he is the one who sees Caymen's exceptional personality the second he meets her. He is pretty good boyfriend material.
Together they are trying to figure out what to do with their future. Their amusive little meetings to try out various potential jobs bring them closer together. Their love story is one of the expected kinds, rather uneventful and without major surprises. There certainly are problems troubling young Caymen and her relationship with Xander but they are kept low on the overall potential drama scale.

Caymen's friendship with her best friend Skye and her boyfriend's band play a role, too. Just like her mother's business. More bigger seeming problems were only insufficiently wrapped in the end and too much time spent in the doll shop. Otherwise THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US is a finely written, distracting holiday read to brighten your beach day with Caymen's dry sarcasm (to which I could relate to very very well).

3,5/ 5 ***/* THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US – A breezy and elating, slightly predicatble YA contemporary debut.

After reading PIVOT POINT, Kasie West's mind-blowing debut earlier this year, I had high expectations for her first YA contemporary story and felt partly let down. Caymen and Xander are cute as a couple, but wouldn't make my list of most memorable YA couples. I'm still a huge fan of Kasie West, I'm just more enthusiastic about her fantastical and thrilling than her stories solely focusing on the romance. 

And then the plane jerks again, and it might have been my imagination, or my weak legs, but I could've sworn that instead of bracing me with that hand on my waist, he actually pulled me forward. Because now I am in his lap, my hands still on his shoulders.

"Hi," he says.

"Sorry."

"For what?"

"For the fact that you are such a big flirt." ― p. 201

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US you might also enjoy  KISS CRUSH COLLIDE by Christina Meredith, MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick and THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE by Jennifer E. Smith, all dealing with conflicts based on money or status or lack of it.

 

* Want to read more by Kasie? Her next YA contemporary novel ON THE FENCE will be out in 2014!

* Click here for an excerpt of THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US.

*  For further information about Kasie and her books visit www.kasiewest.com

Book Review: Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1) by Kasie West

Title: Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1)

Author: Kasie West

Publisher: Haper Teen

Publishing Date: February 12^th 2013

Length: 352 pages

Keywords: YA, fiction, romance, paranormal, crime, alternate future

Source: Edelweiss

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Summary by Goodreads 

PIVOT POINT is the first YA debut I’ve read in 2013 and I got something even better than I’d expected. I hadn’t heard much about Kasie West’s debut before, but that didn’t keep me from rushing through the book once I’d gotten my hands on a copy. Now I’m overly exalted that PIVOT POINT is finally out in the wild and that everyone gets a chance to read it!

The story is set in a city, a compound, which is home to a number of specially gifted humans. Its inhabitants possess certain abilities and are highly intelligent. They own advanced technologies and knowlegde in various fields which guarantee an enhanced way of living that needs to stay hidden from all the other people living outside the compound walls. 

The setting is fantastic, because it felt so seclusive, exclusive and like the perfect place to invent all the great new devices of tomorrow . It feels special, because it is contained and yet there is always a note of longing for the rest of the world.

Among other things,the term pivot point is used to analyse stock market fluctuations. In Kasie's novel, the pivot point describes the point at which Addie's story starts to take a different turn. It's about two alternate futures that could lay ahead of her. The only thing left for her to do, is choose the path she wants to live. And at exactly that point Addie finds herself after her parents annouce their divorce.Which way should she take? Stay with her mother or leave with her dad?

Giving Addie the talent to search her future is a brilliant way to draw the reader into the story. What is better than having two futures to choose from? I adored that play between many different possibilities. The concept of Addie's talent is impressing and the whole story very intriguing.

There are two love stories, as I’d expected a few chapters into the story. One can be found in Addie's future in which she stays with her mother, and the other is waiting to be discovered outside the compound. And these two boys, Duke and Trevor, are as different as the outcomes of her alternative futures.
Falling in love with Trevor was the best thing that could happen to Addie. He’s exactly the right guy for her. I fell in love with him even before Addie did. He’s comical, talented and artsy. Most important, Trevor puts Addie before his needs and he understands her in a way no other person does.

PIVOT POINT has the quality of a YA contemporary novel, Addie and Trevor finding to each other and slowly falling in love. But there is also a definite paranormal feel to the story, thanks to the compound and its people's gifts. The intricate and clever plus of PIVOT POINT is, that Kasie West added a crime aspect to the story by including a kind of murder mystery. It adds an investigative touch and requires Addie to solve the secrets around hurt football players around the country and the deaths of two young girls, who allegedly killed themselves. There is nothing else I could've wished for. PIVOT POINT equals awesome sauce in its entirety!

1) two alternate futures mean twice the fun 

2) of a real chance to be a superhero

3) of a compelling crime thread

4) of its fascinating compound setting

5) of the varied palette of mental abilities it has to offer

5/5 ***** PIVOT POINT – Mind-blowing and truly divergent!

I’m still marvelling at the brilliant possibilities of two future stories Kasie West enabled with the pivot point! I couldn’t decide which possible future of Addie I wanted to continue reading after each chapter, because they both had me glued to the book! If you want to get a good start into the 2013 debuts, begin with PIVOT POINT, it won’t disappoint!

* Be on the look-out for Kasie’s next novel, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, coming summer 2013! 

* Read an excerpt of PIVOT POINT here. 

* Want to meet Kasie West? Check out her event schedule! 

* For further information about Kasie West and her books visit www.kasiewest.com

* Thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for giving me a chance to review PIVOT POINT!