Lots Of Delicious Sarcasm — The Distance Between Us by Kasie West {Book Review}

Title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date:  July 2nd, 2013
Standalone/Series: Standalone
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary – Romance

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 4,5 stars
My rating in words: I loved it!

What it’s about:

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.

My thoughts (Spoiler-free):

“I wonder why some people seem to be born knowing what they want to do with their lives and others—mostly me—have no idea.”

I have just discovered Kasie West this year and I have fallen in love with her super cute, fluffy and swoon worthy contemporaries. The Distance Between Us was so adorable and lovely and I basically finished it in a day. This is the perfect book to read if you want to get over a reading slump. Allow me to flail about why I love it so.

The sarcastic, dry wit of main character Caymen. Really, Caymen is my sarcastic spirit animal. I loved her wit and dry humor throughout the book. I want her to be my friend so we can just talk in sarcasm all the time.

Caymen in general. I mean, I would give this book all the stars because of the sarcasm alone, but really Caymen in general is just an amazing character. I love how mature and responsible she is. Due to circumstances she has had to grow up pretty quickly and take on a lot of responsibility early on. She’s one of those teenagers who don’t stay out too late because they have to get up early for work in the morning. Respect!

A lovely, slow-burn, friends-first romance. I loved the romance in this book, because the development of the feelings was just so real and believable. Caymen and Xander came from different worlds and seeing them get to know one another and then slowly fall for eachother was just so freaking adorable. This was character and relationship development done right! Also, how sweet was Xander?

The mother-daughter relationship. The whole relationship between Caymen and her mother is very Gilmore Girls-esque. I loved their closeness and seeing how much they would sacrifice for the other. Of course, there are things happening in the book that push this closeness a bit to the background, and I do wish we would have gotten to see a bit more of it, rather than being told about it.

Relatable life issues. Both Caymen and Xander struggle with the question “What do I want to do with my life?” and this is just so relatable! Definitely for teens, because who really knows what they want to do for the rest of their life at the ripe old age of 17? I mean, I barely know what I want to do at 31! So definitely relatable. I also quite enjoyed watching Caymen and Xanders’ career days.

Really, there was only one downside to the entire book and that was the ending. It was just a bit sudden and a weird combination of feeling too neatly wrapped up and not wrapped up enough.

But overall, I very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone looking for something cute and fluffy with LOTS OF DELICIOUS SARCASM!

Favorite quotes:

“Is that your subtle way of saying you missed me last week?”
“I’ve missed my hot chocolate. I just think of you as the guy who brings it to me. Sometimes I forget your name and call you hot chocolate guy.”

“Note to self: Caymen is very good at sarcasm.”
“If you’re recording notes for an official record, I’d like the word ‘very’ stricken and replaced with ‘exceptionally.”

“Feelings, my dear daughter, you will perhaps learn one day, can be the most costly thing in the universe.”