The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Title: The Distance Between Us

Author: Kasie West

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: July 2, 2013

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo 

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.

We all know I love my contemporary romances and I would spend all my time reading them if that were a possibility. But there are only so many hours in a day and sometimes I put off reading some for unknown reasons, only to later realize just what I was missing. That’s exactly what happened with Kasie West’s The Distance Between Us and, no surprise, I loved it.

Caymen has always stayed away from the rich people in town. She knows all about them, and from her position behind the counter at her mother’s doll shop, she studies them. Caymen never thought she would ever spend time with one, much less become friends with a rich person. But when Xander Spence walk into her mother’s store, Caymen knows he can’t be anything but rich. Knowing he’s rich, though, doesn’t stop Caymen from wanting to get to know Spence or spend time with him. Before long, and against her better judgement, Caymen starts to fall for Xander. She knows her mother would disapprove of the relationship, but what Caymen doesn’t know is that money might be a bigger part of her relationship with Xander than she thought. Can Caymen put her feelings about the rich aside, if it means being with the boy she loves?

So contemporaries. Have I mentioned lately how much I love them? Because I do. If I’m being honest, I more than love them, I pretty much adore the genre as a whole. So when you stop and think about it, how could I possibility not love Kasie West’s The Distance Between Us. This story was just so perfect. When I read the synopsis, and when I first started reading, I honestly thought this was just going to be some light and fun contemporary story. And in a way, it totally was. But the more I read, the more I realized there was also more to it. That’s not to say though that the story wasn’t fun, because it totally was. For the better part of the time I spent reading The Distance Between Us, I had a big goofy smile on my face, and at times I was actually trying to suppress giggles (maybe I shouldn’t read in public). So if you hadn’t guessed it by now, I really loved this story, I was sucked it and couldn’t stop reading regardless of the fact I had to get up early for work the next morning. My favourite part of the book, though? The banter between Caymen and Xander.

Caymen and Xander were pretty great. Right away, I connected with Caymen. There as just something about her that made it so I could relate to her, so that I loved her from the get go. I loved her voice, the way she reacted to the world around her, and I’m not going to lie, I shared a lot of her opinions about different people. And like I’ve already said, I loved the banter between her and Xander. Honestly, the book could have just been them going back and forth with each other and I would still have been captivated. The banter was just that good. It also helped that Xander was pretty awesome. And Xander wasn’t perfect but I loved him just the same. The fact that he wasn’t perfect is what made him so awesome. I loved getting to know him more, and sort of peeling back the layers to get to who he really was, as opposed to who his family wanted and expected him to be. And just in case it wasn’t clear yet, Xander and Caymen together were just a lot of fun, and at the end of the day they brought out the best in each other.

Kasie West’s The Distance Between Us was just what I had hoped it would be. It was light and fun contemporary romance, but don’t let yourself be fooled, it’s also a lot more than that. If you haven’t already given this book a try, you are really missing out.