O P E N I N G L I N E:
That's new.
Not the cell phone part but the guy part. It isn't that men don't frequent the doll store--Okay, actually it is. Men don't frequent the store. They are a rare sighting. When they do come in, they trail behind feminine types and look extremely self-conscious...or bored. This one is neither. He's very much alone and confident. The kind of confidence only money can buy. Lots of it.
(pg. 1, US hardcover edition)
I'm not always the contemporary genre's biggest fan. More often than not, I blink and forget about the titles soon after reading them. I really love Kasie West's contemporary style, though. Between her and fellow contemporary author Emery Lord (Whose debut novel comes out next week...but you won't see my review until mid-May when I'm on tour!), I managed to kick the deadly reading slump I'd been in for a few weeks. West made me want to keep reading contemporary novels in a way I haven't experienced since I fell in love with Stephanie Perkins' ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. I read West's upcoming novel during the slump, and it almost-but-not-quite pulled me out. I'll have to read it again in a better frame of mind! I also want to go back and re-read West's debut novel PIVOT POINT and see if I love it more this time around. I've suddenly become a potentially life-long fan of Kasie West, and just blind-TBRed her 2015 title on Goodreads despite there being no real summary as of yet!
Caymen has a lot on her platter. She lives with her single mom in a small apartment above their porcelain doll shop. There's not a lot of room for two people, but it's home. Caymen's "dad" left after hearing he was going to be a daddy and forced Caymen's mom to sign non-disclosure papers and gave her hush money. Needless to say, Caymen and her mom are both jaded about the rich. Ironically, their dollshop is in a rather affluent area that receives patrons with money to spend. One day at work, Caymen sells a doll to a teenage guy named Xander whose grandmother is a frequent shopper. The two begin hanging out as friends. With graduation looming, neither one knows exactly what they want in life. They decide to introduce one another to various activities that might be interesting career choices and slowly grow closer. But Caymen isn't sure she could ever fully trust a rich boy and is never comfortable around his friends and family. Her mother doesn't want her dating a rich boy and repeating the heartache she went through, either. But something about Xander is impossible to resist...
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US is sweet and fun and cute. West's writing style is strong and she gives you characters you care about. Caymen is wonderfully sarcastic and has an awesome personality. She really came to life on the page. Xander was pretty awesome, too. He bucked the stereotypes of the rest and proved that on the inside, he's just as uncertain as everyone else. Plus, he has an awesome relationship with his grandma. He's a keeper! I really like the way the relationship starts off as friendship, too. There's no insta-love present here, which was refreshing. The romance is just enough; it leaves you satisfied without being too "much." It's clean, so even younger teens could read and enjoy this one, which is hard to find in YA romance these days. Both characters have opposing personalities that rub off on the other. Xander catches some of Caymen's spirit, while Caymen becomes more serious and thoughtful about the future. Caymen's mother plays a big role, too. You can tell there's something wrong that she's covering up, something she doesn't want Caymen to worry about. She really loves her daughter and only wants the best for her. She doesn't want her to repeat the mistakes she made in the past, but she also wants her to be happy. Living paycheck-to-paycheck is taking its toll, however, and once her secret comes out, everything will change.
If you're looking for something sweet with just the right balance of light and heavy that has an indescribable charm, check out THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US. I can't put my finger on why I liked it so much or why it broke my reading slump, but I really loved its spirit and wasn't ready to say goodbye to the characters upon reaching the last page!
~*~
C O V E R D E S I G N:
Contemporary covers usually don't reach out and grab me, and this one is no exception. There are some features that make it stand out more, though.
I think the typography used for the title is really cute! I like the way it's all outlined, but the word DISTANCE is different. It stands out. I also like the way each letter is separated. The title itself is creating the illusion of distance. That's kind of awesome!
I also think the illusion of distance is being stated in body language. The couple's upperbodies have a lot of space between them, and there's some space in the leg area, too.
So creative use of illusion!
I think the typography used for the title is really cute! I like the way it's all outlined, but the word DISTANCE is different. It stands out. I also like the way each letter is separated. The title itself is creating the illusion of distance. That's kind of awesome!
I also think the illusion of distance is being stated in body language. The couple's upperbodies have a lot of space between them, and there's some space in the leg area, too.
So creative use of illusion!
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US
Author: Kasie West
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Received: Borrowed
Received: Borrowed
SUMMARY:
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.
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.
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