Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 312pgs
The Story
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.
The Review
After having previously enjoyed Kasie West's debut novel, Pivot Point, I knew without a doubt I would also enjoy her new contemporary read (or any other read of hers for that matter) because I absolutely love her writing so, so much and with any story it seems - even with only two books of hers out at the moment - she can relate to any reader her book comes across and for the most part I did actually end up enjoying this book as well. Sure, it didn't beat my other loves in YA contemporary on an epic level, but it was still a very cute read indeed.
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US is a great small read and holds your interest straightaway no matter what kind of contemporary read you're currently into. Think a bit of Sarah Dessen meets Stephanie Perkins. So whether you find the events of the story and how they all play out believable or not (trust me some are more believable than others), but I still thought this book had something really special about it and I can see why so many readers liked it as well. Again, it was not my favourite read ever nor did the ending go down well for me, but I enjoyed it regardless of how things ended (yeah the ending was a too quick fix for everything but yay for me trying to keep my cool on haha).
Caymen, our main character, is one girl that may have had her ups and downs with me, but on a whole I liked her personality, especially with her dry sense of humor that I found quite endearing because like her I have a bit of dry sense of humor myself or at least I like to think so. So for sure, Caymen isn't the perfect girl by far and she knows it as well, but what I appreciated about her character and in this storyline was her fondness and her love for her mother, and how she is always supporting her mother or doing the little things to make her mother not work hard as much, even when her mother should be the one supporting her most of all. Still, I like seeing that mother-daughter relationship presented in this book.
Now in terms of the romance that develops between Caymen and her Prince of Hotels dude (yes that's my nickname for him) Xander, I didn't mind their quick romance that whirlwinds on us all so much because I like to think I'm a little bit of a romantic at heart, especially when it comes to my books, but unfortunately I just didn't feel the strong and sizzling chemistry going on between them both as much as I would have liked to. I get they have the hots for each other and all that, and I can see why Prince of Hotels would be appealing to most young girls because they are good-looking dudes and not to mention rich, but I don't know . . . I just didn't feel it with him and the main character. But then again, it probably has more to do with Xander than anything else because needless to say I wasn't a huge fan of his but hey, you can't like them all. Or rather you can't like a guy who is kind of like the other rich guy from the film Pretty In Pink, which is unfair for him really because rich dudes rarely win me over and that goes for Pretty in Pink as well, but . . . I still found Xander to be an okay guy. Most of the time at least.
Overall, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US may have been a shorter read than I was expecting, but on a whole it had something very appealing about it and anyone who likes a cute little romance will definitely hold a special place for this book in their hearts.
The Rating
3/5 stars
