Review: “The Distance Between Us” by Kasie West

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

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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.

Three and a half stars

I don’t buy books often anymore, but after a bunch of bloggers I follow fell head over heels for this one–and I decided I needed a cute little pick me up–this book seemed like a good one to buy. (Also, the paperback fact. That helped.) What I found wasn’t perfect, but it was most certainly cute.

One thing that struck me instantly is that Kasie West is a master at little details. All her characters and settings each had a little quirk or two that made them just that much more three dimensional. Cayman is a sarcastic analytic, always running off at the mouth while running numbers in her head. The band members she hangs out with each have a distinctive look. Then there’s the doll shop, which is the creepiest, coolest kind of setting–something I never would have even dreamed of.

Basically, any scenes in the doll shop were my favorite. They were just so … interesting. I could actually spend this entire review talking about the doll shop, but I won’t, because what you guys really want to hear about is the romance part of this book.

Xander and Cayman’s romance was, in a word, cute. I especially liked the beginning, when they start hanging out every weekend under the pretense of “career days,” since they both feel like their parents are pushing them down tracks they don’t want to be in. I wasn’t sold on Xander in the beginning, but after all the thought he put into Cayman’s career day, I melted. Also, the graveyard scene. There was that. 😉

Otherwise, the romance goes much as you would expect. He’s rich, she’s not–they run in different circles and think about things in different ways. The extra cogs in the machine were Cayman’s mother’s secret illness and the rocker boy her mother wants to set her up with. The illness story line played out very well, but I thought that the rocker boy–like a few other characters–was very two dimensional and just there to facilitate plot.

I guess the real reason I started docking stars came around in the end. Instead of trying to wrap up Cayman and Xander’s story line, several new elements were added in that shook up the whole foundation of Cayman’s past and the miscommunications in their relationship and left me confused and unsatisfied. I can’t say much more than that because it would be spoilery, but … sigh. I don’t mind the ending–it’s still very cute!–but I wish it had gone a little bit differently.

All in all, I declare this book a MUST READ if you like sarcastic main characters. Cayman had me smiling and laughing throughout the whole book, even in the serious scenes. Xander was swoony and sweet–a worthwhile guy for a worthwhile girl. There’s nothing groundbreaking in this book except for maybe the doll shop ;-), but it still made me happy for a few hours. I wouldn’t call this a general must read but, if you like cute little contemporaries and are looking to take a little bit of edge off your day, then this might be a good pick me up.

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