[Review: On The Fence by Kasie West]

"On the Fence"
Author: Kasie West
Series: None
Pages: 320
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Date Published: July 1st, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review

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Summary:

She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…

Charlie Reynolds can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world. To cope with the stress of her new reality, Charlie takes to spending nights chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence between their yards. As she grows to depend on their nightly Fence Chats, she realizes she's got a bigger problem than speeding tickets-she's falling for Braden. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

Fun, original, and endearing, On the Fence is a romantic comedy about finding yourself and finding love where you least expect.

-Goodreads 

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My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To On The Fence,

Holy cow, can we be best friends? I think we are best friends. You remind me of, well, you remind me of my life. I'm pretty certain that your author has been hiding in my closet/the back of my Jeep for the last 10 years researching this book. Sure she changed a few of the details, like: the dead mother, the cop dad, one of my brothers got turned into the neighbor boy and I don't understand sports at all, but let's be honest, those are just little things. Seriously it was weird, but it was so good. Book thanks for existing. Let's hug this love fest out!

-The White Unicorn

I didn't know what to expect when I went into this book. I mean sure, I knew it was romance and that in the end the girl would get the guy and everything would wonderful and there would be unicorns and rainbows and love. What I wasn't counting on was a book that I would connect with on so many levels. Guys, I was the odd ball girl who grew up in a house with four brothers and a slew of "brothers from other mothers" in my house (we all still hang out now, in our twenties). Yes, none of us were into sports, we were more the music/drama/video game types, but I got this book. West got it. She got it so well. I knew I'd love this book as soon as I read this quote (I read an unedited ARC)...

"I loved these guys so much. They were my life and I couldn't think of anything better than all of us together, just hanging out and doing nothing."

That's the moment that I knew that West knew what she was doing. I can't tell you how many times I've felt this way and she put it into simplistic, awesome words.

Let's start with the relationships. No, not the gooey, swoony ones, but the ones that Charlie had with her brothers. West nailed these relationships. The teasing, the over protectiveness, the joking, the getting thrown in the pool, all of it was perfect. It worked. It was honest, it was clever and it was hilarious. It was, point blank, what growing up in house full of guys is like. Jerome, Nathan and Gage were some of my favorite bits.  They all had different relationships with Charlie, but they all pushed her into confronting who she really was and what she had hidden in her past.

Charlie herself was a great front woman for this novel. She's tough, she knows how to kick it with the boys, she's confused about how girls and their rules work, and most of all she's just trying to figure out who she is. What I liked so much about her is that down deep she knows just who she is. Even though she makes some of those "growing up" mistakes, she understands herself. Sure, West throws some curve balls at her, but she handles herself really well once she figures out how to handle things that aren't sports and that aren't the things she's used to.

And now we can talk about the thing. The romance thing. West had mastered the art of the slow burn, contemporary romance. I love how Charlie and Braden start out as legit pals and they slowly turn into something more. Their fake "brother/sister" relationship isn't going to last and you know it from the beginning with the load of sexual tension that's already there, but West takes her time and makes this romance about so much more then "girl gets the guy". The "fence talks" are some of the cutest things that I've ever read and I just love these two to pieces. Braden is the guy that every girl wishes she had, and if you don't want him, you're crazy pants.

I recommend this book to everyone. It's a love story that has so much more going on in it. Family and friendships are just as important as the romance and what's not to love about that?!

Rating:

5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this now!