On The Fence by Kasie West

Title: On The Fence
Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Buy This Book:  Amazon / Book Depository

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 neighbour 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. (Goodreads summary)

I read The Distance Between Us a few months ago and I absolutely loved it. West wrote some fantastic characters that were funny, sarcastic, swoon worthy and everything in between. I became an instant fan of her writing style and knew I wanted to read every book she writes from then on. So, when I was auto-approved for On the Fence, I almost collapsed from an excitement overload that very nearly caused me to have a heart attack. Yup, I was that kind of excited to read this book.

So, did this book leave me disappointed? Did it not live up to the hype my mind had given it? Was it not even close to being on par with the fabulous The Distance Between Us? Nope, it was just as absolutely fantastic, wonderful, amazing and every other fabulous word you can think of. I wanted to hug this book when I was finished, it made me that happy.

Charlie was such a fun character, I thought she was just brilliant and so easy to relate to. I was a total tomboy as a kid, so I found a lot of similarities between myself and Charlie. I laughed at how uncomfortable she was with dressing is skirts or dresses and not wanting to wear make-up; it took me till my early teens to show even a little interest in either. Her love of sports wasn't something I understood, I was always a tomboy but I have never had a love of sports. But Kasie writes her characters so well, she never made all the sports talk seem boring, instead it always seemed really fascinating.

Her brothers and her relationship with them was so much fun. This made me rather jealous of the fact that she got to grow up with four awesome, hilarious brothers. I felt like I missed out on something, having two sisters myself. These characters all had their individual personalities but also moved as a unit so much that I saw them as one entity at times.

Me & this book!

The romance in this was a lot more slow-building and in the background than the romance in The Distance Between Us. It was a book where I was curious if the romance would ever happen. The tension and chemistry between the characters actually began to feel like it was killing me. I felt myself shouting at my book for them to hurry up and kiss already. Especially when I reached the 75% mark and there was still no sign of it, I was losing my mind! I am not even joking, there was some serious shaking of the kindle going on!

Braden was a character that showed, yet again, just how perfectly Kasie West can craft a love interest. Xander and Braden both make my book boyfriend list. They're both sweet and funny, two things I find much more appealing than the arsehole types you see a lot these days. This book made me feel cheated, why didn't I get a hot, sweet boy next door? Life is so unfair sometimes.

West writes the kinds of books that can put the biggest smile on your face whilst you read them. This book just made me so happy, I wanted to hug it the whole time I was reading it. It had it's more serious moments, but overall it was just such a sweet, romantic read. It's not a book you can put down and then come back to, it grabs you and makes you want to read it in one sitting. This is quick, easy read and you will breeze through it, with a smile on your face as wide as mine.

One thing I really did love about this book was the fact it mixed in with the world of The Distance Between Us. It's set in the same area and the characters even walk into the doll shop where Caymen works. That was such a fun part to it, I wasn't expecting it because I hadn't realised the book was going to do that.

If I was to pick out one thing I didn't enjoy too much about the book, it would be the fact that the ending wasn't completely satisfying to me. The romance doesn't really reach it's moment until we are into the 90% mark and we don't get to see much of the two together, it was a little disappointing. That would be my one complaint, I wish that we had seen more of the two as an actual couple.

5/5 Butterflies

I honestly loved every minute of this book and don't really have any serious problems with it. I wanted there to be more of the book where they were actually together, but I still enjoyed the whole story. I loved the slow building romance, and though the characters were very quick to say I love you it made sense as they had known each other 12 years. This book was such fun to read and made me so happy, I had a smile on my face almost the whole time I was reading it. If I didn't know it before, I know it now, Kasie West is now one of my must-buy authors! West already has another book scheduled for release in 2015 and it's already on my auto-buy list! 

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.