Review: ON THE FENCE by Kasie West

Title: On the Fence
Author: Kasie West
Publication date: July 1, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: an e-galley provided by the publisher for an honest review

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.

A lot of authors try to be The Great One in fun, YA contemporaries. There are so many superb authors out there. I have my favorites, but I have come to a solid conclusion. Kasie West succeeds. When it comes to summery books, she's your woman. 

Others try. 

While this wouldn't be my favorite West novel, it still doesn't disappoint. The main character Charlie is  the only girl in her family of brothers and single father. She's sporty, one of the guys, and her connection as a narrator doesn't waver for me. Their lifelong friend and neighbor has felt like one of the brothers, but as to be expected, Charlie's and Braden's perspectives of each other changes as situations unfold. 

I have to admit that I'm a sucker for these kind of stories. The next-door neighbor romance, the tomboy, the girl with lots of brothers; it instantly appeals to me. These stories also have predictability, but when they're fun and written by Kasie West, it's completely fine with me. Call me bias, I don't care. 

Charlie starts becoming interested in hot Evan, a cardboard cutout character, after her new job and discovery of makeup. I see it in the way of Evan solely being in the story to move things along. His presence pushes Braden's feelings to come to play, to get Charlie a new outlook, and to push Charlie to feel okay with putting effort into her looks. He's basically a stepping stone in Charlie's life and while he didn't impress me as a character, he was necessary to the story. 

I wish we knew more about Charlie's brothers. For the longest time, I couldn't remember who was who, except for possibly Gage. I would've liked to see their personalities come through a little more. The only thing we truly know is that they're incredibly sporty, include and love Charlie, and are protective. Here's the gray area: some bloggers have ranted about how sexist the brothers are. While I can see why they think that, as a girl who has a protective big brother and father, I see it as love. I'm all about WOMAN POWER! and not treating women as if they're naive, weak, or unequal. But they were being brothers. In my opinion and from what I can remember, I thought they were being sweet. Maybe if they had come across stronger to me I would have felt differently. But I saw it as innocent.

Just like with The Distance Between Us, I loved the interaction with the two lovebirds. I still believe that the greatest relationships are friend-based and that's what Charlie and Braden have.

"I already told you to stop reading me."
"I can read you because I know you better."

"In your dreams."

"Yes, you've been there, too."

It wasn't as if the whole book was perfect, there were annoyances and I nitpicked certain areas. I still wasn't disappointed though. It was fun. Summery. Cute. Romantic. Stable. Another Kasie West novel. 

Verdict: I only hate that I don't have another Kasie West book to binge immediately afterwards.

Quotes and other elements may change after publication.