Author: Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: YA contemporary, YA romance
Pages: 296
Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis:
“For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn’t know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she’s spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game.
To cope with the stress of faking her way through this new reality, Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with Braden by the fence that separates them. But their Fence Chats can’t solve Charlie’s biggest problem: she’s falling for Braden. Hard. 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.”
I honestly think this book could be summed up in one quick eight letter word. ADORABLE. This book is so freakin’ adorable! Kasie West is such a dynamic writer and I loved how she played around with some different elements in this book at really tore at my heart strings. I completely forgot how fun of a read this was until I got the urge to pick it up for the second time… and I was not disappointed!
The romance in this book is so fluffy and soft that it makes my heart melt! I love Braden and Charlie’s relationship! Their flirty banter, fence chats, and occasional wrestling was soooo cute. I can think of a dozen moments on repeat that these two made my heart feel all fuzzy because they were just PERFECTION, okay?? Their relationship was built from the friends-to-lovers trope, and was written beautifully. I loved seeing their relationship build so slowly that it hurt my soul. I’m just not patient enough for that (insert my tears here).
I loved how Kasie West wrote Charlie’s family and touched on the topic of loosing a parent. She didn’t go deep into the grief but I thought her approach to the subject was fair. I loved the family dynamic they had! Charlie’s brothers were so much fun and it was easy to slip into her world. However, their family is the BIGGEST tomboy trope to exist. Insert Charlie, she’s a tomboy because she has three older brothers who like sports..so she’s not like other girls and likes sports too. It’s actually approached really well BUT I know plenty of people really hate this trope.
The one thing I didn’t really enjoy in this book was the fact that there was a painful love triangle tossed in there. The entire time I just wanted to push Charlie away from the other love interest and into Braden. She was just being so annoying and stubborn about the whole thing even though it was beyond obvious he wasn’t the right guy for her. I loved Charlie, but this frustrated me throughout the entire book! I’m just glad she came to her senses eventually, because as I said: Braden is swoony.
This book was a lot of fun to read, but definitely not my favorite Kasie West book. The annoying love triangle really took the story down a step from her other books that I loved a lot more. It is, however, a really fun quick read that is perfect to cure any reading slump!
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