Title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Kasie West
Release Date: July 2, 2013 (paperback)
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 320
Source: Bought

Overall: 4.5 Stars

Summary:

Money can't buy a good first impression.

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers learned early that the rich are not to be trusted. And after years of studying them from behind the cash register of her mom's porcelain-doll shop, she has seen nothing to prove otherwise. Enter Xander Spence—he's tall, handsome, and oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and the fact that he seems to be 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 just when Xander's loyalty and attentiveness 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. With so many obstacles standing in their way, can she close the distance between them? 

My Thoughts: 
It was love at first sight when I saw the cover for Kasie West's The Distance Between Us, and after reading the novel, it couldn't be any more perfect. The sun setting in the distance as Caymen and Xander hold hands while leaning against the car creates such a pretty picture. The Distance Between Us is a cute and romantic read that will have you rooting for Caymen and Xander to be together from the very beginning!

Caymen may be the unofficial Queen of Sarcasm, but her dry sense of humour is really just a shield to protect herself from getting hurt. For years, Caymen's mother has warned her to stay away from the rich, that they'll only use her until their interest wanes, but Xander Spence slips past all her defenses the day he enters her mother's struggling porcelain-doll shop. Xander is not just wealthy, but outrageously so, as his family owns a very successful hotel empire. He may come from another world, but he's also the only person who has ever really understood her, and it's a feeling that scares her.

Despite Caymen's initial impression that Xander was a self-entitled, arrogant person, the more time she spends around him, the more she realizes she couldn't be any more wrong. Yes, he has a very confident personality, but he's also very kind and down-to-earth. Caymen may have been afraid to get too close to him because of their very different backgrounds, but Xander never hesitated to close the distance between them. I really admired his determination to show the sincerity of his feelings and how he tried to help Caymen understand for herself that her life could mean more than constantly working at the doll store.

The only fault I found with The Distance Between Us was that the conclusion felt rather abrupt and wrapped up too quickly... but maybe that's because I simply didn't want the book to end! Kasie West has written a charmingly sweet novel I'll be reading again and again in the future. If you're a fan of the contemporary YA genre, I'd highly recommend Kasie West's The Distance Between Us as your next book pick!