Title: The Fill-In Boyfriend
Author: Kasie West
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 352
Source: Bought

Overall: 3.5 Stars

Summary:

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend—two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor, and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party—three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her newfound relationship. 

My Thoughts: 
With prom season right around the corner, Kasie West's The Fill-In Boyfriend is definitely a contemporary romance novel to add to your TBR list. When Gia's boyfriend Bradley breaks up with her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she panics. For months, Gia has been talking has been talking about her older college boyfriend to her best friends, but since they've never met him, they don't even believe he exists! A cute guy still lingering in his car after dropping off his younger sister to prom is the answer to her problems. 

Gia convinces him to pretend to be Bradley for the night so her friends—especially her frenemy Jules—don't have the satisfaction of believing they were right. But when prom night ends, Gia finds herself thinking about Fill-In Bradley and wishing she knew more about him. Although he's not the athletic kind of guy Gia normally finds herself attracted to, he came through for her when she really needed it. And when his sister Bec approaches her to call in the favour she owes him, Gia agrees to pretend to be his date to his ex-girlfriend's graduation party. But Jules is growing suspicious of Fill-In Bradley, and as the lies catch up to Gia, she begins to learn what friendship and family truly mean.

There's some drama and angst, but for the most part, The Fill-In Boyfriend is a light contemporary read. As Gia begins to fall for Fill-In Bradley and befriends Bec, who's standoffish with her at first, she also discovers something important about herself, too. She's used to holding her emotions inside and pretending her world is perfect, but Fill-In Bradley and Bec encourage her to be more expressive and unafraid to make mistakes. I still wish there was more of an explanation for why Jules acted mean towards Gia and stirred up trouble though. I mean, it was obvious that part of it was due to jealousy, but Jules' reasoning at the end was kind of weak. And I wish there was more closure between Gia and her best friends during the fallout of her lies being exposed.

The Fill-In Boyfriend was really cute and sweet, but I don't think it hit me in the feels in quite the same way as The Distance Between Us or On the Fence. Maybe it's because I'm just not as interested reading about popular girls and high school hierarchy? Despite not falling in love with The Fill-In Boyfriend as much as I'd hoped, Kasie West's latest YA book was still very much an entertaining summer read. The pages seemed to fly by and I was already finished within a couple hours!