Review: The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West

Title: The Fill-in Boyfriend
Author: Kasie West
Series: n/a
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: May 5, 2015 -- TODAY!!!
Source: ARC received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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 new-found relationship.

Going into The Fill-in Boyfriend, I fully expected it to be my new favorite of all of Kasie West's contemporary novels. (I don't think anything could top my love for her Pivot Point series.) The fake boyfriend plot is a favorite of mine, and the complications that arise from such a plan are usually pretty humorous.

That's definitely true in Gina and Fill-in Bradley's case. The antics involved in their faking a relationship were cringe-inducing at times but bordered on swoon-worthy at others. But sadly, they usually served to make me like Hayden more and Gina less. I could understand why Hayden would want to show up with a date, after the way things ended with his ex, but in Gina's case, I think honesty would have been the best policy. That whole stand-off with Jules just never sat right with me, Bradley's existence notwithstanding.

However, one of my favorite aspects of Kasie's books is that her characters realize things about themselves and ultimately change for the better as the story progresses. With The Distance Between Us, one of the lessons learned was that appearances can be deceiving, i.e. don't just a book by its cover. In her last novel, the main character discovered that she could be feminine and have girlfriends without sacrificing what she loved. In The Fill-in Boyfriend, I think there were plenty of lessons to be gleaned: lying isn't the answer, being different should be embraced, popularity isn't the key to happiness, friendships shift and change, and sometimes you'll find new friends in the unlikeliest of people. I love that this author includes well-meaning messages like this to her readers but that it never feels preachy or misguided.

The potential romance between Gia and her fill-in boyfriend was obviously a big draw for me, and it didn't disappoint. It was apparent that when the book opened, Gia was not mature enough for a relationship with the real Bradley, but I was glad that when she finally was, she had found her happiness with someone more suited to her. Hayden is a little nerdy -- my favorite kind of love interest, besides the dashing rogue -- and I loved how he always told Gia what she needed to hear. I appreciated that his sister was much the same, if maybe a little harsher in the way she went about it, and that she ended up being a really great friend to Gia when she needed it most.

So....not my favorite of Kasie West's novels but still very much what I've come to expect from this author: cute, funny, and smile-inducing. I do wish there'd been a little bit more to the ending, a little more resolution where Gia's friends were concerned. (Honestly, I thought the ARC I was reading was missing pages because of how abruptly it ended for me.) Still, I will read anything this woman writes and enjoy the heck out of it. For a fluffy good time, you should definitely check out Kasie's novels.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

I write YA. I eat Junior Mints. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. My novels, published through Harper Teen are: PIVOT POINT and its sequel SPLIT SECOND. And my contemporary novels: THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, ON THE FENCE, and THE FILL-IN BOYFRIEND. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.

Find Kasie:

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