The Distance Between Us (Book Review)

The Distance Between Us

Author: Kasie West
Publisher: Harper Teen
Number of Pages: 320
Release Date: July 2, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s 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 Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty 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. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

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Like most of my blogger and Goodreads friends, I've been lusting after this adorable cover for months, eagerly awaiting the July release date, while compulsively checking NetGalley and Edelweiss to see if a review copy had been posted. I was so excited, in fact, that I bought this book new on its release date (which doesn't sound like a big deal, but I honestly can't remember ever doing that in the past. I'm strictly a buy 'em used, check them out from the library new kind of girl), but I just couldn't wait for this one. So did it live up to my over-blown expectations? Not really. But it's honestly not the book's fault. I had my expectations dialed up to 11. I don't know why. But The Distance Between Us is cute and sweet and quick and lovely and I did enjoy reading it. 

Caymen Meyers is a senior in high school. She is a typical "good girl" who works and lives with her mother in her mother's doll shop and the apartment above the shop, respectively. This makes for a unusually close mother/daughter relationship that has started to come apart at the seams. The doll shop isn't doing well financially and though Caymen wants to help shoulder the burden and help her mom, she also can't help but feel stuck. She begins to realize how dire the situation is when she stumbles upon her mother's bookkeeping and sees just how in the red they are, pink enveloped bills start to appear, and back-up inventory is mysteriously absent. 

Caymen is torn. She knows that she doesn't want to take over the store once her mother retires, but she also doesn't want to leave her mom to struggle alone. She's already decided that she will defer college for a year or two to help her mom out, even though her mom wants her to go to college and the two have never sat down to discuss the possibility of deferment. 

Caymen has never met her father. She knows who he is through a little detective work (in case she ever needs a kidney), but has never met him, nor made any moves to do so. Her mother got pregnant at a young age (18, I think). Her father, a wealthy young man with his whole life ahead of him, fled once he heard the news. His parents made her sign complicated paperwork that makes it impossible for her to go after him for child support, but they also gave her a lump sum of "hush money" that she used to buy the building that houses the store and apartment and got her started on her business venture. With her history, it's easy to understand why her mother despises rich people and why Caymen, herself, has grown up being weary of the rich. 

Enter Xander, the wealthy grandson of Caymen's favorite client. As soon as she spots him, Caymen knows this is a boy with money. The arrogant way he carries himself, his clothes, his attitude. But she also can't but notice how cute he is, that he gets her dry sense of humor, and his heart-melting smile. Xander doesn't seem to care that she doesn't have money. He wants to get to know her and begins coming to the shop often to walk her to school and be around her. 

Xander understands Caymen's want to get out of the family business, because he's in the same situation...kind of. See, Xander's family owns a huge chain of hotels and he is being groomed to take over the family business someday. But Xander doesn't want to take over. He wants to be his own man. He just doesn't know yet what he wants to do yet. So he comes up with a plan. Xander and Caymen will start to investigate what they may want to do with their lives. Together. Through little adventures called "career days."

For the most part I really did enjoy The Distance Between Us. I loved the growing relationship between Caymen and Xander, which was sweet and slow-burning. I loved the secondary characters of her best friend Skye with her pink hair and Skye's rocker boyfriend. I loved the depiction of the relationship between Caymen and her mother, which was very realistic. They fought and made up and loved each other. It's one of those elusive true-to-life mother/daughter relationships that YA is so often lacking. I loved that they owned a doll store, which is creepy and cute at the same time. I've never been a huge doll person. I liked my Cabbage Patch Kids as a youngster, but never collected dolls. And, frankly, I find porcelain dolls down-right terrifying. 

This book definitely reminded of Pretty in Pink (one of the best 80s films in existence--how I loved Molly Ringwald when I was a wee lass). Caymen was definitely more concerned about the financial disparity between the two (but rich people rarely seem to have a clue about money) and there was even a sneering friend of Xander's that definitely would have been played a young James Spader. 

My only real issue with this book was the ending. I'm not going to go into specifics, but it takes a turn that was both unexpected and a bit unrealistic, in my opinion. I'll say nothing more, but if you want to discuss shoot me an email or PM on twitter. 

Overall, I really enjoyed The Distance Between Us. It is a perfectly charming book that matches its perfectly charming cover. I would definitely recommend if you are looking to read a sweet, contemporary romance this summer.