Published: July 2nd 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genres/age group: Contemporary, romance, young adult
External links: Goodreads • Amazon
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.After reading and loving Over The Fence, I had high expectations for The Distance Between Us.
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.
As the title foreshadows, The Distance Between Us is a novel exploring class differences, prejudice and secrets. Set in a small town by the West Coast, inhabited by people of status, protagonist Caymen finds herself on the lower, less fortunate side of the scale. Caymen’s story begins when one of the wealthier occupants of the town, Xander Spence -the heir to an hotel empire, walks into her family’s doll shop, ‘Dolls and More’. Undoubtedly, a shop filled with porcelain dolls is an unusual and bizarre setting for a romance to form, however, Kasie West spins the typical love story on it’s head.
The novel is from Caymen’s point of view and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her story. Brought up by her single mother, living in an apartment above her doll shop, she is truly a hilarious character, full of wit and sarcasm, and I could relate to her blunt sense of humour. She makes light of difficult situations – like her family’s struggle to keep a roof over their heads – which is why I really liked her as a character, she still has her humour even when she has not much else.
Xander, on the other hand, has never been exposed to such a lifestyle. An heir to a hotel empire, he has lived a carefree life in luxury – something Caymen certainly envies. Xander’s wealth is evident from when we first meet him, as Caymen herself points out, his single outfit would cost more than her entire wardrobe. Nevertheless, Xander was a very down-to-Earth, humble guy. As a character, I really warmed to him.
The other characters of the novel, such as Caymen’s best friend Skye, Skye’s boyfriend and Mason were okay, nothing special. I honestly thought of them as temporary, “fill in” characters for when Caymen had no one else she would run back to them. I did, however, feel that Skye and Caymen’s friendship was always a facade because Skye was always with her boyfriend and never showed Caymen much attention until the end of the novel.
The ending was perhaps the thing that ruined this book for me. There was unnecessary drama between Caymen and her mum, and then Caymen and Xander (which could have been avoided, just saying). The plot started going off the rails towards the end and without going into it too much, I just felt it was far too rushed to cover everything that had been unveiled in the last fifty pages. I was disappointed by the ending, as the beginning had been a great and solid start for a light, summery and contemporary read. For that reason, The Distance Between Us only gets 4 stars.
My rating: ★★★★
