The Fill-In Boyfriend - Kasie West (Review)

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Contemporary 
Publication date:  May 5th 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: paperback, 343 pages
How I got it: My public library
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5 
 

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.

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My thoughts:

To continue with my love of Kasie West books I moved onto The Fill-In Boyfriend.  This book follows Gia as she is dumped in the parking lot before her prom.   Hayden who just dropped off his sister for prom happens to still be there sitting in his car and becomes fill-in Bradley for the prom.   Several issues arise from this one fake date, but my favorite is maybe one fake date wasn’t enough for Gia.

Things I loved in the book was the character development that the author did.  Gia went from being one person to an entirely different person by the end of the book.  Gia took a close look at her life, friendships, family, and relationships and evaluated what was important to her.  Gia could see that she might not be as happy as she was acting and she needed to evaluate decisions she was making, but she was also a little afraid to rock the boat.  I loved how the author exposed these deep issues that Gia was having and could walk her thru making things better.   Gia also didn’t realize that her family lead her down the path of putting on a happy face.  I enjoyed how Gia wanted to work on fixing her family as well during the book.

Hayden is such a great male lead in this book.  We first meet him as the fill-in Bradley and he takes that role in stride and performs to the best of his abilities.   Hayden has his own ex-girlfriend that he is trying to get back with in the beginning of the book, but she had done him wrong by dating his best friend.   Hayden also brings his family to the table in this book and they are great to read about.  I love how his family is so close and can talk about anything with each other.  I love the family dynamic that the author created with Hayden.

I love that the author included the mean girl idea.  Gia was realizing how she was hurting other people with her group of friends, but she didn’t see it at first it was like an onion slowly peeling back the layers.  I like that she gave examples of flash backs as well so that we can see where Gia felt like she went wrong.

The author did a great job creating the romance between Gia and Hayden.  It was so back and forth between the two of them and they just weren’t saying how they truly felt.  I feel like the back and forth worked for these two.  We got to see the characters put it on the line and mature into different people.

My one issue was at some points in the book Gia just became too much.  I wanted to shake her and be like get it together.  I felt like she just needed to learn how to speak up for herself with her friends.  She was so afraid of letting anyone down she wasn’t being herself.  It was a little challenging for me to read parts about Gia when she was making the same mistakes, but I also find it refreshing when I am so invested in a character I want them to make the right decisions.

I would suggest this as a nighttime read.  It was a perfect book to read before bed.  The story was very nicely paced that there were natural stopping points and you could put the book down, but not lose your place. 

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About the Author

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

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