Mini Review | The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
Published On: May 5, 2015
Published By: Harper Teen
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 346
Format: Paperback
Source: Gift
Rating: ★★★★

Amazon | Goodreads

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.

Kasie West has done it again.
I'm still waiting on one of Kasie West's books to disappoint me. I have absolutely loved everything I have read from her but had my doubts with this one having seen a lot of people say it is their least favourite of her books. I do have to agree with those people, this was my least favourite of her books that I have read, but I did still love it. It was an adorable, fun summer read that I really enjoyed.

It was everything I would expect.
I always go into Kasie West's books expecting great characters, a great story and good underlying message and I definitely got all three of those from this book. We also had some fun summer antics thrown into this book, which really added to the fun.

I wanted more from the characters.
I think this could be part of the reason I would consider this my least favourite of her books. Kasie West has written some of my favourite characters, with unique, quirky personalities. While I really liked the fact that Gia, our main character, is just an ordinary girl with nothing particularly special about her, she seemed a little less developed than I would have liked, or have come to expect.

Such an adorable couple.
Though Gia isn't my favourite main character, her and Hayden are definitely one of my favourite couples. They are so completely adorable together but it was their friendship that made me love them so much.

A really great message about friendship.
Like I said, there was a really great underlying message to this story and it was a rather unique message about friendship. I think very often teenage girls stick with a friendship group as they feel loyalty to those they have been friends with for a long time. To me this book encourages you to think about whether those friends are the right for you and consider whether your friendships are healthy. I think that is a really great message, especially for the age group this book is targeted towards.

The perfect ending.
The ending of this book was so perfectly non-perfect. I absolutely loved this ending and the fact that everything didn't just wrap up nicely and everything worked out perfectly because that isn't how life works. I think it shows that life doesn't always work out how you expect it to but that may be for the best.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and though it is my least favourite Kasie West book I have read so far, I would still absolutely recommend it. It is fun and sweet with an adorable romance and good plot, perfect for a summer read.