On the Fence by Kasie West

On the Fence

by Kasie West

She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door. With three older brothers, Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, has always been more comfortable calling the shots on a basketball court than flirting with the opposite sex. So when her police officer dad demands she get a summer job to pay for the latest in a long line of speeding tickets, she's more than a little surprised to find herself working at a chichi boutique and going out with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game. Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with her neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden, sitting back-to-back against the fence that separates them. Braden may know her better than anyone. But there's a secret Charlie's keeping that even he hasn't figured out-she's fallen for him. Hard. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high. On the Fence is a sweet and satisfying read about finding yourself and finding love where you least expect it.

Reviewed by jnikkir on

4 of 5 stars

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This is my first time reading a book by Kasie West - and I have to say, I think I started with a winner! When it comes to fictional relationships, I have a HUGE soft spot for the whole best-friends-become-something-more thing, so really, I was never going to resist this book in the first place. And the fact that it's by Kasie West, an author I've been meaning to read for a long while, was just icing on the cake. And she's now earned a new fan in me. :D

On the Fence did take me a little while to get into. I went into it expecting cute shippy feels from the start, and that's not exactly what's presented. The romance takes a while to build up, I think because that's not the only point of this book. There are lots of shippy feels (I'll talk about those in a second), but my favorite thing about On the Fence was the main character, Charlie, and her growth throughout the book - closely followed by the amazing family dynamics of Charlie and her dad and her three brothers.

Charlie isn't just a tomboy... She has grown up around boys, her best friend is a boy, and she totally acts like one of the guys. Charlie's dad makes her get a job after she gets (yet another) speeding ticket, and Charlie finds work at a small clothing boutique at the mall. Here, she finally has the opportunity (or more like, is forced) to hang out with girls her own age, and get out of her comfort zone - a lot.

To be completely honest, I had my doubts that Charlie's character could be pulled off in a way that I would believe. I sometimes feel like "tomboys" aren't always portrayed in a genuine way, and end up as characters who starts off as a tomboy only to be magically transformed into a girly princess by the end (you know what I mean). But Charlie felt real to me, and her growth wasn't from "tomboy" to "girly", it was more a growth from irresponsible, to more compassionate, self-aware, and much more accepting of others. I went from not much liking her attitude, to really appreciating the person she was becoming by the end of the book. (My feelings towards Charlie actually reminded me a lot of my feelings toward Lainey in The Art of Lainey.)

I also loved Charlie's relationship with her three brothers - the family dynamics in this book were amazing, from the start. Charlie is super close with her brothers, and I totally believed the siblings' banter and sense of loyalty to each other. Charlie's dad was also a favorite - often in books, when single dads are raising a daughter, some of the more, uhm, awkward conversations are played for laughs, and that's fine - but those don't always come across as feeling genuine. Charlie's dad cares deeply about her, and wants to be the best parent possible, so I appreciated that West was able to pull off these funnier, awkward moments and ALSO make them feel real and genuine and not just something to lighten the mood.

Finally, Charlie and Braden... <33 Charlie and Braden have basically grown up together, and in On the Fence, Charlie finally comes to realize that, Oh, hello, Braden is is boy. Like, boyfriend-material sort of boy. This comes about through many nights when Charlie and Braden couldn't sleep, so they met at their fence to talk, and they end up playing a game of "who-knows-who-better?" So, one person says a fact about the other person, and then that person has to respond with a matching fact about the first person. It's adorable. But they have a lot of really great heart-to-hearts in the relative safety of this "fence-chat" bubble (as they don't talk about their fence-chats during the day), and it was just... incredibly sweet and sort of wonderful. While their romantic chemistry did take a little bit to develop, I totally loved their friendship, and the development of their "something more" was really perfect.

In conclusion...

I really, really enjoyed this book. All of the characters were so wonderfully developed, the family dynamics were probably some of the best I've ever read, and the romance was super sweet. If you're looking for a summer read that's not just fun, but also has a lot of heart, pick up On the Fence. You won't be disappointed.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 June, 2014: Finished reading
  • 21 June, 2014: Reviewed