Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

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The Fill-In Boyfriend
Series: None
Author: Kasie West
Published May 5th 2015 by HarperTeen

Goodreads Synopsis
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.
Goodreads

Review
I've been a fan of Kasie's contemporaries ever since I read them last summer, and I had high hopes for this book. Suffice to say, I was not let down her latest offering. In The Fill-In Boyfriend, the main character, Gia, is dumped by her college boyfriend in the parking lot outside her prom. Her friends, who have never met now ex-boyfriend Bradley, didn't believe he even existed, and Gia is going to lose her reputation if she goes into the hall by herself. Luckily, there is a guy dropping off his sister who is willing to pretend to be Bradley for the night. He's the perfect gentlemen, and after prom, Gia can't stop thinking about him - the only problem is, she has no clue who he is.

I really liked Gia as a character. Yes, she was bratty and slightly naive to begin with, but there was a definite character growth. Up until that moment outside of prom she'd had a perfect life - her parents weren't overbearing, she was popular, and had a wonderful boyfriend. She had her life all planned out, and now had to realise that something things just don't work out how you intended them. Her group of friends were, for lack of a better term, absolute cows! I hated them, and, really, my problems with Gia seemed to stem from them. Because of this group of 'mean girls', Gia had no chance to explore herself. Once she began making new friends, with fake-Bradley, and fake-Bradley's sister, Bec, I really liked her.

Gia's family was problematic. Her parents were just there, they didn't do anything, and that was the problem. When her brother does something really nasty, they just congratulate him - I mean, what is up with that?! I'm glad Gia grew a backbone with regards to her family!

The romance between real Bradley and Gia was cringe-worthy. I did not like him, at all. We didn't get off to the best of starts, with him dumping her outside of prom, and he didn't get any better as the book went on. Now, fake-Bradley, was swoony! They may have started their quasi relationship off knowing they were both lying, but the feelings grew and grew, and it was so sweet to see them all giddy over each other.

Kasie has always gave me all the feels when reading her books, and this was no exception! I noticed she answered an ask on GR about maybe doing a sequel, and whilst she said no, she did say she was up for developing Bec's story - and I'm up for reading that ;) I'm dying to get my hands on her upcoming books, and all I can say is, she is one of my favourite YA contemporary authors, and is definitely on my automatically buy/read list! A definite recommendation from me!

Dates Read:

November 27-29, 2015

Rating
5 Stars