On The Fence by Kasie West

Title: On the Fence by Kasie West

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 296

Received: Bought

Star Rating: ★ ★ ★½ ☆ ☆

For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she's spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game.
To cope with the stress of faking her way through this new reality, Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with Braden by the fence that separates them. But their Fence Chats can't solve Charlie's biggest problem: she's falling for Braden. 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. [goodreads]

My Thoughts:

When I added this title to my cart, my first thoughts were: "Am I really going to let Kasie West break my heart, willingly????" And I did. But it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I fell in love with Kasie's previous works and I knew the summary was too simple. I finished the whole book in about 3 hours (more or less) and I'm glad I did. I don't think I would've continued if I dropped it then. I needed a "light, pick me up" and it did just enough justice.

Charlie's character went through small growth little by little in "On The Fence". She was mostly defined as a "tomboy". Personally, I despise that term for women. It's a girl's choice to be defined as a tomboy, but the stereotypical factor takes over the whole person. Charlie liked to play rough and had a critical attitude. But being a tomboy means doing "masculine" activities, wears jeans and baseball caps, but who says a girl (in this case, Charlie) can't do those with femininity? Charlie is just as good as the boys in the novel (or even better), and I don't think "tomboy" is the right term for her character.

Other than that, I enjoyed most parts of the novel. In the beginning, it was quite slow and everything became repetitive. I saw how hard Kasie tried to incorporate all the brothers into Charlie's story, but the one I enjoyed the most was Gage. This novel made me think about my situations and my relationships with my brothers. 

But what made me think so low of this book was the cliche aspect. Everything followed the rules and it felt so safe. And it took the whole novel for Charlie to decipher her own feelings. I really wished Charlie would embrace her femininity, but that's just me. I liked Charlie's new friendships with girls, especially. There were times I lost track of where this novel was leading to, but it wasn't difficult to find the destination.

"On the Fence" didn't leave me in aw, like Kasie West's other books, but it gives me hope for more of her contemporary novels. I'm surely looking forward to Kasie West's next contemporary.

3/5 STARS