Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

The Fill-In Boyfriend
by Kasie West

May 5, 2015

352 pages

Goodreads  Indigo

Goodreads Summary:

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.

Review

Ahh I could just hug this book forever! Kasie West does it again. Her writing, her words are flawless. I couldn't devour this book fast enough. The Fill-In Boyfriend was everything I wanted. With dynamic characters, beautiful character growth, a delicious romance and heart-pounding moments of anticipation, I couldn't have asked for more! Maybe just a little more kissing ;)

From the beginning, I loved Gia. She was confident, self-assured but not in a cocky way. As part of the popular crowd, she had the potential to be awful but she wasn't. Even when she was accused of being mean, I could tell it wasn't intentional. I would call her guilty by association (she doesn't stop her friends from laughing at someone). After meeting Fill-In Bradley she starts to really see herself, her family, her friends and how her way of doing things affected others. I absolutely loved her character growth! Especially with how Fill-In Bradley made her realize the power of letting someone in. Truly heartfelt.

Fill-In Bradley was nothing short of sweet. I don't want to give away his name because Gia plays a cute little game with him to guess it. I think that part will be much more enjoyable if you don't know his name yet. Fill-In Bradley's gentle nature got him involved with Gia and slowly, he came to really care for her. When the 'misunderstanding' happened, I sympathized with his confusion over who to believe. Given his past experience, no one could really blame him but my feelings were slightly crushed because he really hurt Gia's feelings by basically calling her a liar.  Then again, he also scored major points in my book when he went after Gia. The effort he put into finding her. The GPS text he sent her. Gahh all the swoons~~!!!

Gia's friends really bothered me.  What Jules did was no better than Gia lying. I really wanted to throw Jules's words right back at her. Why is it that Gia needed to apologize but Jules got to get away with it? I really hope I'm not the only one feeling this way. I love the friendship Gia strikes up with Bec, Fill-In Bradley's sister. It was so genuine with the slow build from dislike to fondness. Bec was truly devious but fiercely protective of her brother and loyal to her friends and later on, Gia.

I adored Fill-In Bradley rapport with his family! They're so openly affectionate towards each other it's wonderful to see them together. Gia's family, on the other hand, appears perfect on the outside but once you get in closer, you can see the cracks. Her crappy brother, Drew was the worst. His project had impact but he definitely went about the wrong way of showing it. Social media platforms hold power because "Words are powerful." (ARC, p.24). His words hurt Gia the most.

I'm thankful there wasn't a love triangle because Bradley had the potential to make things complicated. Aside from having left Gia in the parking lot at her prom, he wasn't very important. Hooray! No offense to him but he really wasn't needed. For me, he existed only to bring Gia and Fill-In Bradley together~

I was sad when I finished this book. Sad that I have no idea how long I have to wait for another Kasie West book. I can never get enough! I highly recommend The Fill-In Boyfriend and anything Kasie West writes. They're worth every second of your time so don't wait!!!!

*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own and not affected in any way. All quotes were taken from the Advance Review Copy I received.