P.S. I Like You
Kasie West
Same author, same clean, banter-filled romance. Lily trades anonymous notes with a mystery classmate, and the slow reveal delivers the funny, swoony payoff fans of Caymen and Xander adore.
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Find Similar BooksThe Distance Between Us
by Kasie West
Young Adult
★★★★☆4.0 (4)
A witty, clean contemporary romance about a sharp-tongued shop girl and a rich boy, worth reading for its banter and its honest look at class-based assumptions.
What It's About
Kasie West's 2013 young adult romance follows Caymen Meyers, a seventeen-year-old who spends her days helping run her single mother's struggling doll shop in a wealthy beach town. She has absorbed her mother's distrust of rich people so thoroughly that sarcasm has become her default defense. When Xander Spence, the grandson of a hotel-owning family, starts turning up at the shop, Caymen assumes he is slumming it out of boredom. As they get to know each other, her certainty about him, and about her own life, starts to wobble.
The book is told in Caymen's first-person voice, and that voice is the main attraction. Her humor is dry and deadpan, and much of the fun comes from watching her deflect, misread, and gradually open up. The romance is slow-building and sweet rather than steamy, with no explicit content, which makes it an easy recommendation for younger teens as well as adults who enjoy wholesome love stories.
Under the banter, West explores prejudice that runs in a less obvious direction: Caymen judges the wealthy as harshly as she fears they judge her. Family secrets, money worries, and a strained mother-daughter relationship give the story some weight. It reads quickly, usually in a sitting or two, and delivers the comforting arc readers expect from the genre while tucking in a few surprises along the way.
Read this if you…
- enjoy funny, sarcastic narrators who hide their feelings behind jokes
- want a sweet, clean romance with real banter and no explicit content
- like stories about class differences told with a light touch
Skip it if you…
- want complex plotting or a romance that avoids familiar genre beats
- find rich-boy-meets-ordinary-girl setups too predictable to enjoy
Key Ideas
- 1
Prejudice can run both ways
Caymen is convinced the rich look down on people like her, but the novel quietly shows that her own assumptions about wealthy people are just as rigid. Much of her growth comes from noticing that she has been judging Xander by his bank account rather than his behavior, which gives the class theme more nuance than a simple rich-versus-poor setup.
- 2
Sarcasm as armor
Caymen's deadpan humor is entertaining, but West also uses it to show how a guarded teenager keeps people at arm's length. Her jokes protect her from disappointment and from admitting what she actually wants. Readers who enjoy a funny, prickly narrator will find her voice the strongest part of the book, and watching it soften is part of the payoff.
- 3
Inheriting a parent's worldview
Caymen's opinions about money and trust largely come from her mother, who has her own reasons for warning her daughter off the wealthy. The story examines what happens when a teenager starts questioning beliefs she was raised with, and how loyalty to a parent can conflict with forming independent judgments about the world.
- 4
A slow-burn, clean romance
The relationship develops through conversation, shared outings, and gradual trust rather than instant attraction. There is kissing but nothing explicit, and the focus stays on emotional connection and banter. This makes the book a dependable pick for readers who want romantic tension without mature content, and it is a good example of the light contemporary style West became known for.
Limitations
The premise follows a well-worn template, and experienced romance readers will anticipate many of the story's turns. Some readers find Caymen's constant suspicion of Xander repetitive and wish the misunderstandings resolved sooner. Secondary characters, including Caymen's friends, are lightly sketched, and the treatment of wealth and class stays fairly surface-level rather than digging into economic realities. The book is very much a comfort read: charming and quick, but not especially ambitious, and some plot developments rely on convenient timing.
Questions Readers Ask
- Is The Distance Between Us appropriate for younger teens?
- Yes. It is a clean romance with kissing but no sexual content and little strong language. Themes like family money troubles and parental secrets are handled gently. It suits readers from roughly twelve or thirteen upward, and adults who like wholesome contemporary romance enjoy it too.
- How does it compare to Kasie West's other books?
- It shares the hallmarks of her contemporary novels such as The Fill-In Boyfriend and P.S. I Like You: a witty heroine, a slow-building romance, and a clean, upbeat tone. Many fans consider it one of her stronger books because of Caymen's distinctive deadpan voice.
- Is it a standalone or part of a series?
- It is a standalone novel with a complete story and resolved ending, so you can read it without picking up any other book by West.
What Creators Say About The Distance Between Us
Reviews from readers on YouTube. Their opinions are their own.
- Published
- 2013
- ISBN
- 9780062235664
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Young Adult
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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