The Fill-In Boyfriend - Kasie West

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): 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 life, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her newfound relationship.

MY OPINION: ****

I think that this book was what I like to call a "quick and easy read". It was something I could have easily read in one night, if I was actually concentrating. But I have been reading forced reads and my own personal books, so this book was not my priority.

I didn't give it a five stars for many reasons. Number one: this book did not live up to PS I Like You at all. Although this book is good, it wasn't like the first book I read by Kasie West. It didn't have the same writing style, and the plot wasn't as good. I feel as if the characters were shallow in this book and nothing was really well-drawn. You couldn't really get to know them as well.

Number two: I didn't enjoy this plot. While it was good, I think that it wasn't well-drawn and it wasn't something that was complex. I have to say this is a elementary read in a way, because everything is straight-forward and easy to understand and there are really no places where you can make an inference.

Number three: The ending. It ended so abruptly and suddenly that even I didn't see it coming. I feel as if it was half-hearted and unreal and I wish it had had a better conclusion.

Number four: This book literally had no place for a stop-and-jot. Not that I would make one, because this is a fun and personal read that isn't required. But if I had to, I have to honestly say, there aren't any places to really make them. The writing was straight-forward, like I said, and there was no point in predicting. You could basically just write character write-ups and even then there wouldn't be a lot of detail.

Number five: This book was super predictable.

SPOILER ALERT

I mean, it was super obvious that Gia was going to end up with Hayden. It was also obvious that Bradley was going to come back and she wasn't going to like him anymore. It was also obvious that Jules was going to do something incredibly mean to Gia just to win her own place.

Jules was honestly a complicated character. She was a jerk at some points. Literally. She was also incredibly evil. At some parts. Like the end. But at some certain scenes, I really felt bad for her, especially about her relationship with her mother and also about losing her place against Gia in the friend group.

Claire was nice. But she was literally blind. I mean, she couldn't see how mean Jules was to Gia, and she didn't care about anything really important in life. Claire seemed like an awesome friend, but like the point of this book explains, she was only awesome on the surface. We never got to see below that.

Gia herself was interesting, but her thought process was really confusing to me. I think that Gia was really a shallow and condescending person in the beginning and in the middle, but after watching her brother's video, it was obvious that her character was affected by it and she really changed.

It was so obvious that her brother's video was going to be all about the bad aspects of Gia and even her parents. It was so predictable. I knew from a long way away. A long way. Gia was so incredibly stupid!

I would have liked to see more of Laney in this book.

Hayden was super nice but he was really a jerk towards the end. Misunderstandings can cause so many bad things to happen in life. I definitely understand how he feels at the end though: should he trust his best friend or a girl, who isn't his girlfriend, who is known to him for lying? Obviously the best friend.

Bec was nice. I liked her "gothic", "nerdy" look. She seems rude, but at some points she is really nice. I would definitely be friends with her if she was real.

Wow, to be dumped at prom sounds terrible.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance and misunderstandings, jealousy, and friendship.

Main Character: Gia
Sidekick(s): Hayden, Bec, Claire, Laney, Jules (in a way), Bradley, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, Jules (in a way), etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: All of this could happen in real life.