Review: By Your Side

By Your Side by Kasie West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC copy in exchange from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Kasie West's novels and "By Your Side" was definitely not a disappointment!! I love it so much. Granted, it could be because the main character, Autumn, gets locked inside a library for a whole weekend and I work in a library. Though I really don't envy her, because I wouldn't want to be locked inside a library for 3 days. I get cold at work during the day; I can only imagine how cold it would be for the whole weekend without being able to control the temperture.

But it's not only the library aspect that made me love this novel. I loved Dex. He is so down to earth and real. He reminds readers that not all of the characters are these perfect people that give us how that we can find a man just like him. No, Dex has a crappy life and he is just waiting for the day that he can be in control of his life to really make a difference.

And he gives Autumn another perspective of life and how she doesn't have to give in to peer pressure and do things that her friends want to do, but not necessarily what she wants to do. Autumn wants to impress and make her friends happy, but it is affect her health condition at the same time. Dex gives her the atmosphere of non-pressure and he is concerned about her health, making Autumn realize that she doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to do.

All of the other characters, especially Jeff and Dallin, are great friends to Autumn, but she is keeping a big secret from them that will come to bite her in the butt later on.

This is such a great book that all book loves will love (cause of the library aspect) but also good for dealing with peer pressure, making decisions about what one really wants in their life, and finding a way to come to terms with a health condition that needs to be acknowledged rather than hidden and ignored. There are so many great lessons in this book that I think a wide variety of readers will love it!

I'm so glad that I was able to get an eARC copy of this novel and it will definitely be a book that I will re-read again and may even have to buy a print copy when it's released in January! I will definitely be recommending this to other readers!

View all my reviews