On Sale Date: January 31st 2017
Pages: 352
Age Range: Young Adult
Autumn Collins finds herself locked in the local library. Her friends think that she has caught a ride to the party and bonfire with someone else. And if that isn't the worst thing, she finds out that there is someone else locked up in the library too; Dax Miller. She knows him from name because he has quite a bad reputation in school and town. There are rumours about him going around that he was in juvie because of a fight, and most people just think of him as a weird loner. The only thing to kill the time and to not get a panic attack seems to be reading and reminding herself that it is only a matter of time before Jeff, her almost-boyfriend, realizes he left her in the library and comes to rescue her.
But weirdly enough, Jeff never appears to rescue her. In fact nobody does. Autumn is going to have to spend the next couple of days living off vending-machine food and making conversation with a boy who clearly wants nothing to do with her. Slowly he and Autumn first grudgingly, and then not so grudgingly, open up to each other, Autumn is struck by their surprising connection. But can their feelings for each other survive once the weekend is over and Autumn’s old life, and old love interest, threaten to pull her from Dax’s side?
My thoughts of By Your Side is that it is an okay read. I liked the first part where Autumn finds herself locked in the library. That part was worked out very well! It stayed interesting a little over the part where she finds out Dax was hiding in the library. From there one the story started to drag along.
Autumn was nothing outstanding from the average YA girl main character: I was really able to relate to some of her struggles and am grateful they were included in the book. I also loved her relationship with her family. They are all so supportive and loving, though I do wish we could have seen more interaction between Autumn and her brother.
Dax was obviously the average bad problematic guy that the girl falls in love with. Now where have we read this before? Im quite a few other books I am sure. So as of originality this book doesn't win. I did have some question marks though by the whole locked-up-in-the-libary thing: why didn't they use the phones in the library to make a call to get them out?
Overall, an okay read with some serious plot holes here and there. I have read a few other books by Kasie West but so far this is my least favorite.
