A review by jonezeemcgee
The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

2.0

2.5

This is a book about a shitty girl and her incredibly shitty friends struggle with emotional maturity in the wake of playing games with one another. There was definitely the most growth in our main protagonist, though the growth came a bit quick. I did appreciate she had real flaws though and did recognize them. Unfortunately, it took...a boy. Why? Because don't almost all of these contemporaries tell girls they can't grow, move or change without the notice of a particular guy? Ugh.

There are some pluses. Amongst all of this was a cute love story (I won't deny that) and it definitely was a page turner. I can give it to West for making any story readable and relatable on some level, but overall I just couldn't give it 3 stars. I had too much trouble liking the majority of the characters, and even our protagonist wasn't an exception, regardless of her growth. Why?

*spoiler*

In the end they continued to fall back on those games. I would say it's because I'm too old to appreciate this book, but honestly, even 14 or 15 year old Joni would have found them all petty and immature.