By Your Side
By Your Side is classic Kasie West. It's exactly what I want from her books and the reason I love this genre.
It's got a cute & fluffy romance, interesting characters and then West throws in something astoundingly serious, without dragging the light and sweet feeling of the book down.
It this case one of them is anxiety. I love that West brought it up. I even love more how she dealt with it. It was absolutely on point. She got the balance just right. It added depth and realism to the character. Yet it didn't overshadow the cute & fluffy vibes. The same can be said about the foster system. Interesting how this West, tackled such a major problem, yet kept the overal feel of the story lighthearted.
Autumn is a classic West female protagonist. She is witty, fun and at times insanely awkward. In one word great female lead.
Dax, was at first a bit the cliche solemn, quiet broody hottie. But I quickly grew to care for him. We get to see other sides to him and at the end I was totally head over heals for Dax.
Both MCs go through and interesting amount of growth in this book.
The support cast left me a bit divided. I love Autumns family. But her friends? Seriously the worst friends- EVER. And yet, I remember having friends who acted that stupid and carless. Seriously. We all did to a degree. So I kinda rather quickly forgave them at the end, even if throughout the book, I kept wondering why Autumn hang out with a seemingly shallow lot.
Jeff was - well, the hot happy boy cliche. I honestly didn't get his reaction in the end. I mean I am all for being happy for others, but his reaction meant either he was not sincere before or at the point.
The kinda love triangle though funny enough didn't really bother me. Which is a feat in itself.
My biggest issue was the mother. I think while realistic, I felt like those issues were just left hanging and it felt unresolved.
Still I can gripe about the characters because the felt real. There is depth to the two MCs and the cast in general. They- well most of them- somehow fall out of the usual tick-box in some way and managed to endear themselves to me.
Well written, great character building, interesting topics and a good dose of swoon make this heartwarming novel a must read.