By Your Side
by Kasie West
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: Jan. 31, 2017
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Rating:
When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her. Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumors about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to be stuck with. Still, she just keeps 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.
Only he doesn’t come. No one does.
Instead it becomes clear that 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. Except there is more to Dax than meets the eye. As 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?
By Your Side is an adorable young adult novel. While the premise isn’t anything new, a good girl falling for the bad boy, it was really well written and I found myself falling in love with Autumn and Dax. You see, these two meet when they are locked in the library over a holiday weekend. Autumn was by accident, Dax, however, needed a place to crash for the night. These two very different people not only come to an understanding of each other while locked in the library, but they also become unlikely friends. There was just something about this story that had me swooning all over the place.
Dax is this misunderstood kid. Actually, they both are. Dax is perceived as this bad boy. He has no friends, he sort of skates through life in the background, and not to mention, he was in juvie. However, what no one knows, except for Autumn thanks to their time in the library, is that Dax is a foster kid. His mother is a drug addict and he’s been in the system for years, being bounced between homes. While the home he’s in now is safe enough, his foster parents have a tendency to lock him out of the house when they don’t want him around. Which is how he finds himself at the library with Autumn.
Meanwhile, Autumn is the typical girl next door. She has a crush on the popular funny boy and she has a huge group of friends. She goes along with all of their shenanigans, but what they don’t know is that Autumn has an anxiety disorder. A lot of their gatherings actually tend to stress her out and she’s been known to have to bail out of events because of an oncoming attack. However, there is something about Dax that calms her. So, she decides that she will become Dax’s friend whether he likes it or not.
The only thing I never did fully get was how her friends left her at the library in the first place. I get that there were a handful of cars and everyone thought she was in a different vehicle. However, when you got to the bonfire, wouldn’t the guy who’s crushing on you, or your best friend realize you aren’t there? Wouldn’t they question if you ever made it into a car? Wouldn’t you call that friend and her family to see if she actually bailed and went home instead? I just don’t understand how her friends would leave her behind like that. I also don’t understand how the assumption of her whereabouts came to be, given the fact that her friends should have known she never made it to the bonfire. I think that is the one thing that really bothered me about this book. It just didn’t add up.
Aside from that though, I really enjoyed this story. I loved getting to see Dax relax and build a bond with another person. While the book is written in Autumn’s POV, you can see him start to shift from being aloof to actually started to open up to Autumn. Granted, Autumn was a pushy little thing and found ways to interact with him and get him to talk while they were at the library, he also took the initiative to interact with her, too. He would give her his hoodie and socks to stay warm. He even slept on a cold table so that she could have his warm sleeping bag for the night. It was those tender moments that had me swooning. This book just gave me some intense heart warming feels. If you’re looking for a light adorable young adult read, look no further. 😉
Favorite part…
“‘What?’ he asked.
I realized I was smiling too. ‘I want to take out my camera.’ My hand clutched the strap of my camera bag.
‘Why?’
‘Because you are very photographable.’ Dax surrounded by dead plants, the sun shining muted through the fogged up window behind him.
He raised his eyebrows.
‘It’s true.’
‘Not sure I should be flattered when I saw you taking a picture of a spider a few weeks ago.'”
I’ve heard good things about this one. Glad to see you liked it even if you did have a problem or two with it.
As long as the good girl/bad boy story is done well I don’t mind that 😀
I really would like to try more of her books. I liked PS I Like you.
This sounds like a good one! This is one of those authors I am forever meaning to read! Hopefully one of these days. Great review!
Lovely review! I have read one of Kasie West books and I’ve been wanting to read more from her – her books all sound like sweet and fun reads you can breeze through easily and I love these kind of books 🙂 I’m glad to hear this one warmed your heart even if some things didn’t quite add up in the story 🙂
Locked in a library for an entire weekend?? That would be the dream!!!
Thank you for sharing this, it seems like a cool read, and I really like the cover! 🙂
That quote made me chuckle (:
The thing that doesn’t add up is a library being closed for a weekend. Unless there was a holiday happening, my library is always open on Saturday.
This seems very cliche but those are the ones that always get me to like them. I didn’t know Kasie West wrote a new book either!