REVIEW: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

Title: The Fill-in Boyfriend

Author: Kasie West

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication: May 5th 2015

Cover Rating: 1/5

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I read The Fill-In Boyfriend in a day just like the previous two books. I don't really know what it is about these books but they are such quick reads but they aren't light, fluffy books. They have some serious issues and a lot of emotion in them and each book seems to have a lesson to learn. But they aren't that good girl meets bad boy stuff. They are really nice contemporaries.

Gia is okay. At first she is one of those nasty high school witches and her friends opinions matter to her more than anything. That is where she went wrong. You have to love yourself and your own opinion should be the highest one. She had a good heart and she wasn't unintelligent but she followed the wrong path.

I really liked Hayden. He was a stand up guy for helping Gia out but he had a lot of problems of his own. A cheating ex, a backstabbing best friend and a sister who could scare Rob Zombie. He uses Gia the same way she used him and in the end it winded up being great for both of them but the path they took caused a lot of hiccups and heartache.

Gia's friend in this book are what is wrong with the world. These kind of girls make other girls feel like they can't be themselves. They are always being questioned about everything and it leads girls to lying, cheat, steal and do a lot of other dangerous things just to be accepted. Since this book is aimed at High School level teens I would like to strong stress that THIS isn't how you have to live life. You should be happy, not stressed about proving yourself to other people. It is good to have friends but  no friend is worth altering yourself. 

The fake relationship plot was different. I don't think I have read many books like this. But the pressure to prove to her friends that her boyfriend was real made Gia lose a lot of things. Although she gained a new best friend in Hayden's sister she still has a lot of lies on her shoulders. While being fake isn't good, lying is much worse. Especially when you lie to gain approval.

There is a really amazing lesson that this book teaches. When you stop worrying about popularity and what other people think about you you tend to find better friendships and you lead a less stressful life. You don't have to be fake or try to impress anyone. I feel like Gia would have been such a better person if she wouldn't have followed the popular crowd and just lived life as her own person.

I was a little bit disappointed that none of the characters from the two previous books appeared. But that didn't effect my rating of the book. Was just something I was hoping for since the second book had characters from the first in it. Maybe if the author writes another book it will have characters from this book in it?

Overall, I gave the book 5/5 stars.