REVIEW: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend—two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.
The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party—three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.
Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.
Gia is what is considered on the outside to be perfect. She has the perfect family, the perfect life, the perfect friends. So when her boyfriend breaks up with her just before prom, she enlists the help of Hayden, her 'fill-in boyfriend'. But what she soon realises is that her life isn't perfect, and actually sometimes you need the perspective of an outsider to your life, a stranger, to break you away from your routine actions and opinions.
Our characters in this novel although play a key role, sadly were all rather dislikable. Gia and her friends were narrow-minded, self-absorbed and self-important, and it was hard to like them. Their friendships were toxic, but what was highlighted was also their lack of knowledge of one another. They were simply friends on the surface, and that was it. But it is a topic that is tackled in the novel, identifying toxic attitudes of those around you, and in oneself, and how these affect you; it prompts the reader to question whether sometimes losing that toxic friendship is better for your mental health than carrying on with it.
The plot of this novel isn't what left a lasting impact on me as a reader. The plot was not the most exciting, a little bland, and truthfully not the most engaging. The characters were self-absorbed, immature and simply had incredibly self-righteous personalities, which is actually what made me want to stop reading a quarter of the way through. However, one persevered, and pleased they did.
The novel highlighted some key issues with society, and although they were not completely analysed and challenged in-depth, they certainly made you think. One of the key things that stood out is how society is so busy and wrapped up in their own thoughts and agendas, that we take little time to understand and get to know small things about those around us. It highlights to the reader to not be afraid to ask people about themselves, to not allow fear of them not wanting to talk about themselves stop you from wanting to get to know them better.
"What's your story?"
The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West, page 223 (Paperback)
It also highlighted the dominance of social media in today's society, and for a teen novel, I felt this was a really great topic for the novel to have brought to attention, and was something West mildly tackled. How many look for validation from those on social media, how many likes they get, followers, connections. And how damaging this can be to people, especially young adults in the way they see themselves and how they express themselves as people.
"I did delete pictures or tweets that didn't get enough likes. I did measure my worth in those terms."
The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West, page 202 (Paperback)
Therefore, although the plot of this novel wasn't greatly executed and the characters were extremely dislikable, making it tricky to continue reading; I believe it is worth the read for some of the messages the novel sends on not being afraid to ask people more personal questions in order to get to know them better, to open up, and the impact that social media and technology can have on a young impressionable individual.
