The Distance Between Us

The first quarter or so of the book was quite good, very engaging, despite all the clichés. Based on the prose alone, the book seemed like a promising beach read. Then it all went downhill. It felt like the author got bored of writing and decided to make everything so convenient just to be able to tie all loose ends in a spiff and then garnish it with a huge pink bow.

The cute beginning of what seemed to be a generic, yet sweet romance between Caymen and Xander, turned into a drab, chemistry-lacking relationship. I can't say I was crazy about Caymen's character, but she sure was more interesting than Xander, whose personality was so faded that I couldn't figure out why she would ever be attracted to him.

I couldn't bring myself to care for what happened to them. The occasional bumps they encountered on their way to happily-ever-after were total lacklusters. The love triangle was pointless, it was there just to fill in the pages.

What I also disliked very much was that their relationships with their parents were so underdeveloped. The book mentions that Caymen has this strong bond with her mother, but we never see any of that. Xander's family is brought up just so we could feel sorry for him, but hardly anything is explained.

Overall, this book was just a big, dry mess. This snippet pretty much sums it up:

Is that your subtle way of saying you missed me last week?I've missed my hot chocolate. I just think of you as the guy who brings it to me. Sometimes I forget your name and call you hot chocolate guy.