Book: P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

★★★¹⁄₂/★★★★★

 

“The world sees you one way

And they listen to all you say

You crave their attention

To feed your addiction

You have to sides

Two faces

You're trying to hide 

In two places.”

[Warning: This review contains spoilers!]

Kasie West sure knows how to write cute contemporaries. A bit cheesy, sometimes cliché but books like this are always a fun read. I've read three of her books—The Distance Between Us was a so-so, The Fill-In Boyfriend was so far my favorite and this book was entertaining. And with Lily exchanging letters with a mysterious guy and the scene where Sasha reads Lily's notebook in front of the whole school, it actually reminded me a lot of the movie A Cinderella Story which I really really loved!

But while I liked that this book was light and cute, I also think it was too cliché. It was too mainstream that Lily is your typical unpopular-weird-looking-self-conscious girl who lacks confidence and Cade is your typical popular-arrogant-athletic-hot guy who everybody either loves or fears. But, but! That isn't exactly a bad thing because despite that, Kasie West has a way of keeping you read until the end. She makes it okay with her cheesy lines and swoon-worthy guys.

“So you think I'm hot?” 
“Doesn't every girl?”
 It surprised me when his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. I wasn't sure why that embarrassed him in any way. I was positive he already knew it. He ran one hand through his hair. Then he said, almost too quiet for me to hear, “You're not every girl.”

The story focuses on Lily Abbott who always spaces out during her Chemistry class because it's so boring. To make it bearable, she pretends to write down class notes in her special notebook when in fact she's writing song lyrics or just her thoughts. One day she gets caught not paying attention to class so her teacher warns and tells her to keep the notebook away and now she's only allowed to bring a piece of paper to class, no notebook to be seen with her. She agrees but now she has no space to write her song lyrics on which sucks. But no problem since she has her whole desk to write on. She then begins writing her favorite lyrics on her desk and the next day she's surprised to see that someone has continued it for her. Next thing she knew, she's exchanging letters with this someone and soon it makes her look forward to attend her Chemistry class since it's only then that she gets to read and reply to the letter.

It's a really cute story and though the concept isn't new to me, it was still entertaining. Lily isn't the best character either but you can relate with her in many ways. She loves music but she's not confident enough to let anyone read or hear her lyrics. She's not popular at school and she had her fair share of having hard times in the hands of popular ones and her quirkiness doesn't really help. She has a huge crush on Lucas who she thinks will never notice her and she has the best friend in the world, Isabel (I like her!) who is her biggest supporter. She also has this big-not-so-normal family and I can very well relate with her on this part because I also have a big family and you can't really say we are the normal type too. And then she has this conflicted feelings toward this pen pal of hers who later on turns out to be someone she knew and is so different when writing his letters and in real life. Anyway, Lily is a likeable character and I liked that she's weird.

Now let's get to Cade. He's Lily's archenemy, Isabel's ex-boyfriend, the one Lily will always hate. But of course he's also hot and athletic and every girl falls for him. Well, maybe all except Lily. The moment Cade was mentioned I knew. But it didn't stop me from reading because like I said, West has a way of making you read until the end. At first I was so intrigued with Cade and I somehow hated him for how jerk he is towards Lily but towards the end his image changes and well, you know, I kinda fell for him. Haha. 

“P.S.” He brushed a piece of hair off of my cheek. “I like you. A lot.”

Lily's family might be my favorite in this book. Jonah and Wyatt are so adorable and Ashley, as a big sister, isn't that bad at all. Lily's parents are actually cool and let's not forget Bugs Rabbit! I wouldn't mind a weird family like theirs because really, mine is the same. Lily writing song lyrics is also one I really loved. I love writing poems and lyrics myself so I like that there's a touch of that in this book.

It might be predictable and cliché but this book managed to make me giggle and sometimes roll my eyes for how cheesy it is which I didn't mind. Overall, P.S. I Like You is really adorable and sweet, just the kind I needed after a heavy novel that is A Monster Calls. A light, fun read which will surely entertain you.