By Your Side
By: Kasie West
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 346
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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?
First Impressions
Something about the font of West’s books really catches my eye. The summary about two people being caught in a library for a weekend just made me more interested in this particular story! Definitely a 10/10 on first impressions.
What I thought
Not what I expected, but still enjoyable. I finished it in a little over a day, so I think that speaks for itself.
After a late night at the library with her friends working on homework, Autumn runs back inside to use the bathroom before heading to her friend’s cabin for the weekend. While she’s in the bathroom, the lights shut off and the library is shut down. All doors are locked, her overnight back with her cellphone is in the backseat of her friend’s car, and everyone seems to think that she was in a different car so they don’t realize that she’s not with them. Luckily, she’s not alone. Bad boy Dax is trapped in the library with her.
I absolutely loved the portion of the story that dealt with them in the library for the weekend. It was fun to see how two strangers deal with having little to no resources at their disposal and how they’re going to entertain themselves. I also liked the difficulty of their relationship and that Dax wasn’t easily won over. Interestingly, Autumn also has an anxiety disorder and she is without her medication for the weekend (its’s MLK weekend so the library is closed Saturday-Monday).
It was a bit difficult to accept that her friends and family just haven’t come to look for her over the course of a few days, but if you just ignore the improbability of it, there is a plausible explanation in store. I won’t tell you what it is so that you can be as surprised as I was, but it’s definitely an unexpected twist!
There is also a bit of a love triangle aspect to this story. Autumn has a crush on her friend Jeff and they’ve been flirting for months. Before she got locked in the library, she thought that that weekend was going to be the one where they finally got together. Of course, things change after being locked in the library with Dax.
Every character is enjoyable in this story. I wish some of the friendships could’ve been more fleshed out, but the important ones were detailed enough to connect with. This book also dealt with a lot of issues and I think it could connect with a lot of people. Not only does it discuss Autumn’s anxieties, but Dax is a foster child with a troubled past. A few of the other issues are ones that I don’t want to give away!
While this may not be a groundbreaking story, it is enjoyable and well written. Autumn, Dax, Jeff, and even Autumn’s brother were a delight to read. It was easy to get through and I wanted to know what happened to each and every character. I also appreciated that while there were moment that could’ve gotten very melodramatic, they stayed within a relatively realistic realm of drama.