The Distance Between Us [Review]

The Distance Between Us

by Kasie West

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oh my goodness, this book was lovely. Are all of Kasie West’s stories this hilarious and witty, or was that just special for the character in this one? If they are, then I need to go out and buy them all now! The protagonist’s sarcasm is so on point that it had me taking notes on how to improve my skills.

Seventeen (and a half) year old Caymen Meyer lives alone with her mother, who was jaded in the past and has indirectly taught, or at least I hope she hasn’t actively promoted, her daughter to isolate herself from people. Caymen uses sarcasm as a shield, and I’m sorry, but if being witty as heck is a character flaw, then I don’t want to know “normal” people. (Emotional stability is so overrated!) The two of them have always had just enough to get by, and though she dreams of a future, Caymen has decided to put her plans for college aside a year or two to stay and help her mom run the struggling doll shop that they own. Susan Meyer has issues with rich people (see above: jaded past) so when Caymen meets and befriends Xander Spence, the son of wealthy hotel chain owners, she decides to keep it a secret from her mother. This leads to sneaking around, hurt feelings, and eventually hypocrisy, when she finds out that her mother has been keeping secrets of her own.

Also included: best friends, Crusty Toads, lots of tension and confusion, flirting, grave digging, thrift shopping, and of course, more sarcasm. Yes, just wrap your head around all of that and try to figure out how it’s all going to fit into 312 pages under the category ‘cutesy romancy’.

Speaking of fitting everything into 312 pages, I really liked this book, but I feel like the story got rushed at the end. Too many new facts were being thrown at me left and right and then it was over. All of the loose ends either got tied way above where I wanted them to, or not at all. (Spoiler Alert: I mean, who the eff is Matthew, really? A few ideas are tossed around, and I even had some theories of my own, and then we get one vague, threatening phone call from him, Caymen asks what I guess is supposed to be a clarifying question, and he doesn’t even justify it with an answer. Some of you might be content to believe that he was what is assumed, but I would like to believe that there is more to the story. Like, maybe Susan has a much more sordid past or a secret second life we don’t know about. Maybe Matthew is a drug lord or a pimp or something. IT COULD HAPPEN! ) I feel like certain facts that came into light were accepted too quickly and things were said too soon. Also, why is Xander so nice and understanding? This book is giving me unrealistic expectations about men! Excuse me while I go slap my husband with it while shouting “Why don’t you cherish me?”

All issues aside, I enjoyed this book immensely and will definitely be pulling it out whenever I need a good laugh and a little dry humor in my life.

Violence Rating: G (Was there any violence?)
Romance Rating: PG13 (makeout scene, reference to premarital sex and pregnancy)

Favorite Quotes:

Note: Just about everything Caymen says has some kind of sarcasm or dry humor thrown in, and posting the entire book’s contents feels kind of spoilery and probably breaks some copyright laws here or there, so I’m just going to post some of my favorites that are still funny taken out of context.

 

X: “ Note to self: Caymen is very good at sarcasm.”

C: “ If you’re recording notes for an official record, I’d like the word ‘very’ stricken and replaced with ‘exceptionally’”.

X: “Wait, A tractor is going to come dig the rest of this hole?”

C: “Yeah, they haven’t dug graves in years. I just thought this would be fun.”

X: “I’m going to kill you.”

C: “This would be the perfect place.”


Also, this was just lovely and relateable because this is how I feel about books in general. I love the tension of attraction between two characters, I live for it, but once they finally 'get together' it seems like some of the magic is lost.

X: "You look terrified. Does this scare you?”
C: “More than anything.”
X: “Why?”
C: “Because I didn’t bring my mints.”
X: “And now the real answer . . .”
C: “Because I’m afraid that once you catch me, the game’s over.”

Hair to Spare?

I am one of those people who has been blessed with the fortune of having thick, fast growing hair. It's also red, but we can't win them all. All of that, coupled with the fact that I don't dye or chemically treat it in any way makes me the perfect candidate for hair donation. And honestly, why not donate? It's not like I'm going to do anything with that old hair anyway.

I started donating as part of a new year's resolution to do 15 random acts of kindness for every month of 2015. I failed miserably, tapering off somewhere around April or May, but all of the acts and donations that I did complete can't be undone by my failure. I still did a good 60-75 things that have (hopefully) improved the lives of others, if even a little.

So what am I saying here? I'm saying donate your hair! It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it will mean the world to someone who doesn't have the fortune of growing their own, for whatever reason. Below I have compiled a list of various organizations where you can donate, as well as their length and hair quality requirements, so that the donation process will be as easy as possible for you.

It's so simple.

Enjoy. :)

The following rules apply to any hair donation

• Hair must be clean and dry
• Donated hair needs to be pony-tailed and/or braided (this keeps the hair in one direction)
• Hair must be stored in a Ziploc bag inside of the envelope you intend to mail it in.

Additionally, some organizations have a donation form they require you to fill out and send in with your hair. These are usually just so they can send you a certificate to say thank you.

Angel Hair for Kids

Angel Hair for Kids™ is a program of A Child’s Voice Foundation™ that provides wigs and hair loss solutions to financially disadvantaged children in Canada who have lost their hair due to a medical condition or treatment. Using hair that is generously donated to the program, the foundation can create wigs and hair systems and provide them at no cost to the child’s family.

http://www.acvf.ca/index.php/our-programs/angel-hair-for-kids/

A Child’s Voice Foundation, C/O Angel Hair For Kids
3034 Palstan Road
Suite 301 Mississauga, Ontario
L4Y 2Z6

Donation requirements:

• 12 inch minimum
• No permed, bleached, dyed, or treated hair
• No dredlocks
• Slightly gray hair is acceptable
• Print off and fill out the hair donation form

Also, the cool thing about AHFK is that if you're in the area (again, it's in Canada), you can call ahead to the National Office (905.275.3434) and schedule a time to drop off your donation in person.

Hair donation drop-off hours include: Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m; Tuesday and Thursday between 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.  The National Office is closed on weekends.

Childhood Leukemia Foundation

Childhood Leukemia Foundation is a national non-profit organization that works closely with health professionals, to empower children and their families by providing the necessary tools to encourage hope. Supported by an ever-growing network of passionate and devoted donors and volunteers, Childhood Leukemia Foundation helps ease the day-to-day struggles of children fighting cancer and the families that love them.

https://www.clf4kids.org/

807 Mantoloking Road
Brick, New Jersey 08723

Donation requirements:

• 10 inch minimum
• No colored or chemically damaged hair
• Fill out the donation form

Children With Hair Loss

Children With Hair Loss was created as a resource for ALL CHILDREN who have medically-related hair loss. It is their mission to empower these children to become whole again by making hair replacement available to those who may be financially challenged and might otherwise not have a means of obtaining the hair they want and need. Their goal is to assist as many of these children as possible in changing their lives by improving their outlook and empowering them with a degree of self-confidence that will allow them to face the world with renewed self-esteem.

http://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/

Children With Hair Loss
12776 S. Dixie Hwy
S. Rockwood, MI 48179



Donation requirements:

• 8 inch minimum
• Non-chemically treated hair is preferred, but any hair in good condition will be accepted
• Gray hair is also accepted
• Print and fill out the hair donation form

Locks of Love

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.



http://www.locksoflove.org/

Locks of Love
234 Southern Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33405-2701



Donation requirements:

• 10 inch minimum
• Layered hair is acceptable if the longest layer measures at least 10 inches
• Colored and permed hair is ok
• No dredlocks or bleached hair

Note: Per the LOL website "Shorter hair [as well as] gray hair will be separated from the ponytails and sold to offset the manufacturing costs."


In 2014 my daughter and I both donated 10 inches to Locks of Love before I came across this article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/05/13/locks-of-love-6-million-of-hair-donations-unaccounted-for-each-year/#367f04277ef4


Take from that what you will, I just wanted to put it out there, along with this Snopes article:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/locksoflove.asp


Again, take from that what you will. I am neither endorsing, nor discouraging against, Locks of Love. As stated, I myself have donated to them, though that was before I knew what I know now. Would I donate to them again? I don't know. Right now there are too many other organizations that I'd like to help. :)

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene® and the American Cancer Society®, the largest nonprofit health organization committed to saving lives from every cancer and improving the quality of life for people facing the disease. The role of Pantene is to help women achieve long, strong,* beautiful hair and provide the funds to turn this hair into free, real-hair wigs for women with cancer.

http://gotobeautifullengths.com/

Donation requirements:

• 8 inch minimum
• No dyes, bleaches, or chemicals (vegitable and semi-permanent dyes are allowed)
• No more than 5% gray

Beautiful Lengths does not require you to fill out a form, but you should include your name and address with your donation if you would like to be notified when it is received.

Wigs For Kids

Wigs for Kids is a cooperative effort among Certified Cosmetic Therapists throughout North America who share a common goal. "Children shouldn't have to worry about how they look, especially when they're in the middle of a health crisis," says Jeffrey Paul. "We want to give these kids the opportunity to feel good about themselves again." Wigs for Kids depends on monetary and hair donations from generous individuals. The process for creating wigs made from real hair is costly and time consuming. Wigs for Kids never charges the families that are receiving these custom Hair Replacement Systems.

http://www.wigsforkids.org/

Wigs for Kids - Hair Donation
24231 Center Ridge Road
Westlake, Ohio 44145

Donation requirements:

• 12 inch minimum
• Hair cannot be chemically treated or colored
• No dredlocks

Wigs for kids requires that you fill out an online form, located here:

https://ol230.infusionsoft.com/app/form/hair-donation

Once you have finished you will be given an ID number that can be used for tracking your donation. WFK also uses the information provided to send you a thank you note upon recieving your donated hair.

Wigs 4 Kids (of Michigan)

Wigs 4 Kids Wellness Center and Salon is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides wigs and support services at no charge to children and young adults experiencing hair loss due to cancer, alopecia, trichotillomania, burns and other disorders. Wig recipients, also known as Ambassadors, range in age from 3 to 18, and are located throughout Michigan.

http://www.wigs4kids.org/

30126 Harper Avenue

Saint Clair Shores, MI 48082

Donation requirements:

• 10 inch minimum
• No colored or chemically treated hair
• No more than 10% gray
• Print and fill out the donation form

Go Green Salon, located inside Wigs 4 Kids, offers a consultation, haircut & style for a fee to those wishing to donate their hair. 50% of the proceeds from the fee goes back to Wigs 4 Kids. For more information, call 586-772-6656.



Slacking

Id like to apologize to my followers.
(All 4 of you).

I've been seriously slacking as far as this blog is concerned.
Why?
Because I've been reading.
A lot.

I have several reviews started and saved in draft form, but I just can't stop reading long enough to finish them.
I'm sorry, I know I have a problem.
I'm working on it.
♡

Bookfession #2

Credit: https://www.facebook.com/DoodleTimeSarah/?refid=13

The accuracy of this drawing is startling.  Though I tend to visit Half Price Books the most often,(Seriously, there's one on my way home and I think the employees are getting sick of the girl in the Sheraton uniform who comes in every other day,) I tend to use the lower prices as an excuse to buy more books than I would at a regular store.
SorryImNotSorry.

Denver Wins (Superbowls, Awesome Parks, etc)

In honor of the Broncos winning the Superbowl, I decided to share a few of our favorite places in, or around, Denver. Back in October we visited Colorado for the first time, and stayed at the lovely Sheraton (Denver Tech Center) Hotel, which is located about 25 minutes from downtown Denver. I just want to give a quick shout out to the Sheraton for being extremely accommodating. We requested the lowest floor possible, so that our kids wouldn't bother the other guests, as well as a microwave and various other items.
They delivered.
Five stars for awesome customer service.

Well, regardless of how comfortable the beds were, and how nice it was to have cable for a few days, our 2 and 4 year old became (understandably) restless. We spent our days in Colorado out driving around, looking for our next hiking adventure (see below), but it wasn't until our last night that we came across the Centennial Center Park.

This. Place. Is. AWESOME.

Seriously, why did no one see us with our kids and say "Hey, did you know there's this amazing park down the road? You should go there"? This playground is award winning. AWARD WINNING. And I don't just mean in my opinion, it actually says so on the website:
http://www.centennialco.gov/Open-Space-Parks/centennial-center-park.aspx

They have tons of different things for children of all ages to play on.

Seriously, check out that website.

I wish I would have taken more pictures when we were there, but we were too busy having fun! We stayed until it got dark (we felt completely safe) and we STILL didn't get to experience everything that this place has to offer.

We've already decided we're going to stay in the area again the next time we visit Colorado for the express purpose of visiting Centennial Center Park.

By the way, the address is 13050 E Peakview Ave, Englewood, CO 80111

Yes, that's a rock wall! Complete with a slide
so you can get back down faster and commence
with your rock wall climb.

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We were unfortunate enough to visit the great state of Colorado during a fairly cold and wet week, but we did manage to get a little hiking done in between showers. The first place we went was Roxborough State Park (4751 Roxborough Dr, Littleton, CO 80125). For $7 we were given a day pass (check rates and hours at the park's website: http://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/Roxborough ) and a map. This park is fairly simple to navigate, we just followed the road (the unpaved part was hell to drive on, but we survived) until we found where all of the other cars were parked.

There are several different trails, or different directions on the trails, that you can take, and while we meant to go the short route we somehow ended up getting detoured and taking the long way around. It was still very beautiful and easily manageable for our two toddlers to walk themselves, though we did end up carrying/wearing them in the end (thank you, Tula!)

This ended up being a great opportunity for me (and my mini photographer) to take some beautiful pictures with my new camera.

This is one of my favorites:

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Lastly, I just want to mention that the Broncos' stadium, Sports Authority Field at Mile High, is located at 1701 Bryant St, Denver, CO 80204https://www.google.com/maps/place/mile+high+stadium/@39.7438937,-105.0222865,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x876c78b00784f6a3:0xa72ab869d692a0f5. We were in town during a home game, but didn't go because kids 2 years and up are required to have their own ticket, and we just ain't got that kind of money. We did, however, visit the following day (a week day) and checked out the outside of the stadium. They do tours on select days at select times for like $20 a person (check out more info here: http://www.sportsauthorityfieldatmilehigh.com/stadium-information/tour-the-stadium), but unfortunately none of those worked out for us.

Maybe next time.

I'm not sure if this is the norm for this place, or if we just got lucky, but we just drove up, parked in the lot, and got out to take pictures.

No problemo.

Now, I wouldn't recommend this, because if working valet in downtown Indy for 8 years has taught me anything, it's that you should never trust that your car is safe somewhere unless you paid someone in a booth and your ticket matches the name on the sign. That being said, we did the opposite and had no problems. Maybe we were lucky, I don't know.

Also, my 2 year old was TERRIFIED of the horse statues,
so watch out for that if you have small kids.

Bookfession #1

Source: http://bookfessions.tumblr.com

By "sometimes" I mean "daily".

And by "when it's quiet" I mean "every possible second that isn't absolutely necessary to complete my work".

Dragon Sex Books... They're An Actual Thing [Review]

Warning!

 

The following blog post contains a racy and comical review meant for the enjoyment of the reader. My wish is not to offend anyone with the language and/or content of this post, only to provide a hilarious summary the book. If you are a fan of (or perhaps even the author of) this series, then I ask that you please remember that the views and opinions expressed in this blog post are merely my own and are not meant to attack you or your beliefs/tastes in any way. 

I repeat: This post is meant for entertainment purposes only.

 

As you may or may not know, Facebook uses remarketing/retargeting by placing specific posts and ads in your newsfeed based off of things you've searched/mentioned on the internet. (If you didn't know, here's an informative little place to start: https://www.quora.com/How-come-Facebook-is-able-to-show-me-ads-for-something-I-was-searching-on-Google ). Now, I don't go around reading a lot of erotica, and I'm pretty sure the only book that I've ever read with a dragon in it was The Hobbit (in my pre-social media years), and yet the book collection Loved By The Dragon popped up in my newsfeed yesterday morning. Normally I would have skipped right over it without a second glance, but I was feeling facetious so I sent a screenshot to my friend, and fellow book enthusiast, instead.

And the following conversation ensued...

So, naturally, after making this discovery it was decided by both Luna and myself that I should write a comical review on the subject.

And here it is...

As stated in the text messages above, the book starts out with a disgruntled Chloe, whose last name I've already forgotten, hiking out in the wilderness and complaining to herself about her shitty love life. Her on-again off-again ex is a jerk, and the guy before him is a jerk, and life just sucks for poor Chloe. So when she injures her ankle and has to sleep in a cave for the night, it only makes sense that a handsome shirtless man would appear and whisk her off her feet (literally).

The two share about a 10 minute conversation (which is just painful to read because this man talks like a friggin weirdo), and then he does some dragon voodoo shit to fix her ankle. Then, completely forgetting everything she's ever learned about "stranger danger", Chloe hunkers down in a sleeping bag with the man that she has learned is named Saul, (This is also basically the only thing she knows about him at this point). Saul decides to whip out the classic "I have been told that it is considered appropriate in these circumstances to shed clothing and share body heat" and of course Chloe obliges. Obviously once they're naked they can't keep their hands, or other body parts, to themselves, and things start to really heat up. (dragon pun). She mentions that she didn't bring any condoms with her (and honestly if she had brought some along on a lonely nature hike I'd be a little worried), and Saul doesn't seem to understand the need for one, so obviously she's going to use her brain and stop things before they get started, right?

Of course not.

So here we are, barely into Chapter 2, and the main character has already decided to have unprotected sex with a man she just met in the middle of nowhere. Is it really any wonder why her love life has been crap up to this point? She complains that "all the men [she meets] are assholes," but maybe if she bothered to get to know one of them for a day before sleeping with them, she'd realize what they were like and move on with her life. But no, she sleeps with Saul and in the heat of the moment he lays some kind of claim to her, (and BITES HER SHOULDER), and of course she agrees because, isn't that usually what people do when they're enjoying the act? When she wakes up later she finds Saul in his dragon form and, acting as a normal, reasonable human being for the first time, she freaks out. Saul is hurt because she is scared of him even though she said she was his the night before, during what turned out to be some weird dragon mating-betrothal ritual. So here we have two people (er, well...) who laid it all on the line before even bothering to get to know the other for more than a few hours. Saul flies away, hurt, and Chloe goes home to resume her normal life.

The next chapter was my favorite because we actually get to learn more about Chloe. We get a glimpse at her job, her ex boyfriends, and her best friend Marcy. It's all very normal and slightly interesting, so I thought finally, this is where the story really starts to kick off. But no, she can't stop thinking about her one night stand with dragon dude, so she and Marcy take part in some harmless internet stalking. Chloe soon finds out that Saul is a bilionaire and the CEO of Drakestone Studios, and decides to seek him out and beg for his forgiveness. Yes, you read right, she's worried not by the fact that he's a dragon, but whether or not he'll forgive her for running away scared... because he's a dragon! 

Well of course he forgives her and they immediately go at it again. Her bite mark of dragon betrothal has faded over the time they've been separated so he gives her a new one, this time making sure she's fully aware of what she's agreeing to. Why does he chose her, of all of the human AND dragon women he's been with in his 452 years of life, you ask? Because she was the only one who could ever get him off, like, completely.

How romantic.

The rest of the book is just the two of them going at it in different positions and places, coupled with incredibly sexy lines like "I wish to mate with you again" from our man Saul.

()

If you're into books like 50 Shades of Gray or [Insert similar book title here], that have a lot of descriptive sex scenes in them, then I would actually recommend this book to you. There were a few glimpses of an actual story inbetween, but honestly this book was mostly about Chloe and Saul having sex.

TMI: Saul totally does that tongue thing, and he tells her she is "delicious",
which is not something I ever want to hear from a dragon, under any circumstances!

I also feel like I should mention that Saul is in his human form every time they do the deed, (Because 1. Ew and 2. Im pretty sure he'd freaking kill her if he wasn't). So, if bestiality is your thing, then sorry, you'll have to look elsewhere. 

Maybe some nice shark porn?