Novel Review: Split Second (Pivot Point, #2) by Kasie West

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: February 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

The Cover:

I rather like this cover. It's pretty, I really enjoy the rain element and the colors. I like how it mirrors Pivot Point's cover, with the two images of the same girl, and how this time it's Laila on the cover.

Quotes:

•  "'Then you’ve never felt the real thing, because forced happiness is not the same as real happiness.’” (Pg. 181) “‘It made me ache inside with more joy then I had ever felt. Now I knew what he meant when he said there was a difference between real and manufactured happiness.’” (Hardback, pg. 281)
• "Taking away the memory of pain didn’t keep a person from having to suffer through it.” (Pg. 322)

Review:

This book was pretty much everything I wanted it to be. It was pretty much the perfect sequel to Pivot Point.

This book brought on Laila’s point of view. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this when I started the book, mainly because I just wanted to see Addie and Trevor and I wanted that to hurry up, but it grew on me. A little into the book, and I was enjoying Laila’s point of view almost as much as Addie’s. It definitely helped me to like Laila a lot more, being in her head.

This book started a little slow, but quickly Addie was back in the norm world, and Trevor was back. Trevor just kind of makes everything better. I think he’s my favorite West boy thus far. I just love him, and I can’t even explain why.

Addie found out a few things about her family in this book, and Laila tried to deal with everything that was going on with hers. There were some surprising government elements thrown into this book, which I wasn’t quite expecting, and which was really frustrating at points. But the outcome of that seemed to work.

I really like Addie. She’s great and sarcastic and nice. Laila is great, too. She’s harder to get close to, also sarcastic, and responsible. I enjoyed being in both of their heads, and enjoyed reading what was happening to both of them.

Their romances were great, too. Addie and Trevor, as I’ve said, are awesome. They were a little shaky this time around, but they still have great chemistry, and I just love how well they get along. They are the cutest, and probably my favorite West couple.

Laila had a very nice romance, as well. Connor, I think, is kind of the perfect match for Laila. He’s hard to get to know and stubborn as well, but they even each other out. At one point it seemed a little fast, but I’m okay with that.

This book was perfect. I loved it just as much as I’ve loved West’s other books. I especially liked the ending, and how everything worked out. But overall I loved the romances.

At this point, West is on my automatic-buy list, and I can’t wait for her next book.

Teaser Tuesday[111]: Split Second (Pivot Point, #2) by Kasie West

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Split Second (Pivot Point, #2) by Kasie West

Genre: YA Paranormal/Sci-fi Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: February 11, 2014

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

Excerpt:

“The tingling warmth turned into a searing pain—like fire tearing through my flesh. I squeezed his hand and gritted my teeth. The pain died, and I quickly let go.” (Hardback, pg. 139)

What are you reading right now?

Novel Review: Pivot Point (Pivot Point, #1) by Kasie West

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)

Release Date: February, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

The Cover:

I rather like the cover on this book. It's pretty, I like how it resembles the book. It's simple but eye-catching.

Quotes:

• "'Sometimes perfection reveals the lie, Addie, not the truth.’” (Paperback, pg. 57)
• "'Because illusion is an illusion. Reality always exists despite the façade.’” (Pg. 177)
• "'Don’t let this fall out. My favorite book is in there.’ ‘You have a favorite? Isn’t that like picking a favorite child? Aren’t the other books jealous? You’re an awful book mother.’ I smile at her. ‘It’s my favorite for the day.’” (from the extra at the back, pg. 7)

Review:

It has taken me a very long time to get this book. It’s been on my list ever since it came out, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, but I still didn’t get it till now. I loved her second book, The Distance Between Us. And similarly to that one, I read this in a day and a half. And it was so good.

I wasn’t too sure at first, but I was very quickly really enjoying myself. The book just breezed by, and I was having a hard time putting it down.

For a short while, I was afraid that it was going to be similar to Just Like Fate, of which I was not a very big fan of the ending. So I was very happy with the differences.

I really liked Addie. She’s a reader, and she’s upset about what’s happening, but she’s not horribly angsty over it. She’s realistic, she likes playing it safe. She’s sarcastic. I really liked her as a character, and related quite a lot to her.

I found the whole concept very interesting. How she lives in a compound where everyone has a power, and they’re separated and hidden from the normal people. At first I wasn’t sure, and there wasn’t a whole lot of explaining, but it was an easy concept to follow. And I liked how it developed, how it was built.

I wasn’t sure how the chapters were going to be separated, from her staying or her going, but I really liked how it was done. It took me a chapter or two, but I really liked it--the use of dictionary definitions.

Before I get to the romance, I have to comment on the balance between romance and other relationships. There was a lot of focus on the romantic interests, but there was also a lot of focus on Addie’s friend Laila, and her parents, as well as some on the other minor characters. It was really smooth, too, which I really liked. It was just natural for Addie to be with the boy and think about her friends, or just be with her parents or Laila. It was seamless, and I appreciated that.

I liked Laila, too. I know she plays an even bigger part in the next book, so I’m looking forward to that. I really liked Addie’s parents. Her mother I’m a little iffy on, but I understand why she is the way she is. And I really just liked her dad, and enjoyed their relationship.

Now, the boys. There’s Duke, who I was iffy on for quite a while. I’m not going to go into depth on that, though, because spoilers. But I did not like what him and his friends were doing, and I’m curious if that’s going to go somewhere in the next book.

I really, really liked Trevor, though. He’s a sweetheart, and he’s funny, and he gets along really well with Addie. They clicked really easily. Also, I really liked his family; his mom seemed sweet, and his brother was adorable. I also really liked his friend Rowan. 

The ending. I really liked the direction it went, but I also really dislike the cliffhanger. It leaves such a blank, because of the path she chose. It was obviously the one needed, but it means there’s so much to happen in the next book. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. It was definitely moved high on my list, and I hope to get it soon.