Split Second by Kasie West

Split Second by Kasie West
Series: Pivot Point #2
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: February 11th 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Borrowed
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:

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.

You’ve probably heard me fangirl about Pivot Point if you’ve looked at my blog or my Twitter at any point in the past fifteen months. It’s a favourite of mine, and it still makes me emotional when I think about it. I have been eagerly anticipating the second (and, sadly, final) book in the series since January 2013, and on release day I was fidgeting and finding it hard to concentrate on work. I needed to know what had happened to Addy, and what Trevor was up to, and how the pair were going to grow closer for a second time. I finally got my hands on a copy of the book, and sped through it.

I didn’t enjoy Split Second quite as much as I adored Pivot Point. Pivot Point captivated me and drew me in in a way no other book had done for a while. I was amazed by the secret world full of people with special powers and multiple timelines, but Split Second just didn’t have the same draw.

My main issue with the book was the split (ha) perspectives. Split Second, unlike Pivot Point, is told from both Laila and Addy’s points of view. Now, I love Laila. Her addition to the story was fantastic, and I loved being inside her head and getting to know her better. But, I think that by adding Laila’s point of view to the story, something was taken away from Addy’s. And as much as I adore Laila, I loved Addy first, and I wanted more of her.

Also, I despised Laila’s love interest, so that didn’t help matters at all. He was supposed to be a bad boy with a sensitive side, but I found him grating and rude and kind of disgusting. Some of his actions in Split Second were kind of gross, especially the way he treated Laila. You can’t do that to someone I love, you vile little cockroach!

Addy was as flawless as ever, and it broke my heart to watch her as she struggled with her feelings for Trevor, and how confused she was over them. She had no idea what the two of them had been through before, in the other timeline, and it was heartbreaking.

Trevor was also pretty cool, but I wasn’t such a huge fan of him in Split Second. He won my heart in Pivot Point, but there was something about him in Split Second that made me take a step back. He just didn’t seem like the same person, unfortunately. That said, I did – and still do – ship him with Addy. OTP! OTP! I wish there had been more focus on Addy, and that could have led to more focus on Trevor. But the second point of view took away from that. *cries*

Laila should have just been given her book, in my opinion. That way we could have had way more Addy and Trevor, and an entire book about Laila next year

Of course the plot was exciting and thrilling, just like the plot in Pivot Point. Kasie West certainly has talent when it comes to writing a story filled with action and mystery. Even her contemporary novels are exciting and make your heartbeat race. Kasie, I will follow youuuuuuuuuu. Follow you wherever you may- okay, I’ll stop. This is getting weird.

I really liked the way that Kasie West left the ending very open. There was just enough closure to make readers happy, but the way this ended means that West could easily write more books set in this world. You know, if she wanted to. And if her publisher wanted it. Which they should.

I would love to see more books set in this world, because superpowers are my favourite thing along with parallel universes/worlds and time travel. And I did really enjoy Split Second, I even cried over it, even if I thought there wasn’t enough focus on Addy. Kasie West pulls off another amazing story with Pivot Point, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next, whether it’s another book in this world, or a totally new genre. Like some science fiction set in space, eh? Eh? *nudges*