23 Followers
15 Following
lisacollins

Lisa Likes Books

http://lisalikesbooks.wordpress.com/

Pivot Point

Pivot Point - Dude. I mean… man. Holy moly.Pivot Point by Kasie West was one of my most anticipated debuts of 2013. I love it when new authors blow my mind or make me love them from the very beginning of their careers. I say that because West’s novel totally exceeded my expectations. Pivot Point is one of those novels that can be classified as a lot of things: some Mystery, some Romance, a lot of Paranormal/Sci-Fi… and a lot of awesome.Pivot Point is literally two stories in one. Addison has the ability to “Search” the different outcomes of decisions she has to make, which is what the novel is: one big Search. The audience reads two stories: 1) Addison if she chooses to live with her father and 2) Addison if she chooses to live with her mother. I was quite surprised with how West played the story. No matter which path was chosen there were still events that overlapped. So in one path if Addison goes to a football game, she’s most likely at a football game in the other path as well. It sounds weird, but West set the story up so well that it’s hard to notice there could be any other way for things to happen. It all unfolds very naturally. It’s apparent how much thought went into every part the story. Aside from the mechanics I just really loved the plot. I couldn’t put this book down and did that whole “Just one more chapter!” bit for so long while I was reading.Addison… I’m not really sure what to say about Addison. I enjoyed reading about her, but I don’t feel like I was connected to her in some strong way. Then again, I was too busy swooning over Trevor to really notice much else. Both Addison and Trevor were complex characters with a ton of layers (like onions!). I feel like there was the correct amount of backstory for each character and no fluff at all. Not that fluff is always bad, but the absence in this novel was good considering it was highly plot-driven. I love Addison’s tendency to word vomit, though. Who starts a conversation with (with a complete strange, mind you) “Your eyelashes make mine want to commit suicide from shame."? Addison does, apparently. I feel you, Addison. I can’t help the things I say either… sometimes.I’m a really big fan of all the main characters throughout the story, with emphasis on the “Norms”. Addison’s group of friends in the normal world seem so fun, like the people you want to hang out with. Sure, having an “ability” would be cool, but so is playing things like the Dessert Game. (Is that a Thing? Because I’m pretty sure we don’t do that here. Why NOT?) All in all, they’re super fun loving and passionate, and it’s awesome. (I’m looking at you, Rowan!) We don’t really get to see many of Addison’s friends from the Compound. The ones we do see are clearly the “bad guys”, with the exception of Laila, Addison’s best friend. It totally worked for the story, but I hope to see some of the people from the Compound in a better light in the next book. (Or maybe just more of them in general. I’d love to get to know Laila better.)Pivot Point was a very strong and interesting debut novel. I loved it from beginning to end and will definitely be waiting very impatiently for the second book in the series to release. I can’t wait to read more by Kasie West and strongly urge you to check this book out. Go, go, go! Do it.