Pivot Point
By Kasie West
Published by Harperteen
Publication Date: February 12th 2013
Source: Won
Rating: 4.5/5
AMAZON / BOOKDEPO / 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.
My thoughts
Expectations: Although there was great excitement for this title months before the release date I still wasn’t that intrigued to read it. The reviews that started to pop up hinted of 2 guys and one girl and I’m sick of most love triangles. That disgust is in fact the main reason why I did not want to read it. WHY did I act so freakin’ stupid?
Cover : It is an interesting cover were the same girl stares at her reflection as if it were a mirror. And if you can say it’s similar to a mirror the shimmering particles could represent glass of a just recently shaken up life, both possible lives. Maybe I’m over thinking but when I read the synopsis that’s what comes to mind when I see the cover.
Book: There have been titles in adult and young adult fiction, in which paranormal beings are presented, that are able to do amazing mental feats for example telekinesis and seeing the future. I liked how Miss West tweaked it to where it became a secluded society were people’s mind excelled the rest of humanity or in their term Norms. The powers are more scientifically explained than just let’s give them powers without a reason how they got them. Some books do that very same thing ‘the not explaining’. The not explaining is a pet peeve of mine. Addie Coleman can see in the future but not the way that is often perceived as cliché. She can see her own future and no one else’s and only when she wants the see the cause of actions she could take. The process of seeing it called the Search. So it is like being at a crossroad and seeing both paths of your life from that point on. Her parents announce they are getting a divorce and she must pick a parent to live with. In both possible future lives she will encounter love and loss, Addie must decide which one it will be.
Kasie West writes in a way you want to read everything she writes even her grocery store list. I meant that jokingly. Her writing is not super prosy or poetic but it lures you in. I don’t know how to explain it but it just fun to read. For me at least I loved how multiple moments in each possible life connected each other but from different vantage points. For example were Addie meets someone who is in fact very important in the novel and in each possible life, she learns his secret and further in the story she discovers the same secret in a different way altogether in another possible life. When the intense parts come around you begin to beg that nothing horrible happens to some of the characters you’ve come to love. In the end you feel some empathy to a person that manipulated her emotions to that particular person. And also saddened that the relationship with another person in, I have come to love, will be different than the one in the search. Secondly what I found unique is how Miss West at the start of every chapter gave it a title. Naming a chapter is often done but the title is a vocabulary explanation from a dictionary.
The characters are very enjoyable in this novel. I will only mention a few that cannot make me verge over the edge of Spoilerlandia.
Addie Coleman is the girl that’s always meticulous. For example she copies her study material from the school computer in case of a power outage which has not happened in 20 or more years in the compound. She is very kind but wants to remain in the background. A cool gal to gang around with.but she is very loud and exact opposite of Addie. How they became friends cute. I read somewhere that in the sequel there will be chapters from her point of view.
There are parents present in Pivot point. They appear often and I’m glad that they aren’t parents that are just characters for plot purposes. Addie’s parents are good people and parents who are noticeable in the novel. It is sad that they have problems but relationship problems happen in real life and gives it a more realistic touch.
There is a kind of a love triangle. But how is handled is to be admired. There is a romantic interest in each possible life and remember the opposite boys don’t know of each other because nothing in the search has happened yet. In each life the romance is at the beginning stage. It is attraction and liking each other but not actual love yet. Also in both cases Addie does not fall head over heal it is a slow going process that could have been real and only one of those romance will be real. At the end of the novel you find out what path she picks and the loss with it. The end has influences the romance that existed and the one that did not
I’m happy I entered the giveaway at Cuddlebuggery.com and that I won. Otherwise it could be a possibility that I would never want to read it. I wonder what will cause the Search in the sequel. Pivot point is a book where a teenage girl must pick a path at the middle of a crossroad. The choices we make in the past define us in the future.
