Duology Review

Happy Friday Bookworms! 

I have big news! Reads & Reels is getting some new blood, and it’s about time! It’s just too much blog for little ole me now, so I’m thrilled to introduce one of our new writers to the team. Please give a warm welcome to Maggie!

Today, we have a review of not just one but both books in the Pivot Point duology by Kasie West!

Pivot Point (Publication Date: February 2013 – First Edition)

Pivot Point: 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.

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Split Second (Publication Date: February 2014 – First Editio)

Split Second: 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.

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Review:

Overall as a duology, I gave both books 3 stars. So it’s an in the middle read for me. I didn’t love it, but I prefer the contemporary romance Kasie West writes much better.

I chose to read this duology because I realized these were the only Kasie West books I hadn’t read. When the library has both available, I decided to give them a chance to see why this series looks so different from her cute romance books I’m used to seeing from West. I know authors branch out and try other genres, but I had a hard time with these books because it wasn’t what I used to from the author.

Pivot Point starts out with Addie finding out her parents are going to get a divorce, so her parents ask her to Search the future and decide which parent she is going to live with. She can stay in the Para world with her mother or go into the normal world with her father. Both will lead her different ways, and she has to decide which one will be a better future and life.

Reality one has her stay with her mom in the para world with Laila and she ends up dating football player Duke. Reality 2 has her in Dallas with her dad and she meets Trevor who starts out as her new best friend. Both of these paths are shown in different chapters so you see them as they unfold and each path becomes a memory for Addie so the one she doesn’t choose will be erased by Laila who can do memory mods as her power.

Here’s what I liked about the first book:

• The chapter titles being labeled either para or normal, so you’re seeing both of the futures Addie is seeing as well.
• Addie is a reader so you get some references to Harry Potter and X Men.
• Trevor is a fabulous love interest.

This is what I didn’t like about the first book:

• Addie finds out something intense in one of the futures, but she never tells anyone?! Like it’s super important, but she doesn’t say a thing.
• Plus, she’s labeled as having divergence and there other words to use since… there’s already a book series which features the title very prominently.

Overall, it’s an intense book and has a unique premise for a YA book. It still lacked mystery and excitement I craved from the book so I didn’t love it as much I thought I would…

Split Second picks up a few weeks after Pivot Point. Addison has the Search erased from her memory so she doesn’t remember Trevor. This book is told in a linear fashion, from both Addie and Laila. This was a little confusing for me at first, and sometimes they just sounded the same I had to check to see what POV I was reading about.

The sequel was okay, but I ended up kind of bored too.

I didn’t really like the second book because:

• Laila is withholding this letter from Addie, and I thought she would tell her what’s going on since they are supposed to be best friends.
• This second book just seems a bit disheveled to me. It’s like Addie is so obsessed with Trevor and Laila becomes obsessed with Connor so it’s just all about their love interests and not about restoring the memories.
• It’s in there, but I just found the story was lacking interest compared to the first.
• Trevor and Addie find each other again, but I’m sad their story changed since it was adorable in Pivot Point.
• Connor is just there to be the love interest for Laila, and I had no interest in him at all. I think Kasie West just added him so each character had a romance, but it just was like an add in. I would have cared more if I could have gotten a separate story for Laila and not just lumped in with Addie for the sake of advancing the story.

I liked this series fine, but I wasn’t blown away at all. Both books are just okay. There was nothing extraordinary or worth remembering. I have already forgotten a lot of the plot despite having just finished these books. There’s just that thing missing from this series that would make it stand out or make me go out of my way to recommend it.

I love Kasie West for her romances, but I think I’ll skip the third book of this series if it’s ever written.

⭐⭐⭐

Maggie – Storme Reads