Review: Split Second by Kasie West

Split Second by Kasie West

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.

Publishes in US: February 11th 2014 by HarperTeen
Genre: YA paranormal
Source: library
Series? Pivot Point #2

Pivot Point (Pivot Point, #1) my rviewl

West, Kasie *

Buy it: Amazon IndieBound  Book Depository

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    I wanted to read Split Second because I read and loved Pivot Point. The concept of the effects that one simple choice can make and epic consequences in the future, and then Addie having to chose between sometimes two very hard choices for what the future could look like. Although I didn't remember a lot about it, I knew that I loved the romance between her and Trevor and was devastated that it had to be erased. I also liked the friendship between her and Laila and was excited to get her pov in this one. Luckily there is an awesome site called the Recaptains, and it gave me a summary so I wasn't completely lost in this one. 

    I really enjoyed having Laila's point of view for this one. To see how her thought process works, and how she really felt, thought and lengths for her friendship with Addie. I also loved her pairing with Connor. He was a really good guy, and such a mystery. He didn't put up with her bull and he challenged her right back. They had some serious chemistry and I loved Laila's denial of how much Connor affected her, and discovering what real happiness felt like instead of her reasoning of hanging with Duke to get manufactured feelings. I also appreciated seeing Laila's family dynamics. Her father was pitiful while at the same time infuriating. You can understand where he is coming from but you see the price that his family pays for his drastic actions. Also, it was nice to see her with her brothers. They had a close relationship but also the typical teasing and pranks. 

    As far as the Addie and Trevor story, I appreciated in some aspects the whole they don't know each other like they did in the last book. But in others, I am so mourning that advanced relationship and missing how they were with each other. But on the other hand, it was a choice that Addie made--the best of two choices, and she has to live with her choices. So, she knew that she would have the possibility of having memories restored and getting that relationship back. But for then, she was getting to know her new environment and Trevor all over again. It is nice that they had the same chemistry and connections, but things just weren't quite the same because Trevor still suspects things and that puts a different spin on the outcome. 

    The first part of the book was character development and the last part is a lot of explosive action, wrapping all the plots together. I would like to see more building on the healer ability and the restoration of all memories because there was a lot of talk about it, but I didn't feel like that fully came to life like it could have. I also want more with Eli, because it was almost a plot device that he all of the sudden came into power and then we don't get to see the rest of how he deals with it. I know he is a secondary character but I still liked his thread. Anyways, I liked how complicated it was to get the ending that they could all live with and how they used their powers together as well as different points of view. 

     I guess my biggest complaint is that we don't see as much of Addie's searching ability in this one. She is overtaken with this new development in her power, the slowing down time in the present and then almost forgets that she can search futures. But I can imagine that it would be hard to feel like you are living two things and the rest of the world is only seeing the one, the choice that she ends up making. And then with the possibility of restored memories, if you want that burden, of living a life but being the only one that remembered. That Trevor would be new in the relationship but she would know what they shared before and the balance of the two. 

    I know this is supposed to only be a two book series, but I would be all for reading more in this world, even if it isn't from Addie or Laila's point of view. I love the premise still, and how Ms West has written their powers, how they have real consequences that the kids have to consider, and the humor, family and friendship themes that are just as strong as the paranormal aspect. 

    

Bottom Line: Fun sequel with characters I love.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Could you chose to leave a paranormal world to go back to normal?