Review: Split Second by Kasie West

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on January 24, 2014 | 8 Comments


Review: Split Second by Kasie WestSplit Second by Kasie West
Series: Pivot Point #2
Published by HarperTeen (2.11.2014)
Genres: Contemporary, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: ARC, 320 pages
Source: From Publisher
Buy on Amazon


4 Stars

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.

My thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed diving back into this world! It’s a cute fluffy read with the perfect dose of paranormal.

It was cool to see things from Laila’s point of view as well as Addie’s. I loved the banter between Laila and Connor! They clearly had chemistry, but fought it tooth and nail, which made it even better when the inevitable finally happened. There were some scenes where I wanted to yell, “JUST KISS, ALREADY!” because the tension between them was so high. It worked, though! It wasn’t cheesy or annoying.

I found it very interesting that Addie became friends with Stephanie in different circumstances. In the first book, I hated Stephanie. But she wasn’t so bad in this one, which made me feel kind of sorry for her. Her actions and horrible demeanor were obviously out of love and jealousy over Trevor. 

I also feel like Duke kind of redeemed himself in this one. Sure, he may be kind of an asshat; but just like Stephanie, his motives were based in a good place. His actions were just awful sometimes. He truly did care for Addie, but because of that he could be rather selfish when it came to her, putting his own desire to have her over her happiness.

There was plenty of risk in Addie and Trevor’s relationship, but I never felt the danger. Sure, bad things happened, but I was never worried that they wouldn’t get a HEA. Which is great, because I do like the happy, feel-good books from time to time. (This book was a huge difference after finishing Allegiant!)

I would have liked to see more of a) Addie’s ability – there was only once or twice where she used it, and b) the world building. I want to know more about how the society of paranormals works, and more about their technology. We did get a lot more than the first book, but there still wasn’t much motivation behind the nefarious ways of the Agency.

assessment

Plot: 4/5 
Premise: 4.5/5 
Writing style: 4/5 
Originality: 4/5 
Characters: 4/5 
World-building: 3/5 
Pace: 5/5 
Feels: 4/5 
Cover: 4.5/5 

Overall rating: 4/5

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pivot pointClick cover for my review

 

Jessi (Geo)

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8 responses to “Review: Split Second by Kasie West

  1. Ahh omg Laila and Connor were so adorable even though after a while all of Laila’s stringing Connor along got annoying but still EHHH. Also thank you so much for Split Second! I just read it yesterday and I totally agree with you Addie and Trevor were also cute and the new sides of Stephanie and Duke that we saw were adorable <33 Also I agree about the world building. I definitely need more but at this point I just look at this series as a really cute book and everything else totally makes up for the lack of development. Fantastic review, Jessi! <33

  2. Awesome review!! I’m so excited for this book! Although your review makes me feel like I should reread Pivot Point, because I suddenly feel like I forget some of the details… like who the heck Stephanie is lol :X

  3. I’ve seen great early reviews so far! So excited…and really not surprised that this is a crowd pleaser. I really enjoyed the first book though I think I might need a reread. I can’t remember some of the characters. I really enjoy dual POV and I love it when you want to scream at the two characters to kiss already :-) Great review!

  4. I am very happy to see all those 4s :D I loved this book lots. It was so much fun for me and I had an INSANE crush with Connor! So glad you liked Stephanie more in this one because I had the exact same thought – how cool to meet the same character in different circumstances?

    Great review, Jessi!

  5. 4/5! YAY. I sorta skimmed your review of this since I still need to write my own. I really enjoyed this one, too. And I also felt like there was some redemption for Duke!

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