Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Pivot Point
Kasie West
Series: Pivot Point, #1
Release Date: February 12th, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 320
Source: Edelweiss
Rating: 5 stars

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.

I don't think of myself as the type of reader and reviewer who gives every book they love the full, five stars. There are some, if not most books I give four stars to that I say I love, and most if not all of the books I give 4.5 stars to are ones I say I love. But I tend to save five stars for books that are practically flawless to me; for books that, no matter how many minutes, hours, days, etc., I spend trying to find something that I didn't like about it, I still come up with nothing.

Pivot Point is absolutely one of those books.


I am trying (and struggling, might I add) to remember the last time a book left me feeling so consistently giddy as Pivot Point. Those going into Pivot Point looking for a serious, intense read will either be bitterly disappointed or extremely surprised - whether you're surprised in a good way or bad way is up to your tastes and what you're expecting Pivot Point to be. Pivot Point is an incredibly light, sweet, and at times heart-warming and funny read that deals with some pretty common topics such as divorce, moving, and trust, and each and every one of those topics and more are executed with a clear expert hand.

As well as that, Pivot Point is also much more of a character and relationship driven novel than anything else. In most cases, I am not a fan of when the romance takes a larger place than the plot, and the plot is almost hidden in the romance's shadow, and while that may have been the case in Pivot Point at times, I didn't take issue with it in the least because the romance complements the progression of the plot, and the plot itself, tremendously.

In Pivot Point, teenager Addie Coleman has the special ability to look into the future when given a choice between two outcomes, and is able to see which future is better suited to her depending on what choice she makes. This ability comes in handy when she is told that her parents are getting divorced, and that her father is moving out of the Compound in which she and everyone else with supernatural mind abilities like her live, and is moving into the Norm world - specifically Dallas, Texas. Faced with the choice of whether to stay with her mother in the Compound or go with her father to the Norm world, Addie searches each reality's future, but soon realizes that deciding which path to take will be more complicated than she had originally planned.

The basic concept for Pivot Point is one of the most original and well executed concepts I've ever come across in young adult. Instead of the usual supernatural beings we normally come across in young adult - vampires, werewolves, witches, etc. - the supernatural beings in Pivot Point are entirely original and fun. There are those who can persuade others, those who can erase some portions of others' memories, those who can detect lies, those who can move objects with their minds, those who can manipulate mass, those who can manipulate mood, and of course, those who can see into the future when given two choices. Each ability and how it is used is a fresh and fun take on supernatural abilities, handled in an equally as fun and fresh way.

And I realize I'm jumping around a bit in this review, but the characters in Pivot Point were so remarkably developed, and the same goes for the romances. Addie herself was an extremely likable character, and I absolutely loved her wittiness and I found reading from her perspective to be so refreshing. The same goes for her best friend, Laila, and one of her love interests, Trevor. Trevor is easily one of the most likable male love interests I've come across in young adult to date, and is right up there with Tucker from the Unearthly trilogy.

If you're still with me after this one long hodgepodge of a review, then I think you've got a good grasp on how much I truly adore this special little novel. Full of fun at every page, high levels of swoon, with an amazing and incredibly well-paced romance and an intriguing and creepy mystery leading to an intense, shocking, and ultimately bittersweet - yet entirely heartbreaking - ending, Pivot Point is certainly not a novel to be missed come February. I only wish that one of the characters in this book could erase my memory of reading this so I can start it - and fall in love with it - all over again.