Rowena’s review of Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1) by Kasie West.

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 news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with – her father, who is leaving the 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 her 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.

After reading On the Fence, Nath recommended that I read Pivot Point because it was her favorite of the Kasie West bunch. I’m so glad that I gave this book a go because holy heck, this was a good one.

Addie Coleman lives on the Compound, where people just like her live. People with special powers. Addie is a Searcher. When presented with a choice, Addie can live out both choices in her mind before making a choice, eliminating drama and other disasters that come with decisions. When her parents announce their divorce, Addie has a choice to make. Will she stay on the Compound with her mother and continue on living amongst people just like her or will she join her father off the Compound and try living among the “Norms”, people will no powers.

The book is spent going through each choice. Addie does a six week search in both choices and learns a lot of different things. Good and bad things happen in both realities and Addie has to choose which reality she could live with. In one reality, Addie falls in love but her heart is also broken and then in the other reality, bad things happen and Addie isn’t at all who she thought she’d be but that reality comes with its own happy moments and as the reader, you really feel torn between both realities because both are not perfect. Both have their fair shares of good and bad and for the longest time, I didn’t know what I wanted to happen.

I couldn’t get enough of this book. Kasie West did such a great job of sucking me right into the world that she created for Addie and her peeps. I felt emotion after emotion while reading this and I liked that I was kept on my toes throughout the entire book. I thought one guy was perfect up until I met the other guy and thought, wait a minute…I like this guy. I was all over the place and this book was so good that I read it in one sitting and I couldn’t for the life of me put this down. I read it that fast…and then I woke up the next morning and read all of my favorite parts again.

This book is told in alternating perspectives from both realities. One chapter, she’s living life as a norm and in the next chapter, she’s at the Compound. It’s crazy how the small choices you make every day have the power to change so much about the way things turn out.

Trevor was a dream boat and Duke, well…holy crap, Duke. *sigh* I liked getting to know everyone in the book, especially Addie’s new friends in her norm life. I really liked her parents, even though I wish we got more from her mother. Her mother was absent from a lot of the book, even in the reality where Addie stays at the Compound. She’s there, but I didn’t feel like I got to know her the way that I did Addie’s Dad.

Overall, this was a good book and I definitely recommend it.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Harper Teen.  You can purchase it here or here in e-format.