Pivot Point

Addison Coleman lives in a paranormal compound (aptly named the Compound) separate from normal people. She and the rest of the inhabitants have various psychic powers and access to much more advanced technologies than the norm world. Her ability makes her able to see the outcomes and futures of decisions she will make. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her parents get a divorce. Her mother will stay in the Compound, but her father will move to the norm world. She has to decide who she lives with, so she Searches both decisions 6 weeks into the future to see which one will have the best outcome. When she knows the truth, what will she choose?

Pivot Point follows a linear story until Addison's Search for the two potential futures. Then, the chapters alternate from the reality where she chooses to live with her father and the reality where she chooses to live with her mother. Each chapter is headed with the definition of a word with "para" in it for the setting in the paranormal world or a word with "norm" in it for the normal world. I really liked this and it helped keep me on track in the beginning while getting used to the jumps back and forth. In both realities, there are fixed events that change slightly but happen all the same even if Addison isn't there. Both stories are effected by the murders of young girls going on in the Compound and the football team at the Compound high school using their powers for more than just winning games. Both stories are interesting, but I personally liked the norm world story line better and I hoped Addison would choose it. Pivot Point's concept had me intrigued, but I was interested to see how the plot would be handled after the two paths finished, which is where it lost me a little bit.

A few things irked me about the book. I am so unbelievably tired of love triangles. This one works better than most, but one of the love interests has to be thrown under the proverbial bus to make the choice clear for the heroine, just like in the Hunger Games series. Why did both have to have a romance? I just think it was unnecessary. I also didn't like the assumption that once she saw what would happen, Addison wouldn't be able to change anything. She made it sound like our decisions are so small that it wouldn't change the ultimate outcome. I completely disagree. I think the author just addressed this to make the story less complicated than it should be by eliminating the impact of changing smaller choices within the outcome of the big choice.

Overall, I enjoyed Pivot Point, but I didn't love it. The writing was engaging and fluid, making me finish it in a few days despite not having much time to read. I really liked some characters, but others bothered me. I didn't see the ending coming, which is wonderful since YA books can be so predictable. I would definitely read more from Kasie West.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins