Book Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West.

Product details:
Publisher: HarperTeen.
Hardcover, 352 pages.
Release date: February 12th 2013.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Ages: 13+
Source: Received for review via Edelweiss.

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.

If books were relationships, and I was breaking up with Pivot Point by Kasie West, my parting words to it would be it’s not you, it’s me.  But we all know that line is never really true. The truth is that it takes two. And the truth is that there were things about Pivot Point that just didn’t work for me.  Still, I seem to be in the minority with my views on this one, and I can see why. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with this book.  Pivot Point is well-written, well plotted, and Kasie West has some inventive and inspired ideas. For me though, there was something missing.

When Addie Coleman’s parents announce that they are divorcing, she doesn’t break down and cry. Instead she decides to conduct a search into her two possible futures.  Addie is a clairvoyant, raised in a secret community where everyone has paranormal abilities.  The rest of the book alternates between Addie’s life if she stays on the compound with her mom and her life out in the normal ‘Norm’ world if she decides to go live with her dad.  Sounds pretty cool, right?  I should have liked this book, but I don’t know…  I guess I like books that delve deep into their characters, and this one didn’t.  I also feel that for a book where nothing much really happened for quite a while, this one could have dedicated a little more time to world building. That didn’t happen and it’s a pity, because I’m pretty sure that Addie’s world has some pretty cool stories to tell. Instead, I got to read a heck of a lot about football.

                                                                                                                      

What Pivot Point has in abundance, though, is boys.  Both of Addie’s potential futures are big on boy time, which would usually be just fine by me, but here I didn’t fall for either boy. Not Duke - a telekinetic hottie or Trevor, a former footballer and sensitive type who Addie makes a beeline for because his eyelashes make hers ‘want to commit suicide’ or some such thing. Yeah. Addie actually says stuff like that. All the time.

Pivot Point does pick up as a murder mystery enters the fray and the stakes in both of Addie’s futures are raised.  The last couple chapters are fast paced and exciting, but I was never really in doubt over which future Addie would choose, and for her part, she didn’t’ really seem all that torn over her choice. I think that’s what Pivot Point was missing for me, really – emotion. Addie really lacked a strong emotional response in situations where it was really required.

 Pivot Point is the first book in a proposed series, but for me, this one worked pretty well as a standalone and so I’ll say goodbye and wish Addie well in all of her future(s) endeavors!