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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse
This was really good guys, like 4 maybe 5 good. Totally surprised me, really glad there's a sequel in the works.
Originally posted at Writer of Wrongs
Rating: I was so surprised at how much I loved this book! Unique, powerful, and full of shocking twists. A must-read!
The cover: I like! It makes the book look a bit darker than it is, but the girl looks a lot like the Addie in my head, and it's got that whole duality feel down.
The story: I don't know why I sat on this review for so long. This book was a quick and engaging read, and most of all, it was fun. It's not intense or dark, though it has it's moments--mostly, this book is cute and funny and totally ordinal. West's take on supernatural beings is so much more fun than the average broody, angry creature. Rather, she's created a whole world full of people with cool enhanced abilities, such as persuasion, memory modification, telekinesis, and lie detecting.
Addie lives in an enclosed compound just for Paranormals. Addie's is the ability to envision projected futures. So when her parents split up, and her dad decides to go live in the Norm world, Addie envisions the two possible outcomes of the choice of which parent to live with. Both possible futures hold mystery and romance, and yes, that means there's a love triangle... OF SORTS. Because this is the most original interpretation of dual love interests I've ever seen, because of course they don't exist in the same reality.
In reality 1, Addie stays with her mom, her best friend, Layla (whose power is memory modification), and Duke, the hot, popular football player who's suddenly paying close attention to her. In reality 2, she relocates to Dallas with her dad and has to adjust to a brand new high school in a totally different universe from hers. She's surrounded by people who have no idea that people with supernatural abilities even exist. When Addie envisions her two possible paths, she actually lives them. Even the road not taken is etched in her mind as a solid memory. So we go along the two paths with her, alternating by chapter, never sure until the end which road is the actual story.
What really got me hooked on this book were the characters, particularly Addie. She's a bookworm who detests football, and she's hilarious. And Trevor, her love interest, is SWOONY TO THE MAX. He's just a legitimately great guy, and one of the sweetest book boys I've come across in a long time. All the awards to Trevor. Seriously. Laila is an awesome and colorful best friend who's relationship with Addie is strong and interesting. And Duke is charming and really, really attractive. But I found myself more interested in the "Normal" chapters set in Dallas than in the Paranormal chapters. Not to say the other storyline was bad--it most certainly wasn't. There was so much going on over there, and watching the two stories somewhat overlap--picking up clues from both worlds to solve the one overarching mystery--was totally cool. But the story of Addie the new girl becoming best friends with Trevor the cute boy... that was my favorite aspect of the book.
Honestly, I still have world-building questions about the paranormal city and stuff like that, but I was willing to let it slide in book one. Mostly because Trevor was there being all adorable, and Addie was being snarky, and there were mysteries to solve and stuff. The book got serious at the end, with all kinds of betrayal and heartbreak (my heart, specifically, though I suppose Addie was pretty sad too).
I one hundred percent recommend this book and West's sophomore novel, The Distance Between Us. Both have a lot of humor and heart and will entertain you no question.
That was CRAZY. I'm feeling so many feelings right now. I need book two NOW.
I love this book. I love it so much. I am so excited for the sequel and I can't believe it took me so long to read this. Thank god for my TBR jar. Did I mention I love this book.
3.5 / 5
I hadn’t heard much about this book, but I’d seen it in enough book hauls to be curious about it. I snagged a copy off Book Outlet, and it had just been sitting on my shelf until I decided to pick it up. I expected it to be light and entertaining and fast-paced. I wasn’t disappointed in this aspect.
Most of the book was light and fluffy, and I enjoyed that. I liked both the love interests as characters, if not as people. And the premise was interesting enough to keep me reading. On top of that, the ending was unexpected and I will be picking up the next book to see what happens to the characters.
But I did have some issues. Some I’m not really sure about, others are very real problems.
Plot:
I felt the paranormal aspect of the book took a back seat for the most part. I was really interested in the Compound, and its history, and even though I did get a little bit of that, I didn’t get enough. In books with the ‘secrecy from the Muggles’ element, as I like to call it, I feel it’s very important to properly develop the ‘inner’ world. It was very clear in this book what the ‘inner’ world was, how it functioned, but I would have liked a little more detail, but maybe that’s just me.
While I enjoyed the twist at the end and the reason it happened, I thought that the climax was very rushed. I would have liked for it to be a little more fleshed out, and some more explanations as to why and how the villain did what he did.
I really enjoyed the love triangle with a twist. This girl is not really deciding between two boys- she’s deciding between two paths, each leads her to one boy. I was rooting for Duke at first, completely transfixed with the charming-jock-falls-for-the-ordinary-girl trope, but as the relationship between Trevor and Addie developed, I found myself shipping them. I really liked how that was done in the book.
Characters:
My main problem was the characters. I didn’t like Addie much as a character. I didn’t think she had any depth to her. She was pretty smart, and she made logical decisions, but I didn’t really get a sense of what she wanted out of life. It might have been because she was faced with two different paths that affected her in two very different ways. That might have been why there were certain inconsistencies to her personality, but it just didn’t really work for me.
Her best friend, Laila, seemed flat for the most part. Like she says to Addie in the book, she’s there mostly for the comic relief. I know for a fact that the next book focuses on Laila a lot more, so I’m excited to see a little more of her personality.
I liked the two main guys in the book. I liked Duke as a character, but not as a person. I liked Trevor as a character and a person, and the unfolding of their stories and their personalities really intrigued me.
Writing Style:
Kasie West has a fantastic imagination. I haven’t read anything like this book, and I enjoyed it quite a lot, despite its problems. But her language didn’t do anything for me. I thought it was uninspiring and clichè. She doesn’t have that distinctive touch to her writing. While it didn’t bother me much, because she’s not a bad writer whatsoever, it didn’t really capture my attention either.
Would I re-read? No.
Would I recommend? To an audience who likes light, fluffy, entertaining reads, yes.
I hadn’t heard much about this book, but I’d seen it in enough book hauls to be curious about it. I snagged a copy off Book Outlet, and it had just been sitting on my shelf until I decided to pick it up. I expected it to be light and entertaining and fast-paced. I wasn’t disappointed in this aspect.
Most of the book was light and fluffy, and I enjoyed that. I liked both the love interests as characters, if not as people. And the premise was interesting enough to keep me reading. On top of that, the ending was unexpected and I will be picking up the next book to see what happens to the characters.
But I did have some issues. Some I’m not really sure about, others are very real problems.
Plot:
I felt the paranormal aspect of the book took a back seat for the most part. I was really interested in the Compound, and its history, and even though I did get a little bit of that, I didn’t get enough. In books with the ‘secrecy from the Muggles’ element, as I like to call it, I feel it’s very important to properly develop the ‘inner’ world. It was very clear in this book what the ‘inner’ world was, how it functioned, but I would have liked a little more detail, but maybe that’s just me.
While I enjoyed the twist at the end and the reason it happened, I thought that the climax was very rushed. I would have liked for it to be a little more fleshed out, and some more explanations as to why and how the villain did what he did.
I really enjoyed the love triangle with a twist. This girl is not really deciding between two boys- she’s deciding between two paths, each leads her to one boy. I was rooting for Duke at first, completely transfixed with the charming-jock-falls-for-the-ordinary-girl trope, but as the relationship between Trevor and Addie developed, I found myself shipping them. I really liked how that was done in the book.
Characters:
My main problem was the characters. I didn’t like Addie much as a character. I didn’t think she had any depth to her. She was pretty smart, and she made logical decisions, but I didn’t really get a sense of what she wanted out of life. It might have been because she was faced with two different paths that affected her in two very different ways. That might have been why there were certain inconsistencies to her personality, but it just didn’t really work for me.
Her best friend, Laila, seemed flat for the most part. Like she says to Addie in the book, she’s there mostly for the comic relief. I know for a fact that the next book focuses on Laila a lot more, so I’m excited to see a little more of her personality.
I liked the two main guys in the book. I liked Duke as a character, but not as a person. I liked Trevor as a character and a person, and the unfolding of their stories and their personalities really intrigued me.
Writing Style:
Kasie West has a fantastic imagination. I haven’t read anything like this book, and I enjoyed it quite a lot, despite its problems. But her language didn’t do anything for me. I thought it was uninspiring and clichè. She doesn’t have that distinctive touch to her writing. While it didn’t bother me much, because she’s not a bad writer whatsoever, it didn’t really capture my attention either.
Would I re-read? No.
Would I recommend? To an audience who likes light, fluffy, entertaining reads, yes.
Entertaining and fast-paced, the constant switching between the realities confused me first, I really had to keep attention and concentrate, a fact that isn't necessary normally while reading a ya-novel 😉
I was excited to start this book. The blurb seemed promising when I read it and this was also a recommendation from a friend in Goodreads.
This book is told by Addison Coleman’s, the main protagonist and probably the girl on the cover, point of view and she’s a Searcher. Someone with a special ability that can see the future and people with special abilities live in some paranormal compound. There’s also a place for the normal people, like mundane ones. They’re often referred as “Norms". She’s also torn between a choice of staying either with her mother or her father after they decided on getting a divorce.
I have never read something like this before and it’s quite confusing at the start because of the Search she’s making. It’s two paths so every chapter is a different scenario. It’s like, this chapter is the path where she chose to be with her mom and the next chapter, her dad. Then back to her mom.
Addie’s a smart girl and from reading the book, you could see the different sides of her in between the paths and how she grows as a character. I like her dad and I have missed feelings for her mom but somehow she’s still a mother and she cares for her daughter. I had to get a better grip on her best friend’s, personality though. In one of the two paths, she’s kind of pushy or someone trying too hard to prove a point to a person who doesn’t really feel comfortable with the situation. It bothered me when all she kept telling Addie of how hot Duke was. Not saying she’s a bad friend but she should really consider that Addie’s parents just got divorced, her best friend doesn’t like the guy, she needs a break. But I also want to roll my eyes at Addie, she doesn’t like him but she keeps thinking about him. Typical. But I like Trevor. He’s a sweetheart and I like him.
The turn of events weren’t surprising for me but a certain tragedy kind of did. The idea for this story is cool. I gotta say cool because it really is to me. I enjoyed the story and the change of scene in every chapter and even though I had those minor issues, I still got the hang of it. So, 4 stars.
This book is told by Addison Coleman’s, the main protagonist and probably the girl on the cover, point of view and she’s a Searcher. Someone with a special ability that can see the future and people with special abilities live in some paranormal compound. There’s also a place for the normal people, like mundane ones. They’re often referred as “Norms". She’s also torn between a choice of staying either with her mother or her father after they decided on getting a divorce.
I have never read something like this before and it’s quite confusing at the start because of the Search she’s making. It’s two paths so every chapter is a different scenario. It’s like, this chapter is the path where she chose to be with her mom and the next chapter, her dad. Then back to her mom.
Addie’s a smart girl and from reading the book, you could see the different sides of her in between the paths and how she grows as a character. I like her dad and I have missed feelings for her mom but somehow she’s still a mother and she cares for her daughter. I had to get a better grip on her best friend’s, personality though. In one of the two paths, she’s kind of pushy or someone trying too hard to prove a point to a person who doesn’t really feel comfortable with the situation. It bothered me when all she kept telling Addie of how hot Duke was. Not saying she’s a bad friend but she should really consider that Addie’s parents just got divorced, her best friend doesn’t like the guy, she needs a break. But I also want to roll my eyes at Addie, she doesn’t like him but she keeps thinking about him. Typical. But I like Trevor. He’s a sweetheart and I like him.
The turn of events weren’t surprising for me but a certain tragedy kind of did. The idea for this story is cool. I gotta say cool because it really is to me. I enjoyed the story and the change of scene in every chapter and even though I had those minor issues, I still got the hang of it. So, 4 stars.