Ashleigh Paige

I'm a full-time college sophomore pursuing my B.A. in English with hopes of one day working as an editor. Cats, musicals, documentaries about cults/disasters/tragedies, and curse words are just a few of my favorite things. Also, check out our blog or I WILL FIND YOU.

Pivot Point

Pivot Point - See more of my reviews sooner on The YA Kitten! My copy was an ARC I received via Amazon Vine.3.5 stars.Nothing about Pivot Point really screamed "READ ME" to me, but on a friend's recommendation, I decided to pick up an ARC when I had a chance. (Amazon Vine is beautiful. Just sayin'.) Well, color me swoony because it came out of nowhere to impress me. Books like this are why I still take chances on novels I'm unsure about: gems occasionally pop up.Addie's such an accessible character that growing to care about her happens quickly. There doesn't seem to be much conflict in which life she should choose because one life seems leagues and leagues better than the other, but her personal struggle with it is perfectly understandable. West's easy prose and quick pacing as each chapter rotates between each life make the book a quick read, but it takes a while to get used to the constant switching. You just have to remember they switch with each chapter or recognize if the defined word at the chapter's start has "para" or "norm" in it.The love interest Addie has in her life with her father is such a sweet guy and I'll remember him as one of my favorite love interests in any novel. Trevor's not really swoonworthy, but he's the subtle kind of sweet you like anyway--kind of like my Paris-themed, candy-scented perfume. The other one, football player Duke, should go to a special hell where he has to kiss a cactus that kicks him in the nuts every three seconds forever. THAT'S how bad he is in my eyes. One character deserves that and a whole lot more.Laila earns almost as much of my ire as Duke does thanks to her lack of depth and character development. Also, rule number three of the sister code? NEVER push your best friend off a stage just to get her close to a guy you think she might be good with. Matchmaking attempts will happen, but there are limits and that is well beyond them. I'm also unimpressed by the one-note characterization of jealous love rival/cheerleader/Norm Stephanie. Her only characterization is that she dislikes Addie because she's a girl Trevor is close to.There's just one question about the ending. There's really no way to explain it otherwise, so here's a vague explanation that may seem like a spoiler but it's not: Addie has Laila Erase her memory of both paths to keep them from effecting whatever path she chooses to take. With no memory at all of what she saw in her Search to guide her in her decision, why does she choose to live with the parent she ultimately does? She just gets lucky and chooses the "right" path?I honestly didn't expect to care much for Pivot Point, but it came out of nowhere to surprise me. I'm staying tuned for both the next book in this series and West's next novel, The Distance Between Us (July 2013).