Book Review: SPLIT SECOND by Kasie West

It’s hard to write a review for a sequel to a book when you aren’t sure your readers have read the first one, so I was considering writing this in code. But that presented some fairly insurmountable problems. So I will try to say things without saying things. Follow along.

Let’s start with the synopsis from Goodreads:

No, wait. Let’s not. WAY too many spoilers from the first book. So I’m going to break with form and give you the synopsis from the first book, Pivot Point. Bear with me, this will work. Also, from Goodreads:

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.

So now you have the important stuff. Addison, Addie, is a Paranormal like all who live in the top-secret Compound. Everyone there has a special ability from seeing the future to affecting moods, to reading minds, to erasing memories. ‘Normals’ who live on the outside (think Muggles) have no idea the Compound exists, (think Hogwarts and the special charms on it that make it look like something entirely different.) In both books Addie’s two worlds collide with some high stakes complications. When the second book begins there are some giant problems from the first book that need to be taken care of, not the least of which is Addie’s broken heart. I don’t think it will hurt to tell you that she’s in love with a Normal, and that alone poses dilemmas of its own. This storyline is at the center of Split Second.

Addison Coleman is an immensely likeable character and readers will cheer for her right from the start. What Kasie West does so well in these two books, though, is make it difficult for the reader to know who else they should be rooting for. Not all characters may be who or what you think they are. I love these twists and turns, and it definitely will keep you turning those pages.

Regular readers of this blog will know this paranormal reader has been on a fairly straight contemporary diet lately and when I needed something with a little paranormal in it Sarah and Heather recommended these books because they really read as contemporaries but with a nice paranormal twist. I highly recommend both—they are fun, exciting reads. Oh, and there are some pretty hot, loveable/hateable guys in them too!!! How did I almost forget to tell you that?!

Happy Reading!