Rachel Rambles About Split Second

Split Second by Kasie West
From Goodreads:
Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

I absolutely adored Kasie West's other two books (read my rambles about Pivot Point and The Distance Between Us), and I was anxiously anticipating Split Second. I had super high expectations, and let's be real here, I was pretty certain that I would love this book. I was right, of course, because Split Second is fantastic.

While Pivot Point is told entirely from Addie's POV, Split Second alternates between the POVs of Addie and Laila. I loved Laila in the first book and wished she'd had a larger role in the story, so I was delighted to pick up Split Second and find that half the book was all about her. Both Addie and Laila are awesome, strong narrators, although they are very different from each other. I liked jumping from Addie's head to Laila's and back again, and I was impressed with how clearly their contrasting personalities shone through. Of the two, Laila is my favorite character, although I do really love Addie. Some people would probably consider Laila to be an unlikable character, but I appreciated her many issues and complexities. She does a lot of things that frustrated me, but I was able to insert myself into her head and lifestyle so completely that I understood where all her actions came from. Addie, on the other hand, is a little more...hmm, how do I say this? I guess Addie has her crap together more than Laila does, so it was nice to be able to get a break from Laila and experience Addie's slightly-calmer personality.

Addie and Laila's friendship is extremely strong in this book, which makes me so happy. Femships (I believe that is the cool new slang term for friendships between girls...you know, like the opposite of bromance? :P) are pretty much my favorite things to read about in YA ever, so I'm always overjoyed to find a book that features a strong and prominent friendship. Neither girl feels like a "quirky best friend sidekick there for the comic relief" to each other. Their friendship is totally natural and realistic, and it's easy to sense the strong bond between them.

Now, let's talk about the boys. :D First of all, there's the charming and adorable Trevor we all know and love from Pivot Point. I adored him when I read Pivot Point, and I'm happy to say that I loved him just as much in Split Second. Although, I have to be honest, my heart does not belong to Trevor in this book...it belongs to Connor. Yes, that's right, there's a boy in this book who I love even more than Trevor! I didn't think it was possible either!

Before you get all worried about love triangles, allow me to enlighten you. Connor is Laila's love interest, while Trevor is Addie's. So there's no conflict there, which is a relief. But let's talk about Connor! He's your typical brooding bad boy, all sarcasm and snark and cold detached-ness. This is, of course, my favorite kind of fictional boy, so I was totally into it. :) Laila and Connor's relationship is also my favorite kind of fictional relationship, with lots of hatred/denial/banter/etc, so I was a giggling, happy fool whilst reading about them. They're definitely one of my new OTPs.

I would love to talk a bit more about Addie and Trevor but I can't really do that without spoilers so I will just say nothing!

Oh, and there is also a story and plot and stuff in this book. It's not just about awesome characters doing things. But again, I don't want to get into anything that would spoil you, so I'll just say that the plot is pretty freaking awesome and surprising and twisty in Split Second. The book is a super fast and fun read that I could not put down, and it is packed full of action and excitement. Split Second also manages to be quite comedic, which is a little surprising because I usually think of this series (duology? duet? whatever...) as being more serious. But there are plenty of hilarious moments and the characters all have some fantastic one-liners that made me laugh out loud. :)

I don't think I can pick a favorite between Pivot Point and Split Second because they're both so good, and I'd say that I enjoyed them an equal amount. If you liked Pivot Point, you need to read Split Second as soon as possible. If you haven't read Pivot Point, you must change this immediately because both of these books are fantastic.