A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Marguerite is the daughter of two brilliant scientists who have not only proven the existence of other dimensions, but have invented a way to travel between them. Soon after this breakthrough, Marguerite’s father is murdered by one of his own research assistants, Paul. Marguerite and Theo, the other research assistant, follow Paul through dimensions seeking to avenge Marguerite’s father’s death. In the midst of this betrayal, Marguerite will have to decide who she can really trust and how far she’ll go for revenge.

First, THAT COVER. It’s stunning and what drew me to the book in the first place. I love it. I feel like I could just study it for hours. Anyway, moving on. This is a book about inter-dimensional travel. Sometimes it might feel like time travel as some dimensions are not as technologically advanced as others, but it is important to remember that the date is always the same no matter what dimension they’re in. I read a review on this book the other day where the reviewer talked about how much they liked the time travel. IT’S NOT TIME TRAVEL. This is such an important point because time travel seems a little blah to me while inter-dimensional travel seems much more clever.

I liked pretty much all of the characters. They all felt complex and real. I like that Theo is portrayed kind of as an anti-hero. He is very protective of Marguerite and throughout the book I wanted to like him, but there was always something in the back of my mind that wouldn’t quite let me. Paul was a little flat for me. Lieutenant Markov was great, but for some reason that didn’t translate into Paul’s character. Which is a little weird now that I think about it since they’re basically the same person. Maybe that was the point? Marguerite was a great character though and I loved her parents and her older sister. In addition to well-developed characters, I thought the quality of the writing was great.

“Now I know grief is a whetstone. It sharpens all your love, all your happiest memories, into blades that tear you apart from within….They say ‘time heals’….What people really mean is that eventually you’ll get used to the pain. You’ll forget who you were without it; you’ll forget what you looked like without your scars.”

There were just some passages that I felt were really beautifully written. “You’ll forget what you looked like without your scars.” So good. I will DEFINITELY be on the lookout for the next book.

Overall Rating: 4
Violence: Mild
Sexual Content: Moderate. One scene in particular, but brief and very non-explicit.
Language: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate. Two scenes of brief drug use and some underage drinking.

Pivot Point and Split Second by Kasie West

This is a review on both books and may contain spoilers.

Addie Coleman lives in a community where nearly everyone has a special power. Her dad is a human lie detector, her best friend can remove memories, and Addie is a searcher. This means she can see both outcomes of a decision before she makes it. When her parents tell her that they’re getting a divorce, Addie makes the most important search of her life. Which parent does she want to live with? In the end, it will all come down to who she doesn’t think she can live without.

This was such an interesting premise to me. Addie’s power isn’t your most common super power, but it seems really useful. In her search, she sees herself staying in the Compound with her mom and dating Duke Rivers, the star quarterback or living with her dad in Texas and dating Trevor who is an injured quarterback. It’s interesting to see where the individual story lines converge like when the Compound football team comes out to play Addie’s new high school’s team. I also liked seeing Addie’s relationship with each of her parents. Addie and her parents are just good people trying to make the best decisions that they can. I liked that there wasn’t too much angst or drama between her and her parents (unless you call dying some of your hair dramatic).

As far as the other characters, I loved Trevor and was rooting for him and Addie the whole time. He was just a very sweet and genuine character and I thought he was really good for her. Also, I didn’t like Duke because he felt way too cocky to me. Laila was a good character, but she definitely made some decisions that annoyed me. I liked how she got more narrating time in the second book though because it made me like her more. Connor was also a great character (even though I think he probably deserves better than Laila). He’s very complex with his bad boy exterior and his good guy interior.

Overall, a good series. I enjoyed the premise immensely and of course watching Addie fall in love with Trevor (twice) was fun. Though there were times when the books made me super anxious and I couldn’t always tell where the plot was going, I think Ms. West was able to wrap everything up very nicely in just two books.

Overall Rating: 4
Violence: Moderate
Sexual Content: Moderate
Language: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild