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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Blink Once in Books

Jun 7, 2018

(This review is also on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).

I bought this book as a gift to myself because, well, I can never have enough books! The synopsis of the book sounded really good, and I was kind of right.

West ends up in hospital paralysed from the neck down after a biking accident. He thinks that life will never get any better until he meets the alluring Olivia who is in the next room. Soon, she's sneaking in to his room to see him whenever she can. He communicates with her by blinking his eyes once for yes and twice for no. West starts having some strange dreams whilst in hospital. He can't but help to feel that his dreams and the hospital he's in are somehow connected. And what's the deal with Olivia? Why is she in hospital?

I thought the title of this book kind of suits it. West does use blinking for communicating, but that's about it. I don't really see the significance of the title "Blink Once." The author could've chose another title that's better suited to the book, but I suppose Blink Once suits it a bit.

The cover, like the title sort of suits the book. It's just a picture of a girl laying down, possibly sleeping. I'm assuming it's Olivia. It seems that most YA books these days take the easy route of picking out a design for their cover but just putting up a photo of one of the main characters. Meh, like I said, it's an okay cover, but it could've been better. It does relate to the book though so I suppose that's something.

There's not much to say about the setting. About 98 percent of the book takes place in a hospital. The other places the book takes place is in memories in West's mind for the most part.

The pacing started out so so so slowly. I was thinking how disappointed I was in this book especially as I actually paid money for it. I had to force myself to read it, but I'm glad I did. About 65 percent of the way through the book, the pacing of the book picks up. It becomes a fascinating read. Of this, I was very thankful. Once I got to where the book had decent pacing, I couldn't put the book down. I was wondering if I was actually reading the same book as the pacing was totally opposite for awhile.

The dialogue is good for a young adult book. There is some swearing in this book, but it's not too much. I liked the way the characters, especially the boys, came across as being "real" teenagers, as in talking about how hot a girl was and that sort of thing. A lot of YA books seem to make their teenage characters appear to be more adult. It was so refreshing to see the characters acting their age.

As for the characters, I must admit, at first I couldn't care less about what happened to West and Olivia or what was going to happen to them. When the book actually got going, I started falling in love with West and Olivia. I loved their relationship. You can definitely feel that they've got something special. Olivia does come across as a bit needy, but I think that helped me relate to her. She doesn't come across as an annoying needy girl. It's a bit hard to explain.

This book will make you question certain things. I won't tell you what because I don't want to give too much away. It made me feel like I shouldn't ever take anything for granted.

I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 16+.

Blink Once by Cylin Busby gets a 3.5 out of 5 from me.

Kudos

Kaz4ray (17 KP) rated Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House in Books

Jan 28, 2018

This book is incredibly difficult to read if like me you are from the UK and don’t know much about the finer points of US Politics. However, if you persevere it gives us an inside look at Trump and the team behind him who are apparently the brains behind the clueless man himself. It really is a rather frightening read as it’s real life and if it is to be believed then an imbecile is in charge of the most powerful country in the world. I’m not sure what to make of it - I really don’t want to believe it as it is nightmare inducing but a lot of it rings true. Michael Wolff paints a very concerning picture of what is happening within the White House.