Review: Blink Once By: Cylin Busby

Title: Blink Once

Author: Cylin Busby

Published: September 4th, 2012

My Rating: 4 out 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

West is a high school senior who has everything going for him until an accident leaves him paralyzed. Strapped down in his hospital bed, slipping in and out of consciousness, West is terrified and alone. Until he meets Olivia. She's the girl next door-sort of. A patient in the room next to his, only Olivia can tell what West is thinking, and only Olivia seems to know that the terrible dreams he's been having are not just a result of his medication. Yet as West comes to rely on Olivia-to love her, even-certain questions pull at him: Why has Olivia been in the hospital for so long? And what does it mean that she is at the center of his nightmares? But the biggest question of all comes when West begins to recover and learns that the mysterious girl he's fallen in love with has a secret he could never have seen coming.

My Thoughts:

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for review.

This book was an amazing read, I really enjoyed so many things about it, I was really surprised because it was like a mix of contemporary with a bit of a paranormal-like twist lol, it was definitely a heavy and intense read but, I was completely enthralled in the story that Cylin Busby created.

West is your normal teenage boy until he is in a BMX riding accident and is paralyzed. When we first meet him you are immediately thrown into his head, he wakes up in the hospital strapped into bed where he is confused and alone, he doesn't remember how he got there or what was going on. He finally gets to meet his hospital mate Olivia who is also a patient there who befriends him immediately and they spend their nights together, where she becomes to know West without him speaking a word to her.

West was one of those characters that after reading the book you feel like you know him completely, you have spent so much time inside his head and reading all of his most personal thoughts, him not being able to speak to other people much really connects you to his story and to his life. I found myself feeling for him throughout the book and wishing I could be there to talk to him, hold his hand, and be there for him throughout the book. He had such a battle to fight and he was determined to get better, he w anted noting more then to get out of that hospital bed and wake up at home, where none of this ever happened and I couldn't imagine having to go through what he went through at such a important time in my life. There was a lot of points in the book where I thought I had West figured out and his story figured out but, Busby would throw you a curveball and everything that you thought you knew was completely different. That was one of the main things I loved while reading this, what you read was not always what it seemed and who doesn't like a little surprise and intrigue when reading.

Olivia was such an endearing character, I really enjoyed getting to see her through West's eyes, she was so optimistic and I love how hard she tried to get West to find a way to communicate with her and how devoted she was to visiting him and letting him know that he was not alone. I was really surprised at the direction that her character was taken at the end, I was totally not expecting it to be what it ended up being. (Lol I know totally vague, but I can't ruin the story for you guys!) She was once a beautiful ballerina but, now she spent every day in the hospital, and you don't really find out why, I had so many guesses that were totally off and  that's one of the things I love most about getting to read an amazing book, you get to try to know the characters and figure out their life story only to find out that what you were thinking was not there at all.

Overall, Blink Once was such a roller coaster of a story. Busby takes you on an emotional journey with West, mixing contemporary, realistic, and just a bit of paranormal she has created a book that has something in it for everyone to love. Although this book was an intense read with a heavy plot, by the end you want to become West's friend, you have been through such a journey with him and I wasn't ready to let him go, I wanted to stay with and help him along his way, I was completely attached to his character. This book has so many different parts of it that belong with different genre's  and I loved that because it satisfied my need for everything. definitely check this one out!

Happy Reading!

Kristin