A review by weweresotired
Blink Once by Cylin Busby
3.0
See the full review at Short & Sweet Reviews.
If I had to give this book a tag line, it would be "way sadder than expected". For some reason, I was expecting Blink Once to be a creepy story. West has terrible nightmares, there are dangerous secrets... this is grade A horror story territory, but the book took a totally different approach and turned it into a very poignant story about love and loss and illness, with a side serving of creepy. I didn't expect to find myself touched by the realizations that West slowly comes to as the book goes on, but there I was, steadfastly blinking back (blink, hey, get it?!) tears.
In a way, this is an insta-love story -- they meet, he falls for her -- but it makes more sense here than in so many other stories. West has no one else who understands what he's going through -- not his friends, who don't know how to act around him, or his parents, who want what's best for him but have different ideas of what that is. The only person who understands him and treats him like he's really, fully human, is Olivia, so it's natural that he starts to develop feelings for her, even if he never speaks a word to her. Even if something seems just the tiniest bit off about Olivia. The way their budding friendship-slash-romance plays out is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.
If I had to give this book a tag line, it would be "way sadder than expected". For some reason, I was expecting Blink Once to be a creepy story. West has terrible nightmares, there are dangerous secrets... this is grade A horror story territory, but the book took a totally different approach and turned it into a very poignant story about love and loss and illness, with a side serving of creepy. I didn't expect to find myself touched by the realizations that West slowly comes to as the book goes on, but there I was, steadfastly blinking back (blink, hey, get it?!) tears.
In a way, this is an insta-love story -- they meet, he falls for her -- but it makes more sense here than in so many other stories. West has no one else who understands what he's going through -- not his friends, who don't know how to act around him, or his parents, who want what's best for him but have different ideas of what that is. The only person who understands him and treats him like he's really, fully human, is Olivia, so it's natural that he starts to develop feelings for her, even if he never speaks a word to her. Even if something seems just the tiniest bit off about Olivia. The way their budding friendship-slash-romance plays out is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.