Blink Once by Cylin Busby Review

Name: Blink Once
Author: Cylin Busby
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release Date: September 4th, 2012
Format: ARC Copy
Buy the book on Amazon
304 pages

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.

Goodreads

My Review:

This hauntingly beautiful story was a great read that had my attention from the start of the book to the end; I was constantly wondering what would happen next!  I spent much of the book trying to figure out the difference between the fiction in West's unconscious state and the reality in his conscious state.  The challenge of determining what was real and what was not was one of my favorite parts of this book, especially because I did not anticipate the twist at the end at all!

Following a biking accident leaves him completely paralyzed, West is stuck in the hospital with no way to
communicate with any of his friends or family members, even though he is aware of everything that is happening around him.  The only person who seems to understand him is Olivia, the patient in the room next to him, who understands that blinking once means yes and blinking twice means no.  The two begin to develop a beautifully realistic romance that has its ups and downs throughout the novel.  They appear to be quite different characters, yet they come together anyway through their similar experiences.  I particularly enjoyed watching how both West and Olivia change throughout the course of the novel, and how they are able to bring out the best in each other.

My favorite part of this book was without a doubt the plot twist at the end.  Even though it left me hating the book at first, I quickly began to admire Busby for creating such an amazingly sad plot twist that I do not think any reader could have seen coming.  I thought this book was a great, quick read and I would definitely recommend it for fans of unpredictable sad and romance books!

My Rating: