Blink Once

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Author(s)

Cylin Busby

Publisher

Bloomsbury USA Children's Books

Genre(s)

Contemporary

Age Range

14+

Release Date

September 04, 2012

ISBN

1599908182

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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.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

Intimate and Haunting

December 22, 2012

Overall rating

5.0

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What I Loved:

This was such a compelling story. I devoured it in less than a day, and the hours I spent away from the book were also spent with the story and the characters taking up space in my head, demanding that I finish reading their story. I loved the entire set-up. I don't want to give too much away, but most of the book takes place inside West's head ... he doesn't have dialogue until nearly the end of the story. He's slipping in and out of consciousness, and so the story unfolds in dreamlike bits interrupted by flashes of reality. I found the storytelling to be absolutely captivating, and as the book went on, I was totally invested in figuring out what was wrong. (Because slowly, but surely, I could see that something was WRONG with the reality West thought he was living.)

I appreciated that the medical aspect of the story (the hospital setting, the lingo, the steps taken to get West on the road to recovery) all felt very authentic. The author paid close attention to all aspects of her worldbuilding.

The characters all come to live off of the pages as well. Even the ones we barely see. Ms. Busby has a gift for effortlessly creating vivid characters to populate her world. Most importantly, she has a gift for helping her readers feel connected to the main characters.

What Left Me Wanting More:

I would've liked a tiny bit more closure at the end, although I can understand that West felt enough closure to be able to move forward. Other than that, I was completely enthralled with this story.

Final Verdict:

BLINK ONCE is a captivating story that is both intimate, haunting, and ultimately hopeful. I highly recommend it.

CJ Redwine, Site and Staff Manager Top 10 Reviewer 406 reviews

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blink once

March 25, 2013

Overall rating

4.0

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As a reader, I divide Blink Once in half, and each half is very different. I honestly almost DNF-ed this book (for reasons I’ll explain below), but I was curious so I stuck with it, and I am very glad I did.

The problem I had with the first half of Blink Once was very much a matter of personal preference; very definitely an “it’s me, not you” situation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Blink Once; prose, characters, and premise are all spectacular.

However, I tend to get very uncomfortable when a character has no power, has no voice. When they control nothing around them, when people are making decisions for them that aren’t necessarily the rights ones, but they don’t know that because the character can’t tell them so. That scares the you-know-what out of me, so the whole “paralyzed boy” situation made me sick to my stomach.

Sick to my stomach, probably, in the best possible way.

But then, halfway through, the plot twist rears its fabulous head, and I was in complete raptures over Busby’s storytelling. Like, oh my gosh, I couldn’t stop smiling, it was so good. I am not usually surprised by novels, but I was surprised by Blink Once.

I cannot say enough how relieved I am that I finished this book and didn’t give up on it. Because wow.

Now on to technical aspects. Busby’s prose is clean and sharp and effective. West, as the narrating character, was great (hooray for gender diversity in YA!). Olivia was interesting; I wasn’t a big fan of her, but still. The premise was basically brilliant, and I can’t even explain why without ruining the entire book.

If you aren’t a big pansy like me, then Blink Once is going to be amazing. It’s very similar to Megan Miranda’s Fracture in a lot of ways, so if you liked Fracture then Blink Once is probably a book you’d enjoy. For myself, once I (mostly) got over being a pansy, I liked Blink Once a whole lot better than Fracture.