Mar 19, 2015

Review--Switched by Amanda Hocking

Enter the World of the Trylle

When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She's not the person she's always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel--all because of Finn Holmes.

Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken...though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she'd ever admit. But it isn't long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth--and he's come to take her home.

Now Wendy's about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that's both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she's mean to become...

So, I've FINALLY read Amanda Hocking's Switched! I've only had it for some odd years, like when I started my blog! LOL, whoops! But since I got the second in her newest trilogy which is a spinoff from this one, I decided I needed to get going on this one! It was surprisingly good. Not flawless, but not dreadful either. It's a unique kind of story with the faery, and I was happy to have read it.

Wendy hasn't had it easy with life. When she was six, she was rather bratty, like really bratty, and her mother always kind of hated her. She was supposed to be a boy, her mother knew that much and suddenly she was raising this little girl, and one day, on her sixth birthday, Wendy's mother tried to kill her. She would've succeeded too if it weren't for her older brother Matt coming to the rescue. 

Over the eleven years, Wendy, Matt and their Aunt Maggie, have moved from place to place for Wendy has the tendency to get kicked out of every school she attends. She's not so much a troublemaker, though she kinda is in some situations, but other times, things just never worked out her way. 

It's in her new school where she meets Finn, the strange guy who always seems to be staring at her. It's kind of creepy--really creepy in my opinion--but she's not scared or creeped out, she's more curious. It's not until an unlikely duo tries to kidnap her that world truly gets turned upside down. Wendy learns she is a changeling. Her ability of persuasion, which has gotten her out of more trouble in school over the years, is a rare talent, even for the Trylle. Finn has been sent to bring Wendy home, to her real home.

Though home is a far cry different than what she expected. She's not just Trylle, but a princess. And her mother isn't the loving, caring queen she longed for either. Her mother was pretty cold and indifferent at times.

The story was interesting, I'll say. Parts of it were slow. Like really slow. I kept hoping for more intrigue or just something to happen, but for a large course of the novel it was Wendy learning how to be a princess. Which didn't suit Wendy well at all, for she just wanted to be Wendy.

While I was expecting there to be some romance, as there were a few likely candidates for Wendy, it was clear who the "choice" would be. The drama to follow that, happened as well based on circumstances. Hopefully, the second book will pick things up better now that we've gotten all this "intro" mess out of the way.

Switched wasn't a favorite read of mine, though I have high hopes that trilogy will pick up in the next one! Amanda Hocking is definitely a talented writer whose words I do enjoy reading, but I haven't quite reached that "love it" stage yet! But there's plenty potential for me to get there with this author and possibly, series!

As a bonus in this book, there was a super short story entitled The Vittra Attacks, which basically shows us behind enemy lines. The Vittra were the enemies trying to kidnap Wendy early on and Finn saved her. They pop up again in the climax, and apparently here too, in this short little tale. That really opened up a slew of new questions for me, but I think the next book might serve better to answer those!


Overall Rating 3.75/5 stars--the awkward rating again, because it wasn't quite a 4, but still better than a 3.5!







11 comments:

  1. Spot on, review! I remember reading this book a couple of years ago but very vaguely, I don't think I enjoyed it because I never continued the series! But I might pick it up again! Who knows!

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  2. Somehow, I've never heard of this book before. I don't know how that happened! Anyhow, great review, and thanks for reviewing it! I never would have heard of it otherwise! It sounds pretty interesting, I think I'll add it to my ever-growing TBR list. Thanks Jessica!

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  3. This series was also one of my first purchase this when I started the blog. I think I only read the first 60 pages of this book, and then something came up and I never got to finish it. I gave it to a friend of mine, I hope she likes it.

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  4. Great review Jessica. You summed things up nicely. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series.

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  5. Great review! I've been meaning to read the books for a while now, ever since I saw the book trailer, I added the book to my tbr but completely forgot about it. I'll just have to give it try. :)

    Jackie @Jackie's Book World

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  6. I'm glad you (mostly) enjoyed this one! I binge-read the Trylle trilogy last year, right before reading Frostfire. I liked the Trylle trilogy overall, like you. I think the third book was my favorite :D Frostfire is quite good - and I'll be reading Ice Kissed pretty soon! I think I like the Kanin Chronicles more, for reasons I can't quite say until you've read the entire Trylle trilogy...

    Excellent review, Jessica! :)

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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  7. I haven't heard of this book before but it looks alright. I'm not really into slow paced books even if it is only parts because I do end up losing interest half way through the book. Excellent review!
    Naomi @The Perks Of Being A Bookworm

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  8. Gosh, I've had this series on my shelf forever. Great review. One of these days I will get to it :)

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  9. I've had this one forever, too, Jessica. And still haven't read it. After reading your review, I think I'm comfortable in putting it off a little longer. Thanks for a nice review!

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  10. I feel like it's been forever since I read this. I think I stumbled upon reading it shortly after it came out. It was ok; I liked it more than I expected to. But I marathon-read the whole trilogy in a weekend or so and decided that I really liked Hocking overall :)

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  11. This sounds interesting! I don't read many books like this, but I'll have to follow along with your reviews of the next in the series and the second series of hers! (:

    Tina @ Pages of Comfort

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