Switched (A Trylle Novel, 1)

Switched by Amanda Hocking is the first book in the Trylle Trilogy. I bought Switched for my Kindle, this summer before Amanda Hocking took it down to prepare for the re-release. I never got the chance to read it, until I received an ARC from St. Martins Publishing. The story is unique, not like anything I have read before, and because of that I loved this book. The story of Switched is really the story of Wendy Everly. The story starts off rather gloomy, because while six-year-old Wendy is a spoiled brat, her own mother rejects her. This progressed to the point where her mother refused to believe Wendy was her child, and proceed to try to kill her. It is nice to see a different type of supernatural creature make an appearance in Switched. What supernatural creature you ask, Trolls! I do not want to give too much away, but trust me you will be pleasantly surprise with the uniqueness of this book, and I am sure the series! I like how some of the words used in this world are Swedish/Scandinavian, because it is in Scandinavian folklore and mythology that Trolls make their appearance. It gives the story a bit of history, based in mythology. I really like Wendy; she is a strong lead, who continues to grow with the book. I just do not think this review is doing justice to how much I loved this book, and the characters! I just think any young adult fan should check out this book. I love where the story goes, and where it is heading. I have been a fan of Amanda Hocking for a while now, ever since I read Hollowland. I just have to say while this is about trolls, these are not your typical trolls, and that makes it even more fun. The best part is that you can tell that Amanda put a lot of thought and research into her story, finding Scandinavian words to use for terminology in the book. The research to me gives the book a more realistic quality, as realistic as book with supernatural/mythical creatures could be. I cannot wait until the release of the second book in the Trylle Trilogy, Torn. I have to say, if Torn and Ascend are just as good if not better than Switched, the Trylle Trilogy will have a place in my top series of all time. **Unabridged Bookshelf received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Hocking has an uncanny ability to write fascinating little stories that are compellingly addicting. Her books are not my typical reading fare - I tend more toward the adult mysteries and suspense type of thing - however ever since I picked up Hocking's My Blood Approves series, I've been strangely addicted to her work. The Trylle series is no exception. Now, I may not fall in the typical readership for Hocking's books, but because I work as a Probation Officer for teenagers, I tend to read a lot of YA fiction to keep "in touch" with what my kids enjoy. Hocking's three-part Trylle series, of which Switched is number one, is about a girl who has a miserable existance. Her childhood is filled with little oddities that don't make much sense, and her mother, who refers to her as a "monster" goes so far as to try to stab her to death at her own birthday party. Switched is so much a coming of age tale - with a twist - as Wendy soon discovers that she has another life waiting for her discovery and that she is so much more than an angst filled teenager stuck in high school. I won't give away any more, as part of the joy of reading this book is discovering - right along with Wendy - just what in the heck is wrong with her and why she has all these odd little habits, abilities and thoughts. This is not a literary masterpiece for your college Women's Literature 101 class. It was not intended to be so. It is not filled with symbolism and fodder for critical discussion. It IS, however, fun, light reading that will keep your attention. It is a sweet story. Hocking has captured a believable and realistic teenage heroine. She's captured appropriate action, adventure, and even romantic tension. For those reviewers who say the teenage angst is overblown...I would disagree. I work with teenagers for a living and the internal and external dialogue is actually quite realistic for the age group. Perphaps not ALL teens think this way, but the ones I work with quite often do. Many teens - especially girls with abusive backgrounds and lack of a stable parent figure like Wendy - DO think and act this way, althought many of them would be hard pressed to publically admit it. I've given Switched four stars, not because it isn't excellent, but because I save my five star reviews for books that are out of this world wonderful or books that really speak to me emotionally. This one is excellent, but it is not the definition of perfect. There are a few typos, but they are easily overlooked. Overall, excellent book. Excellent and believable plot. An overall wonderfully creative and engaging book. Nice job, Amanda - I'm off to purchase #2 in the series and I am looking forward to discovering more.

I have read the other series by Amanda Hocking & I like them, but this one was AMESOME. I haven't read any books with troll in them, but this book brings to life a whole different troll stereotype. I was hooked from the every beginning of the story & it was non stop from then on out. I very much like the main character Wendy, she was a typical teenager that had issues, never felt like she belong, ate weird & utterly loved to walk around bare footed. Wendy's character was very likable, new and rebellious!!! And those type of character can make a book go full force ahead, if I must say so myself. Well, to break down the story is quite simple, and here it goes. Wendy's mother (well the women that raised her the first 6 years of her life-minus the nannies) tried to kill her when she was seven. When Wendy's mother was pregnant, she was expected to have a little boy. So, when she had Wendy-the mother automatically knows that her child had been switched; or you could say it was mother instincts. As the story goes on, Wendy like I said before is rebellious and is thrown out of school and her family (which consist of her brother and aunt) have relocated once again. This is where the hero comes into play, Finn; and his character is the hot/weird guy at school. This new guy Finn finally tells Wendy what she is and that she is to start a new life somewhere else. Finn is what the troll people call a tracker, he is sent out to find the princess (which is Wendy, yea; princess of the trolls) and bring her back to her mother (the queen of the trolls). Finn however finds himself following in love with Wendy and vice verse. The journey is quite refreshing, but she soon finds out that her new life is not what she thought it would be and desperately wants to go back home (to her brother & aunt). With anymore spoilers, it is a very quite story with a new twist to the whole troll world. It is a must read, if you are looking for something different.

I just finished reading the Trylle Triology (Switched, Torn and Ascend). Would you believe it only took me a week to finish all three books?! It's a wonderful fairytale - well, troll/trylle tale. I'm sorry to say, I would not have picked it up if it hadn't been 'cheap' to begin with, but this was definitely not a cheap read. It was strangely fulfilling and I zipped right through it, page after page after page. I knew before I finished the first book, I wanted the other two books; and I bought them, quickly so they'd be there when I finished the first book. Amanda Hocking definitely has a future in writing and I'm glad to hear she's signed a contract with a publishing house. Switched is about a girl who was exchanged for a baby boy at their births. Her mother thought she was a changeling and new her baby boy was with whomever changed them out and it was driving her insane. On Wendy's 6th birthday, her mother Kim, tried to kill her with a knife, Wendy ended up with over 60 stitches and Kim went to an insane asylum. Matt, Wendy's brother, and their father's sister, Maggie raised Wendy. At 16, Wendy starts noticing she has some strange power of persuasion. Then this guy, Finn enrolls in her school, and of course, Wendy gets this huge crush on him. Turns out, Finn is a 'tracker' and he's come to bring Princess Wendy home to the Trylles. But before he can convince Wendy to come back with him, they are attacked by the Vittra and the battle is on! In Torn, Wendy is torn between love and duty. She is also the princess of the Trylles and Vittra. In Ascend, Wendy has gone from a spoiled brat to beautiful intelligent young woman and a Queen. She doesn't take crap from anyone for any reason. She marries for duty, and then finds the love of her life. Great series, easy reading, very sweet, romantic and has a happily ever after! This is supposed to be for the YA (Young Adult) readers; I'm a MAA (Middle Aged Adult) and I positively loved it. You will too, if you give it half a chance! And for only 99cents to start the series, it's well worth your pennies...

Switched was an entertaining read. The story itself was not tired and worn out like so many tend to be these days. I can honestly say this is the first story in which the protagonist finds out that she's a Troll. I bought this when the author got picked up by a big publisher, and my Kindle book club announced that the prices of her novels would probably go up. I had been debating on whether to buy them or not for quite some time, so finally decided I was at a point in my other to-be-read books where I could test drive the first one for $0.99. I don't regret buying this book--it helped me through a 4-hour drive. That being said, I certainly would not purchase it again if I had the choice, nor will I be paying $2.99 for either of the next books in the trilogy. With about a quarter left to the end of the book, it seemed to get a little drawn out. It made parallels with the Twilight series' New Moon in my opinion, in that when Wendy's love interest abandons her, she decides to do something stupid to try and bring him back, since he ultimately tries to protect her when she does anything dangerous. The writing style really began to irritate me, just because of it's simplicity. There were many instances in which a word was used near the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next, where parts of speech were left out of sentences, etc. It was just a little grating for me. It might not bother any of you at all; I'm just a little picky. Don't start raking me over the coals--I know this is supposed to be a young adult/teen book, and I can understand not using big two-dollar words in every other sentence; however, books like The Hunger Games and Harry Potter series walked the fine line between young adult literature and adult-themed literature very well. Overall, it could have been better in my opinion. It gets a solid 3-stars because of the new kind of plot, the fact that I finished it, and although I will not be purchasing the other books, I am mildly curious as to what will happen in the remainder of the series.

Amanda Hocking is probably my favorite author of the moment. I've read the Trylle Series a few times but I decided that I needed to reread them and put them up on the blog to encourage anyone I could to read them! I'm doing so now because the Trylle series is being published in paperback this spring and so even if you don't have an ereader, you'll be able to enjoy these awesome stories. Switched is the first book in a series of three (Torn and Ascend are the second and third installments of the Trylle books). This story follows Wendy who has never quite fit in with her family and the only one who seems to agree with her is her mother, who happened to try and kill her when she was six. Wendy soon finds out that she is in fact a troll, and not the type of troll you're thinking of (bright pink hair and a rhinestone bellybutton came to mind). The Trylle are a tribe of trolls that are more or less humans that have abilities and are more in tune with nature. Wendy is thrown into a world where she is expected to act as royalty and forget the family that raised her. Of course there is a sexy male lead, Finn, who struggles with his duty to protect Wendy and his feelings for her. This book ends with a bang and will make you start on book two immediately! This series is awesome and I recommend that anybody who loves to read pick them up. The original eBooks that I purchased on Amazon had some typos and a few technical errors; I'm hoping the paperback editions will have fixed the issues. Because this story was so amazing I looked past the errors and found a book that was unique and mesmerizing. You fall in love the heroine Wendy and Hocking writes in a way that makes you wonder what you would do if you found out you were a troll princess! Not only are these books coming to paperback starting in January, but the Trylle series has also been optioned as a film. Not much information has been released yet about the film option so I'm guessing it will be a long way off, but it's pretty exciting to think about!

This is my first book review, so forgive me if it's wordy...I hope that it helps you to make the decision whether or not you would like to read this book. I felt that Switched was a great book. I stumbled upon it in my recommendations (I'm guessing b/c I've read all of the Twilight books). Plus, it was only 99 cents! I thought, what's the harm-worst case scenario I'm only out a buck. I poured through this book in one night and proceeded to read the rest of the series over the next few days. I have to say I really enjoyed this trilogy! This book was by far the best of the three, and I definitely recommend it! I'm going to comment on the trilogy as a whole, because I feel as if most people who read this book will continue through the three books. To be perfectly honest, these three books could have easily been written as one story...the three books basically ran into each other and spanned a 6-9 month time period. There was no need to separate the story into a trilogy. I mean, yes, it would have been a long book, but it just would have made more sense to have the story as one book. I wonder if that was the author's doing, if it's just the new "thing" to write a series of books (everyone wants to be the next Harry Potter!), or if it was greedy publishers looking to make more money by releasing this story in parts. There simply wasn't enough content, in my opinion, that warranted this being separated into three separate stories. If you're an accomplished reader, you will easily read through all three books in a few days (and possibly faster). You will also want to read through them because, like I mentioned, they read as one book, and you'll want to know how the story ends. Both this book and the second book, Torn, end with a cliff hanger. I enjoyed the story and the fantasy parts...especially b/c they weren't your "run of the mill" witches or vampires. I'll leave it up to you to read to find out, if you choose to read this story. The characters are definitely likeable and interesting, and I think that Hocking is a good writer. To be honest, she's technically superior to Stephenie Meyer in her writing; however, this trilogy does not beat out the Twilight series by any means for me. I did not grow to love these characters like I did those in Meyer's stories. Wendy is no Bella Swan. While Hocking's writing is great and she has some interesting ideas that develop into a good story, this story is lacking in "oompf". It all happened too fast and the author didn't take the time to develop the characters and subplots within the story. If she really wanted to make a trilogy out of this, I think a little more time spent with the characters was necessary. The story could have been laid out a little cleaner and less abruptly. Especially as this moved into the third book. The story took such a crazy turn in the third book it seemed totally disconnected to the previous two. If the author knew where this story was headed, she never alluded to it and didn't really develop the characters and stories to support it. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't divulge any more. In Switched, I adored the chemistry between Finn and Wendy, and Wendy's character is truly endearing. I can see how teens would identify with her. I'm and adult who occasionally dabbles in YA (escapism at its finest!), so I might have more discerning tastes than the average YA reader. I think that if your expectations aren't high, you will be pleasantly surprised and probably happy with this read. You will also probably feel the need to finish the series, and I highly recommend them. I wouldn't have felt 'right' if I had stopped after this book or even the second. At the end of it all, it is a quintessential happy ending, even if it's not what the reader might expect. Overall, I recommend these books, and I'm planning to read her "my blood approves" series next. I think Hocking is an author worthy of watching.

Wendy Everly has never belonged. Her school mates seem repulsed by her, the teachers pick on her and even her own mother tried to kill her at the age of six. So when the new guy, Finn Holmes takes an interest in her, she’s flattered - and confused. She soon discovers that there is more to his attention than meets the eye. Finn has been sent to find Wendy and bring her home, into a whole new world she never knew she was a part of. It’s a world full of magic, intrigue, danger, forbidden love and politics; a world Wendy’s not so sure she really wants to be a part of. I’ve had this novel on my Kindle for a while now and wish I’d read it sooner. This is my kind of story. It’s a magical fairytale in a modern setting, with just the right amount of danger, romance and suspense. It’s the kind of story you can really get lost in. The kind of story you dream about. Finn’s character is intense, yet tempered by duty and diligence. Wendy’s character is less collected, as teenage girls often are, highly emotional, impulsive and yet with a certain level-headed maturity that gets her through confrontations that would have most teens falling apart. Hocking’s writing is not overly poetic or filled with ambiguous figures of speech. It is simple and neat, showcasing a well-planned and executed story without unnecessarily pretty prose. The plot, while predictable at times, is engaging and leaves you with a rather pleasant aftertaste that begs for more. This is genre writing at it’s best - it’s exactly what you would expect from a young adult series, and yet unique and charming enough to make the author’s name a fixture on your reading list. I can’t wait to find out more about what’s in store for Wendy and Finn!