Sunday, 22 April 2012

Review - Switched by Amanda Hocking

What a fabulously enticing and engrossing book!

Based in America, Wendy Everly is a troublesome young girl and has moved schools to yet another new town.  A guy called Finn at school keeps staring at her all the time but she doesn’t know why! Wendy has always known she is different; when she was just six years old her mom tried to kill her, saying that she was a monster and had been switched at birth. Her Mom was taken away and put in a psychiatric hospital so Wendy ended up living with her brother and aunt.

She knows that she had a special power of persuasion and that if she tries really hard she can get people to do things that she wants them to. Doesn’t know how she does this, or why, but she knows she can.  This is her secret! Or so she thought!

She finds Finn physically attractive if not a little weird, especially when one night she finds him hovering outside her window and he breaks the news to her that she is a Trylle (otherwise known as a troll) and that her mother was right and she was switched at birth. He tells her that she has to leave what she thinks is her family to return to her home land and become the person that she really is! From here, her world is completely turned upside down!

What a fabulous book!  I was SO engrossed in it and really enjoyed reading this paranormal young adult book – it made a refreshing change from the books I’ve recently read.  I disappeared into this amazing world of fantasy and felt Wendy’s emotions as she struggled with what she wanted to do, and what she was told she must do.  Her whole word had been shattered and she was trying to come to terms with that along with her unexpected feelings for Finn as a young lady.   

The characters were perfectly formed with personalities that were easy to become intertwined with and the descriptive way that the author painted the surroundings made it easy to form pictures in your mind.

It was gripping, exciting, full of adventure and fantasy and just great.   Written by the very talented Amanda Hocking who must have the most wonderful and inventive imagination, this is the first in a trilogy.   I’m really looking forward to reading the others - Torn and Ascend.  I almost forgot to say that the covers are really attractive and draw you in too!

Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan obsessed with John Hughes and Jim Henson. In between making collages and drinking too much Red Bull, she writes young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

To learn more you can follow her on Twitter


You can also visit her blog: http://amandahocking.blogspot.com  and www.worldofamandahocking.com and she is soon to launch www.trylleseries.com
 
You can buy this book via Amazon by clicking here  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sounds like a great read, Kim. I totally admire and respect Amanda Hocking for what she has achieved. Her success has encouraged other self published authors to keep going and has also reduced the awful stigma that surrounds the process of self publishing.

CJ x

Anonymous said...

Great review!

I absolutely love this trilogy!! The second book 'Torn' is even better than the first, it was impossible to stop reading - I would definitely recommend it :)

Just waiting for the third book 'Ascend' to be delivered and I'll be a happy bunny!

Kate x

Kim The Book Worm said...

You are right Kathryn, she has achieved so much and is quite an amazing young lady.

Kate - I have now just finished Torn and that was fabulous too. Can't wait for Ascend and also look forward to reading more of her work.

Thanks so much to both of you for taking the time to comment over here at my blog xxxx