Book Review: Switched by Amanda Hocking

Title: Switched (Trylle Trilogy #1)
Author: Amanda Hocking
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: January 5th, 2012
Goodreads | Amanda’s Website

Wendy Everly is not your average girl. She barely touches food, and half of the food she does end up touching, she despises. When she was five years old, her Mom tried to kill her, because she was convinced Wendy wasn’t her own child, but a changeling, switched at birth. How strange as it sounds, even now her Mom, safely locked up in an asylum where she can no longer try to harm Wendy, is still confident her youngest daughter is not her own.

But as she grows older, Wendy gets more and more convinced her Mom might’ve been telling the truth. She has a strange ability to influence other people’s decisions, and although it happens mostly on accident, it’s still dangerous. When handsome Finn shows up behind her window one night, telling her that she’s in fact a troll, Wendy’s worst nightmare becomes reality. Her mother was right all along: she isn’t human. Worse than that: she’s a troll. On the giant list of supernatural creatures you’d lik to be, trolls don’t score particularly high.

After scarcely escaping an attack, Finn takes Wendy to Forening, the land of trolls, much to her dislike. There Wendy meets her real mother, who happens to be the Queen of Trolls. Not only does her mother show absolutely zero emotion toward Wendy, it seems as if no one in Forening is prone to many emotions. Wendy struggles to adapt to her new lifestyle as a princess, to being guarded day and night and to be stuck in the middle of a war happening between two rivaling Troll tribes. And in the midst of all that, she also manages to fall in love…

When I saw Switched in my local book store, I was immediately intrigued. Not so much by the back blurb (I have to admit I didn’t even read it) or the cover (although it’s beautiful) but because it’s written by Amanda Hocking, the queen of self-publishing, the author who managed to sell over one million copies of her books…on her own. Of course I had to read it and see what all the fuss was about.

Switched definitely didn’t dissapoint me. With trolls as the main supernatural species of interest, I was immediately intrigued. The YA book world definitely isn’t overflooded with books involving trolls. Wendy is a likeable main character, especially because she has a bunch of fun quirks that reveal her true heritage, but nobody figures them out, like barely liking anything she has to eat. The book is told from Wendy’s POV, but I really enjoyed her POV. I also liked Finn. As far as love interests though, he holds up his own. He’s mysterious, dangerous, dark and seductive. He also borders on being a stalker since he guards Wendy practically day and night, but at least it has a cause in this book.

I have to admit there wasn’t a lot of action in this book. It builds up the tension for what’s to come, and introduces us to the world of trolls, the characters and their dynamics, but that’s about it. What makes up for this lack of action though, is Amanda Hocking’s engaging writing style and her sense of humor. I’ve laughed out loud several times during this book, and that is a great sign. I loved some of Wendy’s remarks, and Finn manages sarcasm very well also. The humor really added an additional point to this novel.

The romance is awesome. The bond between Wendy and Finn is clear from the start, and although they pull back and give in several times, it’s obvious they share a real connection. When they kiss, the passion practically drops from the pages. I’m not only very impressed by how well the author pulled this off, but also longing to read more.

Switched is definitely a great start for the series. After I finished reading this one, I couldn’t wait to buy the sequel and read it as well. If you’re a fan of YA and you want to read about the untapped fantasy troll world, then this is an excellent choice.