Switched: Trylle Trilogy Book 1 (Trylle Trilogy 1) [Kindle Edition]

I so wanted to love this book - I assumed, after loving her other books, I would love this series. How mistaken I was!

I was swept away with the magic and fantasy of Hocking's My Blood Approves series and Hollowland (the first of the Hollows series), but it seems if you read one of her series, you've read them all! As I was reading Switched, I grew bored with how much it resembled her other series (My Blood Approves, The Hollows). If you've read her other series, you're likely to notice they're all almost carbon copies of each other, just with a few changes of names - Alice and her Vampires, Wendy and her Trolls, and Remy and her zombies. Even the wording, phrases and characters were a little deja vu for me.

The stories all follow a distinct theme, regardless of series - awkward teenage misfit with attitude; only real family is her brother; suddenly gets swept away into some kind of adventure; along the way she discovers she's 'special' and everyone wants a piece of her; is protected by handsome boy in mid-twenties who she can't decide if she loves or hates, he falls in love with her and is hopelessly devoted and would die protecting her after only knowing her a few days; plantonic male friendship who's relationship makes her love interest declare his feelings of love and jealousy; she has to choose between her new found destiny and her brother, while fighting some evil people who want her for themselves...etc etc.

If you can read that sort of story over and over, you'll love these books. They're magical and the characters are fun and lovable and the story is hopelessly addictive. But, I just don't have the patience to read the Tyrlle trilogy after reading My Blood Approves. I loved My Blood Approves but reading the Trylle Trilogy just makes me cringe and I got bored very quickly.

A book about trolls? Really? Hmm...
That was my first reaction when I read the description for this book. It sounded strange and macabre and well...trolls?! But then I started reading the amazing reviews, and when I was directed to amazon.co.uk kindle edition at £1.14 a pop, I thought what the hell...

And what the hell! OMG am I fan of Amanda Hocking now. Great prose; easy-to-read, engaging first person narrative. Wendy is a fantastic character who I really thought I wasn't going to like at first (she really was quite petulant - she is a troll or trylle sorry, so I get it) but as she discovers the world she really belongs to I began to care about her, which is all a reader can ask from the characters. Wendy is smart, mouthy but at the same time confused and vulnerable. Considering everything that's happened to her life, though, I think she's holding up well and you can't help but love such a strong-willed character.
As for Finn. What can I say? YUM. Hmm...would like me some of Finn :-p

The plot is wonderful and fantastical and so well thought out. It's not a fast-paced thriller but perhaps something better...a dark, twisted, coming-of-age, political (monarchical) fairytale.
Already bought myself the second in the series Torn and I can't wait to get started.

Five MASSIVE, MASSIVE stars!

Wendy's Dad died when she was just five years old. Her own Mother tried to murder her during her 6th birthday party. She still bears the knife scars across her stomach. Wendy has consequently been brought up by her Aunt Maggie and her older brother (by 7 years) Matt.

Wendy has a temper problem. Consequently she finds it hard to make friends or mix with other teenagers. She finds out, however, that she is able to `persuade' other people to do her will, by staring into their eyes and mentally chanting her wishes. She doesn't use this `gift' regularly as it frightens her.

She has been kicked out of too many schools. Every time she is expelled her family have to move again, to find another neighbourhood and another school. She knows this is unfair to her brother and Aunt, who she admits spoil and pander to her as they believe that her inability to `fit in' stems from the trauma that she experienced as a child. She makes a real effort at her current school but is aware of a good looking lad called Finn, that keeps staring at her, making her feel uncomfortable.

A thwarted kidnapping attempt prompts Finn to explain his presence and Wendy's true identity. Her `Mother' Kim has been in a mental institute for eleven years, after trying to kill her, convinced that Wendy isn't her real child but a changeling. Everyone believes Kim is mad. She isn't. Wendy is a changeling! Wendy isn't human, she is Trylle. Finn tells her that it is time to go home, to her real family, where an important destiny awaits her.

I have loved Amanda Hocking's books since discovering them last year (I have since read nearly all her published works). I decided to re-read this trilogy as it was through this that I discovered this talented author.

Wendy is a seventeen year old, self-obsessed teenager with a violent past. She consequently suffers from emotional issues and an anger management problem. The temper tantrums that she had as a young child do not endear her to the reader - as a young child she is described as petulant, rude, stubborn and selfish. A child that any normal loving Mother would have difficult controlling. Kim wasn't a normal loving Mother, as she knows that she gave birth to a son, not a daughter. She knows that Wendy isn't her child, despite everyone disagreeing with her. She thinks that Wendy is a monster who killed her real child and finally snaps at Wendys 6th birthday party. Wendy grows up, secure in the love of her brother and aunt but only ever really sees how things effect her and not others. She remains difficult and challenging ...... expelled from numerous schools, an exceptionally picky and fussy eater, few social skills, self-absorbed and with no friends.

Finn reveals things that are hard to believe, despite seeing them with her own eyes. She is forced to leave the only two people that she has ever loved and move in with complete strangers. She also experiences first love .... Only to find out that due to the class system of her new world, that this love is strictly forbidden. She is angry, hurt and frightened. She is also, for the first time in her life, being made to put other people's needs before her own