Switched by Amanda Hocking

When Wendy was six, her mother tried to kill her.  She was convinced that Wendy wasn't really her child.  Wendy is now 17, and her mother has been in a mental institution for 11 years, and it turns out she was right.  Wendy isn't her child.  She's a changeling, and now she's expected to leave her brother and aunt and return to her "true" home.  Finn, the handsome tracker who found her, promises that Wendy will finally feel like she belongs and will learn more about her gift of Persuasion.  But things quickly become more complicated then Wendy could ever imagine.

So Wendy is a changeling.  I associate changeling with fairies, which, essentially, what the Trylle are.  Even though they're trolls.  Yes, trolls.  A troll in this world seems to be a magical creature with close ties to the Earth.  OK, fine, whatever, but it felt like "troll" was what the author went with because that hasn't been done yet.  There have been way too books where a girl realizes she's really from the fairy world, but no one has done trolls!  Even if a troll is pretty much being defined as a fairy.  Fine.  They're "trolls."


Wendy doesn't actually want to leave her brother, Matt and her aunt, Maggie.  They've taken care of her since her mother tried to kill her, and her Matt actually saved Wendy from her mother when she was six.  Matt is very protective of Wendy, and they clearly love each other and care about each other very much.  Finn, who is the tracker who has come to take Wendy home (and, of course becomes the love interest), is astonished that she doesn't want to leave.  That seems weird.  None of the other changeling children bonded with the people who raised them?  None of their families try to find them?  Wendy only agrees to go with Finn when she's attacked by a rival clan and I guess doesn't want to put her family in danger?  I'm going to hope that's why, it lets me feel better.  To her credit, Wendy often thinks about and misses Matt and worries about how she knows he's worrying about her.

Tyrell is not all it's cracked up to be.  Wendy discovers that she's actually a princess, and she has about two weeks to learn everything there is to know about Trylle and princessing in time for her big debut party.  I proceeded to be exceptionally annoyed on Wendy's behalf, and annoyed at Wendy for not standing up for herself better.  Everyone keeps snapping at her for not doing this or that or not acting a particular way or for talking to someone she shouldn't, but NO ONE WILL GIVE HER ANY INFORMATION ABOUT ANYTHING.  Damn, you trolls are super unreasonable.  People kept saying things like, "You're not supposed to fraternize with the mansklig.  It's bad."  Then Wendy would ask, "Why?  And what's a mansklig?" And then no one would tell her until the next time she was hanging with the mansklig and people would yell at her again.

So that goes on for a while.  The most interesting characters was definitely Tove, the son of one of the noble Trylle.  He is unusually powerful, sensing other people's emotions and has telekinetic abilities.  He explains to Wendy that all the Trylle used to be powerful, but they're losing their powers and are only focused on getting money, which they do by swapping their babies into wealthy families.  The babies grow up, get trust funds and then return to the Trylle community to support it with the money they inherited.  Great system.  No wonder things are falling apart.  Tove is frustrated with this and wants things to change.  Wendy thinks he would be way better and leading people then she would.  I have to agree.

The big question is of course, "So, what happens to the human babies whose place gets taken by the changelings?"  Well, I won't spoil everything for you.  You can read the series and find out.

Your kids who have been reading about angels and faeries and whatever will probably like this one too.

Switched come out January 24.  Torn, the second in the series will be out February 28, and the third book, Ascend will be available April 24.  I don't know if there will be more than that.