Switched

November 14, 2011
When she was six, Wendy Everly’s mother tried to kill her, proclaiming her a monster who had replaced her real child. Eleven years later, new student Finn tells Wendy she really is a changeling (Mom was right!), and he’s arrived to take her to her real home with the Trylle, a tribe of beautiful trolls with special powers. Hunted by a rival tribe, Wendy agrees. As she gets to know her birth mother and prepares for her debutante ball, Wendy finds her new life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Tapping into the YA zeitgeist of alienation and forbidden love, Hocking’s self-published Trylle trilogy was an e-book bestseller. Packaged with a bonus short story (not seen by PW), this melodramatic fantasy tickles many of the same fancies as the Twilight books and has already established a devoted fan base. But while Hocking grabs readers early on, thinly drawn, enigmatic characters with deliberately poor communication and a flair for high school–style drama stall the story’s momentum. The plotting recovers, but the last chapter simply sets up the sequel, Torn, which pubs in February. Agent: The Axelrod Agency. Ages 12–up.

March 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Wendy has always been hated by her wealthy mother, who has been in a mental institution since trying to kill the girl at her sixth birthday party. She also has a strange psychic ability to persuade others to do her will. At 17, Wendy learns that she's actually a Trylle (troll) changeling, switched at birth with her mom's biological son so she could be raised in comfort and somehow cash in on a trust fund to take back to the hidden Trylle kingdom after high school. This revelation comes through Finn, a tracker sent to bring Wendy to her birth mother, the powerful and cold queen of Forening. Fond of the aunt and brother who have always cared for her, Wendy resists, until she and Finn are attacked by enemy Vittra, who would kidnap Wendy to keep her powerful bloodline within their faction. At the palace, she meets the mansklig she was switched with and begins a "Princess Diaries"-esque education, falling for her now tutor/protector Finn during cliched moments while learning of the strict social stratification that makes their electric feelings forbidden. With its occasional profanity and vulgarity, this is a book for older readers. While many fans of the genre will find aspects of the story appealing, it offers nothing particularly new or interesting. Key plot elements are predictable and often hastily or passively described after the fact. Finn is the typical smoldering-but-endearing, enigmatic older man. And Wendy is kept naive and vulnerable for most of the novel, only taking significant action in a final, hastily summarized escape. Regardless, readers will clamor for this best seller-at least until the next fantasy romance du jour pops up.-Riva Pollard, Prospect Sierra Middle School, El Cerrito, CA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2011
Self-publishing phenom Hocking's first traditionally published outing will appeal to teen readers looking for a paranormal-romance fix. Seventeen-year-old Wendy Everly has always been a misfit. Though raised in privilege, the mental and physical scars inflicted by her mother, coupled with her own sense of not belonging to the family and life she was born into, have left Wendy struggling to find her place in the world. Bouncing around from town to town, school to school, the only thing consistent in Wendy's life is a penchant for trouble. But just before her 18th birthday, everything changes. Found by a handsome "tracker," Wendy learns the truth about who and what she truly is and journeys "home" to the mother and the world she never knew existed. Vampire and werewolf lovers beware; this trilogy opener offers readers a new take on an unexpected breed of mystical beings. Readers who can suspend preconceived notions and open themselves up to this new interpretation are in for a midwinter version of a good beach read. Details of Wendy's daily life tend to obscure the mounting tensions between good and evil, but there's enough forbidden love and adventure to hook readers and leave them wanting more. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 One of Wendy's first memories is of her mother stabbing her while raving that Wendy was not her daughter. At 17, Wendy discovers that her mother wasn't as crazy as she thought when the dashing, stoic Finn enters her life and reveals that she is a changelinga trylle (troll) swapped for a human baby. Finn has tracked Wendy to persuade her to return to Frening, the trylles' secluded kingdom, of which she is a princess next in line to the throne. As Finn tries to teach her a lifetime's worth of lore and etiquette, a forbidden romance simmers. But the lessons don't go well; her mother, Queen Elora, is cold and distant; the dangerous Vitarra threaten Frening; and Wendy feels confused and adrift. Wendy is a flawed antihero, which helps differentiate her from the throng of paranormal-romance heroines, and the potential for development, both dramatic and romantic, should make readers anxious for the next installment of the Trylle trilogy. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With over a million e-books sold, Hocking self-published her way to stardom before the print rights to this (and a forthcoming) series set off a major-publisher bidding war.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)