LOST SPIRITS by Gabriella Poole

Book Four in the Darke Academy series
Publication date: November 1st 2012
Publisher: Hoddor and Stroughton
Number of Pages: 304
Date read: November 7th 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Bought   
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(Description source: Goodreads)

A new term, a new location for the Darke Academy - and everything is different for Cassie Bell. 

The beauty of the turquoise Kenyan sea can't make up for the loss of her soulmate, Ranjit. 

  

He's on the run, and Cassie will do anything to find him. 

But when the evil Katerina and her mother appear, more powerful than ever, Cassie has to make a crucial decision.

 And her love for Ranjit might just be her ultimate weakness ...

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Lost Spirits is definately one of my favourite Dark Academy novels by far. In this last novel it keeps the storyline flowing in a way that doesn't seem as though Poole is trying too hard to keep the Darke Academy series going.

Lost Spirits continues to follow Cassie and her best friend Isabella through the trials and hardships of attending a school of prestigious, soul feeding students.
Since the end of the last term Cassie has been trying to cheer Isabella up since her adoring boyfriend Jake was murdered by Cassie's boyfriend at the time, Ranjit Singh.

Since that occasion, Ranjit has disappeared and Cassie is preoccupied wondering where he could be. When Isabella decides to leave the academy Darke decides to take a leap of faith and make a revalation that will permanently alter all ther lives.


I found that the way in which Poole intertwined the character relationships and personalities was creative and well executed. I  overly enjoyed the plot twists that occured and the ways in which the characters grew in themselves and how even they changed over the course of the Darke Academy novels.

There are certainly some characters which I hate with a passion and others which have been developed well and I absoloutely adore! For me this demonstrates the lengths to which the novel has been thought out and how passionate the author is about the world that she has created. The ending wasn't what I expected when I began Lost Spirits but I thought it was a superb way to end this series that I adore!

 

I rate Lost Spirits Four out of Five!

DIVIDED SOULS by Gabriella Poole

Book Three in the Darke Academy series
Publication date: August 5th 2010
Publisher: Hoddor and Stroughton
Number of Pages: 320
Date read: September 1st 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Bought    



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(Description source: Goodreads)

The Darke Academy is now in Istanbul, and wherever the Academy goes, death is never far behind.

 Death has followed the Darke Academy to the ancient city of Istanbul, where an unseen hunter is on the loose. 

Scholarship girl Cassie Bell is fascinated by the city's beauty, but there's no time for her to relax. 

Torn between an old flame and a new romance, she must also choose between the select world of the Few and her loyalty towards her best friends—and all the time a killer is stalking the Few.

As Cassie is about to discover, no one is above suspicion. Sometimes, the people you love can be the most dangerous enemies of all.

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"Cassie knew how much Isabella loved Jake. She knew her friend’s ferocious, burning loyalty, and how violently she defended those she loved; it was just that she’d never been on the receiving end before.

But there was more. Isabella was hiding something."

Divided Souls is a gripping and superb continuation of the Darke Academy series!
Set in the largest, most historic and exciting city of Istanbul, Turkey it follows scolarship girl, Cassie, on the thrilling adventure  of a lifetime. I

n the end of her first term at the Darke Academy she was implanted with a donor's soul against her will but the ceremony was interuppted part way through and now she is trapped as being part 'few' for the rest of her life. Being stuck with another bitchy and VERY opinionated woman inside your head isn't easy and even becomming overly attractive and gaining powerful connections often can't compensate for the frustrating Estelle.

This is Cassie's third term at the academy and with her best friend Isabella by her side, she can take on anything, except facing her brooding yet charming and breath-taking ex boyfriend Ranjit Singh that is.

Gabriella Poole continues to take you on the roller-coaster journey and certainly keeps everything interesting. She opens in a really enticing way that I really enjoyed, it left me wanting to see why the characters were in the position in which they were.
From the first few opening scenes I reconnected with the characters immediately, it was as though being reunited with old friends.

The style in which the Darke Academy series is written is one that I enjoy reading, it is easy to become absorbed in the world along with the characters and the setting is both vivid and exciting.

The story line that Divided Souls follows isn't one that I found to be too Cliched in many aspects, not all, just many. The classic love triangle-esque aspect was, I thought, tastefully done and didn't drag on for too long. The love interests were handled in a tasteful and quite delicate way, which did not enter into being irritating or slutty (cheating) in any way. 

If any characters annoy me from this novel it is Isabella's, I know and fully understand how unique and difficult her situation is but she really makes NO effort to fit in or to stop complaining so much about her situation. I adore Richard!! His personality is original and he is a genuinely likable character of which I cannot help but be fond of and feel sorry for. He is sweet and genuinely concerned about those that he cares about and would walk through burning fire for them.

I really found Divided Souls to be a great novel and will begin Lost Spirits ASAP

"Single and ready to tingle.
Cassie burst into laughter. ‘Mingle!’
Isabella grinned. ‘Deliberate mistake.’
‘Freudian slip, more like!'"

I rate Divided Souls Four out of Five!

BLOOD TIES by Gabriella Poole

Book Two in the Darke Academy series
Publication date: February 4th 2010
Publisher: Hoddor and Stroughton
Number of Pages: 288
Date read: August 31st 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Bought   
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(Description source: Goodreads)

Suspense builds in the second tale of the Darke Academy, where true graduates take life by the throatThis term the secretive Darke Academy has moved to New York, and Cassie Bell is no longer the innocent new girl. 

Now she is strong, determined, and hiding secrets of her own. 
Cassie has been introduced to the world of the Few and is struggling to come to terms with her astonishing powers, a dangerous romance, and the malevolent spirit inside her, demanding to be fed. 

When an old enemy returns, bent on revenge, Cassie is tested to the limit. 
Can she rescue her friends from a horrific fate, or will she end up destroying them to save herself?

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"Get your Jimmy Choos on, you mean," remarked Cassie under her breath, but she felt a thrill of glamour as she slipped into the gorgeous stilettos. "Am I going to be able to walk?"
"In these shoes you do not walk, Cassie, you stalk.”

Blood Ties further explores the hidden world of the dark and mysterious occurrences at the Darke Academy. 
It continues to follow Cassie Bell as she learns to live with being one of The Few, a very select group of students who have been given beauty, power and someone else's soul in their body.
Cassie is now trapped with Estelle, an old, strong and respected soul in her mind as well, this is no easy feat to deal with when Estelle interrupts her innermost thoughts and contributes her outspoken opinion to most things. 
As Cassie's friendships grow ever stronger with her classmates, especially Isabella, Ranjit and Richard, she begins to get a better view on her life and she begins to get it back on track. With Isabella by her side and the drop dead gorgeous Ranjit as her boyfriend Cassie feels as though she can take on the world. 
That is, until things take a dramatic twist for the worse and the tables turn on them, then Cassie finds herself torn between love, friends and self preservation.

Blood Ties was a great sequel to Secret Lives, it followed on really well from where it left off and kept up the momentum to keep your blood pumping. 
The characters continue to develop, diverting slightly from their stock character persona's and becoming more realistic and relate-able.  
I would love to be able to say that the language becomes more sophisticated and that a wider vernacular is used but alas, sadly it is not the case and it tends to remain mostly at the same level.
 Although the plot line certainly does thicken and intensify, it is sadly quite predictable at times but still maintains some mystery and curiosity for readers.
The next book should be just as good and this series seems to only be getting better, so cannot wait to get my hands on Divided Souls.

“For this lowlife to remain at the Academy while I was expelled is simply...oh dear, how shall we put it?"
"A crime," murmured Sara.
"That's kind, dear Sara, but crime can be fun and sophisticated." Katerina gave a thin-lipped smile as the other three girls chuckled. ."

I rate Blood Ties Four out of Five!

SECRET LIVES by Gabriella Poole

 Book One in the Darke Academy series
Publication date: August 6th 2009
Publisher: Hoddor and Stroughton
Number of Pages: 288
Date read: August 30th 2010
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Bought 

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(Description source: Goodreads)

The first in a new series about an exclusive school with a terrible secret—you'll be dying to join the chosen Few

The Darke Academy is a school like no other.

An elite establishment that moves to a new exotic city every term, its students are impossibly beautiful, sophisticated and rich, and the more the new scholarship girl Cassie Bell learns about the Academy, the more curious she becomes. 
What sinister secrets are guarded by The Few, —the select group of students who keep outsiders away?
 Who is the dark stranger prowling the corridors at night? 
And what really happened a year earlier, when the last scholarship girl died in mysterious circumstances?

 Cassie quickly discovers that a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but knowing too much can be deadly.

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“Oh, get down from your high horse before you fall off.”

Secret Lives is the enticing first novel in the Darke Academy series. 

It takes flight in the illustrious city of Paris, which you soon realise is the perfect place for the annually moving, elite boarding school, Darke Academy, to be.

When intelligent and very middle class Cassandra Bell, aka Cassie, arrives at the gates of Darke Academy she is in awe of it's size looming over her and its' gothic appearance. 

The prestige and elite standards overwhelm Cassie in not only the sheer size and looks, but also in the attitudes and persona's of the other students.

This being amplified even more so due to her being the looked down upon for being the 'scholarship girl'.

Despite being the insignificant, lowly scholarship girl, Cassie soon makes friends as well as some very important enemies.

 She soon finds herself ensnared within the select, prestigious group within the school named The Few, drawn in by their charisma and effortless good looks Cassie soon discovers a secret that could mean the end of life as she knows it.

When I first set my sights on Secret Lives, I was immediately drawn in and curious about the series. 

The cover alone makes it stand out of the shelf, with the striking title and those menacing, dangerous, yet somewhat alluring eyes. 

These elements accompanied by the  image of what one can only assume to be the academy gives an image that keeps in your mind and provides a sense in intrigue.

Secret Lives  was a bit difficult to get into at the beginning but I kept reading, curious as to where things would lead. I was well rewarded, because the story soon began to fly and I became trapped in Cassie's world with her. At the end of this novel I decided that I simply HAD to read the next few!!

Cassie, despite being the very stereotypical female protagonist, was a decent enough character and I even quite enjoyed how the love triangle was written. 

This is a really good book once it gets going, worth reading and with some great characters!

    

“Pretty?" mused Katerina. "I suppose so. She has unusual looks. True beauty, I think, requires a touch of cruelty. That seems to be missing."
"Good," muttered Cassie under her breath.
Richard shot her a warning look.”

I rate Secret Lives Four out of Five!

TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN by John Marsden

Book one in the Tomorrow series
Publication date: 1993
Publisher: Pan Macmillan (Australia)/ Scholastic
Number of Pages:304
Date read: April 12th 2006
Genre: Realistic Fiction, War, Young Adult
Source: Bought 

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(Description source: Goodreads)

 When Ellie and her friends return from a camping trip in the Australian bush, they find things hideously wrong — their families are gone. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in their town has been taken prisoner. As the reality of the situation hits them, they must make a decision — run and hide, give themselves up and be with their families, or fight back.

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“At that age you think boys have as much personality as coat hangers and, you don't notice their looks.
Then you grow up.”

Set in country Australia, Tomorrow When the War Began follows the adventures of seven average, naive and inexperienced Australian teenagers and their growth as individuals and as friends. The story takes off with the main character Ellie recounting the events that came to pass since her and her friends went bush for a few days.

As the story begins to flow, it goes from being more of a second person story to completely first person. Tomorrow When the War Began is a gripping story which, from the beginning attaches you to the various different characters. Each of the characters are easy to identify with and have vastly different qualities and identities that make it so that there is someone in there that everyone will grow to adore.

 From the innocent, gullible, sheltered teenagers seen at the beginning of the novel, they begin to change as the harsh reality sets in that Australia is at war and that they need to survive on their own until it's over. That is unless they wish to become captives like the rest of their town and those surrounding.

When they decide to keep themselves from being captured they also decide that it's time, time to help the war efforts and fight back guerrilla style and hit the enemy forces where it hurts, their soldiers, their vehicles and the main routes to their strongholds. But it isn't going to be an easy task and may cost the seven friends their lives. 

Tomorrow When the War Began is an absolutely AMAZING book that really should be on everyone's to read list!!! It is enthralling and I when I first read it I absolutely could NOT put it down, I read it every second that I possibly could and then found myself desperate for the second. These book do not disappoint in the slightest and I recommend them to all readers!
 

“They say teenagers can sleep all day. I often used to look at dogs and be amazed by the way they seemed to sleep for twenty hours a day. But I envied them too. It was the kind of lifestyle I could relate to.

We didn't sleep for twenty hours, but we gave it our best shot.” 

I rate Tomorrow When the War Began Five out of Five!

GO ASK ALICE by Anonymous

Publication date: March 5th 1971
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Number of Pages:214
Date read: May 18th 2013
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Source: Bought 

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(Description source: Goodreads)

 January 24th

After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs....

It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth -- and ultimately her life.

Read her diary. 

Enter her world.

You will never forget her.

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“I'm afraid to live and afraid to die.” 

Go Ask Alice is the emotional, heart-wrenching story of a teenage girl. Written by Anonymous, it explores her inner most feelings and experiences and makes readers grow attached to this unnamed girl. 

Since her family moved away for her fathers job 'Alice' has come down from cloud nine when she realizes that this school will be just the same as the last one. She will just be another nobody with very few friends. 
On a holidays to visit her grandparents back in her home town she is invited to a party with the girls from her old school. Feeling accepted for once she goes and is exposed to a dark world full of lies, cheats and drugs. 

As 'Alice' spirals further into this new world she meets new people, falls in love and tries new things. Following the first hand account of this teenage girl as she watches her life spiral out of control and feels powerless to control it. Getting dragged into a world that she barely knew existed and suddenly having so many expectations until her gives teenagers a realistic but terrifying view at the impact that drugs often have on youths.  

Go Ask Alice follows this normal sixteen year old through her day by day life since getting herself the diary. It may not be written in every single day but it makes readers feel involved in the story and is definitely a must read for Young Adults. I LOVE this book, it may not be modern or action- packed, but I recommend this book to all Young Adults because it exposes ideas that aren't generally discussed openly in an interesting and approachable way.

“Even now I'm not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things I've gotten from books.”

I rate Go Ask Alice Five out of Five!

ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS by Alyson Noel

Publication date: September 1st 2005
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin
Number of Pages: 226
Date read: April 12th 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Source: Bought
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(Description source: Goodreads)

Being the new girl is tough—just ask sixteen-year-old Rio Jones.
A New York transplant, Rio has no clue how she's going to fit in at her fancy new private school in Southern California.
 Plus, being late, overdressed, and named after a Duran Duran song doesn't make the first day any easier.

Then, Rio meets Kristi. Beautiful, rich, and a cheerleader, Kristi is the queen bee of Newport Beach, and she isn't friends with just anyone, so Rio is thrilled when she's invited to be part of the most exclusive, popular clique. 

At first, Rio is having a great time, but as she becomes more immersed in the jet set crowd, she discovers an unwritten rule that her new friends forgot to mention:

don't cross Kristi...

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"But why didn't you just ask me?" I set down my fork and glare at her.
"Because you were sleeping," She says, taking a sip if Chardonnay.
"I was taking a nap, Mom. It wasn't intended to be some kind of Disney fairy-tale hundred-year snooze."

Art Geeks and Prom Queens draws you into the life of 16 year old Rio Jones who is forced to move away from where she is more than happy, with her wonderful and supportive friends in New York to Southern California. 

Here she feels further out of her depth than even she felt before, coping with a father who is away on business more than he is ever at home and an ex model mother who Rio often feels is more than a burden than family.

With the pressure from her mum to be the perfectly dressed popular girl that she was in her youth, Rio's first day at school is off to a rocky start but she quickly finds friendship with two art geeks like her, Jas and Mason.
But getting into trouble with them on the first day puts them on her mums bad side and she is told not to see them again.
With time she falls into the 'popular' clique and her life begins a rollercoaster ride that brings her away from who she really is and turns her into someone she vowed she would never be.


Filled with superficial b*****s, deceit and a very easily swayed main character, Art Geeks And Prom Queens, retells a frequently done plotline.
Happy but geeky main character is forced to move away from the friends she loves, she makes some nice friends but soon turns her back on them for popularity.
Things go haywire, she realises the original friends she had were good to her and she goes back to them.
Along the way both relationship and family issues occur to dramatise the story some more.

Very similar to Mean Girls, but still a book that I enjoyed despite Rio turning into a slut partway through, which honestly was more annoying than anything, but the book was still a nice read that was entertaining as well as humourous.


One aspect of Rio and her ralationships with her boyfriends was how much they changed her and how her newly found popularity made her think that essentially cheating on her boyfriend is no big deal!! It showed how deluded and stupid she had really become.

It does reflect a lot of what does happen to teenagers in school and reflects what
many 'geeky' or 'unpopular' students would like nothing more, to turn from being how they are into popular. It shows the risks and repercussions of changing who you are in such a drastic way and even that cheating on your boyfriend is a bad thing (duh!).

It is a good, light hearted read with some interesting aspects to it that you will enjoy, both the good points and the bad make Art Geeks And Prom Queens the individual book that I enjoyed.

I rate Art Geeks And Prom Queens Three out of Five!

CHECKERS by John Marsden

Publication date: 1996
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Number of Pages:128
Date read: February 16th 2007
Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction
Source: Bought 

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(Description source: Goodreads)

She lives in the best suburb. She goes to the finest school. Her family is wealthy and powerful. She has everything money can buy.

So why are there reporters outside her house?
And why is her father telling lies on television?
And why is the Premier talking about them in State Parliament?

Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong.
 Riveting and compulsively readable, John Marsden's Checkers plunges us deep in the mind and world of a teenage girl whose life has spun completely out of control.

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Checkers  is the emotional, heart-wrenching story of a teenage girl who, in the space of a few hours, gets her life thrown upside down and learns that no one in life can really be trusted. 

Written in the form of diary flashbacks, Checkers introduces us to a girl who voluntarily checked in to a nearby psychiatric ward but refuses to talk about what helped her to make her mind to be there. 

In flashbacks we get to experience her life before the Psychiatric ward, featuring her dysfunctional and uncommunicative family of four as life for them spirals out of their control. Checkers, the dog that her father buys for her is a beacon of light for the unnamed girl when her father comes under attack from the media due to being under suspicion for fraudulent activities within his co-owned business. 

 When a connection ties Checkers to the fraud case, the situation worsens and everything takes a turn for the worse. A turn that makes everything change forever.

Checkers was a gripping book that had me emotionally entranced from the opening chapter.  Like many of Marsden's other novels, Checkers takes on a different writing style, which does take some getting used to , but personally I found it to be quite interesting and effective for this storyline. 

It helps to express how the main character feels and what she is thinking, which gives more dimension to the plot line and encourages more empathy towards her. 
The ending to Checkers is gripping and really gives the story an individual spin, showing that Marsden is not afraid to take things all the way and he really goes off on a limb ending things the way that he does. 

This is an enjoyable, emotional novel that is worth reading and doesn't take much time at all. 

   

"It’s a miracle anyone survives to be a teenager. It’s a miracle any teenager survives to be an adult."

I rate Checkers Four out of Five!

SWITCHED by Amanda Hocking

Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy
Book One in the Tyrlle Series

Published: Jan 5th 2012

Number of Pages: 335
Date Read: Jan 11th 2013

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What if your entire world was built on a lie?

Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her and accused her of having been switched at birth. Although certain she’s not the monster her mother claims she is – she does feel that she doesn’t quite fit in...

She’s bored and frustrated by her small town life – and then there’s the secret that she can’t tell anyone. Her mysterious ability – she can influence people’s decisions, without knowing how, or why...

When the intense and darkly handsome newcomer Finn suddenly turns up at her bedroom window one night – her world is turned upside down. He holds the key to her past, the answers to her strange powers and is the doorway to a place she never imagined could exist. Förening, the home of the Trylle.

Finally everything makes sense. Among the Trylle, Wendy is not just different, but special. But what marks her out as chosen for greatness in this world also places her in grave danger. With everything around her changing, Finn is the only person she can trust. But dark forces are conspiring – not only to separate them, but to see the downfall everything that Wendy cares about.

The fate of Förening rests in Wendy’s hands, and the decisions she and Finn make could change all their lives forever...

                                                                   (Description source: Backcover of book and Goodreads)

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As you get to know Wendy and her family you grow to feel sorry for her and hope that everything goes well for her. With her mother in a mental hospital because she attempted to kill her on her sixth birthday and her father deceased she only has her older brother, Matt, and Aunt, Maggie, left to turn to.

 From the moment you first meet Wendy, she stands out in the crowd. When the only person who bothers to treat her nicely in any way turns up at her window  after insulting her at the school dance you know that things are going to be interesting. Finn is straight forward and unconcerned with following many social conventions.


When Finn reveals that Wendy is not human and is in fact an important member of the Trylle. He encourages her to come back to her 'real' home with him, where she will feel more comfortable and relaxed, but she refuses his offer. Using her powers of persuasion, she compels Matt to take her to visit her 'insane' mother so that she can piece together the truth from Finn's revelation along with her mothers accusations that she, Wendy, has never been her child.
The truth confronts Wendy and when she is ambushed by evil Tyrlle called the Vittra and Finn comes to her rescue, she is forced to flee her home and family with only a brief goodbye to her stricken and confused brother. 

Now lost in a world she does not know and forced into a position she does not want to be in, Wendy must fight for what she believes in and follow her heart amongst rules, obligations and a social hierarchy that she feels she will never understand.  

The characters in Switched are complicated and show conflicting emotions, like any real person has, and are deep and easy to relate to. Wendy cares about her family and will do anything to keep them safe, she comes to discover love and experience other emotions she never thought that she could feel. Finn is the kind of character who is elusive and distant at the beginning but as the story progresses you come to find that you know him better than you originally thought you would. Finn shows loyalty and eventually compassion which makes him likable that goes with his intense and dark, yet alluring image. Besides the Wendy and Finn, I found that I grew to love Matt's adoration and love for his youger sister Wendy but I grew to absoloutely Rhys, with his quick  witted comments and easy-going nature along with his strong loyalty and compassion for his friends. 

The plotline was creative and not one i had read about before, the use of description was good but not overdone so that I felt bored and like the story was going nowhere. To me the idea felt quite original and I was quite intrigued as to how it would all play out. The setting was absorbing and I felt drawn into the world of Switched even more so because of how well the scene was set. 
The ending to Switched was something I never expected to happen, where she left it was a perfect balance between leaving some questions answered and some not. 

Right now I am itching to purchase book two in the series, Torn! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in
Paranormal/Fantasy/Fiction books that are sick of the usual storylines or wanting to try something a little bit different.
 

“The desperation was coming off you in waves. You were all but begging to dance with me. I am doing you a favor.”
― Amanda Hocking, Switched

I rate Switched five out of five stars!!