Torn
Quotes from the Book
Wendy: Why are you staring at me? Finn: Because you're standing in front of me.
Finn: I look at you because I can't look away Wendy. Wendy: That's kinda creepy. Finn: I will work on being less creepy then.
Did you think you could treat me like shit at a dance, then sneak into my room in the middle of the night and tell me that I'm a troll with magical powers, and I'd just be like, yeah, that sounds right.
When something is important to you, you make sure its safe.
How did you even know I wasn't in my room?" "I checked on you." Finn gave me a look like I was an idiot. "I check on you every morning." "You check on me when I'm sleeping?" I gaped at him. "Every morning?" He nodded. "I didn't know that." "Why would you know that? You're sleeping," Finn pointed out.
He kissed me desperately, like a drowning man and I was his oxygen.
Who was that?” I whispered, as if the walls could hear me. They were lined with pictures, a few of which I recognized as being painted by master painters. “Rhys.” “Yeah, I know but… is he my brother?” I asked. I had already decided that he was foxy, so I really hoped that he wasn‟t.
I wanted to show you that it's not all cold and intimidating," Finn explained. "I wanted you to see something warm and beautiful.
I look at you because I can't look away.
My only experience with dances was what I had seen on TV, but it really wasn’t that far off. The theme appeared to be “Crepe Paper in the Gymnasium,” and they had mastered it perfectly.
I had called him out on being creepy, justifiably so, and it didn’t faze him at all. He didn’t stammer an apology or flush with shame and regret. He just kept looking at me evenly. Most likely, he was a damn sociopath, and for whatever reason, I found that endearing.
How had it turned into this? I had lived my whole stupid life without him, and now I could barely make it through the hour.
He hadn’t been peeping intentionally; he’d been trying to sneak into my room. So that was slightly less creepy, I supposed.
A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't," Finn replied absently, still looking down at the book. "That's such a fortune-cookie answer," I said with a laugh, and even he smirked at me.
The desperation was coming off you in waves. You were all but begging to dance with me. I am doing you a favor.
You know, back in the day, when a guy saved a Princess's life, she would reward him with a kiss...
I need to call Matt and let him know I'm okay," I said. Finn held the passenger door open while I got inside. As soon as he got in the driver's seat, I turned to him. "Well? Can I call him?" "You really want to?" Finn asked as he started the car. "Yes, of course I do! Why is that so suprising?
This is so weird. They're your brother and aunt." "No, I understand. They're your family too." Rhys said. "They loved you and raised you. That's what family is, right?
Why do you have to be so damn cryptic?
Im looking at you 'cause i can't look away" -Finn
That’s kind of creepy,
At that moment I didn't particularly care if a band of raging marauders tried to do her in,but if there were frequent attacks on her "castle," I thought I should know.
Most likely he was a damn sociopath, and for whatever reason, I found that endearing.
the way it always did.
That’s not how it works. You don’t have the right to other people’s thoughts just because they might include you,
They were unfailing in their love for me, and most of the time they had gotten nothing in return. Maybe that last part was the proof that my mother was right. They only gave, and I only took.
Stir fry!” Rhys proclaimed. “Really?” Finn leaned over his shoulder and peered down at the ingredients in the pan. Rhys moved to the side a little so Finn could reach in and grab something out of it. He sniffed it, then popped it into his mouth. “Well, it’s not terrible.” “Stop my beating heart!” Rhys put his hand over his heart and feigned astonishment. “Has my food passed the test of the hardest food critic in the land?” “No. I just said it wasn’t terrible.” Finn shook his head at Rhys’s dramatics and went to the fridge to get a bottle of water. “And I’m certain that Elora is a much harsher food critic than I’ll ever be.” “That’s probably true, but she’s never let me cook for her,” Rhys admitted, shaking the wok to stir up the vegetables more. “You really shouldn’t let him cook for you,” Finn advised, looking at me for the first time. “He gave me food poisoning once.” “You cannot get food poisoning from an orange!” Rhys protested and looked back at him. “It’s just not possible! And even if you can, I handed you the orange. I didn’t even have a chance to contaminate it!” “I don’t know.” Finn shrugged. A smile was creeping up, and I could tell he was amused by how much Rhys was getting worked up. “You didn’t even eat the part I touched! You peeled it and threw the skin away!” Rhys sounded exasperated. He wasn’t paying attention to the wok as he struggled to convince us of his innocence, and a flame licked up from the food. “Food’s on fire,” Finn nodded to the stove. “Dammit!
When something is important to you, you make sure it's safe.
Did you know?
- "Switched" was originally self-published by Amanda Hocking as an e-book in 2010 before any traditional publisher was involved.
- The Trylle Trilogy became a self-publishing sensation, with Hocking's indie books selling well over a million copies.
- Following its self-published success, "Switched" was re-released in print by St. Martin's Press in January 2012.
- The story uses the folklore concept of a changeling — a child secretly swapped at birth — as the basis for its plot.
- The Trylle community in the book is located in the fictional town of Forening, Minnesota.
About Amanda Hocking
About the book
"Switched" is the first book in Amanda Hocking's young adult paranormal Trylle Trilogy, narrated by seventeen-year-old Wendy Everly, who has always felt like an outsider — not least because her mother tried to kill her when she was six, convinced Wendy was not truly her child. When a mysterious classmate named Finn Holmes takes an unsettling interest in her, Wendy learns the unsettling truth: she is a changeling, switched at birth, and in fact a member of a hidden supernatural people called the Trylle. Finn brings her to the sheltered Trylle community of Forening, Minnesota, where she discovers her biological mother is Queen Elora and that she herself is a princess destined to rule.
The novel works through familiar coming-of-age themes — belonging, identity, and the tension between the life one is born into and the life one chooses — filtered through a changeling fairy-tale premise. Wendy must reconcile the ordinary family that raised her with the alien customs, politics, and expectations of the Trylle, while a forbidden attraction to Finn, who is socially beneath her in Trylle hierarchy, complicates her sense of duty. Class, privilege, and the question of whether birthright defines a person run beneath the romance and intrigue.
"Switched" is best known as the book that launched Hocking's career: originally self-published as an e-book in 2010, the Trylle series became a self-publishing phenomenon, selling enormous numbers of copies and helping make Hocking a poster child for the indie e-book boom. The success led to a traditional publishing deal with St. Martin's Press, which re-released "Switched" in 2012. Its commercial impact on the publishing industry has been more widely discussed than its critical reception.
Key characters
- Wendy EverlyNarrator; a teenager who learns she is a Trylle changeling and princess
- Finn HolmesA Trylle tracker sent to bring Wendy home, and her love interest
- Queen EloraWendy's biological mother and the Trylle queen
- MattWendy's protective adoptive brother
- RhysA human raised in the family Wendy was switched into
Book details
- First published
- 2010
- Length
- 316 pages
- Series
- Trylle Trilogy #1
- Reading time
- 5 hours
- Author
- Amanda Hocking
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Goodreads rating
- 3.87 (103k ratings)
Critical reception
- "Switched" and the Trylle series sold roughly a million copies as self-published e-books, making it a landmark success of the early indie e-book movement.
- Its commercial success led St. Martin's Press to sign Hocking and re-release the trilogy in print in 2012.
Series & reading order
- 1 Switched
- 2 Torn
- 3 Ascend
Keep reading
Split Second
Supernaturally
Torn
Evernight
Unraveling Isobel
Iron Kissed
Falling Under
Hourglass
The Fixer
Born Wicked
Becoming Alpha
Inferno
Sweet Evil
Half-Blood
Nightlight: A Parody
Bone Crossed
A Question of Holmes
From Dead to Worse
Attraction
Angelfire
Born at Midnight
The Tied Man
Hallowed
Deity
Significance
Something, Maybe
Friends Without Benefits
Spell Bound
The Awakening
Crave
Defiance
The Evolution of Mara Dyer
The Summoning
My Vampire Plus-One
Demonglass
Fated
Cursed
Endlessly
Breaking Dawn
Elixir
Magic Study
Fury's Kiss
Wait for It
The Devil's Eyes
Paranormalcy
The Vanishing Girl
Before I Wake
The Reckoning
Easy
If I Die
A Job From Hell
On Dublin Street
My Soul to Take
Blood Heir
Runaway
Blood Promise
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
Last Sacrifice
Frostbite
Hidden Gates

