Book Review: The Switch by Dawn Pendleton

NOTE: I received the eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Nice cover, nice premise, nice idea. Then why on earth didn't it work out?

It was so cliche, I had to physically make myself stick to the pages, instead of just switching to another book. Yeah, pun intended.

So, let's organize this a bit, shall we?

Writing style: I did not think it flowed very well. It most certainly did not make me stick to the page.

Story line: It was rather push this, pull that, so we'd make it work kind of thing. None of the events seemed to flow well. Also, the entire book was squeezed in about a week of fictional time. In that one week, so many things happened, that it's really lost on my imagination how it could ever be perceived as realistic. People fell out of love, fell in love, got expelled from school, got serious in their respective relationships, got serious in life... in just one short week. Seriously?

Theme: Pretending to be someone else seems an easy thing to do. Until you do it, and you find out it's not easy at all. It's really a pain in the neck. It only brings along trouble. So, I guess what the authors wanted to convey to their readers, is that you have to be who you are, to express yourself - thoughts, feelings, etc.- if you want people to see the real you when they look at your face.
Also, there was the topic of doing the right thing, vs. keeping your mouth shut. Either of those has its consequences, but what's the right choice?

Characters: I can't say how sad I am when the characters have no voice of their own. When their wings are so clipped, they can barely swing them, let alone fly. I think the authors tried to put the characters (and yes, I do mean all of them) in some sort of a mould. To fit the cliche. To be what everyone believes they should be.
No.
A character has to be given the chance to be who they truly are.

This is why none of the boys - Cameron or Parker - made me swoon over them. Seriously, they didn't strike me as any original people. They were just words on a page without a single thought of their own. In fact, they were so unremarkable, that I can't even make myself remember who they were and what they were like without looking at my notes. I only remember that Parker was a bit pushy and hot-headed, while Cameron was put back and sweet.

More can be said about Faith and Honor. They, by the way, have no resemblance to their names whatsoever. So, Faith is the sister with more conscience. She's the one with the forbidden feelings toward her twin's ex. She's the one blamed for mistakes that didn't quite depend on her. Overall, she was the nice girl, who was open, and didn't hide her real personality.

Honor, on the other hand, was the broody one. She was the queen of snap-land. She was never nice to anyone and she liked to blame everyone else for her mistakes. Like she blamed Faith for breaking up Cameron and her, when Honor was the one who initiated it in the first place.

In conclusion, The Switch was sweet, somewhat funny and fast-paced, but it didn't leave me satisfied.

My rating: