Torn (Book #2 of the Trylle Trilogy) by Amanda Hocking

From Amazon –

 Wendy thought she finally understood who she was and what she wanted, but everything changes when the rival Vittra come after her.

She's caught between two worlds, torn between love and duty, and she must decide what life she is going to lead.

Torn begins exactly as Switched ends, with Wendy leaving Trylle and returning to her home. The respite is brief, and action is quickly returned to the troll world, including Vittra, a rival tribe who's king is determined to have Wendy.

In Vittra, we are introduced to several new characters. Oren, the king, becomes the main antagonist. His wife, Sara, is a timid, mousey character who leaves no impression on the reader. Then there’s Loki, a new rival for Wendy’s affections. He is handsome, mischievous, outspoken, and quite flirtatious with our heroine. Not to worry, as her love is still clearly fixated on Finn for now.

I don’t want to give too much time discussing her relationships, but they are central to this book (and its sequel, Ascend, which will be discussed later). Wendy appears to be in the middle of a love quadrangle. There’s Finn, with whom she is passionately in love but always torn away from because of his sense of “duty”. Rhys, who obviously adores her but Wendy describes her feelings for him as strictly platonic. Loki, with whom she feels great attraction, and possibly something more. And also, Tove, her trainer and friend, who is the only appropriate match for the future Queen.

I actually found myself rolling my eyes at so many scenes involving her love life. It seems that all she and Finn can do is yell at each other, make out a little bit, then yell some more. He glowers a lot, or ignores her, and she yells at him that they can’t “leave it like this”. I simply do not understand their great love, though Hocking was clearly playing it up this way. Loki is fun, but his feelings for Wendy make no sense either. After their first meeting, where all he really does is knock her out (he is Vittra after all), he suddenly is willing to betray his King and people for her. I don’t get it, what is so special about this girl? All this plays out among a background of impending war, family secrets, an ailing Queen, Wendy’s developing powers.

It was at this point that I realized that, while these books are entertaining, and an easy read, I probably will not be recommending them to my friends. Besides the continued grammatical errors, if I don’t really like the main character, or am ambivalent about her at best, why do I continue to read about her journey? Granted, she does begin to develop somewhat as a person. She becomes less self-absorbed, obviously develops a sense of care and duty towards the Trylle people. Still, Hocking is obviously playing to the tweens rather than truly creating a special world, and a heroine to root for. I rate Torn a 3 out of 5.