About this book:
Rose has changed. She still lives in the same neighborhood and goes to the same high school with the same group of kids, but when she woke up today, something was a little different. Her clothes and her hair don’t suit her anymore. The dogs who live upstairs are no longer a terror. She wants to throw a party—this from a girl who hardly ever spoke to her classmates. There’s no more sadness in her life; she’s bursting with happiness. But something still feels wrong to Rose. Because until very recently, she was an entirely different person—a person who’s still there inside her, just beneath the thinnest layer of skin.
*Review contributed by Jacklin Updergraft, Staff Reviewer*
A strange and mysterious ride
What I Liked:
This will be a spoiler free review because you really have to go in to this story blind. When I first heard of this story, I don’t know why but I immediately thought it was a retelling. I’m not sure if it was the blurb or the cover, but that’s what I took from it. While Rose is named Rose, and she has a stepmother, that was as far as the fairy tale aspect of it went. Change Places With Me is told in three parts. Part 1 is when we meet Rose, who is strangely happy. Although as you keep reading you get this really weird vibe from her. Something’s not quite right and you can tell her Stepmother Evelyn is hiding things. Rose lost her father long ago, but she doesn’t let that stop her from being happy. Rose was definitely an interesting character, she had a weird obsession with being friends with everyone. She goes from not liking animals to absolutely loving them. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of her, and I wasn’t sure if she was someone I would like, but I ended up truly enjoying Rose. The first part is a bit slow paced but really picks up about half way through. You start getting answers to the questions that were brought up in part one. Change Places With Me is such a strange story. I still don’t even know how to put in to words how I feel about it. It’s one of those books that has you thinking about it when you have to set it down, and you end up just picking it back up to find out what’s going on.
What left me wanting more:
The mystery is definitely really well done, but I was a bit confused about the setting of the story. We didn’t get a whole lot of world building, the focus was more on Rose herself. Which was an interesting choice, in fact if Lois didn’t mention the time, it would have felt like it could have taken place in any time. Which was a bit confusing but worked well within the story. Part 1 ends kind of in the middle, while part 2 picks up at random. It does take a bit to kind of settle in but it picks up really quickly and doesn’t disappoint. Metzger does a really great job of tying it all together and I didn’t have a question that wasn’t answered in the end.
Overall this story was so weird and mysterious and I think that worked with the character that Lois created. Rose was weird herself and you weren’t sure it you could trust her, but she keeps you turning the pages. Change Places With Me doesn’t have a whole lot of drama but I think that the simplicity of it is what causes it to be such an interesting book. I enjoyed that I couldn’t guess a single thing in this book and that ending was awesome. Metzger leaves it open ended, which is something that I kind of like with stand alone books. There’s the possibility that there could be more to the story or you can imagine that they lived happy for the rest of their days. It has so many possibilities that you really can take it anywhere. I would recommend this story to those who enjoy a bit of a slow paced book. For those that want a quite story that sneaks up on you. And for those that loved More Happy Than Not.
*You can find this review HERE!*
