The Exchange book review [ARC]

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Exchange by M F Lorson
Published by Jennifer Costley on September 7, 2018
Pages: 262
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

He came forward in time.

She changed his world.

What happens if he doesn't want to go back?

Ari hates the Institute and everything it stands for. But to save her father's job, she's agreed to help host a time traveling exchange student. She only has to behave for 3 months while he's here, then off he goes back to 1903 where he came from. Easy peasy, right? There's just one problem. The more time Ari spends with James the harder she falls for him.

James is eager to leave behind his hard life as a farmer to escape to 2030 where he may actually have a future. His term at the Institute is three months, but he has zero plans of returning home ever again. In order to make sure that doesn't happen, though, he needs an ally. Could his reluctant host, Ari, be the one to break the rules?

Fans of Ruby Red and The Here and Now will swoon for a love that spans the decades.

I loved the concept of this book, I mean who wouldn’t want to read about an exchange program that involved time travel. I really wanted this book to blow me away but unfortunately I wanted more from both the plot and the characters. I think The Exchange would have scored more stars if there had been more of resolution at the end and I didn’t have as many questions as I did when I got to the end. I’m not sure whether there is going to be another book in the series, but I think there should be, I think there is so much more that could happen to these characters, and I would be really interested in finding out what happens next.

Overall I really enjoyed the characters that were in The Exchange. I do wish that they were a little more developed, I think that some of them were extremely superficial. Their backstories were never really delved into and I don’t think we got to see the big picture for any of them, plus I really struggled with the character’s voice. I kinda wished that they had been more distinct especially with James and the fact that he was from a completely wrong time. I felt like there was a trick missed with the fact that he spoke like most off the other people within this story.

I think the best bit of The Exchange was the mystery element that seemed to present itself and how the Institute really did business. I would have loved for this to have taken up more of the story than some of the other filler like content. I loved the concept of exchanges, and I think there was a lot of potential for it to go a lot further than what it does. I do hope there’s going to be another book so that I can find out what happens next.

I think the bad thing about The Exchange is how rushed the storyline feels and how the ending just feels a little unfinished. I also think the way that the story twists and turns could be better, we never really end up finding out what was happening and why things happened. I struggled with the voices of the different characters and I wanted for there to be more of a reason for the exchanges to be happening because I actually couldn’t see the reason for the time travel.

I would recommend The Exchange especially if there is another book planned because I think that most of the problems I had with this book would be solved by having another story to learn more about the characters and the world they are.

Is this a book that’s on your list? Are you excited to read it? Let me know.