This review was originally posted on http://www.rubysreads.com. 
 While I was eager to pick up this book, it wasn't because the first one was so amazing. It would be more accurate to say that I saw potential, and was curious to see whether book two would deliver on it. Of course, now that I've told you that, I have to actually attempt to answer the question. Here's the thing. I enjoyed reading Torn, but I didn't love it. In a great many ways, this book doesn't take the reader anywhere particularly different from book one. 
 I think books one and two should have been smooshed together, and once smooshed, trimmed of excess fat. Hocking took two books to write what she could have written in one. Yes, Torn introduces new characters not previously seen in Switched but, personally? I think character trimming could also just as easily have been performed. 
 Another thing that bothered me was that I didn't need two books to get to the two major reveals in Torn. I guessed at both of them early in book one, and not "revealing" them until book two was stretching. Familiar plot twists--if used--should be revealed as quickly as possible. I wouldn't have been thrilled to see them at the end of the first volume, but I would have minded them less, knowing that there were more goodies to come in the sequel. 
 Here's the thing, though: I'm looking forward to book three. Hocking's characters aren't thrilling me, and neither is her plotting, but there's still something keeping me reading. Her narrative style makes Switched and Torn easy reads, and I have enough investment in the story to follow through to the end. I don't think this is going to be a series I'll be going back to reread, but it's definitely got enough to keep a (somewhat) jaded YA reader hooked to the bandwagon.