The Changeover By Margaret Mahy (3.5/5)

I really enjoyed the love story in this book, I liked how it felt natural and sensible. Laura was a very responsible young lady and I liked reading about her. I admired the way she approached her own increasing feelings towards the character of Sorry and the manner in which she treated his advances. Her strength and her inner power made her a person I could respect. She wasn't a damsel who needed to be saved, she had her own abilities and plans and knew that she could save her baby brother. The relationship between Laura and her brother was truly touching, she cared for him a lot, and it was interesting to note how much she saw herself in the mother role since her father had left the family. Even though she had a very loving mother in Kate, they were more like an equal family unit, than one parent and two children.

I enjoyed that the adults in this book had their own roles to play also. Laura's journey to see her mother as an individual as well as a parent was written well, in my opinion. It can be a hard moment to realise that your parents are merely human. I liked the closure that Laura got at the end of the novel in regards to her mother and her father.

Now I get on to my favourite part of the story, Sorry. : ) I guess snarky, cute, sarcastic, diva males will always be a weak spot of mine in fiction. I can't help it, it's a flaw I suppose. He was so much fun to read about, and his over confidence masking a troubled past and an inner weakness was wonderful. I loved it. I beamed every time he expressed an attitude problem, I smiled whenever he said just the wrong thing to Laura to annoy her. As far as couples go I like this one together, I think they balance each other out and can give each other so much. I just wish she was a little older so I could have read about their happily ever after!

That said I did find the book a little simplistic in places, but it is quite a few years old, and I often find that in fiction written in that period. I would have liked more humour and maybe more background characters to flesh the story out a little. I guess I've been reading too many books recently with ensemble casts, so without them I'm not quite sure how to handle the tale.