‘The Exchange’ by M.F. Lorson was a fresh take on time travel with intriguing as hell plot points, great characters, and light romance. It absolutely needs a sequel! Recommend.

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Ari and Michael were awful characters and really unlikable, James was bland. I couldn't care less what happened to them so the book took me about six months to get through.

I usually love time travel, but sadly this book was not meant for me. The story seemed to drag on and there were too many questions left unanswered. The cover is gorgeous though!

The Exchange is a fun but shallow teen romance with time travel elements. The idea of a time travel exchange programme is a good one, but the book never really quite gets into the nuances of how that would affect the time travellers, just opting to show them marvelling over the internet and not, you know, having deeply entrenched beliefs due to their upbringing and knowledge of the world. If you don't expect too much in the way of theme or reason, this is entertaining enough. The writing could be better - I spotted a fair few mistakes, plus the language used is often clunky - but it's certainly pacey. Unfortunately, it ends without any resolution whatsoever, and with no hint of a sequel, which makes the whole thing feel a bit pointless...

Individuals are brought from the past (for 3 months) to the year 2030 with the intent that those in the future can learn from them and their real-life experiences. They are told after 3 months they will be returned to their own time and their memories wiped clean. It will be as though they never left their own time. But what if they aren't being told the full truth?

Ari is the daughter of one of the workers at this institute. She despises the program and everything it stands for. After losing her mother to a tragic accident and many run-ins with security at the institute, it is surprising when she is volunteered to host one of the exchanges. What ensues is a race to find out what is really happening and what she is willing to do to fix what is broken.

This is a very interesting concept. I never fully bought into it though. The romance felt forced, there seemed to be a lot of inconsistencies, and the relationships built were much too fast to be believable for me. I just don't see how this program could be seen as desirable, I guess. That made it hard for me to fully immerse and believe the story. It was just an ok read for me.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book and the characters, but I never got there. It's solidly okay. The premise is interesting: The Institute is an agency that has perfected time travel. In a time travel exchange student program, teenagers are brought from various points in the past to the year 2030 where they are paired with a high school student for three months. The why is never really explained. The purpose is supposedly so the future can learn from the past but I didn't see what happening. It's more like the kids from the past hang out and do all the same things as the future kids. The transition doesn't seem hard on them and there isn't much difference in their demeanors. I had hoped for a bit more depth from the synopsis. But it's a fun, easy to read love story.

Synopsis:
The Exchange is a YA time travel tale where the Institute at Pendleton in 2030 brings on exchange students from various important timelines so that the students of the present day can learn from them first-hand about their respective histories. But there is something that the Institute is not telling them. How is it that when these exchange students are sent back and no one says anything about their experiences which would surely have found a place in history somewhere?

Review:
This is Ari and James Cooper's story. Also, it is my first read by the author. It starts with a prologue from both their point of views. She's at the Institute in Pendleton, waiting to eavesdrop on the conversation between her father and her professor. The year is 2030 and Professor Limmerick is serious about ousting her from the student exchange program because of her actions. She is currently enrolled in Pendleton High School. In another time in the world, James is a simple farm boy who is in his final year of school at Heppner but he has big dreams. The year is 1903 when he comes to know about the Institute which will take on students for an Exchange Program based on a fair assessment. His 500-word essay on "Why I want to help the future remember the past" sealed the deal for him. But, what the Institute doesn't know is that he has no intention of returning to his past.

The concept is fresh and very interesting. A YA novel involving a student exchange program but with a twist. Because it isn't your usual country to country student exchange, rather it involves the past and future - time travels. But the story is filled with loopholes.

The references to the past brought on a nostalgic quality, what with Ari's father driving a 1956 Chevy pickup. But then again, Marvin hasn't been able to ever do much good by his daughter, what with his loyalty to the Institute even when he felt the loss of her mother so strongly. A loss brought about by the Institute's meddlesome habits. It's said that he's busy in his attempts to try to change the past though it's not revealed whether it was fruitful or not in the end. Also, who knows what was he doing for him to appear so fatigued to Ari. There are some shocking revelations about her parents towards the end of the story, but they remain unexplained.

Most of the story takes place in 2030 only after James reaches there as an exchange student. Due to her past misdemeanours, Ari has to work as a transition guide against her wishes. The work entails helping the new exchange students to settle down in the present. She hates the Institute and everything that it stands for. Having lost a friend earlier to the exchange program, she wants nothing to do with it but her father losing his dear job is what reins her in. She is paired up with James, while her gay and only best friend Michael Allen is paired up with Elizabeth. The story progresses from three POVs - Ari's, James' and Michael's.

The Institute, in the name of working on a time travel student exchange program which wants to preserve history, works in a very hush-hush way. And there is something off about James being an exchange student which he is determined to find out about. He doesn't exactly fit into the criteria of the students that are selected for the program. Another unexplained thing is why was James picked up for the program. Gradually, the sinister begins to take shape in the form of Ari questioning herself about how exactly the institute managed to keep a lid on the Exchange Program and how no one ever in the past mentioned it.

Ari and James both are socially awkward, and it takes time for them to break the ice. That slow burn development of friendship is also something that I liked about this book, which slowly transformed into romance.

"She was Cinderella, ready for the ball and he was the farm boy who drove the pumpkin carriage, not the prince."
The Time Ball is an event held close to the conclusion of the Exchange Program and the cover, while it wasn't preferred by many readers, is something that accurately defines the story.

There was a Jurassic Park reference and I was kind of expecting that. And how funny it is to read that the male protagonist would have preferred an Emily Dickinson poster, had there been such things in 1903. Maybe I should get one of my favourite author's poster too.

What starts as a sci-fi/fantasy turns into a romance and somewhere in between it falls flat since some main plot points are left unexplored and some relevant questions unanswered. It is an abrupt ending which leaves much to be desired. Even James and Ari's happiness couldn't eclipse the questions that I had. What happened to Ari's mother? What will happen with Marvin now? What exactly was the purpose of time travel? Is what Professor Limerick is doing wrong, unethical somehow? What exactly happens to students of the past when their window of teaching is up, how are they kept shut up? Michael had a strong voice in the entire story but he's nowhere at the end and neither we know what happens with Elizabeth. Some explanations have been provided but some of them are so vague that I couldn't be sure about them.

In the end, all I want to say is that this standalone fiction needs a sequel.

Now, on a lighter note:
"She and James finished the rest of the pizza in silence. The news had moved on to one of those obnoxious political pundit talk shows where everyone talks over each other and loses their temper."
Yikes, nothing changes in the next decade too? Oops!

"He’d been just a toddler when his mother had marched for women’s rights in 2017, but it’d had only taken a few years for real change to happen and for most of the old, white, homophobic men to get booted out of power. The only world he had ever known was one of total equality."
I hope that does happen within the next decade, the world will be a much better place to live in.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for a review copy of the book.

"James wasn't so sure he loved everything about the future. There were definite drawbacks. People were less connected, people rushed through their day, their meals, their relationships, but they also had the free will to do all of that."
-M.F. Lorson, The Exchange

2.5🌟/5

I received this e-book from Netgalley.

This book is mainly a romantic one, where time travel is involved.

The main protagonists are: James , who comes from Heppner 1903 and gets the chance to go to the future and experience a travel exchange, while Ari, comes from Pendleton 2030 and hates anything that has to do with the Institute, a time travel organization which her own father works for.

The Exchange is one of those books you read when you are in a reading slump, a fast-paced and simple one. However, unfortunately there are many questions which in my opinion are left unanswered or given very little response to.

It's a forgettable story, but nice nonetheless.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The idea behind this book was one that I was very interested in and it did meet most of my expectations. I have seen other individuals who have read this book talk about how the book was full of tropes and it is bust actually really enjoyed them and saw them coming. Overall this book was very good and was written and developed well and that makes me want to read more from this author.

I really wanted to like this book. The blurb sounded pretty cool and that cover is just gorgeous. However, despite the story-line showing much promise, it just dragged too much and there were a lot of things that annoyed me, such as the lack of spark between James and Ari.

I just feel like the story could have been so exciting and full of impact and intensity and yet, it wasn't. It came off as bland and dull.

Thanks to Netgalley and P.F Lorson for giving me this ebook for free in exchange for an honest review.

Published in September this book is now available to purchase.

WHAT’S THE EXCHANGE ABOUT?
A when James, a time travel exchange student from 1903 arrives in the twentieth century he is not surprised to find the future everything he hoped it is.

His host, 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 three months while he’s here, then off he goes back to 1903 where he came from. There’s just one problem. The more time Ari spends with James the harder she falls for him.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE EXCHANGE?
I requested to read The Exchange because I find books about time travel wonderful. There’s something about the idea of temporarily experiencing another time period that is fascinating.

With that in mind, I had high hopes for The Exchange. The premise was interesting and the world the characters live in sounded like it offered some interesting challenges for them to overcome.

As my last few reads have been fantasy with a darker lean to them (Never Night and A Court of Thorns and Roses) this lighter read was certainly something I was ready for!

The world that the author created was one I wanted to know more about. I wanted to know the motivations behind the characters and their decisions. Who was behind the Institute? How did the program work?

The romance between James and Ari was sweet, and the author did a good job of exploring it and giving depth of feeling to both characters.

The way the story addressed the ethical position of time travel was interesting and worth considering. The writing itself was clear and grammatically flowed well.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE EXCHANGE?
Unfortunately this book just didn’t meet my expectations. While there was a lot of promise in this book, it just fell flat when it came to the execution.

There were lots of tropes in this book, which I think put me off fairly early on. There’s insta-love, a gay best friend, star-crossed lovers and an evil organisation with very little explanation.

The lack of explanation around the role of the institute in particular was frustrating. The book still felt like it was establishing itself for too long, over half way through and the inciting incidents had barely occurred. The mystery felt somewhat contrived and the plot was predictable.

I was limited in my ability to care for the characters, purely because not enough was revealed to me about them. I didn’t know who this ‘Americus’ was that Ari cared so deeply about until over half way in the book, despite the fact she kept referring to them. It was confusing. James himself seemed like a more developed character, though very twenty first century in his views towards many issues despite his origins in the past. He seemed to have a bigger issue with technology than homosexuality.

Now I’m not saying everyone in 1903 was a homophobe, but it seemed unlikely to me that he would adjust so quickly to twenty first century views. For contrast, I’ve read the Outlander series, which although being for an adult audience addresses the cultural and worldview contrasts across the centuries very well. In particular for that series, the role of women is something Claire struggles with immensely.

RECOMMENDATION
Whilst this book wasn’t for me, I can see it would have appeal to younger readers looking for a light romantic read. The time travel aspects are fun and interesting!

The cover art of this book is lovely, and drew me in with its romantic imagery.

This story is really cute, but I found that it was too ambitious for such a short book. At roughly 200 pages, everything moves really quickly and doesn’t leave much room for anything other than the plot movement. We didn’t really get any development in the characters or their relationships so while the plot was interesting and fun, I wasn’t able to get invested in it. I really loved the plot and the whole concept, but time travel can be so tricky and there were too many holes left open. The way the book ended made everything feel pointless because it didn’t answer any of the questions set up in the plot. In short, the concept was great, but it needed a lot more development to become a fully fleshed out novel.

The description of the book makes it sound a little more like a YA Romance, but it actually had more to the story than that. The teens band together to try and discover the motive for picking people to be time travelers. Not quite a dystopian novel, since it is only set in 2030, but it had a similar vibe. I really enjoyed this quick read and I would recommend to teen readers.

This was such a great read, I was so mesmerized by the fact you can time travel between different dates and times. There is something definitely nefarious going on with in the institute and I can’t wait to figure out what is that is really happening and what Ari and her group do about it. Definitely need more, I loved this book.

The Exchange is a captivating twist on time travel. A story of an exchange student who time travels with unexpected twists and turns along the way. The Exchange is filled with wonderful characters with intriguing backstories and smart writing that pulls the reader in. I enjoy reading and recommend The Exchange to anyone who loves a twists to sci fi time travel novels, I look forward to reading more from M.F. Lorson.

This is one reason M. F. Lorson's work in The Exchange feels so ageless and era-hopping as you would expect a time travel novel to be.

As the novel opens, we learn that time travel is already a pursued action, it became a kind of part of the familiarity in each of their lives.

There are three narrators, one of them, Michael who's young and smooth plotting, second of them Jamie, winningly have a sense of free will and determinism, and thirdly Ari, she's much more balanced and complexed character than the others. The most compelling portraits in this book are ones where the origin of any event might lie in the past of their stories.

Many of which they explore the consequences of this kind of time travel.

This book is genuinely magnetizing, I am such a fan of time traveling in books, especially when it’s done well. All these young people caught up in a sick lie that everyone half-knows but can't look at directly. Especially when they are deeply involved in different angles. That utterly has changed/or will change their lives, and in this sense, life-altering and devastating if they don't do something about it.

But by the end, I found myself anxious over the simple and trustful relationship between the three of them, facing their greatest fears among other things together.

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.

I really wanted to love this book, but I can't.

The story set up sounds very promising. High schoolers from all different times are invited to be time travelers, come to the future, and experience life there while telling stories of their lives back home. James, a traveler sent from the 1930s is pitched as falling in love with his travel guide from the Institute named Ari, a girl who hates the Institute and everything it stands for despite her parent's employment there. They are going to fall in love, but he ultimately has to go back to 1930 in 3 months, so what are they going to do about it? See, sounds like a good story. Overall it is, but it is lacking in so much detail that I struggle to figure out how the author thought this book was set to publish.

SPOILERS BELOW

- Almost any time you start to get an idea that the main characters might be interested in each other all they do is look at each other or she jumps off to a completely different topic. You never actually get to explore the idea that they may be falling for each other, except a few times that you read their inner monologues talking about how they think they like the other one.
- When you finally do get the James and Ari alone for the perfect spot to have their first kiss, the author jump cuts to the next chapter and implies later that it happened and was nice. Seriously? You've attempted to build up this relationship as the focal point of your story, but won't even go into it?
- Ari's dad refuses to go back in time to save her mom from dying in a car crash. With that in mind, how does the epilogue make any sense whatsoever? What possibly could make Ari think that her dad would willingly break the Institute rules to bring her and James back from 1930 when he wouldn't do anything to save his own wife? They never indicate anywhere that he would be willing to do that, and leave you with an unresolved story of wondering if he will save his own daughter or not.
- Time travelers supposedly have different names, but James doesn't? Why doesn't he go by a different name in the present than he did back home in the past?
- In general, so many, many times during this book you would get to a point where you would be finally picking up in a section of the story or it would be a point where something should be explained in great detail, and there is literally nothing there. Just a jump cut to a different scene or a new chapter where weeks have passed and something else is going on now. I felt cheated out of 100+ pages worth of a great story full of romance and lots of detail with this current version. Probably nothing will change, and that's disappointing.

If you want an average tale of minimal romance, a random gay character that seems to be wanting to explore his sexuality for a chapter or two then never does again, lots of missing details, and a unresolved ending then this is the book for you. Sorry, I just can't recommend this book as something I enjoyed reading.

I'm not usually a fan of time travel but this was such a unique twist to the usual time travel books that I've read. The Exchange is a program where students are brought in from the past as exchange students for three months. The MC is forced into hosting an exchange even though she despises the whole program but she connects with her exchange, James, rather quickly and a relationship begins to blossom. And they both know how hard it's going to be for him to return when the three months is up. The characters and the writing were brilliant and I just really loved it. The concept to me was so unique that even though time travel isn't usually something I enjoy reading about that I really started to second guess why I'm not a fan. I would definitely recommend this.