*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This is a cute historical fiction, and as always love this historical note at the end!, I really liked Pen and the (other?) boys, the ending was really open ended so not sure if they plan on doing something with that or not but it was a pretty good read.

I enjoyed this story and I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for giving me a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Description

When fourteen-year-old Penelope Clark accidentally travels through time to 1915 Boston, she must disguise herself first as a pickpocket and then as a newsboy, learning how to thieve, fight, and broadcast headlines to survive in an era before antibiotics and open-heart surgeries.

Stuck in the past with no way to get home, Penn makes her first friend ever and many enemies. But when Penn is robbed and the pickpockets kidnap the head newsboy, she finds herself stuck in the middle of a dangerous rivalry, questioning her loyalties to either side and to herself.

After a violent fistfight with a fellow pickpocket, Penn incurs a life-threatening infection. As her supposed enemy nurses her back to health—discovering she’s a girl and befriending her in the process—Penn realizes that someone else must have betrayed her. Her ensuing investigation reveals not only the truth of her betrayer’s identity, but also her own. 

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EDITIONEbookISBN9781684332786PRICE$6.99 (USD)

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My Review:

This is the first book in the Fatechanger series. The book is about Penny and her time in Boston exploring the city during the summer days. She decides since she does not have any friends she is going to infiltrate a boy’s club of thieves by pretending to be a boy. I love her well developed character that shows she is strong and resourceful.

The book overall is very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the description of Boston. Traveling there often it definitely was very accurate.

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion and I have to tell you I highly recommend this book!!

Can’t wait for the next installment.

I give this book 5 stars *****

I took a long break from reading this to read something else, and only barely decided to come back and finish it.

The first few chapters are unpromising (hence the break and reluctant return). Far from being any kind of "fatechanger," as per the title, the main character, Penn, lacks much agency. She's thrown unexpectedly through time, in what at first seems like it's a contrived mechanism for the sake of the plot with no real explanation behind it (though later on it turns out that the explanation is... pretty much exactly what I thought it would be if there was an explanation). Once back in 1915, she takes, without much resistance, the first and seemingly only option open to her: she becomes a pickpocket in an Oliver-Twist-like gang of youths (disguised as a boy). She doesn't seem to suffer much in the way of moral angst about this, though we have been shown, prior to her trip through time, that she wasn't above a bit of stealing here and there.

Things pick up a bit once she manages to buy her way out of debt to the Fagin of the thieves (who runs a remarkably fair and unrigged system that allows her to do so), and instead chooses to be a newsboy - though she's not welcomed by the other newsboys, and has to prove herself again. She does this, as she did among the thieves, by being much better than them at what they do (and have been doing for a long time). Her foreknowledge of the significance of the newspaper headlines plays some role, but basically she's just that talented at selling newspapers, somewhat inexplicably given what else we see of her.

There's a marked dichotomy in Penn all the way through, in fact. On the one hand, she's helpless and lacking in options, stranded in another time without the medical treatment she needs for her heart condition, with no idea of even where to begin to look to find her way back to her own time. She has absolutely no knack of making friends, and gets herself resented by both groups she joins. On the other hand, she's incredibly good at everything she tries, ends up with a bunch of friends and allies despite herself, and eventually gets handed the way back without having had to work for it in any way (and without even attempting to do so).

This feels to me like double deprotagonization, both through lack of agency in the situation and also through being handed things she either doesn't earn or earns too easily through excessive natural ability. This, combined with some very basic, though not too frequent, copy editing issues, combined to lower my rating to three stars.

I received a review copy via Netgalley. I assume the errors I noticed are in the published version, since the publication date is in the past.

I would like to begin by thanking Black Rose Writing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Penny Lost is the first book in the Fatechanger series, and I for one am hooked. I am absolutely interested in reading the next installment; I mean, I started and finished this one in a day! It is one of those books that you can't put down because it keeps you guessing and you have to find out what happens next.

Penn, the main character, lives in Boston in 2019 with her single mother who works nights and sleeps days. She is a loner and spends her summer days exploring her city and blending into the crowds. Tired of the monotony of her boring, invisible life, she makes a wish to escape. She escapes all right, however she travels back in time to 1915 Boston and over the course of two months, her life completely changes. She finally makes her first ever friend when she pretends to be a boy and joins a group of thieves run by a rough, mysterious man who promises to take care of her in exchange for continuing to pickpocket (and pay him a percentage). But the newsboys intrigue her and she leaves the gang to sell the news. She makes some friends along the way, but it seems everywhere she goes she makes more enemies than friends. She went from being a total loner to being the center of attention (that attention is mostly not good); most of the time not knowing who to trust. As a girl in a male-dominated world, she does what the boys do, but she does it better. She is girl power all the way. She has a strong sense of loyalty, but it makes her vulnerable and an easy target at times. I was rooting for her throughout the entire story.

The setting was perfect. I felt like I traveled back in time right along with Penn. The clothes, the city, the stores, the mannerisms, the speech - everything was depicted perfectly by Poplin. I truly felt like I was there - and I didn't want to go back.

The ending was pretty shocking. I had no idea where the story was heading at that point and my attention was captured yet again. I only wish I didn't have to wait for the next book to come out so that I can find out what happens next.

Atmospheric, quirky and powerful are the best adjectives to describe Fatechanger: Penny Lost by L.M. Poplin.

In this book, we follow Penelope Clark, a fourteen-year-old girl with a heart disease, who accidentally travels to 1915 Boston. Due to her androgenic style, Penn pretends to be a boy and tries το survive in a male-dominated world, first as a thief and then as a newsboy. In 2019 she was invisible. In 1915 she’s the center of attention making friends as well as enemies; the line of the two often blurring.

I think the characters and the setting were the strongest elements of the story. Our protagonist was well fleshed out with a unique and complex personality. I could understand clearly her motives, her fears, and her struggles and I appreciated many times her mature way of thinking. I was amazed by her persistence and constant striving towards her goals and I was happy when she accomplished them. She learned how to pickpocket, how to sell newspapers and become the best newsboy Boston has ever seen. She learned how to fight and defend herself but most importantly she learned to let herself be vulnerable, gaining some friends in the process. I think Penn is a great example of what girl power should look like in action.

All the characters felt real to me with the kind of flaws you meet in everyday people. There is a mystery engulfing the intentions of some towards Penn but their unreliability only keeps your interest as the story moves forward. The ending left a sour taste in my mouth and I don’t know where I stand. I don’t know who to trust and, I must say, I feel kind of betrayed.

The world setting was amazing. It was like I had time-traveled myself. The clothes, the streets, the jobs, the stores, the speech were all depicting 1915 perfectly. L.M. Poplin’s excellent writing style delivered a world you could lose yourself into. Not even once I thought I was in a different time period and I grew to love the feel of being part of it.

Towards the middle, the pacing slowed down a bit and that threw me off for a while. I didn’t know where the story was heading and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. Fortunately, the ending was unexpected and kind of shocking. The only thing I want now is for the next book to come out and give me the answers I crave so much.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for review purposes.

Fatechanger is a new timeslip novel for teens/YA/adults by L. M. Poplin. Released 30th May 2019 by Black Rose, it's 225 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a very well written and engaging book. I was previously unfamiliar with the author, but will definitely be on the lookout for future books. The narrative is clear and the voice is strong. The protagonist, Penn, is a likeable character with a strong sense of loyalty making the best of a difficult situation. I loved the reveal halfway through the book about the world and her place in it.

Quite looking forward to continuing the story later.

Five stars. Very enjoyable.