I really wanted to enjoy this book and the plot of scavengers living off mining salvage heaps seemed interesting enough. The Green Corps group that controlled everything appeared to be a villainous enough entity. What I couldn't get past was the juvenile like love story going on between Walker and Elsa. The initial attraction was ok but how after she is violently sexually assaulted she is all ready to just jump into bed with Walker when they get the opportunity? It just didn't make sense. Plus it seemed a little too spicy compared to the rest of the writing in the book . Though I do appreciate getting the opportunity to read the book from NetGalley, I doubt I would continue this series.

I enjoyed the riding the rails aspect of this book that gave it a dystopian Great Depression feel, as did the search for, and control of, the food supply. The shifting POV seemed to jump around a bit in the beginning, but that might have been more the readers than the writer. The sex scene, while seemingly obligatory in contemporary stories, felt a bit too detailed to me. Not a bad story and one that might reasonably carry a reader into the next book. I would give it a 3,5/5..

I found this to be a very compelling read but outside the scope of my blog. I have left an honest star review as I greatly appreciate the read, but I will not be including it in my publication. Thank you.

I NEVER say this in a review but this time it’s really true: this book was really not for me. I had trouble being interested in it because even though the blurb reassures us things not YA, it had all the dystopian YA tropes heavily represented. I guess the sex scenes and some of the brothel scenes are why YA readers are warned away. The writing was great but I felt like the characters were quite derivative and cliched. The heroine; a scrappy, underdog with a heart of gold and the hero; a tall, handsome bad boy with hidden depth. It was hard to be invested in them. Also the bad guys were not nuanced, they were all bad and twisted. All of these things made me feel too old for this book, it lacked complexity and reminded me of so many books my 13 year old loves.
The above is mostly a preference thing because I realize that all the things I listed are extremely loved conventions of the genre. I picked this up because I loved the author’s first novel, and I will look out for more from her. This one just wasn’t a good fit for me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review*

It was a good book. Not the best dystopian book I've read but it was a...good effort. Elsa who was an okay character sometimes read like juvenile and I hate it say it that I loved the side characters, more than the main characters. I would love to read more about Tatsuda and Caitlyn. But overall it was a good book. (3.5 stars)

I absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. It's well paced and the character development was well thought out. I'm not a big romance fan but even the romance was engaging. Will definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out in June.

Thank you to Black Rose Writing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

I debated a lot about my rating for this book - the whole time being in between a 3 and 4 star and finally settled for the former because of the foreshadowing.

I love dystopias and the world Gibson imagined and created was well developed. That being said, the foreshadowing took so much from the story. I won't simply state that it became "predictable", because every book is in itself predictable to a certain degree (we all knew Harry Potter would survive, for example), but the foreshadowing made the ---journey--- also predictable, which is something completely different.

I enjoyed the fact that more and more characters were are added to the story as it developed but found it unnecessary for there to be different POVs since they didn't exactly give or take from the story itself and were in the same chapter.

A few POV errors occurred here and there but in the bigger picture, the book is a great foundation for the series.

I love the cover and I can't wait for book 2.

Fairly typical story set in a dystopian future where the protagonist Elsa struggles under unfair leadership (in this case, the GreenCorps) and lives with her Granny, making a living searching through rubbish heaps for anything that might have value when she comes across a mysterious canister.

The plot was too predictable for my liking and none of the characters were especially interesting, Walker came across as a very flat character without much depth, especially in his relationship with Elsa (and some of the things he writes about Elsa made me cringe tbh). Elsa is a more interesting character but not particularly new or original in any way. The bad guys are just bad for the sake of being bad.

That said, some of it I did like: Tatsuda and Caitlyn were interesting side characters and I wouldn't have minded reading more about them. The setting of the book in a dystopian future also felt very realistic and the writing of the book in general was okay.

Futuristic, dystopian, post-apocalyptic this is well-paced read set in a wonderfully world with nuanced and developed characters and an interesting (if predictable) plot line.

I really enjoyed the romance, it wasn’t a surprise but I think their relationship was well built and it added such a lovely juxtaposition to some of the wider themes and really drove home this undercurrent of human relationships enduring despite the world being in chaos. I do feel like once the romance started developing the overall story started to feel a bit flat and I think there needed to be some more time dedicated to character development here.

I think my biggest complaint though was that everything was just very predictable. Within the first few chapters I could predict almost the entirety of the plot and so that made it difficult to remain invested.

If you love dystopian reads and you’re looking for something easy to get into then this might be worth exploring.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

We find ourselves in the year 2195 in Southern California (SoCal). We follow a young, resilient, and strong girl as she works to survive with her Granny. The work in the Heap, a garbage mountain that is scavenged for anything of value to be sold to GreenCorps. GreenCorps controls almost everything in what was once the United States. They control all the food, water and money.

I didn’t know much about this book before getting the Arc copy, other then it is a dystopian book. I’m a sucker for a good dystopia, that being said this book is so much more then just another dystopian about a horrible future that we may or may not see. Our author Lena Gibson does a wonderful job of making this future seem so far away and unreachable while keeping it grounded in reality. There were also layers of subplot that genuinely caught me by surprise and was excited to learn more about. Like a romance plot? Hello? I’m not sure why, but I had not seen it coming, or at least to the extent it did!

I really enjoyed the world building and the mention of the environmental effects and the differences between areas. Thinking about what would happen to our infrastructure if people all of a sudden stopped caring for it is a thought that I’m sure many people have pondered.

In general this book was surprising and entertaining in all the right ways!

I was attracted to Switching Tracks because of the train concept, but actually ended up liking the beginning where Elsa is tunneling through trash more. This book started out feeling more dystopian and interesting, but once the characters were actually on the train things started feeling fairly flat. Walker never developed as much of a character and Elsa, who started off pretty strong, falls hard into the tropes of a love interest. There’s really interesting ideas here, but the focus is entirely in the wrong places for this to be truly compelling for me.

Note: arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for honest reviews

3.5 stars

We are in the year 2195. SoCal is now controlled by GreenCorps, making life difficult for many people. Elsa and her Granny are some of these people. When Walker and his brother Hayden come to town, Elsa's life is turned upside down completely after Hayden tries to mug Granny, and she gets hurt in the process. Elsa needs to find a new way of living, but this doesn't go without its ups and downs.

I must admit that I am intrigued by the concept of this plot. Although it is set in the future, it isn't unrealistic or science fiction. No, the plot is actually set in the future, but if the author hadn't mentioned that in the book, I doubt anyone would have actually noticed. By doing so, while reading the book, you can still imagine everything in your head, making the book very enjoyable. I did have some trouble with Elsa's character. I don't want to say that I hated her, but I encountered many icks while reading. I know this is personal, but Elsa felt like a mentally disabled child to me. That is also the reason that this book cannot be scored any higher, in my opinion. But besides that, I did really enjoy reading this book and I am curious to see what the following book will bring.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this ARC of Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash by Lena Gibson. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have read it and give feedback.

Judging by the other ARC reviews out there, this is being met with praise and five stars. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case with my experience.

This YA book is set dystopian, trash-filled SoCal where corporations thrive. The main character, Elsa, finds a tube with maps to bunkers containing seeds and supplies. One thing leads to another, and she sets off around the country with a guy she just met, hoping to bring down the chokehold GreenCorp has over food supplies.

I’ll start with the things I liked about the book.
• I liked the setting in general, mainly because dystopians are always interesting to me. The worldbuilding could have been stronger, but it is what it is. For example, I now know what GreenCorp is but I don’t really know more beyond them being a generic evil corporation intent on controlling everything.
• I liked the writing. It was simple and effective.
• I liked Tatsuda and Caitlyn for the most part, and would have liked to see more of them.

And the things I didn’t like.
• First of all, I detested the use of graphic sex scenes in this. There are two specific major scenes I can think of, and I really didn’t need to know that much. The second in particular didn’t add anything for me, and alluding to what they did would have been more than enough. Going into that much detail just seemed… gross. I’m not saying smut is all the book is now, but really.
• Elsa seemed like she was going to be an interesting character, but just ended up being a generic feisty-girl-turned-doe-eyed as soon as she falls for the love interest. There were moments where she turns a little sassy again, but then completely falls apart when she sees her man.
• Walker was as bland as you can get — generic protector male. Going on about how beautiful Elsa is but “she doesn’t know it”.
• Bad guys being evil for the sake of being evil bad guys.
• For some reason this book just dragged for me. It took quite a long time to actually get to the “switching tracks” part of the book. Decent writing, not great pacing possibly.

This was a mixed bag for me. I didn’t know what I wasn’t expecting when I requested it, maybe just another YA dystopian. I wasn’t expecting the characters to be as bland as they were, or for the worldbuilding to take a backseat to the love story. I definitely wasn’t expecting smut or for the book to go on as long as it did.

I’ll give this 2.5 stars, which for me is mediocre. Exactly in the middle. Some solid ideas, let down by the author seeming to pander to the ever-present YA romance market.

Great read really enjoyed this book. Post apocalyptic action adventure with great world building. Interesting political structures post disaster. Really looking forward to book 2. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the DRC.

Switch Tracks breaks the mold of dystopian fiction by catering to a more mature audience, and it's a refreshing departure from the usual young adult focus. Finally, a dystopian story for those of us who've graduated from the young adult scene.

This book dives deep into familiar dystopian themes—environmental chaos, corporate power plays, societal divides— It hits close to home, making the story feel like an amplified reflection of today's struggles. The characters aren't just plot devices; they're relatable individuals grappling with challenges that mirror our own.

What struck me most is how the author brings the struggles down to earth. It's not about flashy gadgets or a distant future; it's about survival, connections, and messy, real-life journeys. The frozen-in-2024 technology backdrop makes it all eerily plausible, like a 'what if' scenario grounded in our present.

"Switching Tracks" isn't aiming for a distant, unreachable future. It's a mirror reflecting today's struggles, wrapped in a dystopian package.

Genre: Dystopian

Review: Quite the rave reviews from published authors. I did not check to see if they were in the same publishing house to check and ultimately compare their claims to the work. This novel in no way reaches the heights of their lauding.

Elsa, from Frozen (lol) is our mainy heapster. She climbs through 20th century dumps in the far future to eake out a meager living under the Green Corporation. She can leave at any time but chooses to stay. She could take Mee-Maw with her, but that gets glossed over in the narrative.

Ever been on a train? It is more boring than a comprehensive essay on why Boris Pasternak trivialized history and rendererd opaque the pivotal junctions of Russian WWI involvement in Dr. Shivago. This novel does exactly that. The characters mope around the weasliy to hunky scale, generating insta-love connections through "Feelings that him/her/this is important". Huh? Elsa is hotter than a Baptist church on a Texas summer Sunday with topaz eyes like her mee-maw. I guess topaz is a sexy way of saying yellow. How they have yellow eyes is a head scratcher.

So hunky Walker Texas Ranger, whom can side-kick a fart back in your butt, takes an immediate interest in a starved, yellow-eyed waif because of a weird instinctual FEELING that she is important. Barf. Despite her starved body and angular boney features, Walker becomes infatuated while letting his brother lie, cheat and steal from her and Mee-Maw. Make sense? Nope.

Wrapping up dog shjt from the side walk is a bit more satisfying than this novel as there is some investment in the outcome (clean sidewalks, less disease etc.). Although not real bad, the characters just failed to resolve into anything interesting. It was like all these pre-set personas with no development. You do not get to see them evolve with the movement and grow into something that is either unexpected, repulsive or endearing.

Hitching breaths, fumbling touches, flushed faces, biting and licking of lips (40x) and winky winks is just more trash in the heap of YA garbage being cranked out. The idea that, once again, YAs have all the Solution Keys to everyones woes is just plain pedantic crap used to sell novels to hormonal idiots.

Rating: 1.1/5

This was a fun, dystopian world unlike any that I've read before. It had sympathetic characters and a pace that was breakneck! I can't wait to check out more from this author!

Southern California—or I guess I should say SoCal—has become a barely livable prison camp for political prisoners in 2195. Everything is run by Green Corps, who maintains their power by keeping everyone who isn’t a part of that organization struggling and half-starving. Elsa scavenges for items to exchange for plastic tokens to buy food and water for herself and her grandmother. One day, she finds a mysterious metal cylinder that looks like it could bring in good money. But there is something about that cylinder that makes her reluctant to part with it, even though it could be even more dangerous to hang onto it.

“Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash” by Lena Gibson is the first in a series, and I will be counting the days until the next one is released. I was immediately hooked into the story. The dialog was sharp and the descriptive narrative was so realistic, it almost had me send warning messages to friends living in Los Angeles suggesting that they might want to consider selling their houses and moving away while they still had time. A strong five stars and a huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of the book.

Switching tracks is a good start of a series in a dystopian world where all seems hopeless for those who aren't involved with the one major corporation. The world building is done well and can easily lend itself to multiple books.

The one thing that held back a 5 star rating for me was the evolution of the main character. Her growth felt like it was almost too fast considering her life before that silver canister entered her life.

I'm looking forward to reading book 2 and seeing how the characters introduced will work together

It’s year 2195, and GreenCorps hold all the power in this ecologically devastated world. We find ourselves in SoCal – political prison disguised as a work camp. I love this dystopian setting, it’s vivid, but not overpowering, it feels very real. The cover was one of the first things that caught my eye, and it depicts the setting of a book very well! A huge plus for that.

I was happy to see one of the traditional dystopian themes explored in this book: environmental change, corporation that controls essential resources, divided society of powerful and powerless.

What I didn’t expect – dystopian romance subplot. However it was a nice surprise, I like the mix of these two genres! Elsa and Gran are my favorite characters, Walker seems to be a very simple-minded guy. More and more characters are added as the story progresses, and I liked this gradual introduction of characters.

On the down side, the plot seems to be very simple, it’s too predictable, and that took away big part of my reading enjoyment. Different povs (Elsa and Walker) in the same chapter made it look like an easy popcorn, on the verge of smutty romance. I found this in a disonance with the cover and the main description of a book.
There are a lot of telling, and not so much showing... The tiny bit that was used as a showing for character build felt flat.

In my opinion, the setting is the stongest aspect of a book. Also, I love the cover. The book is a quite solid foundation for the series! A very solid 3 star read.
I would recommend this book as an easy read for wind down time for dystopian setting lovers.
I received ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Black Rose Writing and NetGalley.