Exchange of Hearts

Sweet Dreams

by Janet Quin Harkin

When Fiona arrives in sunny New Mexico from her home in England, it feels as if she's entered a whole new world. But instead of enjoying her stay as an exchange student, she's miserable and homesick. Most of all, she misses her boyfriend, Simon. Taco West, the only boy on the ranch where Fiona is staying, is nothing like Simon. He teases her and treats her like a pesty younger sister.

But as time goes by, Fiona finds Taco has a gentle, tender side. And she thinks about Simon less and less. Should Fiona stay faithful to the boy she's supposed to love - or give her heart to the boy she thought she hated?

Genres: Romance, Young Adult

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1984

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved, loved, loved this when I was a young teen.

[Tahera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book basically was one of my favourites in the Sweet Dreams titles I read during my teen years...

[Amber Packer-hughes]

I loved these when I was at school. We had a special assembly once where the librarian politely requested that girls stop stealing them from the school library! I picked this up, along with a few others, in a charity shop in Edinburgh while visiting my lovely friend Hannah. Took me right back to being a hormonal teenager. Happy days!

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahh, nostalgia. I used to love these books when I was young, and reading it took me back to that time. Can't rate it too highly, though...nostalgia only counts for so much.

[Sarai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis (taken from http://sweetdreamsseries.com):
When Fiona arrives in sunny New Mexico from her home in England, it feels as if she's entered a whole new world. But instead of enjoying her stay as an exchange student, she's miserable and homesick. Most of all, she misses her boyfriend, Simon. Taco West, the only boy on the ranch where Fiona is staying, is nothing like Simon. He teases her and treats her like a pesty younger sister. But as time goes by, Fiona finds Taco has a gentle, tender side. And she thinks about Simon less and less. Should Fiona stay faithful to the boy she's supposed to love - or give her heart to the boy she thought she hated?

Janet Quin Harkin also writes murder mysteries under the name Rhys Bowen.

[Diane Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a teenager and though it really is the classic teen girl has to pick between two guys...one the rich guy she SHOULD be with, one a rustic outlaw that she shouldn't be with... etc.etc.. BUT I loved this one. I don't know if it is the difference in the guys, or the setting or what.. but I have re-read this one over and over and finally got a copy of my own as an adult just so I could pass it on to my own daughter. It's cheesy and predictable, but enjoyable.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was...a bit of a mess. Not only is the hero nicknamed Taco (which is bad enough), but the instalove was unusually rampant. Taco (god, that's horrible) kisses the heroine *completely* out of nowhere and our dopey heroine Fiona decides she loves Taco when she sees him sulking at the airport.

Even the New Mexico setting couldn't save this. The Wests live on a ginormous ranch just outside of Albuquerque and go into town to see the "luminarios". Boo. Research fail.

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, did I love buying these from Scholastic and reading them in middle school. Although formulaic in nature, they're not entirely bad...just a typical teen romance.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un des bouquins de ma jeunesse qui m'a donne envie de voyager. Mieux que Anna and the French Kiss dans un sens pour sa depiction d'un echange a l'etranger.

[KylieAtkinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more from Janet Quin-Harkin (really liked her previous ones) but this was very much a miss. Not sure why Fiona fell for Taco (yep, that’s the main male leads name...) when he was so mean to her (and while she still had a boyfriend back home). He wasn’t very appealing for the first 2/3’s of the book (except some random big kiss 2 days after he met her) and I can’t believe she’d be so cool about her boyfriend back in England hooking up Taco’s sister (who she exchanged with).
Nah, not my favourite Sweet Dreams book.

[Briana · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone from New Mexico I was intrigued about reading this book however it was disappointing with the generalization of New Mexico and the plot itself was just lacking.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first ever novel and the one that made me like reading.

[Judy Tarver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite young adult romance novel. I must have read it a dozen times or more.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

De ce que je me rappelle…c’était le meilleur livre jamais écrit sur terre…

[L’étagère de Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une bonne petite lecture ☺️

[Eniah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it ! Even it my age 😅