Quirky storyline but quite entertaining. There were definitely some laugh out loud moments in this. This is kind of like freaky friday with a touch of realism to it. Good effort.

The Body Swap was a ton fun. It's very much Freaky Friday meets a Kasie West book. Hallie and Susan have an accident which caused them to switch bodies. They have find away to mange being in each others lives without completely messing it up. The writing was fun and light. I think the dialogue was my favorite part. The dynamic between Susan and Hallie was wonderful, a pure delight to read. I loved that this story was centered on a different type of relationship than normal contemporaries.

I had requested this book because the idea of a book that was like Freaky Friday sounded really interesting to me. This was a really quick cute read.

82yr old Susan and 15 year old Hallie they ended up in a car accident.
Hallie is your typical teenager where Susan is an elderly woman who’s dealing with her own life.

I love that the author made this such an interesting read. Having 2 people swap bodies with such an age gap now knowing they have a better understanding of one another.

I did feel like the book was a bit rushed in bits but all around I enjoyed the book.

** I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review **

Susan, an 82 year old woman, backs her car into a 15 year old girl, Hallie. Hallie hurls into the air and then slams onto the pavement. She wakes to what seems to be an old-fashioned carnival. She joins up with Susan at a wooden roller coaster. This leads to Eli (an angel?) causing their bodies to be exchanged, however, their souls remain with them. It is difficult and takes some time for both of them to acclimate to this situation. Imagine! Mishaps occur; the two get mistakenly accused of shoplifting cell phones, get senior menus for the teen's., etc. The angel appears as a waitress at the mall (carpe diem tattoo is proof) who tells Hallie that she must "look outside herself to find what the world wants from you". Hallie has 4 days (until Christmas Eve) to find direction in her life (or death). Susan swears that a faulty gas pedal in her car caused her to back-up over Hallie. Hallie is highly skeptical - that is, until she drives the SUV, herself. They now pursue this car defect and are unable to get concrete evidence. The brilliant conclusion is surprising!!! An excellent, fast read. Many thanks to Dundurn Press and NetGallery for the opportunity to read this thought-provoking novel.

I found this book to be an interesting read. The idea of the body swap issue to bridge a generation gap was unique for a book as I feel that it hasn't been done a lot. I one clicked this book, although I felt it a tad rushed was still well done. The cover to this book was gorgeous as well!

I originally requested this book because the idea of a body swap to learn understand the differences en difficulties of life in different stages sounded very interesting. I started reading and withing the first chapter both the main characters had already died and met God. He promised them a chance at a new ending if they would manage to prove that the car was faulty and it wasn’t 82 year old Susan’s fault she ran over 15 year old Hallie, killing them both. I felt like the start was a bit rushed. I had barely gotten to know Hallie, who was the most stereotyped teenager I’ve read about so far, or she had already died and swapped bodies with Susan, who was barely introduced. I would’ve liked some more introduction of the characters and a little more time to read about the setting of the book.

The middle part of the book I enjoyed, I read trough it in no-time because the writing was pleasant and not to difficult. I felt like I got to understand Susan a bit more, learning about her son and daughter-in-law wanting to put her in a home and not believing her stories about her car. Hallie’s life, on the other hand, remains more of a mystery. I barely got to know her family, her dad is the first one she described to Susan yet is only in one scene, there was no getting to know Hallie and understanding her. This was really Susan’s story and Hallie was just puppet to tell it trough. God, or Eli as he is called in this story, promised but of them different endings if they could better their life’s but only Susan, or Hallie in Susan’s body, really had a quest to fulfill and all the characters were there for Susan. Susan seemed to meddle in and have an impact on Hallie’s life, choosing not to pursue Chael but instead Hardeep to hang out with, while Hallie tried not to mess things up for Susan. Now I realize the synopsis already says that they need to prove the faulty car and that there is nothing really to fix in Hallie’s life but the story would’ve been more rounded if Susan had to face more challenges in her body swap since the growing point for Hallie comes from learning about the challenges other people face.

The ending came very sudden, I was at page 230 and thinking how it was never gonna reach an end before page 255 and then all of a sudden there was an ending. It felt kind of forced, like all of a sudden the writer noticed she only had 25 pages left and quickly ended it without really letting it make sense. I had no idea I was reading the ending as I did and all of a sudden they were back at the carnival with Eli and they had suddenly proved the car to be faulty. I liked the idea of making Susan’s son, Ron, drive while the car malfunctioned because he didn’t believe his mother at all when she told him but the way they proved it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. They filmed the driver while he was driving and the car malfunctioned but there is, in my opinion, little prove of an accelerator ‘sticking’ if a person says it does, you can’t see it happening. This was a little disappointing for me.

As I mentioned at the beginning, Hallie was the most stereotypical teenager I’ve ever read about. She was constantly texting and in love with someone who insulted her and ended up being a player. When she switched bodies with Susan she started out as the same bratty teenager but all of a sudden, she wasn’t anymore. There was not really a development as it just happened all of a sudden, one chapter she was stereotypical and the next she was a sweetheart who wanted nothing but to keep Susan out of a nursing home. The reason she kept trying to prove the car faulty was because she really wanted to go back to her own body so in that case she didn’t really change.

Susan did have some character development. She started out not caring about phones and computers and not really liking her life and she ended up realizing what good friends she had and that the relationship with her son could be saved. She had the least challenges thrown her way, she had two run-ins with Hallie’s family in 5 days and just had to hang out with Hardeep, who barely hung out with Hallie as it was, so her development only came from watching Hallie life her life. I feel like I got a pretty good idea of the life Susan lived an the people in it but I have no idea about Hallie’s, more time with her friends, parents and sister would’ve improved this.

All in all, this book has it’s flaws but I did enjoy reading it. I liked the idea behind it and the two different people getting some understanding for each other and becoming friends. It’s a quick and fun read and for the most part it’s right paced, except for the beginning and ending as I mentioned. I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a fun read but not so much if you’re a critical reader.