I was a bit late to the race with the flat share but once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. When I saw the Switch on netgalley I had to read it straight away and it did not disappoint. At first I was a little sceptical with the dead sister, thinking it would at times be depressing and emotional but that was not the case. This is a story of celebrating life and though at times a little emotional this was injected with a bit of humour. I loved Eileen's character and found her hilarious at times. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone.

I loved the authors previous book ‘The Flatshare’ and this book has the same up lifting theme. In fact, it was just the book I needed as I felt I was loosing my reading mojo.
Leena still hasn’t come to terms with her sister’s death from cancer over a year ago. She suffers a major panic attack during an important work presentation and is ordered to take 2 months paid leave. Not knowing really what to do, she visits her Grandmother in her childhood village of Hamleigh, it doesn’t help that her mother that she is enstranged with also lives there. Grandmother Eileen is stuck in a rut, so they decide to trade places for 2 months. Will they both find what their looking for.
This book had me smiling all the way through, it had such a lovely feeling of togetherness and embracing the oddities of people to find out who they really are. I really enjoyed all the characters and loved going on the journey with them all. As with her previous novel, it does subtly touch on some underlying themes like loneliness and repression in marriage.
The perfect read for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Eileen is 79 and lives in a ‘everyone knows everyone ( and their business ) village

Leena is her grandaughter and lives the high executive life in London

Both have a ‘life changing moment’ that means they reassess their lives, Leena needs time to relax, Eileen wants a man!!! ( her hubby walked out on her for a newer model )

They decide to swop homes

And the hilarity starts, it really is a riot as both adjust to each others VERY different lives, Leena takes over her Nan’s ‘jobs’ in the village including holding the Neighbourhood Watch Meetings and organising the May Day celebrations and Eileen, well as she intended to she is enjoying London life and finding a man!

There were parts I laughed out loud at, some very moving parts and a set of characters a reader dreams of that took my mind away from the current world nightmare to a much more happier place

Really well written and covering a couple of subjects you wouldn’t expect, this book cannot fail to make you smile, have a tear and everything in between

And the ending, well it’s exactly as you would want it to be

10/10
5 Stars

I LOVED Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare at the beginning of the year so was thrilled to see what her upcoming release would have to offer. The Switch has a really well thought out plot and the Eileen characters both bring comfort to the reader on different levels. The same written style applies, transiting between two characters and it again works well within the context. It was a fantastic book but it didn't grip me as much as The Flatshare, I'm not sure whether it was my personal mood whilst reading it or in fact the story. I really enjoy O'Learys books so definitely give this one a go!

This story is either a high 3 or a low 4 so I decided to give it 4 stars. It is well written with characters that are interesting. The story copes with love, loss, family and friends and was a pleasure to read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

It's been no secret that The Flatshare was one of my favourite romances of last year. It was the reason that, when I saw this on netgalley, I knew immediately that I had to have it. HAD TO. A very big thank you to netgalley and this publisher for making this happen.

I'm thrilled to say that Beth O'Leary's enchanting, charming, witty writing has been as enjoyable in this book as the last! I've had my eyes glued to my kindle for the last day because I couldn't tear myself away!

The real beauty of this book lies in the wonderful characters. Eilleen Cotton is my hero. She is everything that I aspire to be when I grow up. A strong, delightfully charming, absolutely no nonsense old lady, trying her best to recover from the death of a granddaughter and being newly single after her husband leaves her for another woman. When Leena, her granddaughter, suggests a temporary life-swap to give them both a much need change, Eilleen grudgingly agrees. She'll do whatever it is to protect her family.

I loved seeing the parallels between Leena and Eilleen. They both have a very strong sense of what is is they want and a determination to go and get it for themselves. Cotton's don't know how to dilly-dally. Seeing how Leena's behaviour is so heavily influenced by her Grandmother, it's clear that they have a strong bond and that really ties the whole story together for me.

Aside from our leading ladies, pretty much every other character had me gushing at some point. The London lot and the Yorkshire lot.

This whole thing was just a heart-meltingly good time. I loved every moment of it so much that I can feel a long and painful book hangover developing already. Beth O'Leary is an auto-buy author for me now and I can't wait to see what she brings out next!

I was so excited to read this as I loved Beth O'Leary's first book "The Flatshare", and it didn't disappoint. I loved the premise of Leena and her grandmother Eileen swapping lives for 2 months. The main characters are a joy to follow, but O'Leary also draws you into the lives of the secondary characters too. It's a lovely story of family, relationships, and how just talking to people often gets things done. Eileen is a legend who everyone falls in love with - and you will too. This is definitely worth a read.

May we all have an Eileen Cotton in our lives!

The Switch by Beth O’Leary was absolutely charming, emotional and witty and I adored it!

Leena and her grandmother, Eileen are both stuck in a rut and decide to switch lives with hijinks to ensue! This may be a premise that has been done before, but the author’s skill with writing memorable characters that you root for really makes this really special.

Eileen in particular simply shone with her joie de vivre and I was very invested in her attempts to find love/companionship over 70 and in a digital world. Her compassion, kindness and determination to make her friends and neighbours (and even strangers!) come together as a community in a bustling city also made for a very engaging plot line.

That is not to say I was not also interested in Leena’s story. I really enjoyed her transition into a slower pace and all the shenanigans
she got into in village life. Leena’s interactions with her grumpy curmudgeon of a neighbour and her rivalry with hot teacher and village golden boy, Jackson was just comedic gold.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

For my fellow romance readers, I would say this book was more on the Women’s Fiction shelf for me, but it does have a satisfying strong romantic thread.

An enjoyable read. Not as good a story as Beth O'Leary's debut novel. A good holiday read or for a rainy afternoon. It was an interesting story of a woman and her nan swapping lives. There were parts that were a little predictable, but overall it was ok.

Exactly what I needed to read at the moment! The Switch is funny, charming and heart warming with a fantastic ensemble cast. I loved it!

***
Eileen is sick of being 79.
Leena's tired of life in her twenties.
Maybe it's time they swapped places...

When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.

Once Leena learns of Eileen's romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.

Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn't as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect - and distractingly handsome - school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?

*

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderfully fun and heartwarming tale of two 'Eileens' on their own soul searching adventures, and was extra pleased as I had high expectations after Beth O'Leary's 'Flatshare' last year. With the right level of charm, depth and wit, this book does exactly what it says on the tin and is a perfect quick read for anyone looking for something light and satisfying.

Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus and Beth O'Leary for the digital ARC.

I was worried that this book won’t live up to Beths first book The Flatshare ( which was excellent).. thankfully I was very wrong. It’s great, a clever storyline and some fantastic characters and you are hooked. I couldn’t decide which Eileen I wanted to be and in which which location, both really.
A really excellent read.

The Switch is another multi-perspective book from Beth O'Leary; last year I gave The Flat Share, her debut novel five stars so I had high hopes of this going in.

Leena is working herself flat out in London so when her boss forces her to take two months holiday the first thing she does is visit her Grandmother Eileen in a remote Yorkshire village. Leena quickly realises that both of their lives need a bit of a shake up and suggests they swap lives and homes for the next two months.

I really enjoyed this, I'd been really looking forward to reading this and it didn't disappoint, I was hooked pretty much from the off. I purposefully went into this not without looking too much into the plot so hadn't realised it was going to be two family members making 'the switch'.  I will say that the eventual romances were fairly obvious early on but it was still enjoyable to watch them play out.

I've not read many contemporary books where one of the lead characters is nearly eighty, nevermind an eighty year old with so much zest for life and relationships, yes Eileen starts internet dating, yes she finds herself with several potential love interests so I think this book really needs to be praised for representing older women.

I don’t read a lot of romance books, don’t have anything against them just not generally my thing. That being said there are times when a well written romance is just what I need. O’Leary’s books definitely fit into that category. I love her characters; Leena and Eileen in particular are brilliant but the supporting characters too are very well written. Everyone felt well rounded, although some were kind of stereotypical of this type of book.

As with “The Flatshare” there are serious elements dealing with grief, spousal abuse and loneliness amongst others and these issues are all sensitively handled and realistically written. Although, O’Leary did also include an abusive relationship in “The Flatshare” so I do wonder if this is going to become something of a theme with her books.

O’Leary’s writing is extremely captivating and once I started I did blast through this really quickly. This type of book is very easy reading, perfect for by the pool on holiday or, given the current situation, in your garden catching some sun. The story is told in first person narrative but swapping between Leena and Eileen so we get to see what they’re both up to. Eileen’s adventures in online dating were a definite highlight for me as well as seeing her taking on the grandmotherly role with Leena’s friends.

My one complaint is really also one of the reasons I don’t read these types of book very often; it was very predictable. There are a lot of romance novel tropes covered by O’Leary in this so you could see most of the “twists” coming the whole way through. It was, however, good to read something that didn’t take a lot of effort or concentration at the moment. Sometimes that is just what you need.

If you liked “The Flatshare” you will definitely love this one too as it has that same mix of brilliant characters and captivating writing.

This was just bloomin' LOVELY. I have been well and truly Eileened.

I had read and enjoyed The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary before, so I knew she wasn't going to disappoint me with her latest release. I was so right, and then some. She has very quickly become one of my favourite writers of proper feel-good fiction, and I would definitely put her on my auto-read list for all of her future releases.

I felt such a connection with the main characters in this. I can't decide who I liked the perspective of more. I particularly enjoyed the scenes at the village meetings, such as the argument over which seat belonged to who and the absolute HORROR that is felt when it all gets mixed up. I used to work in a coffee shop in a small town and these were the kind of conversations I'd hear all the time, and they always made me laugh. Beth O'Leary got it absolutely spot on.

I've been recommending this to absolutely everyone ever since I finished it.

I'm just going to come out and say it, this book was great. It ticked all of my boxes, I read it all in a day and I just feel lucky that I got to enjoy this book today. I love the premise behind this one, getting out of a rut, away from certain stressful situations and living out things you always wanted to do. I so resonated with the beginning of this book with a kind of burn out situation and I am glad that this is finally getting written about in books as more and more of us begin to go through this in our own lives.



Another topic dealt with so well in this book that so many other authors are afraid to touch on is seniors having a life and having a good time. Si many times older characters in books are written off as just being there for comedy value, emotional value or just there as a sage advice giver and yes they can be that but I am so please that Eileen has her own voice in this book and her own life which she lives to the fullest. I thought Eileen was a great character. I am so used to writing about enjoying how characters grow and change over the course of a novel as they get older, but this was also the case for Eileen. She was able to grow and she was able to meet new people. strive for her dreams and also...have sex. It was awesome getting to know her and reading about her journey.



Leena is the character we meet first in this novel and I really identified with her. I loved her initial unwillingness to live outside of her comfort zone and also fear of certain things in her life. I could definitely feel that fear coming off the pages and couple really relate to that as well. She also goes on a journey in the novel and it it through her side of the storyline that we get issues like mental health and domestic violence explored and exposed. I thought these issues were dealt with in a really thoughtful way, Obviously use care when picking up this book if either of these issues are triggering for you.



I also loved the way this book was structured. I always love a dual narrative and I think that structure is even better when the characters are related or even closely linked and in this case with have Eileen who is grandmother to Leena so they are naturally very close. I also really loved the juxtaposition in the settings in this novel. Having grown up in Yorkshire and the worked in London I could really visualise the differences that these two characters were facing and it really did make me yearn for that Yorkshire countryside, especially the description of the dusting of snow on the walls coming away from the airport!



Of course there is some romance in this novel and some real feel-good humour as well. There are some very tender sex scenes but there is also a bit of an enemies to lover slow burn situation that you really don't know whether it will develop into something or not, no spoilers of course! I laughed out loud several times, especially at some of the Yorkshire humour and some of the technological mishaps that take place. I really did enjoy this book and I highly recommend it. I think we all need to spend some time with Leena and Eileen right now!

Eileen Cotton and Eileen Cotton both have had a few hard years. You read that right. Two people with the same name, one is the grandmother and one the granddaughter. Luckily for us the granddaughter goes by Leena which makes for an easier story.

Leena lives in a swanky flat in London with the best roommates possible. I seriously would love to live with characters as fun as these guys. She isnt living quite up to her normal though after a tragedy and is looking for a way to find herself again.

Eileen lives up north a bit and feels her life is a bit dull. She never quite got to experience the things she wanted in a big city.

Insert, the Switch. The two Eileens decide to switch lives for a bit and find themselves again. This book is told in two alternating point of views. We get to see both lives unfold simultaneously.

I must admit this book had quite a slow start for me. It wasnt until about 40% that I was able to fully get into it. Once I was hooked though I finished it in one sitting.

I enjoy the writing style and character development that O'Leary portrays in this novel. I enjoyed the topics of finding yourself after tragedy, how to overcome grief, and how to be the best version of yourself that were fed to us here.

This is her second novel and she is an author to keep an eye on. I fully enjoy her ability to tell a good story.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A lovely, feel-good read about a young woman and her grandmother swapping lives in order to reconnect with their true selves and ultimately each other, after a family tragedy changed their worlds.

Beth's writing reminds me of Jill Mansell's novels, with her lovely, likeable characters, little snippets of subtle humour that shine through and the happy ending we know we'll be rewarded with.

I absolutely loved this book. I read the flatshare by Beth and I was looking forward to seeing what this one was like too and I was not disappointed at all!
Some parts made me laugh out loud and others made me cry. She has such a way with making you connect with the characters that you feel like you truly know them.
I cannot wait to see what Beth’s book number 3 will be about.

What a lovely read. Exactly what I needed during these times! Funny, charming and heart warming. I have The Flatshare on my TBR pile and will definitely be bumping that higher up! Definitely watching out for this author for the future! Thanks Netgalley!