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 long-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.

So they decide to try a two-month swap.

Eileen will live in London and look for love. She’ll take Leena’s flat, and learn all about casual dating, swiping right, and city neighbors. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire: Eileen’s sweet cottage and garden, her idyllic, quiet village, and her little neighborhood projects.

But stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected. Will swapping lives help Eileen and Leena find themselves…and maybe even find true love? In Beth O'Leary's The Switch, it's never too late to change everything....or to find yourself.

An enjoyable book made all the better by some endearing, quirky and precious residents of Hamleigh-in-Harksdale!

I got an advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley so I started it right after The Flatshare. I was excited to read another book set in the British Isles. It is about a grandmother and her granddaughter who both need a change so they decide to switch places. It sounds so easy breezy, but the characters are dealing with some deep stuff. I love how Beth O’Leary got them through it without making it too super sweet. Great book!

DNF
At this time, I'm no longer interested in this title. Thank you for the opportunity to read the book and I apologize for the inconvenience.

It's been a few years since I read this and I can't believe I forgot to review it. I have become a fan of Beth O'Leary (I just recently read The No-Show and loved the Flatshare). I thought this was enjoyable and liked the premise. I loved the relationship between Leena and Eileen. I do think I didn't care for the romance as much in this one as I did in The Flatshare.

I think I would've liked this so much more if I had read it instead of listening to the audiobook. My listening experience unfortunately soured me on the story. All I could concentrate on were the smacking sounds the grandma made while talking and it frustrated me so much, that I disliked her character immensely and started dreading her parts of the story. I enjoyed the granddaughter a bit more, although the romance was a bit *too* slow of a slow-burn. I wanted to love this, but sadly I was not a fan.

I absolutely loved this book! I was so engrossed by the characters right off the bat. Her writing is out of this world, if you've been in a reading slump this is a great place to start, it absolutely blew me away!

Shelf Awareness, August 20, 2021: Trading Places

Who hasn't wondered what it would be like to have a different life for a stretch? To step outside of one's own day-to-day existence and be someone else? That's exactly what Birdy does in Lizzy Dent's fun summer read The Summer Job (Putnam, $16), when she pretends to be her best friend Heather and heads off to work as a sommelier in a recently refurbished boutique hotel in Scotland (despite knowing nothing about wine). Birdy quickly learns that impersonating someone else is no easy feat, as she builds lie upon lie to keep up her ruse.

That same step-into-someone-else's shoes set-up lays at the heart of Tana French's The Likeness (Penguin, $9.99), the second in French's Dublin Murder Squad series (though it can be read out of order, or as a standalone). When it's discovered that young detective Cassie Maddox bears an uncanny, almost unbelievable resemblance to a recent murder victim, she's sent undercover into the life of the deceased woman to try to root out a killer--but finds instead an unexpected sense of belonging in a life that isn't hers.

There's no undercover trickery in Beth O'Leary's heartwarming second novel, The Switch (Flatiron, $16.99), when Leena Cotton and her grandmother Eileen both decide to live in each other's homes (and lives) for a stretch in order to break out of their respective ruts.

Though the premise of each of these stories is slightly different, their messages are in many ways the same: there's something to that old adage about walking a mile in someone else's shoes, and the benefits of a change of perspective as a key to understanding others--and oneself. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

Leena and her grandmother, Eileen, have one thing in common- they both need a break from their lives. So Leena proposes they switch lives for two months. Leena can get away from London, her job, and try to recover from the tragic loss of her younger sister. Eileen can try re-entering the dating pool at age 79. This book is told from both perspectives and I really enjoyed it. The book began a little slow for me, but once it picked up, I was hooked. I have to admit I enjoyed Eileen's adventures a little more than Leena's- maybe I need to read more books about elderly people! Such a fun read!

I ended up not reading this as I read Leary's other book, The Flatshare, before getting to this one and found it wasn't for me. However, I know that patrons really enjoy her writing and I will continue to recommend her titles.

What a delightful book. Funny, entertaining and witty. Such a great ensemble of characters. Very well written. Highly recommend it.

I was very excited for Beth O'Leary new book! This is very different from her other The Flat Share. This one follows Leena who has been told needs to take a sabbatical because she has not taken vacation is years and now to much leave has built up. Lenna and her grandmother Eileen decide they should switch lives for the two months Leena needs to take off work. Eileen decided to come live in London and look for love. While Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire and simply just relax. But both Eileen and Leena might find love they didn't expect. This was a cute and comical duo.

I love Beth OLeary and her characters. I thought this book was another great one. Though we have often read books with a "switched bodies" plot, I thought this one was still fresh and original. Charming, enjoyable book.

Fun book about being able to find yourself at any age.Do recommend, would read again, which is high praise in my world.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

This was a great follow-up to O'Leary's The Flatshare! I had already read reviews that mentioned it was closer to Women's Fiction than Romance, so I knew what to expect on that front. The two main characters were relatable and well written. I can't wait to read what O'Leary comes out with next!

Unfortunately dnf'd this book at around 35%, but for what I did read, it was looking at about a 2.5-3 star.

Found that the writing was fine, but the story wasn't compelling enough. Unlike her previous book, The Flatshare, The Switch did not draw me in as easily. I think my expectations of this were much higher in the sense that it would've been a much lighter contemporary from the start, but it was quite heavy from the start.

Really sad about this one, not gonna lie.

After loving O'Leary's debut, The Flatshare, this was one of my most-anticipated 2020 releases. I ordered a copy from the UK so I could get it sooner and have this adorable cover! Unfortunately, it was pretty disappointing. The premise is cute – a woman and her grandmother switch houses for two months, a la The Holiday, because they're both in need of a change. For me, the execution left a lot to be desired. The story was boring and had too many unnecessary secondary characters, so it felt like a series of scenes connected together without a strong drive to the narrative. And it was just so cheesy! It was like reading a Hallmark movie, and I just had no patience for it. It was cute, but in a light, shallow way that was ultimately forgettable. I'm So Okay With It.

Leena Cotton is still grieving the death of her sister when she is ordered to take a two-month break from work. Work has been the only thing keeping her going, so she is at a loss of what to do for two months. Leena's grandmother, Eileen Cotton, has been struggling ever since her husband left her for another woman. They come up with a brilliant plan, they are going to swap lives for two months. Leena is going to leave the city and live in her grandmother's quaint little hamlet for two months. And Eileen is going to stay in Leena's London flat for two months and dip her toe into the senior dating scene. For two months the two Eileen's live a life unlike one they had ever experienced. Will both of them be able to go back to their normal lives after The Switch?

The Switch was another audiobook that I was able to listen to thanks to NetGalley. The book is told in two different voices, Leena's and Eileen's. Two different narrators read the book and it was the narration that made for a truly delightful listening experience. Leena is definitely a stressed-out Type-A kind of person. I am glad that she got the break she needed to grieve and to gain some perspective. Eileen was a fun character because she is in that "no-filter" stage of life. The Switch doesn't have any shocking reveals, but it is quite a satisfying conclusion. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS. -

Bottom Line - The Switch is what I would call a "feel-good" novel. The characters are sweet and interesting. The story is engaging and satisfying. All necessary of a great book.

Details:
The Switch by Beth O'Leary
On Instagram
Pages: 336
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: 8/18/2020
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

The term "sophmore slump" is coined for a reason but Beth has managed to bypass it with this charming, heartwarming novel about starting over, second, even third, chances, surviving loss, and the comforting power of family, friends, and community. Its approach to the jaggedness of grief has the same nuance and empathy that so positively characterised Tiffy's gaslighting in The Flatshare and it recognises that it looks different on everyone.

This is messier and more sprawling, with a bigger cast of characters; it is more sentimental and conventional in some ways - but I don't mean any of this in a bad way.

Both Eileen and Leena are extremely well-etched characters strong enough to pull everything together and the different narrative threads are satisfying and engrossing. I loved the relationship between the two - this book reminded me of my grandmother and made me wish she wasn't all the way over in Mumbai so I could give her the biggest hug.

I do wish it was longer to do more justice to the stories of all the vibrant characters that you meet along the way (also, I just wanted to spend more time with them), but I loved it all the same and cannot wait to see what she comes up with in Book 3! 💛