I listened to The Switch by Beth O’Leary last week while working and it gave me all kinds of cozy fall vibes! It tells the story of Eileen and her granddaughter Leena who decide to spice up their lives by swapping places. Eileen goes off to London and enters the world of online dating while Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbors and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another’s shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.

The audiobook was excellent and I enjoyed both narrators. They did a great job characterizing the cast of friends and family that surrounded the two. Fantastic!

Words I’d use to describe this book- warm, sweet, funny, light, and heartwarming.

It is billed as a romance, but really that’s such a small part of The Switch. Personally, I’d describe it as a book about family, loss and forgiveness.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmilllan Audio for the audiobook!

This was a cute story that is very British (which I love!). It was a bit slow at the start, but finally started picking up towards the end! The character narration was great - engaging and interesting! This was one of the better audiobooks in terms of the narration.

Overall, it would a 3.5 star selection for me.

Lena and Eleanor, granddaughter and grandmother, switch lives for a two month sabbatical that teaches them a lot about each other and about themselves. This is a sweet tale that was just what I needed at this point in time.

A really heartwarming read of bravery to try again. Loved Eileen's character especially, and of course Ant & Dec. The narrators were excellent.

This is not my usual genre. I don't usually read any fiction without magic, horror, sci fi, anything unreal or spooky. And certainly not usually realistic, white family drama. Honestly, I'm not sure why I requested this from NetGalley at all.

So why did I like this book so much???? I thoroughly enjoyed Beth O'Leary's The Switch, so much so that I will likely read her other books too, despite not being my go-to genre. What a wonderful surprise! This book is a treat.

The Switch is a charming novel about Lena, a young workaholic in sore need of a vacation, and her grandmother who has been reclused in the country for too long. Lena's grandmother is ready to date again, so she heads to London to enter a fresh pool of eligible bachelors while Lena rebuilds her relationship with her mother and herself in the calm country--both women still reeling from Lena sister's death from cancer the year before. They swap homes, and care for each other's friends and "projects" for the length of this temporary arrangement.

I went into this audiobook blindly, and never quite knew where it was going. I had some guesses, but overall I found it unexpected. The story is full of smaller stories of the neighbors within the womens' peripheries. We follow all the types of personal dramas that are common in the human experience: loneliness, dating hardships, single parenthood, cancer, death, aging, unemployment, divorce, domestic abuse, cheating, and more. We see how each character's struggle bumps and bounces into other's. How do we support each other when we ourselves are hurting? How do build community when people are messy? Is it ever too late to try something new or get a fresh start?

The audiobook is excellent. I don't generally like any amount of dramatization in audio, but the little bit we get from the two female narrators is good. Their voices are easy to listen to and well acted for the story. I can't help but question if I love it as much as I do in part because the narration was so pleasant.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

🎧 Audio Book Review 🎧

Book - The Switch
Author - Beth O' Leary
Genre - Fiction Romcom
Published -18th August 20
Narrator - Alison Steadman, Daisy Edgar Jones
Listening length - 10 Hours 10 minutes

🎧This was my first experience of audiobook as I'm a diehard reader where I bookmark or highlight or re read whenever and whatever part I want to read. Honestly I was skeptical and initially I took little time to get accustomed to it. But narrators were outstanding as their emotions and grip of character was very authentic and intimate.

🎧Leena Cotton from London is in her twenties who has occupied herself heavily in work after her sister's death. But after having a panic attack at work,she is forced to have a mandatory sabbatical. She decides to visit her grandmother Eileen in Yorkshire village who is in her seventies.

🎧They decide to SWITCH houses for a good deal in their lives. It indeed brings altogether great change where Leena realizes how she always under estimated the country life and Eileen adjusts quickly with city life and finds solace in her life. Navigating grief and holding together bravely is crux of storyline.

🎧This book is certainly an ode to the relation between granddaughter and grandmother. It has grieving, happy, funny, romantic and substantial sweet elements wrapped to it. October certainly began with sweet and adorable romcom.

❤️ Thank you @netgalley @betholeary for this free audiobook in exchange of my honest opinion. I liked the storyline, cast and audio❤️

The Switch is a Contemporary British novel, which sets the main characters Leena and Eileen Cotton up for swapping places for a whole month (think The Holiday, but less questionable because these two women actually know and love each other ahead of time). Leena has been run down by her all-consuming job after using it as her reason for not fully grieving the loss of her sister. Eileen's been left by her husband after years in a (for lack of a better word) meh marriage. Both women switch homes (and mobile phones) in order to gain a foothold on life. A cast of loving family and friends ensue with both women finding themselves in the process.

Let me just start by saying, what a great audiobook! The Switch is one of the more immersive audiobooks I've listened to - the separate narrators for both Leena and Eileen (Daisy Edgar-Jones and Alison Steadman, respectively) were great at characterizing the cast of friends and family that surrounded the two Cotton Women. Also, Daisy Edgar-Jones' (previous film credits include Normal People and a feature on Gentleman Jack) performance could be considered a strong table read for a film rather than a narration for a book. Well done, indeed!

If you love - We Met in December, most of Carrie Hope Fletcher's books, Stars Hollow Town Meetings, the relationship between Mia and Queen Clarice from Princess Diaries, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, or The Holiday - you're going to love The Switch!

This was such a cute Chick Lit/ Romance! It left me with all the feels! I think something cute and light is perfect right now because of all the YA I’ve been reading lately, this was a great palette cleanser if you will. It perked me right up and kept me from falling into a slump. And we all know how those are!

Eileen and Leena are grandmother and granddaughter. Eileen lives a leisurely kind of life in a rural Yorkshire community and Leena is living a fast paced London life. What both of them have in common is they both seem to be in a rut. Eileen, just having gone through a divorce is ready to get back out in the dating world but there is no worth while or available men available in her small town. And Leena has just been given a 2 month forced sabbatical after blowing a meeting with a big account. So with their dilemmas they decide to do a switch where Eileen can find all the silver haired eligible bachelors to her hearts content in London and Leena with her go get em attitude can take care of all her Grandmothers projects in Yorkshire, as well as look after her mom who has been dealing with Carla’s death.
But the switch doesn’t go exactly as each had hoped with Eileen wondering if a love interest is actually closer to home and Leena intent to get back home as her relationship with Ethan has taken a beating with the long distance.

I want to be Eileen in my 70’s with all that energy and spunk. She fits right in with Leenas friends. This felt like it could be a RomCom movie with all the hysterical little slips Leena was having taking care of her Grandmothers Neighborhood Watch meetings and all the other projects she lined up for her. And then there were all the misunderstandings with Josh.. including losing his dog! I just laughed out loud at times.
And Eileen with all her online trolling for men. And her constant need to fix Bee up with the perfect guy. I just couldn’t stop smiling.
If you are looking for a cute, funny and witty read look no further The Switch is perfect.

Narration:
Both Daisy Edgar Jones & Allison Steadman
did a terrific job. They fell into their characters and I felt like they were the real deal right away!

I really wish I had gotten this as a book instead of an audiobook because even though it’s a cute story, I really didn’t like the narrators so it wasn’t a very enjoyable experience for me.

This was an absolutely delightful read! I had previously read The Flatshare and had been looking forward to this new novel. It did not disappoint! I loved the characters and the story, particularly the relationship between Leena and Eileen as well as the growth that they both showed in their respective life situations, Funny and heartwarming at the same time . A true treat that was much needed during this year of uncertainty.

This one is coined as a romance but it's so much more. I loved all of the characters in this story and the way the author wove the story between Eileen and Leena and all of their friends and family was so beautiful. This book made me laugh, cry and reflect if you haven't read it yet. Go now, read it! I absolutely loved how it was so much more than a second chance love story and both Eileen and Leena found themselves as fish out of water in each other's homes and lives but they grabbed the chance to embrace change and see how they could help those around them. The communities they build and people they encounter are really something. Well I'm off to read flatshare, I think I've found a new favourite author!

What an adorable story! I really enjoyed the narrators and it was so nice to hear Daisy Edgar-Jones as Leena.
I haven't read The Flatshare yet, but I was delighted with this book. It is always a delight to read stories about family relationships, overcoming the pains of Life surrounded by great friends who never leave us alone..

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley & MacMillan for providing a free digital audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
This book has a sloooow start. The only thing that kept me going for the first several chapters was the enjoyment of listening to the voice actors' voices and accents, which were thoroughly charming for an Anglophile like myself.
Fortunately, once we move beyond the setup of the premise, which is that a workaholic young woman, whose sister has died semi-recently of cancer, has a panic attack in the middle of an important presentation and ends up "switching lives" with her Grandma, who has recently been left by her cheating husband of many decades. Leena, the younger, moves to the Yorkshire Dales and takes on all of her Grandma's responsibilities (dog walking, event planning, neighborhood watch, etc.) while on a paid mini-sabbatical from her job, and Eileen (Grandma) moves to London to have a crack at romance after finding the options in her village to be a little wanting.
The two characters (both named Eileen Cotton, btw) switch off and on for chapter narration, which is cute.
Is the story highly improbable? Of course. Did I guess most of what was going to happen? Well, duh. This trope has been done to death, but I will say that a) I didn't really mind that much seeing the end beaming at me from miles off, and b) the voice acting is good enough that I felt compelled to finish the story. It was very cute and sweet, with a little bit of friskiness for Leena and Grandma tossed in to keep things spicy. Naturally, everyone ends up neatly paired off in the end (only one or two supporting characters don't, but other supporting characters do) a la Mary Higgins Clark. Really, one expects nothing less from a frothy little book like this one. I would listen to (but probably not read) another.

A grandmother and granddaughter swap lives in The Switch, a delightful, romantic novel by Beth O’Leary.
When workaholic Leena Cotton is requested to take a two-month sabbatical after messing up a big presentation at work, she flees to her grandmother Eileen's house for some long-overdue rest.

Eileen is newly single and seventy-nine. She'd like a second chance at love, but her quaint Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible men.

So, Leena and Eileen decide to try a two-month switch.

They soon realized stepping into one another's shoes proves more challenging and rewarding than either of them expected. Will Eileen and Leena find themselves...and maybe even find true love?

This was great fun and my first experience reading Beth O’Leary. Her characters are uniquely peculiar, determined and realistically flawed yet they creatively use their strengths to help others.

I adored this book that at times felt like a big hug. What came as a nice surprise was how much I preferred the older characters in this book to the younger ones! I found them charming and very quick-witted! In Beth O'Leary's The Switch, it’s never too late to have the life you want, or that you deserve!

Loved this one, such a feel good story! Specially the character of Eileen 😍
Although compared to The Flatshare, it was not a 5 star read, but nevertheless I enjoyed it.

I had few issues with the audiobook. Not all speed levels were available. It was either very fast or very slow. and when set on fast mode, a few chapters were skipped.

Apart from these issues, it was definitely a good one and I would definitely recommend it!

I received the audio book of The Switch by Beth O'Leary as an ARC from Netgalley. I read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary and really enjoyed it so I was excited to get the audiobook of The Switch. I have a long commute every other week and listen to audiobooks during my commute. I loved The Switch and found it a delightful audiobook. Leena Cotton takes a 2 month sabbatical from work and she and her grandmother, Eileen decide to swap residences. Leena will go to live in her grandmother's home in a Yorkshire village and Eileen will go live in Leena's flat in London. The story alternates chapters between Leena & Eileen and there are different narrators for the two characters. By living each others' lives, Leena and Eileen learn a lot about themselves and changes that they need to make in their own lives. I highly recommend this audiobook. I loved the story and all of the characters. It was a charming book and look forward to more from Beth O'Leary.

I loved The Flatshare so much I was nervous about The Switch but it turns out I was even more bewitched. The Switch have me major Ove vibes which anyone who knows me knows is it's the highest praise. I'll be recommending this book often I know already.

(Minor caveat that there's a bit of language in this one if that's a deal breaker for you.)

I really enjoyed this book! I loved Eileen, the 79 year old grandmother, who has her own adventure and loves and cares for those around her. The story was delightful - funny and warm. Maybe I just don’t know of them, but it is so refreshing to me to read the story of an older woman. I wish older people were celebrated more in literature, and I’m inspired to find more stories like this.

The Switch is a great light read for during pandemic times. There is a strong sense of community and affection for Leena and Eileen.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmilllan Audio for the audiobook!

Leena lives in London. She is in her 20s and works day and night relentlessly to try to get over the death of her twin sister - until she can't anymore and her body needs a break. To her horror, her company make her take an enforced 2 month Sabbatical.

Eileen is in her late 70s and still lives in the village in Yorkshire where Leena, and her sister, grew up and where her mum still lives. When Leena's sister died, Eileen found herself taking care of Leena's mum, who fell apart, as well as having a hand in running the village. Unfortunately Leena blames her mum in part for not doing enough to save her sister and has stayed well away from the village, her mum, and her grandmother.

Eileen's husband, always a disappointment, has gone and Eileen has decided that it's time to move on and find a new romance, unfortunately it's very slim pickings in the village and surrounding area. When Leena goes to stay with her Grandmother during her enforced break, she learns of her Grandmother's problems, and suggests they swap homes, and lives for a while, so Eileen can test the singles scene for the over 75s in London and Leena can get away for a while. Eileen hopes this will give Leena and her mother some time to resolve their differences and agrees.

The result is a resounding success both ways, and many things are resolved in both their lives.

I listened to this as an audiobook. Each chapter was voiced alternately by Eileen and Leena, and beautifully read by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones. I really enjoyed this book. I loved getting to know Eileen's friends and neighbours through Leena's eyes, and Leena's friends via 'Eileen'. The various characters really came to life and made you want to pack up and move to a village in the countryside. Definitely worth reading or listening to, depending on your preference.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3572827372

This book is like a warm hug. I LOVED it. I enjoyed all of the characters and I found the voice of the reader to be so calming. I loved all of the twists and turns, and the subtle love stories that were interwoven into a story that was mainly about healing after grief and growing into a new person after the pain. I thought it was so unique that we saw how the death of one family member affected three generations of women. I would highly recommend this book to others.