Beth O'Leary has absolutely become an auto-buy author for me. Her writing tackles authentic issues in a way that feels natural. Her pacing is excellent and she always tugs at my heart strings. I loved the relationships shown in this gem of a book & the way each character was fleshed out. I loved the story, plain and simple.

My only struggles were with the audio portion of this book. Neither have anything to do with the content of this book. First, the netgalley audio player is glitchy and frustrating. Having to constantly deal resetting chapters took away from the flow of the story. Secondly, and this is going to be a personal problem (again, not something with the author whatsoever), the recording/narration was VERY slow and extremely spitty. If this doesn't bother you, you'll be fine. The constant spit noises definitely impacted my enjoyment of listening to this book. Now, this isn't something that is an issue with the content of this book so I cannot fault O'Leary. This is wholly a personal issue.

Thank you very much to O'Leary, Macmillan & netgalley for an advance listening copy for an honest review.

I've read the book earlier this year and it was a 5 star book for me. But since I read as well as listened to The Flatshare last year, I really wanted to listen to The Switch as well.

I had some issues with the audiobook. It was more about the quality of the narration in a technical sense, not necessarily the narrator's themselves but instead the extreme sensitivity of the microphone. It honestly took some of the enjoyment away from the story.

But as soon as I got used to noises, I was able to really enjoy the book.

Overall, the audiobook was able to convey everything the book is about. The uplifting friendships, the more serious topics, and the charming characters. I loved the book, and feel the audiobook was a good match, just not a great match.

Eileen is stuck in a rut while her granddaughter, Leena, needs to focus more on her self. After Leena is forced to take personal leave and recharge, she decided a change of scenery and switch locations with her grandmother. Eileen thinks this is a great idea and will broaden her romantic prospects. Both realize that sometimes traveling outside your comfort zone can help change your perspective. The Switch is a heartwarming story about finding yourself in someone else's home and rediscovering how to be loved. O'Leary brings tenderness and a positive perspective into dating over the age of 50. Not shying away from fully displaying the hurdles of dating online and in-person over 50. As well as embracing Eileen's romantic relationships and allowing her to completely embrace her sexuality. Both characters are allowed time to develop by making mistakes and learning from them. The pace of the plot allows readers to thoroughly absorb both lives and appreciate the journey they take. Readers will fall in love with the smark wit of Eileen and the exhausted state of Leena. O'Leary is able to balance romance with family reconnection and death.

3.5 Stars - The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary was one of my favorite books I read last year and I was so excited for her next book. I wasn't completely disappointed by this book but it didn't quite live up to my expectations either. This book was much more of a woman's fiction than a romance. We follow Leena who has just been forced on a two month break because she is not dealing well with a tragedy in her personal life. We also follow her grandmother Eileen who was recently left by her cheating husband. The two decide to saw places so that they can get out of their ruts. The side characters were also great, I loved the village the Eileen lives in and the friends they both make with people who are not their own age. Leena with her grandmother's friends and the neighborhood watch and Eileen with Leena's much younger roommates and friends. Overall I enjoyed the stories of both women and the self journey's they go on. I think I just wanted more romance and it was more on the back burner in this book. Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan audio for my advanced audio copy of the book.

This is the first audio book I've read via NetGalley and am not sure if I was my connection or the voices but it lost some effect because of their voices being uneven, sometimes shrill, and there was a constant echo in the sound. Overall, a cute,fun story that will keep you entertained. I enjoyed the characters and their adventures as they switched homes. Overall a good read. Jacket cover gives an adequate description so I will not detail story. Read or listen and enjoy!
I received this book as an Advanced reader copy and was under no obligation to provide a review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Thanks to the author,publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook. It was a story that was very easy to get lost in. This is the story of two Eileen Cottons, Eileen and Leena, grandmother and granddaughter, who due to a series of events decide to swap places for 2 months. Leena leaves London to go to her sleepy hometown, while Eileen takes up residence in Leena’s London flat. This story is told from both of their points of view. I was a little concerned that I would find the story of the “old lady” a bit of a bore, but I absolutely loved Eileen. She’s a firecracker if a woman with a heart of gold. Listening to how she found her place in busy London, surrounded by Leena’s youthful roommates was unexpectedly beautiful. She makes the most of every situation she’s in. I adored how she saw Laticia in her suffering and found a way to help. Eileen is a helper, through and through, and I adored her sass. I loved the meaningful connections she made with each and every person she met. The small, gossipy village community that Leena relocates to reminded me of Stars Hollow, or perhaps the village in Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. It was quaint and adorable. The hijinks of the elderly residents kept me laughing. I loved the juxtaposition of Leena’s two lives. In London she lived an incredibly busy business woman life. In the village she finds herself equally busy taking over her grandmothers projects, but is more content and purposeful. Overall, I found Leena‘s experiences to be less compelling than Eileen’s, but enjoyable all the same. The romance in this story is slight, but sweet. Eileen’s unexpected love had me grinning like a fool. Leena’s love story was a bit predictable and nonexistent in a lot of ways, but sweet none-the-less.

My one big complaint is that I don’t recommend the audiobook version because you can hear the voice actors mouth sounds and swallows and it was highly distracting to me.

Management consultant Leena Cotton has reached a breaking point. It’s been almost a year since her sister Carla died and she’s lost her focus. It took a meltdown during an important presentation for her to take a two-month sabbatical, forced upon her by her company. Her beloved grandmother Eileen invites her to leave London and return to her hometown for a respite and repair her broken relationship with her mother. Once there, Leena helps the recently divorced Eileen set up a dating site profile but realizes pickings are slim in their small Yorkshire town. Eileen comes up with the idea that they switch locations for the next two months. She’ll live with Leena’s flatmates and Leena can stay and assume her responsibilities. They decide to do it and the results are surprising and not without consequence.

One of my very picky international friends (that’s you Inge) raved about this book so I added it to my shelf early while I waited for the US editions to arrive. I also knew I wanted the audio version and I’m so very glad I waited. Two narrators were used for the voices of Leena and Eileen and both were wonderful. Surprisingly, the 79-year old Eileen was the one that captured my heart. She was willing to completely put herself out there after having been dumped by her husband and ended up winning over everyone within her orbit in London. Leena’s journey was rockier as she needed to heal, make peace with her mother and come to terms with her sister’s death. Both women were interesting in their own rights with lots of heart and skills.

There were many laugh out loud moments but the foundation of this story was bolstered by the strength of these two women and a host of well defined secondary characters. Leena may have been a bit damaged but was not down and out. She eventually made her mark in her hometown and regained her equilibrium. Eileen never let her age be an excuse for anything and used the occasion of her husband’s abandonment to embrace a more vibrant life. Both narrators did these characters justice and made a wonderful story even more delightful. I’d expected to be entertained but was unprepared for one of such substance. Another book where I was sad to reach the end.

(P.S. - It’s being developed into a feature film starring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan!)

This is a book about 2 Eileens who trade places (Country Grandmother & City Granddaughter) to appreciate how the other lives. Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review.
This book dealt with some pretty heavy themes such as grief and depression, yet it still managed to balance this with some light and humerus writing.. I felt that the two points of view in this story were both equally strong and well defined- I was never confused as to who we were following. I was pleasantly surprised by this as sometimes with this kind of novel the tone doesn’t always sit right with me, but I really enjoyed this one.

I absolutely adored this book, even more than The Flatshare, if I'm being honest.

We follow two characters, the grandmother and the granddaughter. Both of them have their own problems and when they decide to switch places, things start to change.

I loved the way the story was told, from two point of views, from someone in their late twenties that just started her life, to someone older, someone that already has a lot of experience. Both are bonded by a terrible life event, something that made them stronger and more aware of how quickly life can end.

This book is full of love, forgiveness, hope, happiness as well as sadness. The love stories are real and it shows that you can find love when you don't expect it.
Plus, the audiobook is so good.

Thank you NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this story and was happy with the interaction between the grandmother and granddaughter, even though they were in separate towns the whole time. I loved how each community made the visitor feel welcomed, and the main characters changed for the better by the end of the story. The narrator was very good. I enjoyed the two types of voices. I would recommend this to friends, and I look forward to reading The Flatshare.

I very much enjoyed this book! The narrators were great, the story was fun, and I was hooked! Looking forward to Beth O'Leary's next book!

I enjoyed both the story and the performers but the audio quality was not very good. There was a lot of audible swallowing & breathing - I listen to quite a lot of audiobooks but I've never experienced anything like it before!

A super sweet book about a twenty something girl and her grandmother switching lives for a few months. In the end, they both find love, happiness and friendship. A story about realizing who you are and mending broken fences. Really great!

I think if this was just a plain book I would have rated it higher because I did love the story and the characters, but at times it was hard to be pulled into the book because of one of the narrators. This could just me being really picky and it didn't stop me from actually finishing and overall enjoying it. This was a fun little romcom-esque read and I still would recommend it for audiobook fans, just ones who aren't as narration picky as I am!

Advanced listener's copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own

I loved this. This was one of the very first audiobooks that I listened to and it took me a while but I really enjoyed it. The narrators I think did an awesome job in making me feel like they were Leena and Eileen. I feel like the romantic interest for Leena was kind of predictable but I didn't mind that. I also loved that Eileen had her little romance in London as well. I gave this four stars for two reasons one because I felt like the point of contention between Ethan and Leena was predictable and I knew he would be kind of a bad boyfriend to her, and two, Leena automatically believed Ethan instead of Eileen when that whole part of the story was happening and she refused to kind of be an adult about it I feel and actually sit down and talk to her grandmother. On the other hand, I feel like this was because she didn't want to belive Ethan wasn't perfect because of how he helped her after Carla's death. Al in all I really enjoyed this book.

This is my first read by Beth O'Leary and I will definitely be reading her other books.

Romantic comedy about a grandmother/granddaughter who switch places for a few months - from urban London to the English countryside.

Adorable premise, fun characters, sweet story - this book was a delight and a great diversion when you need a change of pace. My first Beth O’Leary and I’ll likely try more. The audio was (mostly) fun to listen to, with great narrators.

But sometimes the audio irked me - some of the “voices” the one narrator did for different characters were a little annoying. The book dragged on at the end. It was very predictable and I just wanted it to wrap up already!

I always picture books like this as a rom-com movie and I think this one in particular would be a big hit!

A very fun book about family, connection, and finding new starts after grief. I enjoyed that this story gave equal weight to the grandmother and granddaughter POVs.

I really loved this audiobook and I enjoyed it very much. It was an easy going, comforting book about a grandmother called Eileen and her grandaughter Lena, who both swapped places to enjoy living each other's different lives. It was quite a funny book and it made me smile a lot. I enjoyed all the different characters and their quirky ways.. The ending was lovely and I was happy to see Eileen and Lena settle down and be happy.

This book reminded me of the book A Man Called Ove, although I would say this book is better. This was a new author for me, but I would love to read more books by this author.

I loved the narrators in the audiobook; they really made the story come alive and listening to the book helped to get the good humour across, especially when Eileen was talking about her love life.

Thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Switch was a delightful book. The plot reminded me of The Holiday movie. Lena, a young woman working in London, switches lives with her grandmother, Eileen, for two months. Lena moves to a small village in northern England, takes her grandmother's place on the planning committee for the annual May Day fete, and works through her issues with her mother. Eileen moves into her daughter's apartment, befriends her neighbors, joins an online dating site, and starts a social club. This is not a particularly deep book, but it was the equivalent of cuddling up in a comfy chair with a blanket. It was sweet and hopeful. Not only do Lena and Eileen get happy endings, but several of the secondary characters do as well. I loved that one of the protagonists was an older woman starting her life over. She even has sex! I thought it did a great job at giving both lead characters a full voice and personality. Highly recommend it for a comfort read during these ridiculously stressful times.