The Switch was a cute book about a grandmother and granddaughter switching places for three weeks after one is put on sabbatical from her job and the other feels in a slump after her husband left her. What occurs from there is so charming and I loved seeing both of these characters become better versions of themselves and leaving the past behind them. The audiobook version was a fun way to indulge in this story for not only the fabulous British voices of the narrators but also for the witty banter you may not have picked up on if you chose to read this as a book. The bond these two characters share reminded me so much of the relationship I have with my maternal grandmother, making it that much more enjoyable! Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook and give my fair review of it.

Having recently read The Flatshare, I immediately downloaded The Switch as an Audiobook.

While the story made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, I definitely would have enjoyed it more as a traditional book over audiobook. It wasn't a traditional romance, the romantic relationships were just a small part of the overall story but it will certainly hit you in the feelings nevertheless!

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the first book I've read/listened to by Beth O'Leary but if all her books are as charming as this one, I will certainly be adding them to my list. As soon as I read the synopsis of this one, I knew I had to read it. I immediately got vibes of The Holiday, which is one of my favorite movies. I could not wait to see how this one played out and I was certainly not disappointed.

I found both Eileen and Leena to be utterly charming and endearing characters. I was equally invested in both stories as we follow them as they decide to switch living accommodations after Leena is forced to take time off and Eileen decides she wants to date again - at the age of eighty. As the two switch abodes, they end up finding way more than they were originally expecting.

I loved that this book was so much more than just a cute romance. Yes, there is some of that here but to me this book was about finding yourself and who you really are. Putting yourself in new surroundings even temporarily really showed how we can find our true happiness. These two characters were both at crossroads in their lives, at very different points in their lives, and yet doing this switch allowed them to find themselves. There is definitely growth in our characters and as this is mostly a character-driven story, you would expect some development to happen.

This is definitely the type of book to lose yourself in and let the craziness of the world disappear for a while. It has all the feels and then some and I certainly ended up laughing and shedding a tear or two. I definitely recommend adding this one to your list - it comes out in August!


Audio thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed the audio of this book. The two narrators did such a fantastic job with their parts and really made this book come alive. I particularly loved how the phone calls had that echo effect - this is the second time I've heard that on an audio book and it really is such a cool sound effect and makes phone calls stand out from regular conversations. Both narrators did a great job with the pacing and their intonations and added just the right amount of emotion to their voices as needed. This was a great book to listen to and my first Netgalley audio book! Thank you Netgalley for adding audiobooks...I'm absolutely a fan!

This was absolutely delightful! I need this to be a movie!

From the beginning to the end I reveled in this incredibly heart warming story. Deciding to switch lives for two whole months, grandma Eileen and granddaughter Leena learn a lot about themselves.

When Eileen goes to Leena’s flat in London she is looking for love, or at least some fun. She certainly finds it. She makes friends with Leena’s friends and makes plenty of new ones. She is a gem of a woman and I enjoyed so much her chapters. She has this great way of bringing people together. She pulls people in and they are always better afterwards.

Leena gets an involuntary break from work and decides to attempt to mend things with by staying at her grandmother’s house. But, she also has to take over all of Eileen’s duties in the town. That means getting involved in the neighborhood and all the events that take place. I loved Leena because her life is a mess at the start of her stay and she learns SO MUCH about herself during her stay. She is stronger and happier for it.

This wasn’t all happiness and sunshine. I felt so many emotions during this book. Leena and her mother’s relationship needs mending because the two didn’t know how to cope with Leena’s sister’s death. It added a very real, very hard hitting aspect to the overall book. That epilogue had me in tears.

And let me say, I am so glad I had the opportunity to listen to The Switch. The spot on narration of Alison Steadman as Eileen and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Leena completely MADE this book for me. They bring you 100% into the story. It definitely helped paint a picture in my mind as I went along. Like I said before, this needs to become a movie. It was so so wonderful.

The audiobook of The Switch by Beth O’Leary is dynamically narrated by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Both narrators bring emotions and humor to their voices and bring the characters to life. It is an easy listen for a day or two and is simple to navigate throughout the book, but at times their British accents and deep inhales were a distraction.

Audiobook was provided courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5 stars (Rounded up to 4 for Goodreads and Netgalley purposes)

This story centers around Eileen and Leena, a grandmother and granddaughter duo, who decided to swap lives in order to get a change of pace and scenery. Leena has been put on a 2 month paid holiday from work in order to clear her head and leave the pressures of the office. Leena has not been copping well with her sisters sudden death with cancer. Eileen, has fallen into a monotonous everyday routine in the Yorkshire countryside after her husband left her and wants to give the London life a go.

Leena will stay her grandmother's Clearwater Cottage and take on Eileen’s tasks which include attending Neighborhood Watch meetings, transporting Bingo players, and watching over her mother, and most importantly, organizing the village May Day Festival. In comparison, Eileen will stay in Leena’s London share flat, explore the city and take advantage of the wider online dating pool.

I listened to this book via Netgalley audiobook (congrats on the new app!) and it was extremely well done. The voice actors were incredible and really brought Eileen and Leena characters to life in the best way possible. Beth O'Leary has this way of writing the characters as if they are real with real personalities and quirks and the actor's voices just brought another incredible dimension to this. I feel like I really knew them. The bond these women have is undeniable and brings happy tears to my eyes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was much more of a Women's Fiction book than I was expecting.

I think people who really enjoy Women's Fiction will really like this, however, if you tend to lean more toward Romance than Women's Fiction, you may have the same feelings I had while reading this.

The premise is cute and it's done well, however, I do wish the romance was more prevalent because, well, I'm a romance reader at heart. Because there wasn't a strong enough romance storyline in this to keep my attention, I found myself getting bored as I listened. I even almost DNF'd this a few times.

For fans of the Flat Share, you may still enjoy this book, however, if the thing you liked the most about The Flat Share was the romance, this may not live up to your expectations as it did for me. One of the biggest things I enjoyed about The Flat Share was the romance and while I appreciated all of the other aspects of that book, it was the romance that I liked the most.

As for the audiobook narration. I did notice some inconsistencies with the phone dialog. Sometimes the person on the other line had a filter over their voice (as if you were listening to them through a phone), but sometimes they didn't. I think this may have just been an oversight in the ARC copy I listened to and will likely be corrected in the final edit of the audiobook.

I really liked the narrator Leena, she was fantastic. And while the narrator for Eileen was a great voice actor, I'm very sensitive to mouth noises/sounds, and she had some that began to grate on me as I was listening.

Overall, I thought this book was good, but not great and was slightly disappointed considering my expectations after reading The Flat Share.

Book 157 towards my goal of 280! 4/5 stars for this family story! Reminded me of the movie The Holiday in the best ways! What happens when you find yourself stuck in a rut? You trade places with your grandmother of course! A fun story, great characters, with some heartwarming bits <3 Loved the dual narration!
*I received this book in exchange for honest review, from Netgalley*

The Switch by Beth O'Leary

This story switches POVs from Leena, in her 20s, and her grandmother Eileen, 79. They switch places, Leena stays in Eileen's Yorkshire village and Eileen in Leena's London flat.

I loved this one on audio, such a delight! I adored both narrators, pacing, and laughed several times. I loved the primary characters, but was more invested in Eileen's story and struggles she endured as an older single woman navigating the dating world and big city. The secondary characters were so strong and well developed. I loved both characters and their journeys to self discovery and growth. This story covered depression, grief, anxiety, and family dynamics so well. This was such a sweet, heartwarming book! Thanks so much for my ALC!

I loved Beth O'Leary's first book, The Flatshare, and was super excited to see her newest offering available on Netgalley. The Switch takes the classic changing lives trope and very gently flips it on its head. Leena, a burnt out young professional in London, is forced to take a sabbatical from work to rest and recharge. Her grandmother Eileen, on the other hand, lives in a tiny Yorkshire village and has recently been left by her husband of many decades. Both are mourning the loss of Leena's sister Clara after a long battle with cancer. The two women have always been close, but decide that the best move for both of them is to switch lives for two months.

It could have been trite, but O'Leary has a talent for writing characters that are both charming and realistic and plots that aren't too over-the-top. I often found myself laughing out loud at Eileen's adventures in London and my heart aching for Leena learning to grieve her sister. O'Leary has once again created an incredibly big-hearted story with memorable characters. I can't wait for more.

The dual narrators worked great with this audiobook! I particularly liked the narrator that read for Eileen; she did lovely work with the different characters.

The Switch was such a delight!

Perspective in this novel switches between Leena (in her twenties) and her grandmother, Eileen (79 years old). The two also "switch" places - Leena goes to stay in Eileen's Yorkshire village, and Eileen, in Leena's London flat.

The Switch was just such a *happy* book. I even laughed to myself a few times - O'Leary snuck a couple little jokes in there!

Heavy topics do feature. Leena's sister died from cancer fairly recently, and the family is still grieving. Leena has anxiety and panic attacks, as well as a strained relationship with her mother. And Eileen has found herself single after her husband of decades cheated.

Overall this one was just so heartfelt. I fell for the entire town, right down to the rascally 8-month-old lab. I think the Switch is on the longer side for contemporary fiction, but I loved these characters so much, I'd read an entire series about them.

I listened to this one and found the audio easy enough to follow (I missed a few words and would have liked to have had the text for reference, but nothing crucial to understanding the story - more like, British references I just didn't quite catch). It's narrated by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones (who some may recognize as Marianne in the recent Normal People adaptation). One unique thing about the audio: The phone calls actually sound like phone calls! The sound quality is a bit reduced so it really does sound like the character is on the phone with someone else. I listen to at least 100 books a year (likely closer to 200), but I don't think I've ever experienced that before.

Overall: Highly recommend, either the text or the audio

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars for The Switch by Beth O’Leary. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy to review! This was a charming little story that starts out when Leena has a meltdown at work. As she is still coping with the death of her sister, her work MAKES her take a two month sabbatical. She calls her grandmother, Eileen, who is trying to find life and love after her husband leaves her for a younger lady. In a moment of genius, they decide to switch homes and take on each other’s cities and responsibilities. In this novel, our characters will find love, themselves, and most importantly, each other. At the heart of this story, is family. It’s generations women lifting each other up. This was a cozy novel and the perfect book to take your mind off the hectic world and remember all of those warm and fuzzy feelings that come about when people that love you are looking out for you. O’Leary writes witty, relatable stories.

One thing she opened my eyes up to was the mistreatment of the elderly. Not in the physically abusive sense, but in the sense that we tend to lump every old person into the same ornery categories. We treat them almost childlike. She made a remark about how when older people try to find love late in life, we almost scoff at them or giggle about it. Our elderly are often forgotten and isolated.

As for the audio, DELIGHTFUL. I would be withholding if I didn’t tell you that I picked up this audio solely because Daisy Edgar-Jones narrated Leena’s portion. Her voice is like velvet. I could listen to her speak all day. After having seen Normal People, I knew that I would enjoy listening simply for the sake of listening. Just lovely. Alison Steadman did a fantastic job for Eileen as well, with her crisp, elegant voice.

I read and loved The Flatshare by this author last year so was delighted to spot her new one, The Switch, on audiobook on NetGalley last week. I was thrilled to be approved to listen to it and I’m so pleased to say that I loved it!

The Switch follows Leena, who having been successful in her career has had a bit of a blip and has been given two months off work. She is stunned and doesn’t know what to do with herself. The novel also follows Leena’s beloved Grandma Eileen, who is newly single and trying to find her feet on the dating scene. Leena and Eileen decide to swap homes for the two months – Eileen will move to London and Leena will move back to the Yorkshire village where she grew up!

I loved Eileen from the very start of this novel, and having her character narrated by the brilliant Alison Steadman only added to how much I adored her! I love older characters who are full of life and know what they want. Eileen wants to find love again but she doesn’t suffer fools. I adored seeing her dating exploits in London and was rooting for her to find Mr Right.

Leena was a little harder to like at the beginning, there was clearly something holding her back. Once we learn what she, and her family, have been through I came to understand why she is the way she is. I loved seeing her trying to figure out how to get through being back in the village she’d grown up in, and trying to navigate a better relationship with her estranged mum. I was so moved by the moment in the novel when there is a break through between the two characters, it made me quite tearful.

The narrators for this audiobook are utterly perfect and they really added an extra layer of enjoyment to the novel. Alison Steadman (Pamela in Gavin and Stacy) is wonderful, her voice is so warm and she was a perfect Eileen. Leena is narrated by Daisy Edgar-Jones (Marianne in Normal People) and again she just seem so suited to this role. I definitely recommend the audio book, and I will be looking out for more audio books narrated by both of these women in the future.

The Switch is a perfect read for this summer: it provides warmth and much-needed escapism from the world we’re living in. There is some depth to this novel but the lightness always balances the sadder parts. I adored this one and highly recommend it!

I got this audiobook from @netgalley and published by @macmillanaudio.
A typical cliched romance story, I didn’t like it much tbh. The characters were good but the story line was a bit too common, so you can just figure out what happens next. The narration was good and I could just feel the emotions of the characters. Enjoyed listening to the narration.
I’d give 2.5🌟 for the story and 4.5🌟 for the narration. #netgalley #theswitch #macmillanaudio

You when it seems like a book lands in your lap at exactly the right time? Well that was The Switch for me. I listened to the entire audiobook in 2 days. I couldn't stop listening. I loved that it was narrated in part by Daisy Edgar-Jones from Normal People. Leena is forced to take a 2 month break from work, and she decides to switch places with her grandma. It's not like Freaky Friday. Instead then stay at each other's houses, and it forces each out of their comfort zones. I loved how close Leena and her grandma, Eileen, are. I must say that I have always believed that grandmas always know best, and I think that was true in this story as well. This story was so charming, and I could only wish the best for these characters. There were parts that actually made me laugh out loud. It was a delightful story, and one that I am going to be recommending to everyone. I think it is easily one of my favorite books this year! I couldn't help falling in love with this book, and I have a feeling that I will listen to it again this year just to be immersed in this story again.

I had to stop listening to this audiobook and will switch to the hardcopy. The older narrator was impossible to listen to. She had severe dry mouth that I could hear. The “smacking” noise was way too distracting. The star rating reflects the audiobook narrator and not the content of the book as I was unable to finish.

Cute premise, great writing, great performances by both actors. Unfortunately, I had to stop listening at about 20% due to the poor audio quality. It just didn’t seem up to par with any of the other audiobooks I’ve listened to and I also didn’t love the way the phone calls were recorded. It made the dialogue difficult to understand. I will wait for the print copy to come out and finish it then.

My first audio galley! I am a huge O'Leary fan, and she followed up The Flatshare with this charming, intergenerational tale as two Eileens, grandmother and granddaughter, swap village idyll and swinging Shoreditch,. There is a dose of pathos, but overall it is something wonderfully light and upbeat which will appeal to a wide range of readers. The phone calls are done really cleverly in this audio production; Daisy Edgar-Jones will probably be the draw for many listeners, but Alison Steadman steals the show.

Thank you Net Galley for a copy of this audiobooks. The narrators did a fantastic job with this novel. And Beth O'Leary is on my to go list. One of my favorite authors. I adored this book as well as The Flatshare. Very talented author. Highly recommend!!!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I listened to it on audio, and the narrators really helped add to the image I had of the characters. This book is along the same lines of the movie The Holiday, but it offers a fresh take and a multi-leveled story line with a lot of depth. It made me laugh, smile, cry, and feel all the feels. The grandmother/granddaughter relationship is not frequently at the center of a book like it is in this one, so that was a treat as well! Love, family, and friendship shine through the pages of this page turner!! 10/10 recommend!! Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.