This was a fun, light hearted read and a nice way to pass the time. It flowed nicely and the characters were interesting.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I was thrilled with the happy ending! There are a couple of things I was not a fan of. One being the timeline of the swap, I felt like Cassie and James went from disliking each other to best friends in love in one chapter. There were a few times I was almost confused with the timing of events. I felt like chapters were cut short and the next paragraph jumped into something completely different. This would have easily been a solid four or five star read if it “flowed” better. Again, I did really enjoy this book and it was a great romance novel!

James is a private equity investor hoping to escape his ex, while Cassie is an author who needs to experience London in order to write her upcoming book. These two strangers meet on a house swapping website and quickly come to an agreement. Of course, living in someone else's home for a couple of months comes with an eventual entanglement.

This book is a slow burn, with a sweet relationship forming between James and Cassie. I really enjoyed James's character development as he went from a cold jerk who only cared about money to a caring neighbor who bakes for his friends and worries about sick alpacas.

I thought the book focused a lot on developing their friendship, but the jump to lovers happened way too quickly. There were a lot of time jumps and blacked out scenes that had potential to add more to the story. I did get bored at times, but overall this was a cute story to read!

I have received an ARC of this book by NetGalley and Bookouture and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review. The Pub date of the book is April 19th. This review will be posted on my Goodreads, Facebook page and Instagram.
Like its written on the cover, this book was utterly gorgeous. It’s the first I read of this author and I love it very much. For sure I will read more of her. She knows how to captivate us to read more and to fall in love with her characters.
One of the things I liked about this book was the feelings that gave me while I read it and that it felt real. The story itself, the problems, the moods, the conversations and the slow but beautiful connection of our heroes.
In the beginning I was calling names to James…like, excuse me you rude bastard. What kind of beast are you?! But I was laughing at the same time, because its impossible not to. The secondary characters were a blast too – I liked them a lot, really. And while I continued reading, I felt good and happy – even in the parts that were not so happy. I could totally enter the story and switch places with both heroes. Cassie’s problems and fears and James fears and feelings of guilt. It hit close to home to me. The relationships of the characters with their friends and family were very beautifully written – showed us that they were real people and not just some tool for the moment.
The only thing I liked less was that Cassie – unfortunately – spent so much time thinking about “that” problem. I understood her pain, but I liked her to be happier!
I tried to give my opinion without spoilers. Hope I get it.
I’m very happy to have read this book. It will be one of my faves.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this cute and easy read!

James Grey is in need of an immediate escape to avoid any more run-ins with his stalker ex girlfriend, so puts his London apartment on 'SwapBnB', where he agrees to swap with Scottish-born writer Cassie, a homeowner from a secluded island off the coast of Maine. Cassie is hoping to do some London-based research for her books and visit an IVF clinic while there. The day of the house swap brings a LOT of hostility, and bad first impressions. But could the house swap be a massive learning experience for both of them?

This one was a lighthearded and easy read. The classic enemies-to-lovers is always a hit for me. The two characters start out as polar opposites; James with his stern, distant personality as the result of his childhood trauma, and Cassie, a free-spirited, animal loving writer. It was fun to see how the swap allowed Cassie and James to learn more about themselves and to eventually open themselves up to each other.

I felt as though some of the narrative was rushed at times - whole chunks of time would pass without much detail but it was easy enough to follow. The drastic change in James' entire personality and outlook on life seemed to come around really suddenly so I would have liked to see more gradual development there.

Regardless, The House Swap was enjoyable! An ideal beach read for some lighthearted fun.

I received an ARC through net galley.

The start of this book was kind of slow and I wasn't sure about it. Once they started interacting in person I started to like it more. To me it seemed that the I love you's came out of no where, I liked them but there wasn't enough build up for me.

*spoilers*
However, the moment where he realizes he wants to be a dad and tells her that he loves the baby much as he loves her was everything.
*spoilers*

I thought this would be like O'leary's - The Flatshare, but it could not be more different. It is a slow book but offers a lot of insight on relationships. There is suspense building and it's super subtle. This is a great thriller/mystery book for someone who is starting in the genre.

The main characters, James and Cassie, both displayed strength in their character and convictions but also emotional vulnerability that allowed both to become the best versions of themselves. They also proved that being kind and displaying constant actions of love best serve oneself in life. Cassie constantly did this in her openness with her neighbors, friends and her devotion to becoming a mother. She for a while despite her feelings was willing to walk away from.James to do so. James in his part became closer to his family and realized that being closed and emotionally distant doesn't serve him. When they came together, it was right.

James needs to leave London, his relationship has gone wrong and people he just made redundant are tracking him down. Cassie needs to leave the comforts of her island life to do research for her next novel. So intails a house swap between the two of them. It seems hard however, to swap houses and no get involved in each others lives. What starts of as arrogance and flying insults soon sparks into something more.

This book is totally inspired by the Holiday but certainly developed the story into something more than just a copy. The concept was really interesting and unique to the genre. Enemies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes and boy this didn't disappoint!.

Cassie and James were rounded and well thought out characters who had their own problems deal with. The side character was not so well developed and I would have loved to have them fleshed out a bit too.

I did have a few issues with the book regarding the pacing. The beginning of the book felt slow and the development of the relationship between the character felt fast despite most of it occuring during the second half of the book. Alongside this, the way ending was done felt predictable in places but also did not show a lot of character develop. It felt like a character felt one way one minute and had change their opinion in the next paragraph.

All in all I enjoyed reading it. It was lighthearted while also dealing with some serious topics as well. It kept a great tone throughout and had a great ending. I have enjoyed both books by Jo Lovett and I am looking forward to what she writes next.

After reading an intense book, I need something lighter and The House Swap fit those qualifications perfectly. This was a fun lighthearted story about two people on two different continents needing to swap houses for different reasons. James and Cassie are two totally different people, James, the serious one in London and Cassie the free-spirit in Maine. Both have different issues holding them back from a full and happy life and when they first switch houses at Cassie’s house in Maine they don’t get off to a good start.

James eschews entanglements and never wants a family. Cassie’s greatest desire is to be a mother. As they switch homes and continents, their personal lives intrude on each other. James’s stalker ex shows up and infuriates Cassie; James despite being a loner becomes entwined in Cassie’s small town friendships and their nosiness. James and Cassie begin texting and calling and a friendship blossoms.

I totally enjoyed the first two thirds of the book and could totally see where it was heading. Towards the latter third I felt the way James changed didn’t ring quite true, but just rolled with it. All in all it was a likable story and I gave it three stars. I thank NetGalley and the publisher, Bookouture, for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion.

Thank you @NetGalley and @bookouture for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review 🥰

Synopsis:
Cassie is a big time writer with a tv contract and just been offered a contract to write more books for her series... small issue, her publicist wants her to move to London to research her book pitches.

James ends on bad terms with his gf and finds out she’s a complete stalker and he needs out of his London flat.

So the two of them end up on a house swapping app and the two decide to switch houses for a few months. James flies over to the states, Cassie flies to London. Despite the two not getting along at first, it would seem that they both have things they can learn from the other and a lot of issues with their past stopping them from doing what they really want.

Opinion:
I really really enjoyed this book! I loved the depth to each of the characters and how they developed when in the new living scenarios. It was lovely to see the relationship between them flourish. I particularly liked how the author targeted the topic of a single woman wanting to raise a baby and dealing with the trauma of miscarriage and divorce. Also the themes of grief of a parent and sibling was brought up well without making it too deep and emotional without only skimming the surface. One criticism is that it felt that I was reading 2 completely different stories - the one when they are house swapping and the one afterwards. The second half of the story felt like the author was trying to cram a lot of different situations in before the book ended. Overall a very easy and enjoyable read while touching on some difficult themes

The House Swap was absolutely lovely! As a fan of romance novels and of Beth O'Leary, I couldn't wait to snag a copy of this book. I thought the author did an amazing job of developing the characters and their relationship in a way that made us all fall in love with the couple. The House Swap was a really beautiful mix of deep personal growth, with community and character development. It was funny and a REAL romance between people in the late thirties (something that isn't common). I thought it was refreshing, especially since it was not about young professionals that are job deterministic centric. Would recommend!

The house swap was a light hearted easy read. A feel good book that everyone needs at some point in their life! It made a lovely change from my usual go to thriller genre.

Absolutely loved the characters! I love how different they were but how their personalities complimented each other. I found them to be very likeable characters.

The story line itself was fab and although you knew what would ‘happen’ it was a nice build up and a very cute heart warming love story. It left me smiling and feeling good :)

The setting for the story was perfect! It had the upbeat city and then an idyllic island. And the scene was set perfectly as you could really picture the island and London flat in your head.

Thank you NetGalley and bookouture for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.

Disclaimer: I got this book in exchange for an honest review!

The one-line review: disappointed.

This had an adorable premise! Cassie needs an adventure and James wants an escape. The way the synopsis of the book talked about Cassie and James I thought there would be more chemistry between the two.James was definitely my favorite! I liked seeing how he became softer throughout the story. I didn't like Cassie. it reminded me of that movie The Holiday, but it wasn't as good as the movie (in my opinion). I would have loved to see the enemies to lovers part of the book throughout the book rather than just ending it somewhere in the beginning of the story.

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC to read and review!

Cassie, a writer who lives on a small island off the coast of Maine, and James, an uptight finance guy who lives in a swanky London apartment, are both looking to swap places. James is looking for an escape, while Cassie must move for work and to confront her past. Where James is closed off and seemingly cold, Cassie is bright, friendly, and quirky. At first, the pair don't get along and frequently call each other to complain about something the other did. Over time, they continue to learn about the other person in their respective homes and what they want from life. James tough exterior softens as he falls for the people (and alpacas) of the island and faces trauma from his past, while also falling for Cassie.

I loved the vivid details of the settings and could easily picture what Jo Levett was describing. At first, the pacing of The House Swap was slow, and as a reader it was hard to gain momentum reading until about 4o% into the book. By the end, I loved James and Cassie as individuals and together, but I would have liked more details about their time actually together rather than apart. I enjoyed seeing how they helped each other face their fears and grow as individuals throughout the book, so it would have been rewarding to see how those elements impacted their relationship in-person.

TW: miscarriage and IVF, addiction, and death

This was light-hearted, fun, and reminiscent of The Holiday movie with Cameron Diaz. I've never actually heard of anyone doing a house swap in real life, but I'm sure it's a thing. It's a great vacation read where you don't want something really heavy or intense so I would recommend it for that.

Unfortunately, there were just a few things I didn't enjoy. The book suffers from that thing that some authors do where they try to tell the story through entirely dialogue. And there is no descriptions of facial expressions, hints of personality, etc. and it's just dialogue bouncing back and forth including some conversations that really didn't need to happen and seemed very extraneous. There were also a lot of time jumps. A LOT of them.

Since James and Cassie were in each other's houses, I felt like the author really needed to spend more time investing in their relationship and showing how they slowly fall in love through notes and phone conversations. I felt like this didn't happen and was surprised when time would pass by and all the book would say is "they call each other every day now"... and then bam, they're both in love and I didn't actually feel convinced of that at all. I'm sure they're very good friends, but love? Eh.

Also, trigger warning for IVF. I actually tend to stay away from books with IVF because it's quite depressing so if that was in the description, I would not have requested this arc to review... Still, I powered through, although I do feel that women who actually struggle with fertility and are sensitive about this topic are going to be pretty annoyed at what happens in the last few chapters of the book. So I really didn't appreciate the book not having a trigger warning for this.

This was a cute enemies to lovers story and although I liked it, I didn’t love it-mainly because there was a little too much cheese factor for me. And James, one of the main characters, started out as such a brash, self-centered jerk and then magically turned into this caring, super friendly guy that everyone loved. It was just too much of an abrupt change in character for my liking. But the idea behind the story is cute.
James’ ex is stalking him so his friends talk him into doing a SwapBnB to get away for a while so she could move on and he wouldn’t have to deal with her. Cassie has had a bad break up but has had some great success in her career and needs a change of scenery to write her next book series, so she decides to swap as well. They chat online and decide to swap for 6 months. Of course they are very different types of people and as such, challenges exist in adapting to each other’s houses and lives so they are in constant communication and start to grow feelings for each other.
They finally meet in person and sparks fly. Overall, there was cute banter and some of the support characters were fun. I enjoyed that they didn’t just immediately fall in love -and I loved that Cassie had alpacas and chickens and lived a simple life and James was ultra modern. It was like country mouse and city mouse lol
Cute little story and though there were a few minor hiccups for me, I liked it overall.
Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

Slow paced but still fun. I agree with other reviewers that the first half of the book with the build up was Lovett’s finest moment. The witty, cute, banter made for a great slow burn!

but still incredibly fun.

I definitely enjoyed the beginning of this more than the end, but that's the case with most romances. The interactions and banter between James and Cassie were so funny, and I loved reading about them. I'm a fan of enemies-to-lovers, so their semi-hatred at the beginning had me hooked. The last 25% just got a bit too sweet for me, everything worked out too well.

But the real star of this book were the alpacas. Every time they showed up, i knew we were about to get an amazing scene. James slowly growing to care and worry about them was one of the best things I've ever read. Especially because he was some tough business man, and ended up crooning to an alpaca.

The concept of this was super unique, and it kept me hooked the entire time! It was a super fun read, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Jo Lovett for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Likeable characters and an interesting plot. asie and James swap house for 6 months due to work and personal commitments, but find there is more to it than just swapping a location.

IVF, miscarriage, death and addiction all play a part in the story line and could upset some readers if they are not expecting the content.

A slow paced, easy read that was enjoyable and kept me engaged until the end.