REVIEW
Serena Otaki (best friend of Jillian from Ghosted) works at CERN in Geneva, where her sole love is physics. One night she meets her complete opposite, Henry Joule. They share a passionate, revelatory experience, but Serena is determined to never lose herself in a relationship. But when an electric storm causes them to switch bodies, both of them get a new perspective on the other.
This was another beautiful story from Sarah Ready. I loved Serena immediately. Her illustrations and footnotes were HILARIOUS, and she had such an interesting perspective on love. Her first meeting with Henry was so beautifully written, and I was immediately invested in them as a couple. I loved Henry. He was such a romantic, and my heart broke for him immediately after their night together. The 'event' and the immediate aftermath gave me 'Freaky Friday' mixed with 'Your Name' vibes, and let me tell you, I loved it so much. Their absolute horror was palpable, but also hilarious as each realisation of what the swap meant on a day-to-day basis became apparent. One of the most hilarious things was their switched accents. When they tested each other before meeting Henry's family, I cried laughing (and I HIGHLY recommend listening to this book, as the audiobook just adds an extra layer to the humour). It was lovely to catch up with Jillian, and Daniel, and I loved that Jillian was there for her. The first time Serena met her as Henry was just brilliant. We also got some Zelda, which is always a hoot.
But, for all the hilarity, this was a deeply moving love story. The mutual pining was heartbreaking, as were many of the scenes with their loved ones, while they were in the wrong bodies. Serena's conversation with her mother (as Henry) broke my heart, but her revelation about love was joyous For the majority of the book, the story is told from Serena's POV, but as she's in Henry's body, with many of his memories, we get a lot of his perspective as well. Still, Henry's chapter as he recounted Serena's memories left me sobbing, especially remembering their interactions in the cafeteria. I'm trying hard not to spoil too many details because this book deserves to be experienced firsthand (and by enjoying Kelsey Navarro Foster and James Anderson Foster's gorgeous narration).
Just swoon-worthy.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥.5

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own*


Favourite Quotes:

Oh no, I’m a tepid tea-drinking, prudishly uptight, umbrella-carrying, an*l neat-freak of a British man. This is my worst nightmare.

She’s a boob bedazzler, a breast beguiler, a titty temptress. It’s horrible. I wave my hand in front of my face, blocking my view of her breasts.

“I meant what I said earlier. I never want you to lose yourself for me. That’s not a love I’d want.”

“I’m glad you and Ducky found each other. When she was little, she always asked if people paired up like electrons and protons, and I told her yes, that she’d find her match someday. I’m glad it’s you.”

“You understand me,” I say.
He nods, his dark gaze as solemn as a starry night. “I understand you.”

“I’d stay with you every night. Every day. If we never switch back I’ll stay with you. If we do switch back I’ll stay with you. It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s you.”

“I’ll always want you. We’re like binary stars—we’re bound tight. Gravity keeps us orbiting each other. When people look at the night sky, they think binary stars are one star. It’s only with a telescope they can tell there’s actually two stars there. That’s how I feel about you. Switching back isn’t going to change that.”

Switching places with her didn’t make me want her less. It made me love her more.

“ Your soul burns so bright it doesn’t matter what you look like or what body you’re in- it’s you. Nothing can change that. And if being me can’t make you lose yourself, then how could loving?”

Serena is the definition of career first, love second. (Or in her case, she doesn’t believe in it or wants it). She lives a happy single life, until she has a one night stand with her boss, Henry. They share a perfect night together, then everything changes. Literally.
Fast forward 437 rotations of the earth later. Serena and Henry have not been able to forget that fateful night nor finding mutual understanding.
An electrical storm causes them to switch bodies and now they’re stuck together. They have to navigate each other's lives and feelings. Their banter and chemistry grows the more as they get to truly know one another. You root for them, especially Henry who is determined to try to change her view on love.

Kudos to Henry, for surviving his first menstrual cycle. That scene had me laughing and also wishing that every man should mandatory go through the same.

This story is Freaky Friday with a romantic twist and I enjoyed it. This book does include ‘STEM talk’, however it is not an overkill.

Tropes:
-Slow Burn
-Opposites Attract
-Body Switch

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Ready, and W.W. Crown for the audiobook and ARC for this book. All opinions are my own.

This book is magical, beautiful and an amazing listen. I adored this book…every book from Sarah keeps getting better and better.

Serena is a unique, free spirit and highly intelligent woman. I love her quirky personality and how she is a bit geeky…but brilliant.

Henry is also a geeky, loves physics and loves his tea. He is a fun, quirky and smexy character.

The banter, dialogue and tension between these two is fantastic. The premise of this story is so creative and I love how each of them gets to experience what the opposite sex goes through on a daily basis. So many funny moments!!

You will go through all the emotions while reading this fun, creative and entertaining story.

Thank you NetGalley and Sarah Ready for the advanced readers copy.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! Im leaving my review as honest as possible.

Man and woman met and got their soul switched! What a scandal! All it took me to got hooked was the blurb and im in. But my excitement was not last long after i got into the book. While I generally appreciated Switched, the first half of the book was challenging to get through. I thought it was overly clichéd and corny, initially i didnt relate to Serena so it was difficult to form a connection to this book. Also, the frequent use of scientific language and references was exhausting. I understand that she is immersed in physics but too much science talk makes the book a hit lengthy and boring cause it doesn't always relate to the current situation in the chapters. However, as the story went on I adapted to it and the characters' complexity grew as their romance blossomed so it was very fun to read that. While this isn't my favourite book, I thought it was a fun read and would suggest it to anyone who appreciate romantic stories that was written with science's touch.

I have been super excited for Serena's story ever since I read Ghosted! I really enjoyed Serena and Henry's story though the tone is a bit different from Ghosted with less angst and more romcom.

One thing that was really interesting about this story is that we got to meet both Serena and Henry's families and see how their experiences with relationships growing up shaped their fears and expectations about relationships as adults. The body-switched element really let them connect with each other's families in a way they probably wouldn't have otherwise.

I also liked that Henry and Serena got to experience each other's tastes and even memories in some cases. There were times when I wasn't sure I agreed with what was connected to the body and what was connected to the consciousness but I didn't feel like that was the point of the story so I didn't mind too much. It did lead to some comedic situations such as them trying to speak in each other's accents.

I did wish some of the storylines had gotten a little more closure. I would have liked to understand more about what caused the switch and a bit more about Serena's mother and what caused her experience of love to be so different from Serena's.

Overall, I thought this was a really fun romcom and the magical element made it an interesting read. I do like the idea that love causes a little bit of magic.

🌶️🌶️ - There are two steamy scenes and some kisses in this book. It is fast burn then slow burn.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sarah Ready for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Enjoyable slow burn STEM rom-com! This was a well written read with an interesting story line. The humor was fun and the women in STEM representation was well done.

It was such a beautiful story and the narrators were perfect. This story was such a cool concept and these characters definitely deserved their HEA. This author never disappoints.

This is a second book in the Ghosted series by Sarah Ready, and I absolutely devoured the first one. Switched was a lot of fun; however, I think maybe the first one edged it just a bit. This was quite a fast read, was pretty PG13 in most parts until the last couple of chapters, and there is a magical realism portion that comes into play. I didn't mind the "Freaky Friday" body switch, as it created a lot of funny scenarios! The character of Serena had such great growth over the course of the book, which I appreciated. I definitely enjoyed this one, I give it a 3.75/5 stars. I look forward to reading more of Ready's work!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

This book was so good! Sara ready is the queen of heartfelt rom-coms.

I love that this story is a spin on the freaky Friday story we all know and love. Opposites truly do attract! The comedy was perfection.

I’m looking forward to whatever else Sarah Ready releases! She is a phenomenal writer.

I recieved this ARC via NetGalley and W. W. Crown, and imprint of Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC, in exchange for an honest review.

This is going to be a short and sweet review because by synopsis I shouldn’t have liked it… a little to sci-fi “unbelievable” type of a book. It wanted to suspend belief that two people can “live” in another person's body.
But….. honestly … it worked.

Sarah Ready has become a new rom com author that sneaks into me and has me chuckling and smiling all at once. Without booksta I wouldn’t know who she was but thank goodness I do because she’s become an auto buy.

Do yourself a favour and pick this up. It was fun, flirty and a total beach read of fun

Sarah Ready is a favorite author of mine—I’ve never been disappointed when I choose one of her books and when I need a genre switch/break from thrillers I can count on a Ready book to do the trick. Switched was no exception! I will say this book started a little slower than I have come to expect from her books but once it got started I was hooked and in it until the end!

The humor, the characters, the romance all hit the spot for what I was looking for.

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Since i loved Book 1 of this series, I thought i would also love book 2, but As much as I did enjoy this book, i found myself skimming through a lot of pages…. Like way more than I had anticipated…. It was all of Ducky/Serena’s thoughts about science stuff…. I wasn’t really into all her turmoil? And I felt like there was too much over explaining in those sections? Or it wasn’t as relevant to the story? I felt that i didnt need all that stuff because once i got back to the main story, i enjoyed those parts WAY MORE and it was such a funny and endearing story!!!

I LOVED the interactions with Henry family! I wish i get to see that more, i also wish I had more of Henry’s perspective because we one chapter of it near the end, and it was soooo good!

Regardless of me skimming, I still enjoyed the book.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wow.. what can I even say about this book? I didn't know a Freaky Friday style book where two people switch bodies could be written so beautifully.

This is my first book by Sarah Ready and she has a way with descriptive language that has you feeling like you are right there with the characters. You feel their emotions, their fears, their happiness.

I really enjoyed how Serena and Henry switching bodies helped their feelings for each other come to fruition and helped Serena realize that love is worth it.

My sole complaint about this book is that before the characters switched, I could have done without the plethora of scientific jargon. After awhile, I skimmed over those parts as it got a bit boring for me.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice: .5/5

I have been anticipating on Serena's story since meeting her in Ghosted and I had so much magical fun and joy reading this! Filled with cute pictures/diagrams and footnotes, what more could you ask for?? 😍

Serena believes with every atom of her body that she found her greatest love at the tender age of 4, and since then she lives and breathes for physics. One day whilst at her local pub, she finds herself in a rather "sticky" situation and manages to catch the eye of the nearest stranger for help - Henry. It's love at first sight for both Henry and Serena. Their connection is electric and they end up spending the night together, but Serena doesn't do love or relationships. When she finds out Henry is also her boss too, no siree... Not going there 🙅🏻‍♀️
However, in a Freaky Friday twist of fate, they end up switching bodies during a storm one night and have to keep up the ruse of pretending to be one another, whilst navigating how to switch back before it's too late.

The story does focus mainly on Serena's misconstrued perception of love and strongly believes when you fall in love, you also lose yourself, your identity, your thoughts and opinions.
She loves science too much to give up her true passion in life and avoids it at all costs. Henry loves her too much to give up on them and makes it life's mission to try and change her warped ideology of love. Whilst spending time together, he shows Serena time and time again through his actions how she doesn't have to give up anything to fall in love. She starts to question what love truly is and starts to realise maybe she's been getting it wrong all along...

Thank you to Sarah Ready, NetGalley and W. W. Crown for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sarah Ready's "Switched" puts a charming spin on the traditional formula for a romantic comedy by fusing humor, love, and science fiction elements. The protagonists of the tale are the free-spirited physicist Serena Otaki and the stiff British man Henry Joules, whose worlds unexpectedly and fancifully cross.

Henry is orderly, conventional, and fervently seeking his soul match, whereas Serena is a fan of chaos, science, and remaining single. Their differences appear insurmountable when they first meet, but fate has other ideas. They transfer bodies as a result of a strange accident at the Large Hadron Collider, which sends them into a hilarious and confusing maelstrom.

The way "Switched" explores acceptance, love, and identity is what really makes it stand out. As Serena and Henry learn to live in each other's bodies, they challenge stereotypes and gain insightful knowledge about empathy and comprehension. The narrative eloquently demonstrates how love can transcend outward appearances and expectations from society.

The supporting cast, which includes Henry's quirky relatives and friends as well as Serena's cherished cat, Captain Purrk, enriches the narrative. Every character adds a distinct aspect to the story, which enhances its overall comedy and warmth.

I was super excited about reading this book and while I enjoyed it, there were parts that didn’t quite click. I truly wish the author would’ve explained why Serena and Henry switched bodies. For most of the book, I was convinced it was a dream of some sort. There was no scientific or magical explanation. And then the ending… that was never explained so it left things kind of in the air for me. I adored Serena and Henry though. This book cracked me up at times and the sexual tension was high. Their chemistry was there from the very beginning. I understood why Serena felt the way she did about relationships, but it was annoying how she kept insisting she knew how relationships worked when she’d never been in one. It was nuts that a year and a half passed from their first meeting and hookup to the next chapter but I enjoyed that. Overall this was a good read, but I wished somethings could’ve actually been explained.

Magical Realism - Romance

Ready turns the impossible into a delightfully complex romance.

For Henry and Serena, it's love at first sight. The problem - Serena refuses to give up her career for love and that's what she thinks she will have to do, so she treats Henry shabbily and sends him on his way. To complicate matters, Henry is Serena's new boss, and he has shut down all the positive feelings he has for Serena.

Almost two years from their first meeting, they are working together, when a very crazy situation occurs in the particle collider - Henry and Serena get switched. Desperate to find a solution that will allow them to switch back, they spend every minute together.

They travel to visit both sets of parents as they search for answers. Living in another's body, gives them access to memories and feelings. Serena learns that love can be comforting, and Henry learns why Serena has denied her feelings.

There was no way, I thought, that I could like this book. Boy, was I wrong. This was so cute and achingly sweet. Ready handles the body swapping situation masterfully. Another winner.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this novel.

Oh my goodness!! This book has my HEART!

First, let's start off addressing like the first four chapters. I am a LOW SPICE reader and when things started moving to the bedroom right away I started cringing thinking I was about to DNF due to overly spicy taste. I worried for nothing as it faded to black, so I kept going. THEN Henry (MMC) declares love at first sight right after their night together and I about again closed the book to DNF from the cheesiness of it all.

HOWEVER, IF YOU DARE DNF THIS BOOK YOU WILL BE GREATLY MISSING OUT!

So much humor! So many squealing, happy feet kicks, blushing moments! Without spoiling any of the fun for you, this whole Freaky Friday body swap had me on the edge of my seat, staying up late to binge the book in a day. I couldn't get enough!

Please add this book to your TBR - it might just take one of your 2024 top read spots like it did for me.

(I received a digital ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.)

Falling in love, especially after only one night, has never been in Serena Otaki's life plan. She's already decided that there one true love is physics, and not even Henry Joule can make her stray. Finding out he's also her new boss just solidifies the barrier between them, until it's broken during a freak storm, when they literally switch bodies during an accident at the lab. In a race against time to get back to their selves, Serena and Henry have to learn with each other, and discover some hidden secrets along the way.

Henry and Serena's first meeting in the pub was the stuff of meet-cute dreams, so when she instantly rejected him, I was a bit concerned with the future of the story. It plodded along until their "Freaky Friday" switch, which was amplified to the extreme, with their bodies retaining preferences and memories that the new inhabitant has access to. I loved them meeting Henry's family as one another, which precipitated their getting closer, but Serena's hesitance to enter into a serious relationship was frustrating. There was a happy ending, and although technically listed as a sequel, I enjoyed it as a stand-alone with no issues.

Switched by Sarah Ready: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Format: ARC and ALC from W.W. Crown- Swift & Lewis Publishing

Happy Valentine’s Day! After reading and loving Ghosted last year, I have been anxiously awaiting the next book in the set, Switched, to publish. I’m glad to report it was worth the wait!

Switched is a delightful rom com about Serena and Henry- two physicists who could not be more different despite having the same career! Serena doesn’t believe in love and quickly douses the sparks between them after their first encounter. But a freak accident at their workplace results in the unthinkable- Serena and Henry have switched bodies, à la Freaky Friday. Forced to literally walk in each other’s shoes, they have no choice but to work together to search for a solution, while getting a good long peek at the grass on the other side.

I really liked this book! If you enjoyed Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood last year, you would probably like the return to the world of physics. The body switching element was more comical than I was expecting, which made for a fun read! I was rooting for Serena and Henry from the first chapter and loved watching their story unfold.

Switched officially publishes next week on February 22nd, but was available “Read Now/Listen Now” on NetGalley. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC and ALC in exchange for my review!