I love following this romance and seeing how it developed overtime, I was really rooting for Claire and Stacie,

The cutest long distance romance ever!

Claire cannot ignore the opportunity to switch places with Stacie from the Vancouver office and just get away from all the responsibility she has for a little while. But that is short lived when a family emergency drives Claire back home and she and Stacie end up getting a chance to really know once another before Stacie has to return home herself.

I loved every second of this. It had such an excitement to start, and both Claire’s and Stacie’s reaction to their exciting adventures was infectious. From the first moment they spoke, they seemed to have a spark and just got one another, so living in each other’s homes, albeit for a short while made them feel closer and then it was almost like a dream when they got to spend time together in person when Claire came back early. The reasons for Claire’s return were heartbreaking, but I was in awe of how Stacie supported her, even if she didn’t know her that well yet, and this all had an impact on the length of her stay.

When they really got to spending time together, their connection was undeniable, and a part of me hoped that Stacie wouldn’t even have to consider going back to Vancouver. She’d not just been falling in love with Claire, but also Ireland, in a way that allowed the reader to fall in love with it too, so in the end I was just wishing and hoping for things to work out. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, and realisation of that broke my heart the way it did theirs, but with the love they had, I had hope.

Such a sweet and lovely romance, perfect for anyone who loves a cute story with two adorable characters who more than deserved the happiness they found together.

Claire and Stacie are swapping jobs for six months; Claire hails from Belfast and Stacie from Vancouver, Canada. They don't see each other until Claire returns home to care for her mother. The story centers on how Claire and Stacie are hesitant to develop feelings, knowing that Stacie will eventually return to Vancouver. It's a tale rich with emotions and feelings as they navigate life and love. This book comes highly recommended for fans of romance.

Was hoping for a bit more character development, as the plot seemed to grow more than the characters did in the story.

thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book !

this story follows two working girls who switch jobs and never come across each other, until they finally meet after a lot of texting and calling.

at the beginning, i was a bit skeptical to where the story was going, i thought there was a looot about just work and not really involving the characters but then it got way better.

throughout the book, we learn more about every single characters and their story, it’s not just focusing on both main characters! all side characters were so enjoyable like jane, johnny and everyone. seeing how they were reacting to long distances, how they had difficulty to come clean about their sexuality or their feelings, it was a very interesting and enjoyable book.

This is a story about Claire Brennen who works for an international marketing company headquarter in Belfast, Ireland. She is asked to swap jobs with a Canadian woman, Stacie Farran. Claire leaves behind her mother whom she has been taking care of for years. Her mom has serious mental health issues and is on medication to stay on track. Claire is a natural leader and caretaker. She struggles in Canada and misses her family and friends back in Ireland. Stacie loves Belfast and easily assimilates into the workplace there.

The POV alternates between the MCs in each chapter. This book had several funny parts playing off of many lesbian tropes . It was well written and brought out a lot of emotion from both MCs. All the friends and family members were fully developed and part of the story. It also dealt with mental illness in a compassionate and meaningful way, which increased the depth of the story.

I thought the ending was fairly predictable and I would have liked a more unique finish to the story.

Overall a good book and I’d recommend it to my book friends.

ARC received from Net Galley for an honest and voluntary review.

「 ✦  ARC REVIEW ✦ 」

« back to belfast – emma l. mcgeown »

☆☆☆☆/5

▪︎ queer relationship
▪︎ mental health rep
▪︎ home exchange vibe
▪︎ found family

☄️🧡🌞🦊🍁
be ready to be bombarded by characters and get lost in between the two cities but after a few chapters is gets better and everything settles.

i really love Stacie and how much of a helper she is. she deserves much more than melissa and she's starting to realise it.

Claire is dealing with a shit tons of issue. whether personal or professional, she never catches a break until she meets stacie in real life and finally realize what it's like to be wanted and unconditionally loved.

i really liked how many real issues were talked about and dealt with. loss, grief, mental health, queerness. and it was done so beautifully.

stace is so vocal about lgbtqia+ rights and i love her for it.

this is such a wholesome romance and i loved it.

BACK TO BELFAST COMES OUT SEPTEMBER 10TH.

thank you @netgalley, @boldstrokesbooks and Emma L. McGeown for the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange of an honest review

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Stroke Books for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. 4.5 ⭐️ rounded up. What a fun romcom! I loved the workplace “The Holiday” like premise, though there were times I got a bit lost and almost bored with the business side of it. Overall, I absolutely loved this story, the character development, the dual settings, and the chemistry between the characters. In such a short book, McGeown was able to add a lot of depth and development that made it enjoyable and something I did not want to put down. A really fun ride and I will definitely be reading her backlist and look forward to new releases in the future!

A charming trading places, f/f romance. Claire Brennan is good at her job in Belfast. Her company decides to send her to a struggling branch in Vancouver, Canada for six months. She decides it is a good time to take a break from watching over her mom who suffers from “the Troubles”. Stacie Farran enjoys her job in Vancouver and is surprised when she is picked to cover in the Belfast office for Claire. To make things simpler they decide to rent each other's apartments.

Claire struggles feeling homesick and trying to make friends in the less friendly office. But she is improving their numbers when she is called home for family issues. Stacie welcomes her back to her own place and the pair decide to share it till her time in Belfast is over. There are very sweet friends pushing them together even if it is temporary. I’ve read a couple of the author’s previous books and love how she brings Ireland in almost as a character itself. (The other books were set in Dublin.) Beyond the naturally progressing romance there are drinking and mental health issues covered and also coming out in religious communities. I enjoyed the story and characters, except maybe the overtop male (gay) friend who could be too outspoken.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.


Claire and Stacie both work at the same company but different part of the world. Claire is task to go Vancouver where the branch is struggling while Stacie is surprise to be pick go Belfast to takeover Claire office as they swap lives. Claire’s struggles while there but she been doing well improving the branch but then she has return home for emergency because she is caregiver of her mom and that’s when we really get into Claire and Stacie romance as we see how Stacie fits well in Claire life even though she dealing with relationship problems as they both grow closer I like how they were honest and communicate with each other and learn things about themselves. Overall good read.

This was a nice and easy read.

The set up and context was well fleshed out and I could easily picture both characters lives in my head. I kind of found I was more invested in the office aspect than the romance, it just felt more well thought out.

I enjoyed the characters and the romance of it, don’t get me wrong, but it felt like the plot devices thrown in to break them up were a bit weak so that took me out of the story a bit. The ending was also wrapped up way too quickly. It was also quite insta-love which always feels a little bit unrealistic to me, but I suppose this was a very short book so it had to be that way.

There were a few typos and inconsistencies like whether Stacie was flying on Saturday or Sunday, minute details but it still annoyed me nonetheless. Also the fact that Stacie lands in London, in Northern Ireland. Surely it should be Londonderry or just Derry. Given how much the Troubles was mentioned, you’d feel like you wouldn’t call Londonderry “London”.

Reading this made me want to go to Northern Ireland and learn more about their history.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing me this ARC!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

claire and stacie work for the same company though not in the same country but when the opportunity came up that they could swop roles for 6 months they both took the leap of faith

claire was sent in to sort out stacie office they were underperforming and could likely face closure

stacie was the best of the group and was trusted with claires clients for the 6 months

what they hadnt expected was how well stacie fitted into claires life with her friends and work colleagues

claire was struggling though with loneliness and the morale of the office she was trying to sort out... and they werent willing...

but it was the interaction between claire and stacie that started and when claire had to do an emergency back home visit that thing between then zinged....

but with claire home stacies days were numbered.... if only....

well it kept my attention right to the end i loved the little things that the author subtlety added to make the story more life like. will be keeping an eye out for more from this author

Back to Belfast started with an interesting premise. Claire and Stacie both work for the same company. Claire at the main office in Belfast and Stacie at the struggling Vancouver office. The company decides to send Claire to Vancouver temporarily to get the office in shape and Stacie goes to Belfast to cover for Claire as part of the work visa exchange. In addition to changing job locations, they swap homes as well.

The first third of the book focused heavily on Stacie and Claire adapting to their new lives. There was not a lot of interaction between the two. For a romance, I was expecting, even with the distance, more moments of connection between Claire and Stacie earlier in the book. That said, the challenges, feelings, and relationships that both Claire and Stacie encountered with the life swap were compelling and relateable. Stacie is dealing with a long distance relationship and Claire is a caregiver for her mom. The side characters, especially Claire’s friends, were interesting in their own right and helped drive the story forward.

Once Stacie and Claire began to have more contact the book really took off. They had strong chemistry and I appreciated that there was a lot of honesty, self realization, and communication. There was still struggles and missteps but the characters made the effort to work through it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It did a good job of balancing sweet and real.

Thank you NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books, and Emma L. McGeown for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟 + 1/2 ✨ (3.5)
If you’re ok w workplace romance or if you enjoy that, then I’d def give this one a try. It’s an overall cute ambience and story. I did struggle to get into it at first but I’d say that around 30% I felt committed enough to keep going without it feeling like I was making myself read.

The end felt a bit rushed and I think I might’ve discovered I’m not a fan of workplace romance… so that’s why it’s 3.5 for me, it just kinda felt weird at the end (iykyk)

I struggled to get into this book
It didn't grab me right away and started with a super dark, negative feeling. The trauma dump was unexpected and then the constant discussion about COVID. It felt like a bit of a drag.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I wasn’t a big fan of this book, I found all the characters to be flat (which is odd because there’s so much going on with these characters) and uninteresting and a bit unlikable. The romance wasn’t convincing and the main characters were quite immature for their age. The writing was also a bit amateur.

While this book had me entertained and I found their story cute. The book had the banter and was funny but it didn’t take over the plot which was good. The plot was interesting and something I haven’t read before which made it even better! I liked that they were apart from each other and didn’t have the luxury of being face to face while starting their relationship (both friendship and romantic).

I had to really think about my rating though because as I said, I really enjoyed myself but I feel like there was something that was missing for me to give it 5 stars.

Totally enjoyed lovely cosy sapphic story set mostly in Belfast (awarded extra star for that!). I loved the premise of a six month job swap between two lesbians based in Vancouver and Belfast respectively. No spoilers here but early on it’s made pretty clear that Belfast is the better place, because of the people and the possibility of larger apartments! In a way that was believable, even though they didn’t even mention the scenery, which is stunning. The group of friends in Belfast are great craic, so fun to see an LBGT community thriving, with a clever nods to the tricky history of the place. Cracking read.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It was beautifully written and a wholesome love story.

I loved how in depth the author went in regard to the mums mental health and how that made Claire worried about her own future because of genetics and showing how much she loved her mum but how much she struggled being her carer

I really hope there is another book, I’d personally like one on Jane too, I need to know what happens next with her parents

A cute Sapphic romance about swapping places and falling in love with a new home.

Claire and Stacie are both high-performing in their jobs at the same company - Claire in Belfast and Stacie in Vancouver, but both are surprised when the company's boss asks them to swap places for a six month stint. The two decide to swap apartments also to make it easier, but when Claire's mom has an alcoholic relapse, Claire returns home early, and thus begins a courtship with an eventual expiration date.

Claire and Stacie are really sweet, caring characters with their own challenges and dynamic histories. I love that they are mature and communicative through most of their relationship (which made Claire's eventual refusal to talk about her feelings kind of frustrating). I absolutely adore the friend group in Belfast. It would have been better if Claire and Stacie had more interactions prior to Claire showing up back in Belfast, maybe with some emails or calls or something since they took over each other's clients. Something more than the two times that somehow led to a crush immediately. I really loved how the author depicted the difficulty and conflicting emotions that comes with being a parent caregiver.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and would definitely read another by the author. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.