What a fun read! I started this book expecting a modern twist of “Freaky Friday” but it wasn’t that at all. There is no magic life-swapping, just two people who need a break and discover what is most important to them. Leena and Eileen are both relatable characters that would be fun to meet in real life. They are believable in both their regular lives and after they decide to trade residences.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and the two narrators are fabulous. It was easy to distinguish who was talking at all times and they both brought emotion into their roles.

This is a great “feel good” book!

I listened to the audiobook of The Switch courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I loved it! Leena works hard in London and has had a meltdown. Her bosses have given her 2 months leave to get herself sorted out and she's frightened that her life is crumbling. Her sister died the year before but Leena's tamped down the grief and keep soldiering on. Leena's family lives in the Yorkshire Dales and she returns there to think.

Meanwhile, Leena's grandmother Eileen doesn't act like an elderly person. She has the stamina, drive, personality of someone in love with life. As Leena comes to the Dales, Eileen is willing to switch places and move to Leena's place in London. Eileen finds herself fascinated with the people she meets and it takes an outsider to see how neighbors can be isolated and lonely. Eileen had been on all sorts of committees and the Neighborhood Watch in their village so it doesn't take much for Eileen to create a community of sorts in Leena's old condominum in Shoreditch. Somehow, neighbors who hadn't known each other are talking and they're creating their own community of sorts.

The Switch delivers humor and fun in a story of kindness and rediscovery. It's the sort of women's fiction that I love and have missed.

This is one of the cutest books I’ve read this year. I am so entranced with Leena and Eileen’s journeys. I really hope there is a sequel, because I’d love to see these stories progress.

Thank you NetGalley for my first audiobook..a few kinks in playing. This is a very charming, feel good book with some powerful messages about death, grieving, forgiveness, moving on and finding happiness..at any age.
When Lena gets an unexpected, and unwanted, forced vacation from work due to personal health concerns (due primarily to the death of her sister) she is forced to deal with her life and it’s issues..which leads to a great idea about switching places/lives with her grandma, who is also dealing with personal issues (her husband cheating and leaving her, the death of her granddaughter and the unraveling of her daughter). They both go on unexpected adventures that end up changing and growing them.
The audiobook is read by British narrators which just adds to the charm of the book!

O'Leary is the absolute queen of chick-lit. Her books are quaint and warm, resonating with emotion and humor.

After adoring The Flatshare, I was eager to pick up The Switch. Following a granddaughter and grandmother who decide to swap lives, The Switch is more concentrated on family than romance. It's a heart-warming and wholesome tale that keeps the reader interested and entertained throughout.

The writing was full of wit and humour, and followed a well-constructed plot line. The characters were all exceptionally three dimensional, and progressed interestingly throughout the story.

I enjoyed reading the book as an audio-book. The narrator, especially Eileen's, did a wonderful job of embodying the characters.
A huge thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC.

I'm being a little bit generous, but I really enjoyed this book. I went into it not knowing anything so I was pleasantly surprised that the switched involved a woman and her grandmother deciding to exchange homes, phones, etc for 2 months. There were so many cliches, but the story still took some surprising turns. I would definitely recommend for a light read.

I listened to the audiobook, read by British actors Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones. They did an excellent job and this is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to.

Enjoyable and Entertaining. I listened to the audiobook which was done very well. The narrators did an excellent job making this an entertaining time.
The story is well developed and moves at a nice and steady pace. The characters are super-likable and fun to follow.
I loved the representation of older people in this book, loved them! The plot may be a bit predictable but it is only in that thoroughly pleasing way.

Thank you, Netgalley for sharing the audiobook of The Switch by Beth O’Leary. I read The Flatshare earlier in the year and loved it. I knew when I saw that O’Leary had written another book I had to read it.

The novel is the story of two Eileen’s, 79 year old grandmother, Eileen, and Leena, her overworked and stressed out granddaughter. Told in alternating chapters from their viewpoint, Eileen and Leena decide to “switch” homes when Leena is forced to take a two month sabbatical from her job in order to deal with the suppressed grief from losing her sister. Eileen, was recently left by her husband and wants to try something new and maybe even start dating again.

I loved the storyline and I love how O’Leary in both of her novels weaves in a serious subject matter into her delightful rom-com stories. This one is in dealing with the loss of a loved one.

This is a sweet, refreshing story of two ladies who are looking for a way forward in their lives instead of staying stuck in neutral after tremendous loss. Eileen was funny and a social butterfly. I loved seeing how she interacted with younger Leena’s flat mates and her experience with online dating as an almost 80 year old woman. I also enjoyed how Leena grew close to all of the friends of Eileen working on the Neighborhood watch and the big May Day event and of course her growing relationship with Jackson, a local teacher.

I loved both of them, but Eileen, the grandmother, was my favorite. The minor characters were not would I would call minor. O’Leary seems to be a master at creating characters with personalities you fall in love with no matter the small part they play.

I listened and read this book, so I can say I loved it in print and audio. The narrators were perfect and I would love to listen to more books read by them. I just really loved it all. 💛

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#netgalley #theswitch #betholeary

Last year, we went on holidays to America. Remember holidays? I do. What that means for those of us living in Australia is very, very long flights. On that occasions the flights were delayed for a day, then we flew from Melbourne to Sydney, then to Houston and then finally to New Orleans. What do you need for so many and such long flights? Entertainment! And that was when I read Beth O'Leary's debut novel, The Flatshare. It was a perfect plane book. I laughed, I cried, and it was my only 5/5 read last year. There was therefore never any doubt that i was going read this book when it came out.



When Netgalley announced that they were starting to provide audiobooks for review through their new app, and I saw that this was one of the audiobooks, I jumped at the opportunity to listen to it.



Leena Cotton is the perfect career woman. She is driven, respected, ambitious, with a handsome and loving boyfriend. She has it all! So what if she is having panic attacks before major presentations and her performance is dropping. So what if her relationship with her mother is non existent? So what if she is still struggling to deal with the loss of her beloved sister to cancer the year before. It turns out that those are major issues, so much so that she is ordered to take a two month sabbatical from her job in London.



Leena's 79 year old grandmother Eileen lives in a small village in Yorkshire. She is one of the people who keeps the village going. She's a member of the Neighbourhood Watch, she helps organise the village fete every year, she watches out for those around her. She is, however, lonely, after her husband of many years leaves her. She is ready to get back on the dating scene, but there are slim pickings in the small town. The local doctor....no. Her grumpy next door neighbour Arnold. Absolutely not!



When Leena comes to visit her grandmother, the idea that they should swap lives is born. Leena can take the time to rest and recuperate, and maybe fix her relationship with her mother while Eileen can try life in London for two month and while she is there she might get a second chance at love.



It isn't quite as simple as that. For Leena, life in a small village is very busy. She has to take on the responsibilities that Eileen has left behind, which means committee meetings, organising others, walking the handsome school teacher's boisterous dog. And of course, small villages being as they are, finding herself in the middle of the village gossip circles. Leena doesn't necessarily get off to the best start, especially with Arnold and Eileen's best friend Betsy. And as for a long distance relationship with her equally career driven boyfriend - the plans to have him visit on weekends didn't last very long. There were always excuses as to why he couldn't make the trip up north.



For Eileen living in London is an eye-opening experience. She doesn't understand how her new flatmates live their lives, barely acknowledging the other people who live in the flats, unsuccessfully trying to date with unreal expectations as to what or who they were looking for. It doesn't take Eileen long to start organising the people around her, coming up with the idea to create a safe place for other older people in the local community to meet up as a social club., Once Leena's bestie gives Eileen a lesson in online dating, she is also launched onto the dating scene. But Eileen hasn't yet learnt to look out for the warning signs, given that she accepts everyone at face value.



It is interesting to me that the story that I was most interested in was Eileen's. She is thirty years older than I am and definitely has way more get up and go than I do! She took the opportunities that came her way, getting to know the other occupants in the building far more than Leena and her flatmates ever had. She embraced dating and sex with a joy that was a bit surprising given that she is nearly 80 and soon was helping out her flatmates with their lives as well. But there was always going to be a time when she had to go home. And what then? Is that it for love and adventure for Eileen? And will her desire to protect her daughter and grand daughter at any cost go awry?



Leena was a bit more problematic for me. I got that she was grieving and mentally exhausted. She just didn't seem to have the ability to really see the people around her. Whilst that was initially understandable, it did seem to drag on for a while and there were times that I wanted to just lean into the book and tell her to wake up!



Whereas The Flatshare was a 5 star read for me, this was a good read without being spectacular. Having said that, am I already excited about this author's next book, The Roadtrip, which is due out next year? You bet I am!



I mentioned that I listened to this book. The narrators were Alison Steadman as Eileen and Daisy Edgar-Jones from Normal People as Leena and I did enjoy their performances. However, the Netgalley app itself was a bit glitchy. It kept on stopping every time I got a notification on my phone or when I got to the end of a chapter. I am hopeful that these issues will be resolved as the app gets developed further.



Rating 4/5

This books had me laughing, crying and squealing in delight throughout.

Beth O'Leary has written a marvelous modern romance that reminded me of 'The Holiday' and that dealt with some pretty heavy topics, such as the loss of a loved one.

The descriptions of the grief that the Cottons experienced was so well done that it had me in tears several times.

The narration was also done extremely well and I really enjoyed the two narrators voices and story telling it really made the dual perspective of the book come to life and made the reading experience even better!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read more boos by Beth O'Leary!!

After her boss sends 29-year-old Leena off on a mandatory leave of abscence from her high-stress job, she suggest switching lives for two months with her 79-year old grandmother, Eileen. Leena will move to her grandmother’s house in the country and take on all her responsibilities in town and Eileen will move into Leena’s London flat (roommates and all) to get the adventure she missed out on when she was younger.

A story of loss, love, starting over, and finding yourself; this was a heart-warming read! The story alternates between Leena and Eileen’s perspectives and the audio alternates narrators- which really added to the story for me.

The story was cute, but this narration was really challenging for me. I really wanted to get into the story, but it honestly was hard with the audiobook. I am an avid listener, so it really takes a lot for me to be turned off by the narration. I did think the story was darling, though, so I don't want to blame the story for its poor story teller, but this was just really hard for me to get into! I want to try again, maybe with the physical copy, and see if that goes over better.

This was definitely more of a women's fiction title than pure romance, so definitely go into this one knowing it's a bit different from The Flatshare. But still sweet, and well written.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy listen.

I really enjoyed this audio. I loved the variety of voices and how they got into their character and really brought the story to life. The book itself was very enjoyable and a funny, feel good read. Would definitely recommend.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I loved the journeys each main character goes on and the changes they both experience. I think the way this book addresses grief was very realistic. The secondary characters were captivating and adorable. I really liked the romances even if they were a bit rushed. I think Beth O'Leary was very ambitious, each character had a completely separate plot and romantic subplot and, because of that, the stories weren't as flesh out as they could have been, still, both plots were engaging and cute.

This is such a sweet story of a grandmother (age 79) and granddaughter age 28) swapping residences (and cellphones!) for a couple months.

I got this audiobook on netgalley a week before it was published (US audio pub date August 18, 2020), and as is going to be the case, I guess, it was glitchy AF, turning off in the middle of sentences and pausing for so long between some chapters that I had to unlock my phone before it started playing again. Regardless, the narrators were fantastic, two women who played the parts of Leena and Eileen.

I have not read anything by this author before. Since this book is a romance, I was expecting it to be predictable, which is was, and charming, which it was. It's an easy read. I would call it a story of three generations but the mom's story or character was not developed or necessary to further the stories of Leena and Eileen. There are a lot of characters, which can be a little confusing for me in an audiobook, but they were mostly fun additions to the story.

This is a fun story which deals lightly with grief and depression. I loved that it addresses the older generation looking for love and growth as much as the younger generation. I learned that the British call dessert pudding and I just want to know, do they not have actual pudding, like chocolate pudding or butterscotch pudding? That's confusing, but no reason to skip this book!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½⭐️ (4.5 stars)

“That’s what Eileens do. They look after each other.”

This is the first book I’ve read (i.e. listened to) by Beth O’Leary, and I have to say, I get The Hype. If O’Leary’s first novel is anything like The Switch, I’m sure it is phenomenal and more than worthy of the all the attention it’s been receiving from the bookish community.

The Switch is the story of Eileen Cotton, a newly-single grandmother just shy of 80, and her overworked 20-something granddaughter, Leena (Eileen) Cotton. When she’s ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after having a panic attack in the middle of a big presentation at work, Leena is in need of an escape from her busy life in the city. And after her ex-husband leaves her for another woman, Eileen Cotton finds herself wanting to get back out there and date again, but doesn’t seem to have many options in her small, out-of-the-way village.

The solution they decide on is to swap places; overachieving Leena trading in the boardrooms and business meetings of London life for Yorkshire’s Neighbourhood Watch and May Day festivities, while cooped-up Eileen tries her luck with love in the big city.

I absolutely ADORED this book! Its story manages to feel simultaneously like a classic tale and an innovative realistic and relatable retelling of a Freaky Friday-like situation in the best possible way.

The supporting cast is all well developed and unique, the leads refreshingly real. Both Eileen and Leena felt like women I could easily see myself meeting in real life; their struggles and triumphs completely believable and easy to empathize with.

Overall, this book was the perfect feel-good story I was desperately in need of. With the global climate the way it is right now, the simple pleasure of being able to escape into a good book cannot be emphasized enough, and I feel like The Switch is the ideal choice for someone looking for exactly that.

As a burned-out 20-something myself, I found Leena’s struggles to manage her work, her personal life, and her future ambitions extremely relatable, and heartbreakingly realistic. And as a reader, I found Eileen’s perspective especially refreshing to hear about. I miss my fabulous older female leads akin to Jessica Fletcher’s character from Murder She Wrote. I think it’s definitely a reflection on our society today that fewer and fewer popular books feature strong, older female leads; something I would love to see change in the future.

The Switch is the perfect demonstration of how an optimistic and heartfelt older woman can make the perfect main character, and be more than a one-dimensional write-off. I loved Eileen Cotton; I sincerely wish I could have her as a confidant in my life!

Audiobook Experience

If you know me, you know I’m a HUGE audiobook fan, so it may not come as a surprise to any of you, but I absolutely loved this audiobook! The two narrators, one for Leena’s chapters and the other for Eileen’s, are incredibly talented and brought so much life to the story they were reading. If you’re looking for your next audiobook to listen to, I can’t recommend highly enough The Switch by Beth O’Leary.

Leena Cotton succumbs to a panic attack in the middle of a presentation to a client at work. Not something the old Leena would do. But for the past year, the old Leena has slowly disappeared. When her boss orders her to take a two-month holiday, Leena grudgingly complies.

Eileen Cotton, Leena’s 79-year-old newly single grandmother, has problems of her own. Her husband left her over a year ago, and Eileen doesn’t think she’s too old to love again. But the possible pool of suitors in her tiny village doesn’t look promising.

When Leena heads north to visit her grandma, the two decide they each need a change of pace. Leena needs to escape everything to do with her job, and Eileen needs to find a bigger dating pool. They do the logical thing—agree to switch lives and locations for two months.

Eileen leaves Leena with a list of her normal village responsibilities (how hard could it be to fill the shoes of an almost octogenarian?). Leena turns her trendy flat and quirky flatmates over to Eileen (what kind of trouble could an elderly lady encounter in London?).

As the two women make their way in each other’s territory, they find joy and healing in the least expected places.

Beautifully narrated by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones, listeners will enjoy the comic scenes of this fast-paced story about finding oneself—no matter one’s age. While not the normal genre I listen to, I loved the narrators and the subject matter. While seemingly lighthearted, the author weaves a more serious strain on how we deal with grief into the pages of the story. Recommended for a mature audience (Leena uses the f-word frequently, and PG-13-bedroom scenes), but definitely worth the listen.

A delightful, light hearted book. It was cute, and the storyline was lighthearted and fun. The characaters fit togetherh nicely!

"The Switch" was an absolute delight! It's a lighthearted and fluffy read, while still dealing realistically with the complexities of grief and grieving, as well as strong multi-generational women. The book follows Leena and Eileen Cotton, a granddaughter/grandmother duo as they switch lives for two months in what at first is a bid for an adventure, but eventually turns out to be an effort to rediscover themselves and heal after a family tragedy. Eileen is looking for love in London as she takes over Leena's flat, phone and computer. I loved that this book unabashedly reminds the reader that "old" people can still have vibrant love lives and seek romantic connection and companionship. Leena, on the other hand, inherits all her grandmother's projects in her country village and is confronted with the loss that she has been running from for the past year. Neither woman is a simpering, love-struck heroine, but bold, smart, realistic and multi-faceted women.
The two narrators on this audiobook were fantastic at capturing the essence of the two women, and I enjoyed the more performative format, where phone calls were genuinely pulled out to sound as is coming in from over the phone, and small conversational color (sniffing, tsk-ing, laughing, etc.) were genuinely produced rather than read! It was a lovely experience.