Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

Two strangers swap houses: Greta comes to Dallas, TX, with her husband Otto, and Lucy brings her three children to Berlin, Germany. These two ladies switch houses for the summer, each with their reasons for leaving their homes. Greta, to support her husband's new job, and Lucy, to remove her children from a rocky social situation.

I had a rough time at the beginning of this novel. The story felt a bit too quirky at first, and I wasn't sure I'd want to continue reading. However, it picked itself up a bit later, and by the end, I had really enjoyed the journey. There's a lot of characters and a lot going on, and you'll have to use your Kindle translator for the German talk (which was fun!), but hang in and it will pick up.

4.5 stars.

After having read and loved this author’s previous novel, The Sweet Spot, I knew I had to read this one. I’m glad I did.

Told in a dual location/dual POV, this story about found family, parent-child relationships, friendship, taking chances, and romance, had a lot of heart.

Although it had a bit of a slow start, I was soon wrapped up in the story and its very likeable main characters. There were many secondary characters to keep track of at first but they were such a great addition. A couple of plot points were a bit far fetched but the charm of the story and the storytelling made that only a minor quibble for me. The ending was very satisfying and the epilogue was so heartwarming. I turned the last page with a smile on my face.

Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

I had a little trouble getting into this book at first, but probably about halfway through it picked up and I enjoyed it. There was a lot going on in the book but I think most of the problems seemed to be wrapped up in the end. The one issue that was never really addressed in terms of how everything was handled was what happened to the parents who were super upset and trying to kick the twins out of Rockwell? The three students came and apologized in the end but it never seemed like the parents ended their crusade and I wish there would have been some kind of acknowledgment of what happened when they moved back to Dallas. Overall, I enjoyed this story!

This was a cute story about two families who house swapped last minute and how their lives unfold and intertwine from there. It took awhile to get into the story, but it tied up very nicely. There are several characters that are well developed, although the story is told in a dual location/two main POV. Thank you NetGalley and Atria for this ARC.

This wasn't my favorite Amy Poeppel of all time but even being my not favorite of hers doesn't mean it wasn't still great! I love how she weaves together families, stories and all sorts of drama that you could never anticipate. And yet, she gets to the end and everything is resolved (even if not perfectly) in the way it should be! Definitely add this to your TBR!!

Far and Away comes out next week on June 10, 2025 and you can purchase HERE.

The students involved in the scandal that spring may have been Rockwell's best and brightest, but most kids at the school didn't even know who they were. Lucy found out who was involved when her son texted: D + R + S + me = big trouble.
She was having lunch at Haywire on McKinney, sitting between Bryn and Harper, the impressive young CEOs who had hired her only six months before. She found them intimidating. Lucy worked remotely, and twice this powerhouse duo had flown her to their chic headquarters in LA for an in-person meeting. But today they had come all the way to Dallas just to see her. Lucy had no idea why.

This book started off very slow for me. I had to put it down for a while and come back to it. The premise was weird and the situations were reaching.

It felt like there were a lot of moving parts. You didn’t just have these two families swapping houses. You had their parents, siblings, in-laws, bosses, kids, friends of kids, neighbors, exes and their families all involved. It was… a lot.

There was also a lot of traveling back and forth to try and keep track of. Who was where? Why? And how can they all afford day of cross Atlantic flights?!

Overall it was a fine read, if you could keep all of the stories and characters straight. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Just because we’re living in each other’s houses doesn’t mean we have to get involved or wrapped up with these people.”

If someone handed me a copy of Far and Away with the author’s name redacted, I would have a guessed within the first chapter that it was another fun novel by Amy Poeppel!

Lucy from Dallas and Greta from Berlin haphazardly enter into a house swap agreement under different circumstances but with the same sense of urgency. Their family and professional situations are as different as their cultures but they have more in common than they imagine. Their families bounce back and forth over the Atlantic as they come to terms with big hurdles and unavoidable change. Ms. Poeppel’s signature cast of chaotic and lovable characters have the best intentions along with questionable choices, my favorites being some of the supporting players.

Normally the miscommunication trope doesn’t work for me, especially combined with a social media element but the archetype floats above the surface and what lies beneath kept me fully invested.

If you have an affection for The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary and/or the Nancy Meyers movie The Holiday, this new novel might be a perfect summer read!

Thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

As she’s preparing for family from out of town to arrive to celebrate son Jack, Lucy gets a call from the school. When she arrives in a panic, it’s to find her sweet, sensitive son has been expelled on the eve of his high school graduation.

What she’s sure is a misunderstanding turns into a full blown scandal that’s destroying their lives.

And she can’t consult her beloved husband, Mason, because he’s working with NASA and is incommunicado for six months.

On the other side of the world in Germany, we meet Greta and husband, Otto. Otto has had an embarrassing situation at work, causing him to lose a fellowship, but he has found a university that wants to support his research. In Dallas.

And while Greta is surprised by this unexpected plan, she wants to support her reserved husband, and so agrees. What she didn’t expect was for Otto to embrace Texan culture so fully.

So like our favorite girls in The Holiday, these two women agree to a house swap for the coming months.

What happens next unfolds in dual POV as myriad characters - all fishes out of water - find themselves thrown together and wrenched apart until a heartwarming conclusion that will leave you grinning.

If you’ve enjoyed her previous work, like The Sweet Spot, this will thrill you! Poeppel has a talent for creating a large cast of characters and imbuing them with individual personalities, crises, and desires. Everyone is so charming in this farcical romp about a house swap gone somewhat awry.

What I love best is Poepple’s ability to create characters who are so dissimilar as to have no reason to even be in the same atmosphere but end up as found family, people who love, support, and accept one another despite differences.

Poeppel is an autoread author for me and if you like big, messy, character dramas, do not miss this one!

Amy Poeppel’s signature charm and whimsy SHINES in this delightful story of two families needing a change - and getting more than they bargained for in a home swap! This book has everything: illicit (and I’ll-planned) trips across the Atlantic and country lines, a smart home system that won’t stop playing Goodbye Earl, math formulas for nerdiness, a house full of animals and no one to clean up after them, an art-world mystery for the ages, a mars-simulation and the hot astronaut living in it, a hotel that looks like a brothel, German indie rock music, and so much love, of all kinds - romantic, platonic, familial, wonder at the world- and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Through all manner of complications, Texan Lucy needs to make a quick escape out of the country with her three children, and impulsively swaps houses (a la the holiday) with Berliner Greta who needs to be in Texas with her husband for his job. The small intersections and interactions bring their two families together - maybe closer than they had anticipated - as they adjust to their new settings and try to make sense of their circumstances. I found myself so engrossed in this world and the tangled web of connections as I was reading, and cannot even begin to state how much of a fun lil romp this was! Lucy and Greta’s unlikely friendship is at the heart of both of their journeys - encouraging and supporting each other to make the choices they need to make for themselves, their children, and their husbands (mostly in that order)!

As wild and goofy as the plot is, what really drew me in here was the characters!! Our main players Greta and Lucy felt so grounded in reality and represented different needs of middle aged women - Lucy on the familial side and Greta on the relational side! The other characters that really drew me in were Lucy’s son Jack (wrongfully accused of sexist behavior and all around gentle soul) and Greta’s husband Otto (a slightly older man who just really blossomed in Texas, went full Buddy Garritty). However; the character I felt most connected to was Greta’s daughter Emmi, who felt like the emotional center of the story and (I think) got the best deal of all in the end!!

This would be a good one to read on kindle, as I took major advantage of the translation tool to understand all the wildly long German words (with too many consonants)! Thanks so much to Amy Poeppel and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook galley and to Simon Audio for the audio galley.

I have to admit I wasn't sure about this book at first, it took me a minute to get into the characters and the storyline. But in the end, I found this book to be a very beautiful and moving story with lots of humor (I laughed out loud several times!) I ended up finishing this book in a day. This book is read by a full cast including Patti Murin, Lisa Flanagan, Jennifer Jill Araya, Kevin R. Free, and Pete Simonelli. I was familiar with the female narrators but not the male ones. However, I would listen to audiobooks narrated by any and all of them in the future. Overall, if you are looking for a story with a lot of heart and humor, I definitely recommend this book and I can't wait to see what Amy Poeppel writes next!

Thank you Atria Books for my #gifted copy and thank you Simon Audio for my #gifted listening copy of Far and Away! #AtriaPartner #atriabooks #AtriaInfluencer #simonaudio #FarandAway #amypoeppel

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐅𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐲
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐀𝐦𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐥
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬: 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧, 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧, 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐉𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚, 𝐊𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧 𝐑. 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟏𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

𝟱★

Heartwarming, hilarious, chaotic, charming! This was seriously so much fun! Two women swap houses to escape their already messy lives. What could go wrong? You guessed it…more chaos! Poeppel developed the most amazing characters in Lucy and Greta and I fell in love with this storyline! There was so much humor and heart blended into this beautiful story and I loved how it also blended two cultures as well. If you’re looking for a book that will have you falling in love with every character, this is one you will not want to miss!

🧳House Swap
✈️Dallas & Berlin
🧳Quirky Characters
✈️The Holiday Vibes
🧳Characters you will LOVE
✈️Heart & Humor

🎧I listened to the audiobook, which predominantly narrated Patti Murin and Lisa Flanagan but also included Jennifer Jill Araya, Kevin Free and Pete Simonelli. I LOVED this one on audio. It was so easy to follow and I loved having the distinct voices narrate this one! You are in for a real treat if you listen to this with Murin, Flanagan and crew! I cannot recommend this one enough!

Posted on Goodreads on June 5, 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around June 5, 2025: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on June 10, 2025
**-will post on designated date

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"Far and Away" is another delightful, heartwarming book by Amy Poeppel! Like in her other novels, we follow a hilarious and sweet cast of characters navigating family, career, and relationship drama. I had such a wonderful time reading this book; it felt like a hug and a belly laugh in novel form. Highly recommend!

A gem! Lucy's life and that of her son Jack is turned upside down when he uses math to rank the possibility that various female classmates would agree to date him. Oh and her husband is unreachable because he's in a biosphere meant to replicate Mars. SO what to do but take Jack and her twi daughters and flee from Dallas to ...Germany. More specifically to Greta's apartment because Greta also needs to move to Dallas for her husband Otto's job. Two women who could not be more different find themselves navigating a changed landscape. Simple, right? Well, there are other interesting issues here such as Greta's work as an art consultant and a Vermeer painting. And Bjorn (no spoilers). Poeppel has created a lively universe with two highly atmospheric settings-she nails both Dallas and Berlin-but more important are her characters. Yes Greta, Lucy and Jack but also Lucy's parents, Otto, Emmi, and rest are all terrific. This is so much more than I expected. The storytelling is great and it's got a huge heart. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Highly recommend.

Thank you Atria Books @atriabooks , Netgalley @netgalley , and Amy Poeppel @amypoeppel for this free book!
“Far and Away” by Amy Poeppel⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Location: Dallas, Texas, USA and Berlin, Germany. Time: present.

Lucy’s Dallas neighborhood shuns her family after her intelligent, sweet teen son makes a mistake he can’t undo. Greta’s Berlin flat is up for grabs when her dissatisfied scientist husband Otto takes his dream job in Texas without telling her. Perfect strangers Lucy and Greta agree to a house swap and-thanks to martinis, desperation, and rusty German-they have no idea what they’re getting. They’re switching Southern charm, pets, and bbq for tiny European apartment sophistication and schnitzel. Their husbands are no help: Otto happily swims laps in the Dallas pool. Lucy’s husband is gone for 6 months, either in the NASA biosphere or in jail, depending on who you ask. Greta’s daughter Emmi and Lucy’s son Jack meet, Greta’s Vermeer auction purchase is questioned, and Lucy’s past with hot Viking Bjørn is outed. Can they fix their problems and go home again?

Author Poeppel has written a funny, original commentary on families, motherhood, community, and love. Her plot (and her characters) skip back and forth between Dallas and Berlin. Her clever writing sprinkles German words and phrases throughout the book, across the characters-sometimes translated, sometimes not. Her descriptions are evocative: (“…a place to go barefoot, and not know what day of the week it was.”) Poeppel takes us through jet lag, culture shock, suspiciously nice neighbors, scandals, and reminds us of the power of family. If you like laugh-out-loud, heartfelt, easy reading novels, pick up this book! It’s 4 stars from me🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️🎀 #farawayaway #amypoeppel

This book was such a fun ride! Two women, complete strangers, agree to a spur-of-the-moment house swap (one in Dallas, the other in Berlin), and let’s just say… it does not go smoothly. Between unexpected family drama, career chaos, culture shock, and a surprise Viking or two, Lucy and Greta find themselves way over their heads in the most entertaining way. Hilarious, heartwarming, and full of sharp wit, this is classic Amy Poeppel at her best. I flew through it and loved every second. 5 star read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed Musical Chairs when I read it years ago after hearing Annie Jones recommend it on her podcast years ago. It's difficult for me to find contemporary fiction that goes down easily and quickly, is entertaining, but NOT a romance or thriller. Musical Chairs fit the bill, and happily, so did Far and Away!
Lucy and Greta, who live in Dallas and Berlin respectively, who are both looking for unexpected last minute getaways in different countries for the summer; Greta, for her and her doctor husband Otto as he seeks to work abroad with other doctors for summer, and Lucy, to escape a controversy her son has found himself in that has made the family neighborhood pariahs. There's much more going on here with both families, but I'll leave those bits to be revealed to the next readers!
These are smart, professional, and yes, very privileged women juggling demanding work, marriage, motherhood, and also being daughters. There is enough here to make them relatable despite their privilege and Lucy and Greta and the whole cast of supporting characters are likable and fun to spend time with. It was also entertaining to be immersed in the culture shock they both experience, and particularly entertaining for this Southerner to watch our German friends adapt to Texas culture. This is an absolutely perfect summertime read and helped break me out of a book slump I hit the last week or two of May. Throw this one in your beach bag and have fun!

I love everything Amy Poeppel writes and this book is no exception. No write makes me laugh more or like characters more than Amy Poeppel does. I think it’s the way her characters are so relatable with their flaws makes them feel like friends. Everyone is quirky including both homes in the home swap. I was rooting for everyone and in classic Amy Poeppel style, everyone wins.

Amy Poeppel has such a knack for writing smart, funny, and heartfelt novels, and Far and Away is no exception. I love her style, her humor always hits the mark for me, and this one had me laughing out loud while also tugging at my heart.

The premise of a house swap with a total stranger is both terrifying and fascinating, and the author uses it to set the stage for some hilarious, chaotic, and totally original moments. The story is packed with family drama, long buried secrets, and unexpected twists, but it never feels heavy. Instead, it’s the fun kind of chaos; messy, unpredictable, and full of heart.

If you love character driven stories with a strong emotional core, sharp humor, and a lot of heart, definitely add this one to your list. It’s the perfect blend of drama and comedy, I was genuinely sad to say goodbye to these characters.

What an absolute delight of a novel! I had so much fun following along on the adventures these two families had, and loved how they connected toward the end of the novel. Greta’s trajectory was especially compelling to me as she had a reckoning with her life and her choices thus far, and the evolving nature familial relationship ships can take. Will recommend to all my friends and family members who are looking for entertaining and heart warming beach reads!

I'm just over here regretting that I read this and didn't dnf. I'm going to be brutal here. I have had Amy Poeppel books on my tbr for a very long time but Far and Away was the first of her's I've picked up.

I'll start with my thoughts on the family from Texas. I thought the drama with the teenage son was not interesting, the husband's job and absence was weird, the mom's job was interesting but her impulsiveness in a difficult situation was wild. The family from Germany was actually a story I would have wanted to learn more about but I did not like the way their storyline unfolded. There were a few intriguing characters in this book but overall, I didn't care enough about any of them to desire to pick up the book time and time again. I wish I would have dnfed at my first sign of boredom.

There were a few glimmers of hope throughout so I think I will try another book by this author in the future. Even still, thank you to Atria Books for my advanced copy.