When two families need a change, a house swap seems like the perfect solution. In a hasty moment of desperation, the deal is made, and these two families are leaving the familiarity of their own cities and homes for completely new experiences.

This was such an enjoyable novel. I was immediately invested in these characters’ lives. You really couldn’t get two families who were more different than these two. Greta is an art curator, Otto is a foot surgeon, and they reside in a classic apartment in Berlin, decorated with antique pieces and furnishings. Lucy has a new job that she loves, she’s a mother of a high school student and twin girls, and her husband is away for six months for work. She lives in a sleek, modern home in Dallas that is well lived in, with multiple pets (and pet fur). It’s the differences between these two families that make this novel so much fun.

Right from the start, I knew that there was bound to be mayhem and hijinks. How could there not be? Traveling to live in another country for a few months, disrupting your normal routines, and trying to adapt to a different culture with a different language would be a nerve-wracking experience for even the most well-traveled individuals.

Otto needed a change from his current work environment; he was unhappy and stagnating in his position in Berlin. For Lucy, she just wanted to flee and whisk her kids away to escape the growing condemnation that was happening to them in their neighborhood as a result of the mistake her son had made. Everyone just wanted a few months of change, but this change also offered up time for some discoveries, both personal and professional that had the potential to change the course of their lives.

There was a lot to love about Far and Away. I enjoyed the back and forth between Dallas and Berlin. I was equally interested in knowing what was going on in each of these homes and how they were adapting to their new lifestyles and in their own relationships. Each family had their own issues to deal with, and I was a happy observer in their lives.

Far and Away was just a wonderful read. I enjoyed my time with these characters. It was filled with humor, heart, and second chances.

*4.5 Stars

Far and Away centers on the story of two moms, one American, one German, who swap homes in a last minute situation where both are desperately in need of new surroundings. The storyline about Lisa's son, who was kicked out of school the day before graduation for semi-unclear reasons and whose offer might be rescinded from MIT, was incredibly compelling to me, and I mostly was reading to figure out what had happened in that story. I would have read a whole novel just about that situation and characters. The other storyline was less compelling to me, but I still liked how the two stories came together in the end.

FAR AND AWAY by Amy Poeppel is classic Poeppel—funny, fast-moving, and full of lovable chaos. Two women swap homes (Dallas and Berlin) to escape their messy lives… only to find more mayhem waiting. Culture shock, family drama, secrets, and schnitzel—what’s not to love?

A perfect summer escape with heart and humor. (And don’t miss her promo videos—they’re hilarious!) Releases June 10th!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I have mixed feelings on the story. I liked parts and disliked others. The characters were ok, but not one in particular stood out to me. Just a fun fluffy read.
I didn’t like what unraveled with Jack’s prank at school - seemed unrealistic. I thought the characters were okay but not one really stood out to me.
Not sure whether it was the netgalley/e-read format, but at times I felt like the story jumped from one thing to another with no pause in between. I had to go back and think about what I was reading about/which character was being referenced.

Poeppel's book are a delight to read, and Far and Away captures all her signature wit and charm. Lucy's life is thrown upside down when her son makes an awful mistake. She needs out of Dallas. And Greta from Berlin quickly needs a place to stay in Dallas, so the two strangers agree to a house swap. The stage is set for a hilarious and heartwarming adventure as these two and an array of characters tackle culture shock and scandals and what it means to be family. Loved it.

This is such a cute book! I really love how Amy Poeppel is able to weave so many characters & storylines together and bring everyone around to a big wonderful family by the end. This one focuses on 2 families, one in Berlin and one in Dallas, who both need to leave their respective cities in a hurry and end up doing a house swap. I loved these characters and I loved how they fit so perfectly into each other’s lives despite their differences. Delightful & heartwarming.

Amy Poeppel’s **Far and Away** showcases the same warm, insightful prose that made **The Sweet Spot** such a joy. The well-drawn characters embark on richly emotional journeys, and Poeppel’s keen eye for humor and human connection keeps the narrative engaging. The pacing is smooth and inviting—though I occasionally craved a bit more tension to heighten the stakes. With its delightful travel theme and vivid settings, it’s the perfect fun summer read. Fans of **The Sweet Spot** won’t want to miss it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the free digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

When Lucy’s son Jack makes a bad decision that is taken way out of context close to graduation, he’s banned from graduation, shunned by his friends, and parents threaten to have him thrown in jail. Lucy’s husband Mason is on assignment in “Mars” - really in New Mexico where scientists and engineers are living in a biosphere trying to replicate how people and things will react to living on Mars. Lucy is at her wits’ end as to how to solve the issue - all she knows is that she and the family need to escape.

Greta and her husband Otto live in Berlin, but some bad rapport between Otto and his colleagues have made his life unbearable at the university where is a surgeon. Greta’s sister knew Lucy years ago when she was in college and lived in Berlin. Since both parties needed to escape, they agreed to a house-swap; Lucy, Jack, and twins Alice and Zoe would fly to Berlin and live in Greta and Otto’s house, and Greta and Otto would fly to Dallas and live in Lucy’s house, as Otto had obtained a temporary position at the university there.

Uprooting 2 families is bad enough, but add to the mix the language barrier (I’m not sure what was funnier - Otto trying to speak English and dressing the part of a cowboy, or Lucy trying to speak German, which she obviously doesn’t remember!) and you have a really funny story. As Jack tries to undo his mistake, Greta’s daughter Emmi steps in to help. I really liked how all the families came together in the end!

A quick read with laughs and heart - pick this one up if you can! Thanks to the author for sharing with our book club!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Far and Away by Amy Poeppel. This was a very charming and relaxing book to read. I love a story where characters swap homes/locations, and this one didn't disappoint!
The book centers on Lucy and Greta, who do not know each other and impulsively decide to swap homes within a day's notice. Lucy's teenage son Jack gets in a lot of trouble over a misunderstanding, so Lucy decides on a whim to take Jack and her twin daughters to Berlin, Germany, to stay in Greta's apartment. Greta and her husband Otto must make fast accommodations when Otto is offered a position at a university, so they go to Texas to live in Lucy's house.
The plot is silly and unbelievable in the best and most entertaining way. I wish it was so easy to simply decide to spend the summer in another country and travel at a drop of the hat. The perspectives alternate between Texas and Germany. Each character is out of their elements and comfort zones, which makes the story light and funny. I especially loved the parts in Germany. It seems so elegant and fun. It was great how their family and friends crossover and interact with each other. There are also misunderstandings due to sending messages and conflicting comments between the families. I loved how Greta slowly loosened up as the story progressed. I loved how spontaneous Lucy was. The side characters were funny and original.
The book was cozy to read. It gave writer/director Nancy Myers vibes. I would consider the book contemporary and not a romance. The perspectives change, but it was easy to follow, and it added layers. It was fun and easy to read. There was light tension but never anything incredibly stressful. It was enjoyable to read and I can't wait to read more by this funny and original author!

Enjoyed this very clever story about two families, one from Dallas and one from Germany, whose lives intersect under extreme circumstances. The beginning was a little difficult to grasp given all the different characters, locations and perspectives, but after a while it all worked. The author did a great job of tying up all the loose strings by the ending. Recommend! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Lucy’s son Jack has just been expelled and the neighborhood is very much against their family. Meanwhile, Greta and her husband should be preparing to spend the summer in New York, but his situation has changed and he is now headed to work in Dallas Texas. Both families need a place to stay when someone mentions a house swap. The two families are not prepared for the change and just a bit of chaos ensues.

This is a very hard synopsis to write, because there is so much to this story but I didn’t want the synopsis to be a page long. Amy Poeppel is a G-D delight! As per usual with her books, this one had me laughing out loud while reading! The miscommunications between Greta and Lucy were beyond hysterical. I just loved each and every character in this book and want everything to work out for them all! My heart broke for Jack and what happened from his stupid, but not malicious mistake, and how it affected his entire family. I don’t want to go too far and give things away, but this book is seriously just perfect. I always love Amy’s books and this one was no different. If you love a good laugh, found family, and a bit of chaos, look no further than Far and Away!

Thank you to @atriabooks or my gifted copy of this book!

I ended up loving this book about two women swapping houses for a summer, one in Berlin and one in Dallas. They find themselves entangled in each other’s lives and cultures while on their own journeys with self-discovery. It was also hilarious and just a lot of fun. Thank you atria for my copy! This is out June 10th.

Traditional format 📕 (digital). Release
date June 10,2025

Wow this book was one wild and crazy ride (in a good way). So many characters and multiple plots within plots it was non stop action from beginning to end. I loved the laugh out loud moments and different country locations and overall a very charming book.

If you like a quirky and fun book this one is definitely for you. I give this a very solid 4/5!

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for a digital ARC copy in exchange for a review.

Lucy is not having a great week. Her nerdy son, Jack, is supposed to be graduating high school in Dallas but he wrote down a list of what he calculated that some popular girls would have to be paid to hang out with him (as a joke), but it got taken out of context as assigning dollar amounts to their self-worth. So now Jack is expelled and his acceptance to MIT is called into question. His classmates and neighbors hate him and are calling for his head and causing lots of problems for his family.

At the same time in Berlin, Greta has just found out that her foot doctor husband has signed on to research in Dallas without asking her. Greta is unexpectedly moving to Dallas, at least for the summer, and needs somewhere to live. It's good timing because she just completed a big art deal for a rich family, but she doesn't know anything about Dallas and is hesitant to leave her beloved art-filled apartment in Berlin.

Greta and Luy meet online thru Greta's sister and agree to house switch for the summer. But will changing their addresses help their problems or make them worse? How will they deal with the new problems that come with rushing into an intercontinental move?

If you've read any Amy Poeppel, you know what you're in for. There will be many, many characters, richly written and all unique, lots of humor, and unexpected things to happen in this family drama/comedy. This book is no exception. It's the Christmas movie The Holiday crossed with a teen rom com crossed with an absurd family comedy (for example, Lucy's husband is absent for most of the book because he is off on a six-month training session in the New Mexico desert, testing one of his inventions as if he was on Mars.) The tone is somewhat Where'd You Go Bernadette? but very readable and fun. It is good for a laugh and very entertaining. It also absolutely convinced me that I will never house swap nor hopefully have any of these zany things happen to me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

I loved this story about how you find your found family when you least expect it. After an overblown incident with Lucy's son, she wants the family to escape. When a German couple needs to find a place in Dallas, Lucy and family are headed to Berlin. Hilarity ensues with some very serious moments as well. This was such a fun read.

"Far and Away" by Amy Poeppel offers an intriguing exploration of culture, family, marriage, friendship, and what it truly means to call a place home.

Lucy and Greta, strangers an ocean apart, end up swapping houses and ultimately changing the course of their lives. Lucy and her three children are living in Dallas, Texas, while her husband Mason participates in a NASA biosphere project simulating life on Mars—making him essentially unavailable. When the renowned southern hospitality of Dallas turns vicious following a misunderstanding about her son's actions, Lucy desperately wants to flee with her family.

Meanwhile, Greta in Berlin is preparing to move to New York for a year with her husband Otto. When their plans fall through at the last minute, Otto secures an exchange opportunity in Dallas, Texas instead. In a late-night, last-minute decision, Greta and Lucy decide to swap houses.
Greta feels disappointed about going to Texas since she had her heart set on New York, where her daughter is interning. However, Otto thrives in Dallas with his new colleagues. Lucy is excited to return to Berlin, where she was an exchange student in college, but she's less thrilled that Greta's immaculate apartment is filled with expensive items her children might break and has only two bedrooms for the four of them.
Having just secured a major account with her job, Lucy doesn't want her employer to discover she's no longer in the country. With nowhere to work and facing time zone challenges, she ends up using her downstairs neighbor's office while he's out.

Both Lucy and Greta form assumptions about each other despite never having met. When Lucy's son and Greta's daughter both go missing, their lives collide and they realize they each have found an ally in the other.

I enjoyed how this book examined two very different marriages, with each spouse maintaining their own career while showing deep dedication to each other and their children. It was fascinating to see how they navigated life's major and minor challenges. My favorite aspect was witnessing how two separate families ultimately meshed together—for better or worse—by the book's end. The supporting characters provided welcome comic relief during the book's more serious moments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

one thing about me is i can really get into a lit fic/ women's fiction book, esp when it's written well. this was my first experience with this author and i was impressed!

This book was absolutely nothing like I expected but I found it to be such an entertaining read. I loved how quirky the characters were. Charming, entertaining and wonderful. This book made me laugh, smile and shake my head. I loved the idea of house swapping with a complete stranger in a different country. For one woman she leaves her large home in Texas to live in Germany to escape a scandal. For the other she heads to Texas with her husband to help his career. They both leave lives, family and friends to try something new. I honestly don't want to give any part of the story away, but it was such a refreshing story. Despite some of the book not being lighthearted topics, it is written in a way that it does not feel overly dramatic or dark. I found it to be such a breath of fresh air and was sad when it ended!

This book is all-around just lovely. A light, easy, heart-warming read. Unlikely to be something I’ll re-read, but I enjoy Amy Poeppel’s writing, so definitely would pick up her other works.

There is quite a cast of characters - and multiple POVs - but everything blended well. I did have some second-hand embarrassment at times, but that’s all part of the house-swapping chaos. Plot-wise, there is nothing too surprising here, but that’s okay. The characters each have their own path to take, and I enjoyed my time with each of them.

There are German phrases throughout, and while it makes perfect sense from the storyline standpoint and there was enough context for most of them, I did find myself needing to stop reading to translate a few times to ensure I fully understood.

The young adult-speak in the book seemed a little…outdated (“BT dubs”), but as a millennial, I am no expert in that area.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for an ARC of this book.

A light story, perfect for summer reading! This was my first time reading a book by Amy Poeppel. She will be at an event nearby so I decided to check out her latest book. I’m glad I did. It took a bit for the story to pick up and pique my interest. There were quite a few German words and phrases in the beginning and I was able to understand some through context but the rest I had to translate on my Kindle. Unfortunately, this ruined the flow of that part a bit. Other than that I enjoyed this fun book. Many of the people in the book are at a crossroads and need to make a choice on which path to choose. A wife has to decide if her marriage is as strong as it once was. A mother, on her own for the time being, is hit with a devastating shock as her son is accused of doing something that will jeopardize his future. Each woman moves with her family to a different continent, swapping homes, as they contemplate their next steps, and the direction their lives will take. The choices they make will change their whole lives. Amy Poeppel turns it all into a compelling story!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.