The Switch

Score: 4.5/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆/5

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for gifting me The Switch by Beth O’Leary on audiobook.

I loved Beth O’Leary’s first book The Flatshare SO much. Especially on audio. I couldn’t get enough of the characters and I’m still jealous of people who get to read it for the first time. So, needless to say I was giddy with delight when I found out The Switch was coming.

This book is told from both Leena Cotton and her grandmother Eileen’s points of view. Leena lives in London and works non-stop (partly as a coping mechanism after the death of her sister) until she gets so stressed and run-down that her boss forces her to take time off. Eileen lives in a little village in Yorkshire and frankly, she’s a bit sick of her life. In particular, her romantic prospects are looking a bit thin in the tiny town she lives in. The two decide to switch lives and each take a break from their own. Leena goes to live in her grandmother’s house and her grandmother takes up Leena’s room in the rented London flat (roommates and all).

The Switch does have a healthy dose of romance, but so much more as well. There is grief, healing, family drama, community, friendship, and a lot of rediscovery. And it seems Leena and Eilleen aren’t the only ones working out what they really want out of life, their attitude and can-do spirit seem to rub off on everyone they meet.

It took me a little longer to fall in love with the characters in The Switch than it did while reading The Flatshare, but I definitely got there. And while I didn’t think The Switch had quite as much wonderfully-dry British humor it certainly had some good laugh-out-loud moments. I’ll also admit to letting out a sob or two towards the end as well. It was all-round a delightful book.

The audiobook is just over 10 hours at 1x speed, but I felt like it flew by because I was so wrapped up in the story. It is narrated by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones and I thought both of them did a brilliant job at bringing all the characters to life.

You can grab the audiobook by clicking the button below, or get a physical copy here.

Synopsis:

Eileen is sick of being 79.
Leena's tired of life in her twenties.
Maybe it's time they swapped places...

When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.

Once Leena learns of Eileen's romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.

Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn't as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect - and distractingly handsome - school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?