This audiobook was fantastic. I enjoyed the distinct voices between the two main characters and the different elements such as when they were on the phone. It was definitely a quick listen and will recommend this audiobook to fellow readers/listeners.

Have you ever needed a holiday from life? Eileen and Leena both need some time away and choose to switch their lives, homes and even phones. Both grandmother and granddaughter can not enter each other's lives without causing some mischief but also making some good. Beth O'Leary creates a story with humor and strong relationships. I for one, imagine all neighborhood watch groups to go just as portrayed in The Switch. I listened to this version and the narrator had a pleasant and steady voice.

Thank you for a copy of the audio from NetGalley and MacMillian Publishers to review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much for an audiobook ARC and I was really looking forward to it but due to language :(

So I dropped it, but thank you!

I thought this book was under christen stories.

So 2 stars but truly wouldn't rate it because I DNF it.

This was just the thing I needed between thrillers and heavier reads. The Switch was such a fun, easy, lighthearted read about Leena Cotton and her grandmother Eileen Cotton switching lives. Leena is forced to take 2 months vacation from her job and Eileen is looking for a second chance at love. There are no available decent men in Yorkshire so moving to London seems perfect for starting online dating at the age of 79. Leena is forced to take a break and to deal with the death of her sister Carla and the strained relationship she has with her mother. I loooooved the audio version and actually found myself laughing out loud while making dinner. The book is predictable but very enjoyable. I loved the characters, especially the elderly ones, and had fun seeing them develop unusual friendships and searching for happiness. I would recommend The Switch especially the audio version. Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for the ARC.

📖 book review 📖

The Switch by Beth O’Leary

Short synopsis: Leena Cotton needs a break after the death of her sister. Eileen Cotton needs an adventure after her husband leaves her. With both of them needing a change, Leena and her grandma Eileen decide to swap lives for two months to allow themselves to grow and heal.

Leena ends up in her grandma’s small town of Yorkshire running all her projects and inserting herself into the lives of the villagers. Eileen goes to London and tries out internet dating with the help of Leena’s friends. Throw in a dash of romance with all the family love and drama and this is one cute read! 💕

I loved The Flatshare so I was thrilled to hear about this book! I definitely thought it was more of a romance, but I was pleasantly surprised by the stories of the interwoven lives within this book.

Eileen was definitely my favorite part of this book. She had such spark and joy and energy even while admitting to her “old moments”. She had me laughing a lot. I also appreciated the narration. I thought the voice actors were perfect for their parts!

If you’re looking for some charming, fluffy, family drama (light on the drama tbh) with a sprinkle of romance, check out The Switch by Beth O’Leary. The audiobook is out tomorrow!

My rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (3.75 rounded to four. I need more romance tbh 😉)

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillan audio for my free ALC in exchange for my honest review 💕


https://www.instagram.com/p/CEBAhlfgHY4/?igshid=hqb6jfupuoaq

What a tender book! Beth O'Leary crafts a beautiful story that reminds us that love can be found in the unlikeliest of places even at the oldest of ages. I absolutely loved Eileen as a grandmother, mother, and a woman searching to turn over a new leaf after being left by her husband. Leena was also delightful and refreshing as a realistic depiction of a woman battling grief and self-discovery. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of these two women as they navigated love, life, and family. The audio is fantastic.

Four stars instead of five because there were times I had a difficult time keeping all the neighbors' names straight between London and Hamley.

I read Beth O'Leary's first novel The Flatshare earlier this summer, and thought The Switch would follow a similar romance novel pattern. I was so pleasantly surprised to be wrong!

The Switch is the story of Leena and her grandmother Eileen who decide to switch places for two months when both are feeling a bit unfulfilled (in Eileen's case) and forced into a sabbatical from her job (in Leena's case). Leena will move to Eileen's small village of Yorkshire and complete the items on her "project list" and Eileen will move to Leena's London flat to try her hand at online dating (turns out her small village doesn't have a hopping online dating scene for those over 75).

It's definitely not a typical romance novel and is a bit of slow burn, but from start to finish it is charming, interesting, and fun. I loved watching each woman come into their own in their new lives and help heal their family in the process. I also really adored all of the side characters in each location. The overall arc of community and finding where you belong was my absolute favorite part!

The audiobook is fantastic! Narrated by Daisy Edgar - Jones (of Hulu's "Normal People) and Alison Steadman. I highly recommend listening.

Solid 4.5 stars!

Thanks to Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.

DO NOT LISTEN TO THE AUDIOBOOK.

I listened to the netgalley audiobook version of the switch. The story is refreshing and nice , a perfect short comfort read.

But the narrator of Eileen , was so real. I could hear the old person spit and saliva sounds sooo clear. I had to speed through this book but you'll understand that this will be my last audiobook for some time.

Eileen Cotton , the grandma and the grand daughter named the same are miserable in their lives. Leena is asked to leave her work and she asks her grandma to switch her apartment for her grandmother's house so her grandma could finally have the London life she wanted when she was 20.

Even the technology is switched . Leena thought it would be a cakewalk working through her grandma's jobs at the village which is proven wrong.

The romance is pretty predictable with the usual mishaps , mistaken impressions , and the sweet happy endings. While the book did investigate through the trauma both women and Leena's mom went through when they lost Leena's sister to Cancer , the book is unmistakably romcom.

I would've even given this book 4 stars if the narrator wasn't that bad.

I received this audio copy through NetGalley and all the opinions are my own.

4.2 Stars!
This was a hug for 2020. Sweet, endearing, and warm hearted, The Switch by Beth O’Leary was the perfect summer read to sweeten a tough year.

Leena Cotton, a hardworking career driven young woman, has just been placed on a 2-month sabbatical after an embarrassing day at work. She flees home to her Grandmother’s Yorkshire village to have a tea and chat, only to find her Grandmother, Eileen, in a predicament of her own. At age 79, Eileen is ready to find love again, but there are few available gentlemen in the country. With generosity and a big heart, Leena pitches the brilliant idea for them to switch lives for a few months. Leena will stay in Yorkshire and look after her mum, walk dogs, and take over her Grandmother’s responsibilities including planning the village’s annual May celebration. Meanwhile, Eileen will stay in Leena’s London flat to experience the big city and all the dating adventures it has to offer. There are great themes of friendship, family, finding love, and grieving loss all throughout this split narrative between grandmother and granddaughter. I also loved O'Leary's underlining ideals that it's okay for career women to take a break, and for older women to keep on playing!

I was lucky enough to listen by audiobook and the narrations by Alison Steadman, and Daisy Edgar-Jones were a great match! Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of this Audiobook. I truly enjoyed it!

Thank you Netgalley for this gem of a book! I was able to listen to it through the new app! I thought it was a great story of switching places. One always seems to need a break or change in life and this is what they needed to find themselves again. I have recommended it to my friends.

Sweet and charming, funny and fun, 'The Switch' is a lovely escape from day-to-day life.

A year after losing her sister to cancer, Leena Cotton is desperate to have her busy London life back on track but can't stop the waves of anxiety, panic, and grief that still swamp her. Her relationship with her mother is fractured, but she has her grandmother Eileen to rely on. Indeed, Eileen is the sort everyone depends on, strong-hearted and can-do, but she feels stuck in her life in the Yorkshire Dales. She's newly single and eager to jump-start a love life she thought was over years ago. In a burst of adventurous inspiration, Eileen and Leena agree to swap places for two months. Eileen will revive her youthful dreams of being a girl-about-town in London with a few boyfriends on the string, and Leena will learn how to unplug and relax in Yorkshire, separated from the lifelines of her smartphone and laptop.

Each woman feels like this could be the greatest mistake of her life, but as they navigate new friendships, old enemies, unexpected attractions, and final revelations, they learn that they had to live someone else's life to understand what they really needed for themselves.

'The Switch' is slight but light, easy as a spring breeze, with stakes that are highly relatable rather than harrowing. A pleasant escape from the everyday, readers will enjoy the stumbles and victories Eileen and Leena experience along the way, and listeners will be drawn in by the fresh and engaging performances by Alison Steadman (as Eileen) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (as Leena), narrated in alternating points of view. A sweet, heartwarming novel with a satisfying, feel-good ending.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of the eAudiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley,Macmillan Audio and the author Beth O'Leary for the ALC of The Switch.
The Switch was a charming tale with so much wholesomeness and a tad bit of poignancy. Its mostly about the lives of two women a Grandmother Eileen and her granddaughter Leena who having been through a rough patch decide it would be a good idea to escape the realities of their lives for sometime by swapping their respective homes with each other to rediscover themselves. Sounds so interesting already innit? Its exactly that as their swapped lives in london and Yorkshire unfolds.This was not so much a love story(from what i was expecting) as it was for a complicated and heartwarming relationship hurdles of a mother-daughter and a grandmother-granddaughter duo respectively. No points for guessing this but Eileen was my absolute favorite with her witty,warm and extroverted personality. She was full of life. Had so much appreciation for things and people around her i just wished i had a friend with the same personality as hers. They way she made people around her feel was beyond endearing. It was also refreshing for once to see an elderly women go about on a dating expedition without any qualms or reservations. This story also deals with a very hard hitting reality of loss and living and coping through it. That part of the story really did break me now and then. But the way these women wanted to be there for each other and yet not know how exactly to do it was rather too real. At one point Arnold says "May be fixing each other is Cotton's love language" and that pretty much sums up their relationship in a sentence. Leena was not as impressive as her grandma but comeon now i don't think anyone else stands a chance before Eileen but i found Leena rather too aloof at times and a champion at making bad decisions. The lovestory between her and Jackson seemed rather too forced to me for the sake of the story. I don't really have any other complaints otherwise with this beautiful book. It was so well written and beautifully narrated. Loved listening to it.

A cozy escape that’s got romcom movie written all over it✨ The Switch by Beth O’Leary B O O K R E V I E W

(Thanks to @librofm and @netgalley for the #gifted audio copy from @macmillan.audio. Out tomorrow!)

The two Eileen and Leena are stuck — a generation and cross country train ride are the only things that separates them. Leena’s been forced into a sabbatical after her grief-induced anxiety makes her club a big presentation at work. Eileen, her grandmother, is newly single and is determined to not spend her 8th decade alone. So, in classic chick flick style, they hatch a plan to switch lives: Leena will come live in her grandmother’s small town community, try to repair her strained relationship with her mother and plan the village May Day parade while she’s at it — and Eileen will dive into the robust dating pool of London and give Leena’s roommates desperately needed life advice.

This was a great romp. It’s not a story full of rainbows and bland Hallmark Channel messages — both leading ladies are dealing with grief over losing Leena’s sister to cancer on top of recent fallouts in their own lives. But the “side quests” along the way help them both grow and find their way. The friends and frenemies in both storylines are delightful and could fill their own spinoff stories in their own right.

Know that if you came from O’Leary’s first book The Flatshare and wanted more focus on the romance that you won’t find it here — while there are relationships for both women (and praise be for older woman romance rep!), it’s not at all the main focus and I’d more comfortably call this contemporary or “women’s fiction.” What’s more: I think this story can easily stand on its own ~without~ the romance: sure the two men and the HEAs are cute, but the journeys Leena and Eileen take are complete well before those final couplings.

Narrators Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones gave a great performance, with emotional/good humor to really bring both Leena and Eileen’s personality to life. Having two narrators was a great choice for a dual POV story like this to keep the reader rooted in which storyline was happening, and the casting was on point.

Bonus: As a sommelier pairing of movies that I got ~vibes~ of while listening to the audiobook were two Cameron Diaz flicks: The Holiday (for the switch premise obviously) and In Her Shoes, for the self discovery after rock bottom aspects

TL:DR: it’s a fun story that could definitely lighten up any dark 2020 weekend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One wanted the quiet life in the countryside and the other wanted the fast life of the city. So they switched. ⠀
This book is so delightful. It is so nice every once in awhile to take a break from #allthethrillers and read something a little slower, a little more endearing, and a lot more appropriate for the times. ⠀
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I read @betholearyauthor ‘s last book the #flatshare and although #contemporaryromance is not my forte, I really enjoyed it. So I jumped at the chance to read her follow-up THE SWITCH ⠀
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After a panic attack at work, Leena is required to take some time off. Eileen is tired of the ho hum life in the country. Leena comes up with the idea that they switch homes for her upcoming time off. ⠀
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From there we follow both women’s adjustments and adventures in their new surroundings. And there might even be a romantic situation or two. 😉⠀
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So fun!⠀
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THE SWITCH⠀
Beth O’Leary ⠀
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⠀
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Releases August 18, 2020⠀
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Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for a free ALC in exchange for my honest review!

The Switch is a heartwarming story of a grandmother and her granddaughter going on an adventure by swapping places to shake their lives up, and their journey to finding their way back home.

The narration on this book left a lot to be desired for me. The voices for some characters felt too forced and fake. And even after speeding it up, it was still too slow paced and stilted for me. I did eventually get use to it, but I would have rather read the physical book than listened to this one.

However, I did enjoy the story itself. I loved that there was such a variety of characters with the age gaps. It really added something to the story that gave it a different and unique feel The group of meddlesome and gossipy older neighbors were a hoot! And even Grandma Eileen learned a lot from her young, temporary roommates. Beth O'Leary has a knack for writing such likable and relatable characters!

I also felt that the topic of grief was handled beautifully and very sensitively. The grief over Carla has shaped the lives of the three generations of women over the last year. They all needed to heal in their own time, and dealt with their pain and sadness differently. It was heartwarming how healing had the power to bring them all together.

If you enjoyed The Flatshare, I would definitely recommend picking this one up too!

Thank you to Macmillian Audio and Flatiron Books for my copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Switch by Beth O’Leary, narrated by Daisy Edgar-Joes and Alison Steadman, is an endearing novel about 79-year-old Eileen Cotton and her driven adult granddaughter, “Leena.” Their family has recently had a significant loss, causing their lives to derail. In order to “find themselves” again, these two women essentially switch lives. Thirty-year-old Leena moves to northern England to the countryside, while Eileen moves into Leena’s apartment in London.
I found this book to be well done. Both women are lovely and dealing with real-life situations, making them both likable and relatable. I enjoyed the fact that Eileen is looking for love later in life, as I feel that many romance stories tend to neglect the geriatric population (side note: this story isn’t necessarily considered a romance and the romantic aspects weren’t the major plot points but instead side plots).
The original premise of this story seemed quite far fetched. I have a hard time believing that corporations would allow, let alone encourage, an employee to take a two-month paid sabbatical. Additionally, Leena’s roommates have no issues with a 79-year-old moving in with them whereas I don't think any of my friends would agree to this scenario. However, this premise works for this story and both women grow in miraculous ways.
I had the pleasure of experiencing this book on audio. The two main characters were narrated by different women, which added to the experience and made it easy to follow. I would consider listening to audiobooks narrated by either woman.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian audio for a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Switch is such a heartwarming book! I am a great fan of Alison Steadman and now that I listen to this audiobook I will also look forward to anything narrated by Daisy Edgar-Jones. They both had such a fantastic range of expression that it was difficult not to fall in love with the book after the first two chapters.
79 year old Eileen Cotton and her high flyer manager consultant granddaughter Leena agree to swap their lives for two months. Leena (and all her family) are still trying to cope with the loss of Leena's younger sister, and however hard Leena tried not to let it affect her work, the stress has taken its toll. She is given a two months' paid leave from work. Eileen's husband left her for a younger woman, and now Eileen would like to find new love and companionship. The only snag is that her little village has a very limited choice of suitable candidates. Leena who is completely on board with the idea suggests swapping their lives to give her grandmother a chance to date in London.
I absolutely adored Eileen. We need more books with older protagonists and Beth O'Leary created a wonderful character in this one. Kind, honest, with a fabulous sense of humour, she is also very open-minded and optimistic. For Leena the time she spends in her grandmother's village is the journey of self-discovery and personal growth.
I really enjoyed listening to this book and would wholeheartedly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and MacmillanAudio for this advanced listening copy.

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers providing this review copy.

This was wonderful and the dual narration was fantastic.

I did not expect to like this as much as I did, but somehow the characters caught hold of me in such a way that I cared about their stories. The premise is certainly clever--a young woman switching her London life with her grandma's small village life in Northern England; and the author actually pulls it off in a way that seems possible, at least within the story. While you kind of know fairly early how things will turn out in the end, O'Leary fills the time between with humour and heart, and I was happy to be along for the ride.

Such an adorable book. I have not read the Flatshare, so I went into this without any expectations. And I am glad I did. I am quickly becoming a fan of books with protagonists over the age of 65. It is great to see in literature. I love how the author writes her characters. You feel as though they are someone you would meet in person.