I found this book to be a great read. The story was unique and easy to follow. A great book to listen to if you are wanting to get away.

The Flatshare was one of my favourite reads last year, it’s one I always mention when someone asks me for a book recommendation.

I’m here to say I enjoyed The Switch just as much - it’s feel good fiction at its best. I am a huge fan of Daisy-Edgar Jones (how cannot I not be after that magnificent performance in Normal People) and I think she did a great job narrating Leena's POV. Alison Steadman (I remember her so well as Mrs Bennett in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice) also does a fabulous job as Eileen - she really delivers on Eileen's dry sense of humour.

The Switch feels like a warm bath - soothing and relaxing. It’s full of great down to earth characters and amusing observations. Beth O’Leary’s writing really stands out from the crowd and I absolutely love it.

The book alternates between the POVs of 79-year-old Eileen and her granddaughter Leena. Both need a change of scene and society after Eileen’s husband Wade leaves her for a dance instructor and overachieving Leena is forced to take mandatory leave after she blows a presentation at work. They agree to swap flats for a few months. Eileen takes up residence in Leena’s Shoreditch (London) flat, Leena moves into Eileen’s flat in the Yorkshire Dales. It’s all very The Holiday.

The star of the book for me was Eileen - I’d love to be friends with her. I loved reading about her online dating escapades and was moved by the way she was always focused on helping the people around her. Leena was on an emotional journey of her own - one that was really relatable and I felt really invested in.I was rooting for her all the way. O’Leary has created two memorable female characters with two very distinct voices and I’m here for it.

The only thing I’ll say is that I would have liked it to be a bit heavier on the romance - but overall this book is an absolute winner for me. I enjoyed the audio as much as I enjoyed the book.

After falling head over heels for The Flatshare last year, this was quite possibly my most anticipated book of 2020. I am so, so happy to report that this completely lived up to my expectations and that I absolutely adored it. Beth O'Leary has a way of writing characters that feel so completely REAL and true to life and I think I can now confidently call her a favorite author. My only real complaint about this one is that I feel like the romantic relationships weren't quite as flushed out as I would have liked them to be, but I also recognize that they were not intended to be the main aspect of the story so it would make sense that they would pale in comparison to the relationships between Eileen and Leena and Marian. Also-- I listened to this one partly via audiobook (thank you, NetGalley & Macmillan Audio!), and it too was SO well done. The voice actors were incredible and really brought Eileen and Leena to life in the BEST way. Honestly, y'all, this book was just an absolute delight and I can guarantee that I will be re-reading it for years to come. I highly, highly recommend.

TW: cancer, death of a loved one, severe grief/depression

I LOVED this! I'm so glad I chose this as my first audiobook on NetGalley!

This book is narrated by Daisy Edgar Jones and Alison Steadman and they were both fantastic. I felt that they both really encapsulated the characters and I fell in love with both Leena and Eileen due to the narration.

Leena and Eileen are granddaughter and grandmother who decide to switch lives for two months. Leena has a two month sabbatical from work in London and so swaps with her grandmother who lives in the sleepy Yorkshire Dales, who wants more excitement in her life.

This book covers topics such as mental health and anxiety, which I felt was really refreshing. I didn't know what to expect from this as it isn't my typical genre but I loved it. This is the first Beth O'Leary book that I have read and I fell in love with it, I really didn't want it to end!

The Switch by Beth O'Leary follows overachiever Leena Cotton who is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work. Leena 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. The two women decide to switch houses for the two months and set to work on themselves in their new environments.

I loved reading from both Leena and Eileen's perspectives, which is rare when reading books with multiple POVs. Reading about Eileen's antics living in.the city and her adventures online dating. The side characters were also all so enjoyable in this book from Letitia and Betsy to Fitz and Bea. I also really enjoyed the romance aspects of this story with both of the main characters. Highly recommend!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's just wow. I love everything about it, the story. the narration and the feelings that comes with it. It was heartwarming and I envy Leena for having Eileen as her grandmother. Eileen is such a cool person. I really commend the narrators for making it feel real. Eileen sounds like my grandmother. It's a must listen and a must read book. A highly recommended one. It talks about family, relationships and healing. It is an amazing piece.

I love Beth O’Learys writing! Her witty comedic banter is my favorite thing!!! This story of a switching places trope was fabulous! Laugh, love, family and finding ones true place within themselves.... a rich and luxurious read - perfect for where we are today!!!

A true gem! Beth O’Leary brightened my day and lifted my mood with this charming tale. Uplit at its absolute best! Leena is a type a workaholic who suffers a panic attack at work one day while giving a presentation. Forced into a two month sabbatical by her boss Leena heads to her grandmother’s house. Eileen it’s 79 and spunky, recently left by her husband for a dance instructor. Leena needs to relax and regroup. Eileen wants to find love, but the pickings in her small town are few. SO grandmother and granddaughter decide to switch places. Leena Will move back home to her childhood small town and Eileen will head off to London. This is when the magic of the story begins! Love watching Leena navigate small-town life-The neighborhood watch, the May fair. And it was even more fun watching Eileen find her way in fast paced London-trendy roommates, online dating, crazy traffic. The audiobook is narrated by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones Who gave the perfect voices to Leena and Eileen. I seriously felt as though I was spending time with good friends every time I started listening to the book. There was just so much charm and wit in their narration, really one of the best I’ve listen to this year.

Eileen and Leena were such delightful characters, they felt like old friends. Loved all the secondary characters as well the quirky residence of the small town and the posh London roommate/friends. Admittedly I think I favored Eileen’s story just a little more. I just adored how sweet and pure she was. How tremendously optimistic, always wanting to bring everyone together and thinking the best of all. Just can’t say enough good things about this book! Definitely going to make my top reads of 2020 list.

This book in emojis 🐱 🚖 📱 🗝 👩🏼 👵🏼

*** Big thank you to Flatiron and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

This was such a fun, light-hearted listen. I really enjoyed the storyline of grandmother and granddaughter switching "lives" so to speak. I was rooting for Eileen the entire time to find her second chance man. Leena on the other hand just needed to take a step back and enjoy life again. There were several laugh out loud moments which is a great sign of me enjoying the book.

As for the audio, I loved that there were two different narrators. It made getting into each character's story all the better. If I had any critique of the audio production, it would be the mouth noises that were present. Although they were a bit annoying at first the story sucked me in and I was able to continue on.

Overall, I loved the story and the production. I would highly recommend it. Thank you, NetGalley and MacMacmillian Audio for the early review copy.

A massive thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

This book was at the top of my 2020 to-read list, after devouring The Flatshare last year. O'Leary has an uncommon gift for taking what could be a very light plot and giving it weight and thought, without losing the fun. I loved both Leena and Eileen- they are REAL characters, who have flaws and plans and dreams. And although I'm definitely closer to Leena (in age, career, everything), Eileen was still very relatable! There were some laugh out loud moments where I startled people I was walking past, and some heartbreaking moments that made me gasp.

In terms of an audiobook, this is also one of my top 5 (out of 200+). The choice to use two narrators was an excellent one, and both brought their character and supporting characters to life. They didn't put on other voices for characters (aside from accents), and I think that it makes the story flow that much more. I also loved that phone calls actually sounded like they were coming through on the phone; it was a truly unique audio touch that I didn't expect! (Note: I listened at 1.25x speed, and nothing was amiss or odd.) I will be watching out for both narrators.

I cannot wait to see what comes next from Beth O'Leary!

Though I found the audio quality to be quite poor in the beginning (very tinny), it improved, and I was really able to enjoy this book! I loved the story, and the narrator for Eileen’s POV was definitely my favorite. I want to share this book with my grandmother I loved it so much! I did feel like Eileen almost overshadowed Lina at some points, and that’s honestly the only reason I didn’t give a fifth star. Great first audio on Netgalley!

The Switch // by Beth O'Leary // Audiobook from NetGalley

A Macmillan audiobook production by Flatiron Books and read by British actors Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones, star of Hulu's Normal People.

The Switch by Beth O'Leary is a charming novel that chronicles the adventures of Eileen and Leena Cotton when they decide to switch their lives in order to shake things up and clear their heads from the monotony that has started to turn their lives, or rather Leena's, into something they could not recognize anymore. So off they go: Leena to a small town from her childhood and Eileen to the big city of London, like it used to be her dream when she was a young woman. There's only so much trouble they can get into where they are going, right?

I enjoyed this book a lot. I am a big fan of dual timelines and/or narrators so I gladly turned this audiobook on several times a day. The story itself was simple and easy going but kept me engaged and interested the entire time. There was just enough excitement in each chapter to have me looking forward to the next each time. But what made this book so much fun to me were the excellent narrators! Both Alison and Daisy did a grand job at impersonating their characters. You could hear the feelings in their voices and every stammer and tearful recitation felt so real that it was hard to believe they were reading a fictional story. This is my first experience with this author and I am looking forward to more.

Thank you to Netgalley Audio for allowing me to listen to this story in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Switch by Beth O’Leary is a delightful story told by two narrators. The ladies that narrated the tale had wonderful British accents which allowed the reader to delve straight into the scenery. Leena, the granddaughter, has had difficulties at work in London and is told that she must take a sabbatical. Eileen, the grandmother, feels to young to be in such a rut in her little town. So they decide to switch locations for the next two months. Each gets to learn a bit more about the other while finding out new things about themselves.

While I adored the story, there were a few small things that I thought could be worked on in the narration. There were several instances in which it sounded like the narrators had run out of breath and had to take a pause at an odd time or times where it sounded like they had very dry mouths and make a little smacking noise. Seriously a cup of hot tea would have cured their ills. But don’t let that distract you from a well developed storyline.

All in all, I enjoyed the book for it’s lighthearted read and would definitely look for another story from the author.

Book review posted on Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The two narrators narrating the two different perspectives really helped to make sure you knew who was talking, and each one was very skilled that I didn't have a favorite. I thought the way the audiobook did phone calls was very interesting, so it actually sounded like a call, and I had never heard an audiobook do that before. This book is definitely less about love than it is about finding yourself and the people who are important in life, so go in knowing that. I thought this book had great characters - I really enjoyed reading about Eileen's ornery neighbors and Lena's fun flatmates. I also really enjoyed reading about Eileen and her neighbors with their full lives, because you rarely read about elderly people dating or making friends and having fun.
CW: grief, death, depression
3.5 stars

The Switch was a great book especially during these crazy times. The Switch is about a grandma and granddaughter that decide to switch houses and phones for a few months. The grandma, Eileen, lives in a small town and is involved in many town activities. The granddaughter, Leena, is a workaholic in London who is on a sabbatical from work and has a boyfriend in London. This is a great story of family, finding yourself, and love.

Eileen is trying online dating for the first time at 79, which is obviously as entertaining as it sounds. Eileen is trying lots of new. It's so interesting seeing how much she feels about all the differences in London and what she will take with when she goes back to her old life. One of the first things Leena does after the switch is walk her neighbors dog and the dog runs away. Leena's life goes from perfectly together to falling apart in an entertaining and lovely way.

All the characters are so relatable and seem like real people. There are so many characters I wish I could walk into the book and be friends with. That is one of my favorite things about Beth O'Leary's books.

The narrators were fantastic. I loved their accents and have nothing but great things to say about the narration.

This book is a great story all the way until the end. The end is a perfect wrap up of the story. I highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoyed The Flatshare.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing The Switch in exchange for an honest review.

This audio book had a good plot that kept me interested. The two main characters had their own narrator which was great as it makes it much easier to follow who’s story you are listening to. I would certainly recommend this audiobook.

The audiobook version was read really fast - even though it wasn't sped up on the settings (and there was no option to slow it down either!) I didn't eally enjoy it for that reason.

This. Book. Was. Awesome! If I could have given it more than 5 stars I would have done so.

Beth O'Leary's second novel is as wonderful as her first one. It was delightful, engaging, laugh-out-loud funny, totally heartwarming, romantic, clever, and very, very satisfying. As you'll have read in the synopsis, a grandmother and her granddaughter switch places for two months. O'Leary uses the two-voice approach again which I really enjoyed. It was entertaining to read the "city mouse, country mouse" experiences as well as the different perspectives of a young woman and an elderly woman.

The two actresses who read the characters were perfect for the characters and the overall production was well done. Only one minor slip in the whole thing... one character was supposed to be on the phone during a conversation but one of her replies didn't sound like she was on the phone. Not a big deal and it was only a little blip.

A smattering of profanity throughout the story but, I'm thankful to say, not every other word. Some sexual situations but no graphic descriptions.

I am very grateful to NetGalley for sending this free ARC audiobook to me. However, it didn't impact my review as I already was planning on reading it, having loved "The Flatshare". In fact, about 70% through the audiobook, I pre-ordered the Kindle version!

This was such a wholesome book!

Following a grandmother and granddaughter who need a break from their lives and switch places. Eileen living in Londen and trying out online dating, while Leena stays in her grandmother's house in a village with a long list of errands and activities around the village.

I loved Eileen and Leena's relationship, but there were a lot of other wonderful friendships. I laughed out loud a few times but this book is also about grief and moving on after a big loss, but it was balanced really well.

The ending was not a surprising one, but I didn't mind at all, loved following the characters to get there.

I listened to this on audio, Eileen and Leena each narrated by a diffrent narrator, which I really enjoyed. Both really match with the characters and just took you along with the story. I really think a narrator can make you like a book even more, and that was definitely the case with this audiobook. The epilogue even made me tear up, because of the way it was narrated, really impressed.

Highly reccomend this, especially on audio.

The Switch appears to be, on its surface, a fun romantic comedy about a granddaughter swapping places with her grandmother when she needs a break from her busy life. Think "The Holiday" or nearly every Hallmark channel movie. And it is... but it is also so much more than the surface would reveal. This book stole my heart. Beth O'Leary presents us with a cast of characters that I found reminiscent of Fredik Backman's novels. These characters were endearing and nuanced; especially excellent were the two central women of the book - Leena the granddaughter, Eileen the grandmother, as well as Leena's mother, Mary Ann. O'Leary's handling of grief and loss was very well done especially in a story that could easily have gotten saccharine. Again, I found myself drawing comparisons between this and "Britt-Marie Was Here" and other Backman works. Instead of being overly sentimental this book handled real life emotions and problems like they were just that, real. That doesn't mean there isn't some utterly charming small town silliness and old lady fun!

I listened to the audiobook of this title and the narration by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones was spot on!

One caveat: Based on the synopsis, I did go into this expecting more of a rom-com with lots of sassy old lady one-liners and a swoony romance with the younger protagonist. There are plenty of sassy one-liners, but there is not as much romance and when there is it almost sneaks up on you. I ended up quite happy with the way it turned out, but be aware that the synopsis is a smidgen misleading.

Overall, this was a charming read that I would enjoy returning to at some point and I expect to see a film adaptation at some point too! I received this audiobook from Netgalley and Macmillian Audio in exchange for a fair and honest review.