This book captured my attention as I loved the idea of a book swap. I have participated in a couple myself, but tend to prefer the pay-it-forward situations rather than swaps. This also reminded me that I have a box of books that I need to get rid of as well. In this book, we meet Laura who is back living at home with her mother Catherine after her husband Jamie of five years announced he wanted a divorce. This threw her and she ended up spiralling into a small depression, the only thing that has helped is her books. When she gets her latest mystery read, she finds inside a note scrawled "help me". This immediately makes Laura worried and so she sets out to find out who sent her the book and if they need help. During this journey, Laura meets Carley who sent her the book and the two of them travel to a small town called Cambridge to track down the original owner. This leads them to a husband-and-wife duo called The Wexler's. They both look and seem fine, but the pair know something isn't quite right and so they set out to do some further exploring. What will Laura and Carley find? Can they save the person in need or will they find themselves the ones needing help? Overall, I did enjoy the premise of this book but felt the ending fell flat for me when it was revealed who needed the help. It just felt like a big build-up and then the reveal, was like Ok, this makes sense but no real oomph to the story. If you love book swaps, scavenger hunts, and mysteries - then this UK fiction is the read for you.

Laura is newly separated and back home living with her mom. She spends her days reading to escape the reality of her new life of being alone. Her lonely life becomes way more complicated when she participates in an online book swap. She discovers a chilling note inside the book she receives which leads her to try to uncover the mystery behind it. This book was kind of short and kind of a childish mystery in my opinion. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't that great either. I prefer my thrillers to be full of twists and turns, and this one didn't have that. I did enjoy the characters for the most part though. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

Laura has moved back into her home with her mother Catharine. She is separated from her husband and is discouraged with life. Her only outlet is reading. When she finds a message in a book she wants to look deeper into the meaning.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and Little Fox the Publisher.

After a divorce Laura is back home, living with her mum. Her days include lots of escaping into books and trying to come to normailty with being alone. Then one of her books from an online book swap includes a disturbing note and she has to makes progress and decide how to help herself and a stranger in need.

It wasn't one of my favorite but still a quick and enjoyable read.

Thank you for the copy.

Engaging and well written. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Loved the uniqueness of this book and that the plot idea stemmed from the founder of a Facebook book swap group I have been part of since lockdown. Very easily a page turner you won’t want to put down.

I found The Book Swap quite hard to settle into, but the plot was good and I liked the idea. I've read other books by this author and I think for me I would be inclined to read more of the author in that genre than thrillers.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of The Book Swap by J.E. Rowney from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. The title and cover of this book had me hooked as I absolutely love swapping books with my family and friends. This was a very quick read that will keep you engaged until the very last page. I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more by this author.

I loved reading this book, I loved our main character and how she saw this as a way to get her out of the 'funk' she was in, I loved the little twists too. Well written and I'd love to read more from this author.

The Book Swap
by J.E. Rowney
Pub Date 26 Aug 2022
BooksGoSocial
Mystery & Thrillers


I am reviewing a copy of The Book Swap through BooksGoSocial and Netgalley:


Laura who is newly separated is living back home with her Mum. Her days are spent reading and escaping from the realities of her new life alone - until that life suddenly becomes more complicated than she could ever have imagined.


After a note is received from an online book swap, one that contains a chilling note, Laura has to overcome her own fears to help a stranger.



But first she has to Uncover just exactly who is it that needs to be saved, and from what.


I give The Book Swap five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Laura is going through a divorce and is currently staying with her mom, and ends up getting a book in mail via one of the book swaps and sees a note "Help Me" - thus begins the story of whether Laura should figure out who sent the book and who wrote that note.

This was a completely ok ok book for me, very amateurish writing - the author was just trying to connect one sentence after the other and there was very less thrill in this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for adding this book in Read Now!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little disappointed with this book. I found this plot far-fetched and a bit silly in places. Not for me this one.

Being a member of a book swap group online I liked the idea of this book. The main character is believable as living at home with your mum is where most people want to be when things go wrong. The story seemed to fit together nicely even if towards the end it seemed slightly rushed. A good short book that will keep you entertained for a few hours.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ebook copy.

I really could relate to Laura as a book lover and a member of several book clubs. This one started out great for me but I lost a bit of interest because I found it to be more of a mystery then a physcological thriller although it did pick back up at the end with a surprise twist. I did enjoy this book and it was a fast paced read. Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this ARC all opinions are solely my own.

"Reading was her escape. The world within the book may have been filled with drama, danger, and deceit, but it was a different world, a world where she didn’t have to think about the drama, danger, and deceit of her own life."
I've always enjoyed books about books and readers, they're comforting, most of the time. This definitely was a light read, still about hard problems of people's lives, but easy to read even relate to the characters and their struggles.
It was a cozy kind of mystery with a happy ending and an uplifting message.
As a member of a book swap group on Facebook who hasn't exchanged any books yet, now I have a strong urge to swap some books with strangers, could be and adventure, even if I don't find any notes inside.

A grwat idea for a thriller but much of the story is too far fetched for me.. O dont beleive you could find a book donors address the way it did here and the endo g was poor

Overall, I enjoyed this book but I did not love it. I wold recommend this book if you like: short and fast paced mysteries, book swaps, predictable yet entertaining reads with tidy endings. I loved the idea of this book- I feel like it had so much potential but it kind of fell flat for me. It did however have a unique plot. I was not a fan of the fact that the main character was not independent at all. She is 30 years old and still needs her mom to read all of her messages before she sent them. It was also really over the top and unrealistic at times. I also don't like when characters make stupid judgement calls and do dangerous things without thinking them through first, The final reveal was a anticlimactic in my opinion. I would really consider this a thriller but maybe more of a mystery.

How far will someone go to save someone they have never met? As avid readers we are all on these book swap sites on Facebook. If you received a book with a written message saying HELP ME, what would you do?? I also liked how the protagonist was able to find herself throughout this book and able to finally realize her worth. We all go through bad times in our lives but that does not have define who we become. Thank you NetGalley For a copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and JE Rowney for letting me read “The Book Swap” in exchange for an honest review.


It felt okay, but for some parts, it felt like a stretch. Would recommend for a quick, easy read though. Best of luck to the author.

A quick read. While the storyline was good (if not a tad bit unbelievable), the writing and the characters fell a little flat for me. I think this has great potential and maybe needs an edit and bit of sprucing up.