Looking for a fast paced yet light hearted mystery then look no further but if you're expecting a thriller full of twists then keep searching..

I was a little disappointed if I'm honest.. the title drew me in and spat me out. The concept was so much more inticing than it turned out to be.

The characters came across quite flat to be fair and I felt like it was more a teen mission rather than adults looking for answers.

Overall an easy read to pass some time,

*huge thanks to netgalley for sending me an E-arc to read and review*

2.5⭐️

Laura is a newly divorced woman who is currently on sick leave and is struggling to adjust to her new life. She spends her days reading books and is a member of a book swap club. She receives a book with a note saying ‘help me’ in it. We follow her trying to track down who sent the note - but how can she help somebody else when she can’t even help herself?

I was really looking forward to reading this as I love a thriller and I love reading about characters who enjoy books and reading themselves.

I really enjoyed the characters of Laura and Carley and they were the reason I carried on reading this book. I adored Laura’s mum, Catherine as she was just so kindhearted and lovely!!

The writing in this book is very simplistic and rather boring at times! The book was very short yet it took me a while to get into. I found myself finally becoming more engrossed with the story at around 75%. Just as I was becoming interested and was expecting more to happen, the book ended. I feel like if this book was slightly longer it would have been slightly less underwhelming. This was definitely not a thriller so don’t go into this book expecting a thriller. I just feel so underwhelmed by this book.

First, I want to thank JE Rowney, Little Fox Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

O.M.G!! All of you book lovers and book worms out there need to read this book! Thanks to JE Rowney The Book Swaps and book clubs will all be buzzing about this book! What a brilliant twisted story that she took her passion for books and writing thrillers and combined them into a 5 star must read!

Out of all of JE Rowney’s books I have read this is the one I enjoyed the most. Instantly, I felt as if I connected with Laura’s character on many different levels. JE made her character so relatable that I feel like we both could have been friends.

So many times I commended Laura for reaching out of her comfort zone in trying to help someone out! Even though she knew she could be putting herself in harm's way she had a good heart.

If you love a good mystery with a lot of twists and turns then this one's for you!! So much so that the ending came as a total shock to me!

As a book lover, who wouldn't want to read The Book Swap? The title and description sucked me in and although it was a pretty fun read that occasionally kept me on the edge of my seat, in the end it fell a bit flat. I did enjoy Laura's growth and at times thought that was what the book was centered on. In fact, in the beginning I actually though Catharine planted the note to help Laura snap out of her funk.

The concept of the book was very interesting that I couldn't help picking it sooner than later.But oh my heart is broken into a million little pieces after reading it, in fact I was unable to finish it and DNF it at the same speed I picked it.
The protagonist found a paper slip in a swapped book which says 'Help Me' and the very next moment she starts looking for the person in need .I mean a simple piece of paper with two words atleast won't peak my interest that much until unless that paper had some more significant thing like blood or whatever that makes this message more meaningful.
I mean how come a thirty plus woman be so naive.Well this is my own opinion you can makes yours after reading it .

A quick read.
As I am part of book swap central I couldn’t wait to read this book.
I loved the idea of the story since I have taken part in a few book swaps and often wonder where the books have came from.
The book started off a bit slow but once it got going I enjoyed it.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book.

I requested this title having enjoyed her last book. I found this book to be uninspired, juvenile, and implausible with a very annoying main character. DNF. This book just isn't for me.

Absolutely lovethis book! I am the lady thos book is dedicated to! My book group inspired the author to write this book! Book Swap Central is real! Totally thrilled to have this book and read it in a couple of days. Highly recommended. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers and the author Jayne Rowney for this book and the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion

Sadly this book just wasn't for me. I really, really did try to get into it and I really did try to keep preserving with it. But I just couldn't. I'm so sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Release date for this book is August 26th, 2022.


Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was very bored throughout the entire thing. The only reason I finished it is because I was holding out that it might get better. The only reason this book gets 2 stars is because it’s a very quick read, otherwise it would have been one star.

The writing style just felt very juvenile for a “thriller.” The main character was very whiny, very repetitive, and very annoying. I didn’t connect with any character in this book because there is zero development. The main character goes from being a down-on-her-luck 30 year old living with her mother in the beginning of a divorce. We end with the MC being a 30 year old who assaulted some people, still living with her mother, and still going through a divorce. We don’t receive any details regarding the other characters. Carley shows up randomly with absolutely no backstory. The only thing we know about Jean is that she’s old and rich. Shall I continue?

If you enjoy “thrillers” that have zero aspects of a thriller, you might be okay with this one.
If you are looking for a quick read to just pass the time but you don’t need to get anything out of it, this is fine.
Other than that, I will not recommend this book unfortunately. But thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC for this book.

I’m not quite sure what to say about The Book Swap except……what a very unusual and unique plot. What the main characters did was pretty mind boggling and unbelievable. So many dangerous decisions made that had me shaking my head. Some parts of the story were ok while others were just over the top ridiculous.
This is not a thriller read as I thought it was going to be.
Overall, it was ok read but not a favorite.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Book Swap
by J.E. Rowney
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
It was a good read. Not too long, but fun reading. Laura came out of her shell She and Carley were very brave and helped.

I wanted to like this but it just fell flat. The story arc was unbelieveable and the characters were uninspired. It was a bit of a page turner about 3/4 of the way through but otherwise it was redundant and unsatisifying

Given that this book is around 188 pages, it was a very quick read lasting only a few hours.
I didn’t like this one.
With more pages could it have been better?
Probably not.
Zero is the number of characters I could connect with.
Zero is also the number of characters who has a development of some sort.
There were 2 main settings in this book- both houses- which made the repetitive and long descriptions boring and led to me skimming over long sections of the book.

The idea of this one was what drew me in- A woman (Laura) receives a book from a book swap group with a note ‘help me’ hidden within the pages.
Was it well executed?
No.

The ending was rushed and not much a surprise. Around 70-75% there was a little excitement but it was quickly back to the dull and dangerous decisions of two grown women acting like impulsive teenagers.

Thanks Netgalley, BooksGoSocial, and JE Rowney for the ARC.

first of all thank you netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of the book swap - j.e. rowney!

this was my first book from this author and i was really intrigued by the title!
i felt a slight reading slump coming on so i read this & i am so glad i did, this is a fast paced, gripping and overall really interesting read! great amount of twists and thrill. i 100% recommend this book if youre into thrillers and need something fast paced, quick and interesting to get you back into the swing of reading!

This was a fun, quick read with an interesting concept but was a little too light for me. The conversations between the characters seemed too calculated and did not flow naturally. I would be interested in reading other books by this author though as I believe there is potential.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This book was a quick read. I enjoyed the character development of Laura and how she became more confident as the book went on. She and Carley were very brave and maybe even a little foolish in risking their own safety for someone they didn't even know. It was a fun ride and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice smooth read.

This one was an interesting read. I enjoyed the writing and the way the author has got the story across to the reader. It was a satisfying read.

This storyline grabbed my attention right at the beginning. It was fast paced and evolved at a rapid pace. Very quick read. Not a book that required intense focus to remember characters through out the book.

I needed some time to get into the story but from the middle of the book it just flew by. This was a quick and easy read. The story is really original. Liked all the characters and loved the last part of the book. This was my first read of the author but surely not the last.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.