The Switch – Beth O’Leary

Synopsis:

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?

Review:

After reading The Flatshare and loving it I was super excited to get stuck into this one (copy kindly gifted to me by a friend).

I absolutely adored this book, it wasn’t what I was expecting (as I didn’t read the blurb) but I love love loved it! It had me giggling and feeling full of hope.

I was immediately drawn in both the two main characters and was very invested in their journeys. I really enjoyed reading about them both on their adventures in London and Yorkshire and was rooting for them both the whole way.

I was very happy with the predictable but very uplifting ending. It was realistic the whole way through and I loved all the side stories, they didn’t detract too much; both huge wins for me.

Despite being sprinkled with a note of grief and loss the entire way through, this book is hopeful and was just what I needed to read right now.

I rated it a 5/5 stars and would recommend to everyone, even if you don’t think this genre is for you.