Book Review: The Switch by Beth O’Leary

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Title: The Switch

Author: Beth O’Leary

Description: Eileen, newly single and about to turn eighty, would like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen. Then in bustling London, Eileen’s twentysomething, overachieving granddaughter Leena is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work.

Once Leena learns of Eileen’s romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen will live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will rest and take care of things in rural Yorkshire.

But trading places isn’t as easy as either of them expected. Will swapping lives help Eileen and Leena find themselves…and maybe even find love?

RATING

Since I listened to the audioobook of this I listened to it when I was traveling, and after that, I just forgot about it. But, yesterday I decided to pick it up and listened to the rest in one sitting!

This was such a cute and wholesome book. It is centered around Leena, a young woman who is a workaholic, lives in London and has her whole life in check. On te other hand, there is Eileen, Leena’s grandmoter, living in a Yorkshire village, whose husband just left her for a younger woman. But when they decide to switch places for two months (Leena to rest and Eileen to find new love), they start learning more about their family, friends and each other.

After death of Leena’s sister, Carla, the whole family got apart a little bit, Carla’s loss still being as painful as ever, Leena was the one who rarely spoke of her and because of that she never got along wit her mother. But when she comes to Yorkshire she is met with everything she’s been avoiding.

Leena and Eileen swap not only phones, homes and cities but also friends and while Eileen starts hanging out with Leena’s flatmates and friends, helping them in their lives and day to day problems. Leena has to deal with a lot of elderly people, who at first don’t really like her, but as she starts involving herself in the town life, start loving her more.

Bot Eileen and Leena have quite a complicated love life. Eileen, who at 79 was left by her husband for his dance instructor, suddenly finding out wonders about online dating and sneaky links, trying to have some fun before she leaves and meet some guys. On te otger hand, there’s Leena, who, even though she has a boyfriend, suddenly finds herself drawn to a local guy next door, Jackson. Both love stories were so cute and funny and I like how romance was not the main topic, family was.

To be honest I wasn’t that into Leena’s character. She was really grumpy and even though she changed towards the end, her caracter just wasn’t my cup of tea. Eileen, however, was soo enjoyable and I adored her. Her character was so funny and wholesome and I even enjoyed the voice-actress. She made me laugh out loud so many times!

The ending was so good and I love how everything turned out. The whole book talks about the importance of family and friends and I really like that message. All in all, this was a very cute and enjoyable contemporary novel and I liked it.

Happy reading!