Skip to main content

THE SWITCH

 



SYNOPSIS

Eileen is sick of being 79.

Leena's tired of life in her twenties.

Maybe it's time they swapped places...

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 long-overdue rest.

Eileen is newly single and about to turn 80. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.

So they decide to try a two-month swap.

Eileen will live in London and look for love. She’ll take Leena’s flat, and learn all about casual dating, swiping right, and city neighbors. Meanwhile, Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire: Eileen’s sweet cottage and garden, her idyllic, quiet village, and her little neighborhood projects.

But stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected. Will swapping lives help Eileen and Leena find themselves...and maybe even find true love? In Beth O'Leary's The Switch, it's never too late to change everything...or to find yourself.


Title: The Switch

Author: Beth O'Leary

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Publication date: August 18, 2020


REVIEW


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


Well, as the author predicted in her acknowledgments, I’ve been well and truly Eileened! What a heartwarming and adorable story. I loved every single minute of it. When I finished it a had a huge smile on my face (and a fair amount of tears). Although I had already read it, when given the chance to listen to the audiobook version I couldn't help but take it as I had heard both narrators, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Alison Steadman, did an amazing job, and they certainly did!

After suffering a panick attack at work, Lena and her grandma Eileen decide to swap their houses and lives for a couple of months, so Leena can get much needed rest in the small village where her grandma lives, and Eileen can experience the London scene she could not when she was younger. Meanwhile, they’re both mourning Leena’s sister death, who passed away from cancer a year before.

I found very interesting how the different generations of Cotton women coped with their grief, although I think Leena was not fair with her mum at first. I didn’t like how she directed her anger at her mum, as if she herself was the only one who had lost someone dear to her. All this added a layer of depth to the story that made it much more enjoyable.

I absolutely adored how both Leena and Eileen embraced the swap to their fullest, not being afraid of facing new things. Although I liked them both, my favorite, hands down, was Eileen. After all, she’s a big Agatha Christie fan, how am I not gonna love her? She was lovable, hilarious and I truly hope to reach her years with her stamina. It is so refreshing reading about older characters pursuing love.

I’ve always thought of myself as a big city guy but, after reading this, I wouldn’t mind at all to move to Hamleigh-in-Harksdale. I loved the sense of community and how all the characters were 100% there for their neighbors and friends. I fell in love with all the characters, both in London and the village, minus a couple of exceptions. You know who you are!

Beautiful story about family and friendship, loneliness in the old age and the loss of a loved one, taking a look at the grief and anger that can bring about and showing how everyone needs to heal in a different way and time.


Comments

  1. Great review, I thought this book was adorable too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Susan! I need to read "The flatshare" asap!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HELLO, IT’S ME!

  I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to read... MY BRAND NEW BLOG! (Look at me plagiarazing   drawing inspiration from Adele for my very first entry).                                                               She approves! So, if you're here reading this...THANK YOU for tuning in! For those who don't know me my name is Javier and after more than a year writing reviews on sites as Goodreads and NetGalley I decided to create my own blog to share my love of books with the world. When I first started writing reviews I was not able to put two sentences together, but as I kept writing I realized I had lots to say about the books I read. Rest assured my reviews will always be honest (no problems here telling when I don't like something) and spoiler free (I hate spoilers!). My personal preferences are:    - Mystery/Suspense/Thriller (medical, legal, cozy... if there's a dead body, I'm in. Not for nothing I'm a medical examiner myself)    - Conte

LOVE IN LOCKDOWN

SYNOPSIS Do you believe in love before first sight? Lockdown is putting Sophia’s life on pause – just as she planned to put herself out there and meet someone. When the first clap for the keyworkers rings out around her courtyard, she’s moved to tears for all kinds of reasons. Jack is used to living life to the fullest. He’s going stir-crazy after just days isolating. Until the night he hears a woman crying from the balcony under his. He strikes up a conversation with the stranger and puts a smile on her face. Soon their balcony meetings are the highlight of Jack and Sophia’s days. But even as they grow closer together, they’re always kept apart. Can they fall in love during a lockdown? Title: Love in lockdown Author: Chloe James Publisher: Avon Books UK Publication date: November 23, 2020 REVIEW RATING:   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ When I first heard about this book I thought "Uh, uh, no way I'm reading this. Too soon. Who would want to read a book about the lockdown when the second one is waving

ONE BY ONE

SYNOPSIS Snow is falling in the exclusive alpine ski resort of Saint Antoine, as the shareholders and directors of Snoop, the hottest new music app, gather for a make or break corporate retreat to decide the future of the company. At stake is a billion-dollar dot com buyout that could make them all millionaires, or leave some of them out in the cold. The clock is ticking on the offer, and with the group irrevocably split, tensions are running high. When an avalanche cuts the chalet off from help, and one board member goes missing in the snow, the group is forced to ask - would someone resort to murder, to get what they want? Title: One by One Author: Ruth Ware Publisher: Harvill Secker Publication date: November 12, 2020 REVIEW RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ruth Ware has been described as “the Agatha Christie of our generation” and that has never been truer than in “One by one”. A beautiful mountain chalet in the Alps, a company retreat with some of your coworkers and an avalanche hitting, getting you