The Switch, by Beth O’Leary

Format: Audiobook ARC, narrated by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones (e-book 333 pages)

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Published: 18 August 2020

ISBN: 9781250751850

Genre: Women’s fiction

Back cover blurb: 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 eighty. 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.

My review: This was such a fun story with an unusual pair of heroines, a burned-out Londoner grieving the death of her sister and her 79-year-old grandmother from a small village near Leeds. I really enjoyed how they were both looking for more out of life, and how much they embraced each other’s lifestyles as they initiated the swap where Leena took over her gran’s responsibilities in the village while Eileen got herself on Tinder and flatted with Leena’s friends in Shoreditch. There’s a wonderful cast of friends and neighbours, all of whom I could see clearly in my mind, and although Leena infuriated me near the end, the ending was very satisfying.

I listened to the Netgalley audiobook narrated by the wonderful Alison Steadman (Pride and Prejudice‘s Mrs Bennet) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People), and although I thought Steadman was probably a little young to play a 79-year-old, they were both fabulous. (The Netgalley app, though, is horrendous and I do not recommend. It kept losing my place and sending me back to the very beginning, or if I paused in the middle of a chapter it would restart from the beginning of the chapter before. Very frustrating! I hope they fix that soon.)

Beth O’Leary is an author I will now keep a keen eye out for. I’m eager to read her other work.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

Amazon

Stacking the Shelves #2

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Welcome back to Stacking the Shelves, a regular meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the latest books you have added to your shelves, physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course e-books! Here is my haul from this week – oooh, and I can’t wait to get started on some of them!

Netgalley e-ARC requests

As I mentioned last week, I have just joined Netgalley, and this week I was granted access to a surprising number of my requests. I’m clearly going to have to pace myself! So far I have already read Sea of Stars (Kricket, book 2) by Amy A. Bartol and the sneak peek of Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen and absolutely loved them. You can read my reviews here and here. Also in my Netgalley haul were Lone Star by Paullina Simons, In the Shadow of Winter by Lorna Gray, The Confectioner’s Tale by Laura Madeleine, The Blondes by Emily Schultz, 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die by Mimi Sheraton, and Techbitch by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza. Such pretty covers, don’t you think?

Bought by me this week

New Zealand iBooks had a promotion this week on New Adult series, with the first in several series free. I can’t resist a freebie, and managed to pick up I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre, After by Anna Todd, All Lined Up by Cora Carmack, and White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout. There was also a sale at Audible, through which I managed to pick up Snow Falling on Bluegrass by Molly Harper, and Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

Not bad for one week, eh? I’d better get reading! Keep an eye out for my reviews of these in coming weeks. So what new books did you pick up this week? Let me know in the comments.

Stacking the Shelves #1

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves, my first time at this regular meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the latest books you have added to your shelves, physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course e-books! Below is my haul from this week – can you spot a theme, lol?

Yes, I’m a fan of Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series, and recently finished Kiss of Venom, book 8.5. Of course, that meant I had to buy book 9, Heart of Venom, and it seemed I couldn’t resist books 10 and 11 as well! One-clicking is a dangerous thing!

Add to that, last week I joined Netgalley, and the first book I was accepted for was the first in Estep’s brand new series, Cold Burn of Magic, due to be published on April 28 by Kensington. The blurb is really interesting and I’m looking forward to getting started on the ARC.

Back cover blurb: There Be Monsters Here. . .

It’s not as great as you’d think, living in a tourist town that’s known as “the most magical place in America.” Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power.

I try to keep out of it. I’ve got my mom’s bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick.

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend’s pawn shop, and I have to make a call–get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn’t. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I’m stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I’m going to end up just like her. . .

Keep an eye out for my reviews of these in coming weeks!