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

Hard To Let Go (Hard Ink #4), by Laura Kaye

Format: Audible audiobook, 11 hours and 53 minutes, narrated by Seraphine Valentine

Publisher: Harper Audio

Published: June 30, 2015

Genre: Contemporary romance

Back cover blurb: Five dishonored soldiers.
Former Special Forces.
One last mission.
These are the men of Hard Ink.

Beckett Murda hates to dwell on the past. But his investigation into the ambush that killed half his Special Forces team and ended his Army career gives him little choice. Just when his team learns how powerful their enemies are, hard-ass Beckett encounters the biggest complication yet—seductive, feisty Katherine Rixey.

A tough, stubborn prosecutor, Kat visits her brothers’ Hard Ink Tattoo following a bad break-up—and finds herself staring down the barrel of a stranger’s gun. Beckett is hard-bodied and sexy as hell, but he’s also the most infuriating man ever. Worse, Kat’s brothers are at war with criminals her office is investigating. When Kat joins the fight, she lands straight in Beckett’s sights—and his arms. Not to mention their enemies’ crosshairs.

Now Beckett and Kat must set aside their differences to work together, because the only thing sweeter than justice is finding love and never letting go.

My review: A great ending to the series. I can’t say I had as much love for Beckett as some of the others going in to this book, which maybe is reflected in my rating, but I liked Kat and really enjoyed this action-packed story. The timeframe is ridiculously short for all of these men to fall in love – three weeks overall – which also grates with me a little. But I love Laura Kaye and am keen to get started on the Raven Riders series. Hopefully we’ll see more of Rixey and his crew there.

My rating: 4/5

Amazon

Stacking the Shelves #20

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!

Netgalley continued feeding my addiction this week by granting me access to the ARC of Rock Redemption, by Nalini Singh, the latest in her new contemporary romance series, Rock Kiss. I love how this series is set in New Zealand, and has rock stars AND rugby players 🙂

I’ve joined the blog tour for Laura Kaye‘s new release next week, Hard As Steel, a crossover novella linking her Hard Ink series with her new Raven Riders series. So this week I was sent a copy from the publisher through InkSlinger PR.

Since I hadn’t read the last book in that series, I bought the audiobook of Hard To Let Go so I could be up to date before starting the novella. I’m listening to it at the moment and it’s great.

While at Audible, I also bought An Ember in the Ashes, by Sabaa Tahir, about which I have heard nothing but good things. I also needed a few more titles starting with E for my reading challenges 😉

And, finally, since it was on special, I also bought the audiobook of The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay. I’ve been meaning to read this for a while and couldn’t resist it on special.

Whew! So that’s it for this week. 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 #17

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!

I got a bit carried away on Netgalley this week, and have requested far too many books! So far two of them have been approved, but there are still several pending – I just hope I can find time to read them all! The first was The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong, which looks soooooo good!

The second was The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone, which was a featured book as part of Netgalley’s 2015 challenge. This one took my fancy because of its blurb and the quirky cover.

Finally, I bought Shadow’s Claim by Kresley Cole from Audible this week. I needed a book with the word “shadow” in the title to complete a reading challenge, and haven’t read this IAD series offshoot yet.

So that’s it for this week. 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 #15

 

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!

I took “Dry July” to the extreme and didn’t buy or borrow any books, but now it’s August I’m back!

I won a $US10 Amazon gift voucher this week, and have started spending it with two 1001 Dark Nights Demonica novellas from Larissa Ione, Aazagoth and Hades. Love these covers!

I made two requests from Netgalley and they were both granted. The first was Darken the Stars (Kricket, book 3) by Amy A. Bartol. I absolutely love this series and can’t wait to get started on this final installment.

I also asked for and was granted Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, about which I have heard great things. Really looking forward to starting this one, too. Again, both of these have beautiful covers!

Finally, I borrowed The Devil’s Star (Harry Hole, book 5) by Jo Nesbo on audiobook from the public library. I’ve read a few of his books and would like to read more of his Harry Hole novels. They’re very good.

So that’s it for this week. 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 #11

 

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.

Pre-ordered from Amazon

I missed a week, not having bought anything in the last week of May, but this week has been a different story, with a whole lot of my pre-orders being issued. I received my pre-order of Suddenly One Summer by Julie James from Amazon. She’s an auto-buy for me and I can’t wait to start it. That cover is so pretty! Also, because it was only 99c on Kindle, I bought Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep – another auto-buy for me.

Purchased from Amazon

I also received my pre-order of two novellas: One Night With You by Marie Force from Audible, and Honeymoon from Hell Part 1 by R.L. Mathewson from iBooks (purple covers for the win!).

Pre-ordered from Audible

 

Pre-ordered from iBooks

Finally, Netgalley granted my request for Thank You, Goodnight by Andy Abramowitz, which sounds like a fun read.

Approved request from Netgalley

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.

A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray

Format: audiobook, 9 hours 18 minutes, narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Publisher: HarperTeen

Published: November 4, 2014

ISBN: 9780062376541

Genre: YA fiction, science fiction

Back cover blurb: Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

My review: OMG, this is so good! All my favourite things are here: Swoony boys, time travel, czarist Russia, geekiness and pop culture references, and so much UST! There are a few red herrings which had me questioning my assumptions about who the baddies were, but even though I was correct in my suspicions, the thrills are still fast-paced and there’s a scene right at the end that had me on the edge of my seat. And that cover is just gorgeous. I can’t wait for the next book out later this year.

My rating: 5/5

Amazon

Stacking the Shelves #9

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.

Approved Netgalley request

Netgalley approved my request for Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. I haven’t read the first book – The Queen of the Tearling – yet, so I picked that up this week, too, from Audible.

Purchased from Audible

From Amazon I purchased One Last Kiss and One More Kiss by Susan Ward, and later in the week grabbed her The Girl on the Half Shell, which was free. I’m reading the later books in these series out of order, so thought it was about time I bought the earlier books.

Purchased from Amazon

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 #7

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.

Approved Netgalley requests

Netgalley approved a few more of my requests this week, about which I am very excited. I received Rogue by Julie Kagawa, Broken Juliet by Leisa Rayven, and Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood, the latter of which isn’t published until December and doesn’t even have a cover yet.

Purchased from Amazon

Amazon sent me my pre-order of Overruled by Emma Chase, and from Audible I purchased Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn. I’m a big fan of both these authors.

Purchased from Audible

iBooks had Holly Smale‘s Geek Girl for free this week, so I grabbed that one as well. Can’t go past a freebie!

Freebie from iBooks

Not bad. 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.

Talon, by Julie Kagawa

Format: audiobook, 12 hours and 32 minutes, narrated by Caitlin Davies, MacLeod Andrews and Chris Patton

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Published: October 28, 2014

ISBN: 9781483024776

Genre: YA paranormal

Back cover blurb: Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they’re positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon’s newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember’s bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

My review: I may have been one of the few people who didn’t much like Kagawa’s Iron Fey, mainly because I’m not a big fan of fairies, but dragons are another matter entirely. I really liked this, even though there was the usual YA love triangle and Ember seems more human than dragon most of the time. I’m definitely Team Garret and cannot wait until the next book is released next week.

My rating: 4/5

Amazon