“No list of thrillers is complete without Robyn Harding,” proclaims Real Simple. Now the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Party delivers a riveting tale about the toxic relationship between two couples after a night of sexual shenanigans, and the manipulative teenager with an explosive secret at the center of it all. Low Morrison is not your average teen. You could blame her hippie parents or … teen. You could blame her hippie parents or her looming height or her dreary, isolated hometown on an island in the Pacific Northwest. But whatever the reason, Low just doesn’t fit in–and neither does Freya, an ethereal beauty and once-famous social media influencer who now owns the local pottery studio.
After signing up for a class, Low quickly falls under Freya’s spell. And Freya, buoyed by Low’s adoration, is compelled to share her darkest secrets and deepest desires. Finally, both feel a sense of belonging…that is, until Jamie walks through the studio door. Desperate for a baby, she and her husband have moved to the island hoping that the healthy environment will result in a pregnancy. Freya and Jamie become fast friends, as do their husbands, leaving Low alone once again.
Then one night, after a boozy dinner party, Freya suggests swapping partners. It should have been a harmless fling between consenting adults, one night of debauchery that they would put behind them, but instead, it upends their lives. And provides Low the perfect opportunity to unleash her growing resentment.
Robyn Harding brings her acclaimed storytelling, lauded as “fast-paced, thrilling, gut-wrenching” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six, to this dark and suspenseful thriller for fans of Megan Miranda and Lisa Jewell.
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I’ve fully caught up on Robyn Harding’s books, now that I’ve read The Swap, a suspenseful drama about a high school senior falling for a decade-older woman who has many secrets of her own. Harding is fantastic when it comes to building intriguing characters and thrilling plots, and this is definitely in my top two favorites from her collection. Highly recommended, especially for the way the ending comes together.
Low’s parents have an open marriage where other men and women live with them and raise children together as a family. She’s bisexual but hasn’t really fallen in love until she meets Freya, a 30ish artist who shows up at her school to offer classes to students. Freya is beautiful but seemingly broken after her husband’s sports accident which ruined his career and her Instagram fame. Everyone hates the couple, and they retreat from LA to Portland. Jamie opens a store in Portland and becomes Freya’s friend and Low’s boss. The three women have a love/hate relationship that ends with one of them pregnant, one of them dead, and the other two’s lives completely changed.
Wow! Freya is an awful woman. At first, I knew she was going to be a problem, even though she appeared kindly and looking for a friend. When she lashed out at everyone around her, the cards were written. And when the discussion of swapping husbands for a night came up, alarm bells rang so loudly it hurt. Of course, I didn’t expect the ending, and it was truly perfect for what transpired in this thriller. Mostly, I couldn’t put the book down. I ignored all the things that niggled away… why didn’t Freya leave when she had the chance… why didn’t Jamie recognize Low and Freya were a bit off their rockers… why didn’t Low’s family step in sooner? All that said, it made for compelling drama, and when it explodes, boy does it explode.
Can’t wait for another book from Harding. This one was fantastic, and now I’m ready for her 2022 (pleading hope) release!
Two young couples. One remote island. And a night that goes too far. What could possibly go wrong? Robyn Harding’s The Swap is everything I’ve come to love about her books — provocative, sexy, and full of surprises!
There is so much that I want to shout about this book, but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. Everyone GO READ THIS BOOK. There are multiple layers of plot twists that will leave you in jaw dropping awe and shaking your head and the insanity and duplicity of the characters. The author has created brilliant characters against a wild and unassuming backdrop. The characters range from Low, who is a teenage girl on the cusp of womanhood, to a famous couple, and her parents who are in a polyamorous relationship. Everyone has a personal agenda that serves only them in the time they are in. Nothing will prepare you for where the end will take you and you will not want to close the book until you get there.
Gripping from the first line, The Swap is a wickedly delicious, addictive, utterly compelling read about obsession, toxic relationships, and dangerous secrets. I devoured every dark, twisted word until the last explosive scene. An absolute must-read, this suspense will shock and rivet readers through each masterful page.
Robyn Harding is an expert at slowly building creeping dread and The Swap was no exception. In what is undoubtedly her best book yet, Harding explores toxic friendships, obsession, and swinging, bringing a lonely, slightly sociopathic teenager into center of it all. The outcome is explosive, sexy, and completely absorbing. The Swap is guaranteed to be a must read this summer!
The Swap by Robyn Harding
What a story, 2 couples have a harmless? night of mushrooms, drinking and swapping partners but is it really harmless?! This tale takes you on a ride where you won’t see the ending coming. Not the fastest read but it does keep your interest. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.
I will read anything that Robyn Harding writes and THE SWAP is as deliciously twisted as I’d hoped. A thrill ride about the dark side of marriage and friendship, THE SWAP IS diabolically plotted, fast-paced and features a main character that you won’t want to turn your back on. I loved it!
An outstanding thriller. Every book Robyn Harding writes is a winner!
Author, Robyn Harding, never fails to deliver a great and unpredictable story! What could possibly go wrong during a night of recreational drug use between two couples? Especially when a young, jealous girl is fixated on one of the players? This is a great, twisty, novel, reinforcing why Robyn Harding’s books are always a “go-to” for me.
Good read. I enjoyed it a great deal. The story and characters held my attention. It is a slow burn and reminded me of a naughty Hitchcock story. When I say slow-burn, I mean that the conflict is not immediately apparent. There are five characters, all three women more important than the two men. The women have center stage. Their characters are more fleshed out, more complex and very unique from one another. The Hitchcockian sense comes from a constant undercurrent of impending doom. The female characters are each likable in their own ways but all three walk the line of slipping over the edge of doing something heinous. They are flawed and motivated just right to commit said act. Only a skilled author could pull this off. Each paragraph, each sentence, each word goes toward the five things a scene needs to work. This automatically puts pressure on the text and propels the reader forward. In a way it’s similar to a slow-motion train wreck, but in this case, you really don’t know if the crash is going to happen at all and you turn the page to find out. There is a roulette wheel of options in how the story will end (another reason why I kept turning the pages). The ending was unpredictable and satisfying.
I’m giving this one a four. Even though the story will stay with me for days afterward and I will wonder what the characters are doing now. The males point of views didn’t do it for me. Their voices and clunky interior thoughts didn’t work. One male character referred to the other’s “masculine physic.” I think the author was aware of this weakness and kept these chapters very short–a page and a half. The other detraction for me was the choice to tell the story, more than to show it in scene. Along with the rapid (short chapters of five characters) shifting POV’s kept me from fully immersing into the “Fictive Dream.”
This is a good book well worth the read and I’m definitely going to pick up the author’s next book. I would recommend this book.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
I am thrilled, when a book holds me hostage. I could not/would not, put it down until I finished. I read this story with an abnormal quickness, flipping pages, rapidly because each chapter ended in a slight cliff-hanger and I needed to know what was going to happen next.
This is the first thriller I have read by this author, but it won’t be the last, currently eyeing her other books as I write this review.
A shout-out goes to Goodreads, the author and her publisher, thank you all for allowing me to read this fascinating creation.
Content Rating: 18+
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Domestic Thriller, Suspense
Published: June 23, 2020, by Gallery/Scout Press
Obsession…Jealousy…Manipulation…. These three things drive The Swap. Robyn Harding has done it again, delivered a suspenseful story that is unique and original. The Swap is filled with impeccably developed characters that are so incredibly unlikeable that you will love to hate them. They are all wrapped up in toxic, dysfunctional relationships, intermixed with adultery, and spousal abuse that will have you shaking your head and saying, What the he!! is wrong with these people. The Swap seems purposely constructed around Freya, with all the other characters, Low, Jamie, Brian, and Max, telling the story from their perspective. Combine all these elements, and you get a fast-paced story that is highly addictive and entertaining.
Low Morrison is about to graduate from a high school where she has no friends, and she feels like she never quite fits in. The small-town people of Hawking views Low’s polyamorous parents, who live in a commune-like setting, as an oddity, and this causes Low to feel even more of an outcast. Beautiful Freya, a former social media influencer, breezes into Low’s sad, lonely world one day at school, and Low becomes instantly mesmerized by her. Freya is there to talk to the principal about advertising the pottery classes that she is teaching. Low sees the classes as a way to get close to her. Freya gives Low everything lacking in her life, attention, validation as a person, a friend, and confidant, all wrapped up in a beautiful package.
“She saw me. She really saw me. I was not simply a misfit teenager, tall and awkward and outcast. I was a kindred spirit.”
Freya and her husband Max, a former professional hockey player, have escaped to this small island in the Pacific North West after a tragic mishap on the ice destroys their idyllic life. Freya has a seductive aura around her that attracts everyone she comes in contact with, or does she seek out weak people so that she can manipulate them?
Low starts taking pottery classes with Freya, and the two develop a fortuitous relationship that becomes more of an obsession than friendship.
“Later, people would say I was obsessed with her, but I wasn’t. With Freya I was home.”
Freya is lonely and depressed living in this small isolated town. Low fills that need in Freya to be loved, adored, and the center of attention. Low’s obsession with Freya and her husband grows, she begins confusing friendship with lustful thoughts and dreaming about a future with them. To say that Low is confused is an understatement.
Things are going well between Freya and Low until Freya meets Jamie. Jamie and her husband Brian, have recently moved to Hawking, attempting to live a simple, healthier life in the hopes of having a child of their own. And then one day, Freya walks into Jamie’s small gift shop, asking Jamie if she would be willing to sell her pottery. The two women become fast friends, and this leads to Freya distancing herself from Low. The two couples quickly become friends, and in a short period, Jamie comes to revere Freya too.
Then one-night Freya suggests trying shrooms, and the two couples end up swapping partners. Now, this is when things get very interesting, in more ways than just the swap.
“I wanted to be Freya’s fun, wild, adventurous friend, but I had a bad track record with the persona. But for Freya…maybe I could try?”
Harding intertwines these three women’s lives in such a deviously seductive way that it will shake you to your core. So that about wraps up my review, I will not be telling you one more deliciously deviant word about this book, except to say, read the book.
* Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published. *
** I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley, publisher, and author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. **
Robyn Harding has upped her game with the page-turning and completely riveting The Swap. Harding deftly explores toxic friendship, desire, and obsession in this engrossing novel, in which two couples — one a glittering pair of former celebrities, the other stalwart high school sweethearts — become entangled in a web of secrets and jealousy. This is a clear-your-night-and-read-in-one-sitting book!
Great boo and total page turner. There is also a great twist at the end to keep you guessing! Thanks for the great!
3.5! OBSESSED MUCH!
This is a tale of obsession and lies between friends. One woman is the obsession of both another adult woman and a high school girl. Then there is a night of magic mushrooms and husband swapping. What could possibly go wrong with that night?
I found this to be entertaining. The writing quality was excellent. The author uses multiple POVs, although it’s primarily the other adult woman and the high schooler. We also get brief POVs from both husbands, which I enjoyed and wish more had been incorporated.
Overall I had a difficult time fully engaging with the characters. This isn’t really due to the writing, as it was great. More due to none of the characters being that likable. That said, however, I do believe this would be an excellent TV series.
My biggest critique and why I didn’t rate the book higher is that this was advertised as a suspenseful thriller, however I found it to be a literary drama. In my opinion this was not a thriller and there was little suspense, which was primarily around the ending. My expectations were looking for a suspense thriller and didn’t receive that so I felt disappointed. If this were advertised differently I would have rated it higher.
*Thank you to Simon & Schuster in Edelweiss for access to the digital review copy!