A grandmother and granddaughter swap lives in The Switch, a charming, romantic novel by Beth O’Leary, who has been hailed as “the new Jojo Moyes” (Cosmopolitan UK)… 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 … 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.
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Such a wonderful journey of finding SELF again.
I had so much fun to listen to this book. It was truly inspirational. From the beginning I have loved both Leena and her grandmother Eileen.
After they lost Carla, Leena’s younger sister, to a disease they weren’t themselves. It’s been as if they lost part of themselves to a griev.
When Leena had a panic attack at work she was given two month of sabbatical. She and Eileen decided to swap places for the whole time. Both of them met new wonderful people and discovered that as long as people who you love surround you, you can live anywhere.
I also want to say that both narrators did exceptionally great job.
This one was just pure fun! Lena and her grandmother both have the same name but they are at different places in their lives. Lena suffers a panic attack at work and they insist she take a paid two month vacation and she ends up going to the country to her grandmother’s. Meanwhile her grandmum feels in a rut after her husband leaves and with all her work around town. She talks Lena into switching lives/locations with her. She goes to London and stays at her flat. Both have a bit of a surprise, learning there is more out there to life than what they had been living. It was great for both of them to let go and learn to live. I definitely recommend this one! I enjoyed this one in audio and the narrators were superb!
I loved it! It was a total joy to read. I loved the concept, the relationship between Eileen and Leena and the wonderful cast of friends both in London and Yorkshire. And it was such a breath of fresh air to read about a 79-year old woman dating (and even – hurrah! – having sex!) The exact kind of thing I believe we need to see more of in books and films. Eileen gives me great hope for the future! I shall be recommending it to my friends.
Leena living in London was ordered to take a 2 month sabbatical after being overworked and overstressed that she could no longer function at her job.
Eileen who is about to turn eighty is looking for another chance at love but its slim picking in her Yorkshire village.
What a perfect suggestion to switch for two months for Leena to wind down and relax in the countryside, while Eileen enjoys her life in the city meeting some eligible gentlemen.
The story is told in their point of views and it was lovely to read about the city and village life neighbors, gossips, and matters of the heart. Beth O’Leary’s writing is easy to read, heartwarming, and funny, while also embracing how important friendship, family and the community we live in. Her characters are realistic and relatable, and despite challenges and difficulties, the writing is full of hope and positivity. I love that O’Leary gives me that tender fuzzy feeling when I read her books.
After reading this book in March, I had to listen to this on audio, which was phenomenal! I loved the narration by #alisonsteadman and @daisyedgarjones that truly embodied the characters. I also enjoyed how the sound changes when the characters are speaking over the phone. It was a nice touch that I really appreciated!
I highly recommend this for a wonderful and fun escape read!
Have you ever needed a holiday from life? Eileen and Leena both need some time away and choose to switch their lives, homes and even phones. Both grandmother and granddaughter can not enter each other’s lives without causing some mischief but also making some good. Beth O’Leary creates a story with humor and strong relationships. I for one, imagine all neighborhood watch groups to go just as portrayed in The Switch. I listened to this version and the narrator had a pleasant and steady voice.
Thank you for a copy of the audio from NetGalley and MacMillian Publishers to review. All opinions are my own.
The Switch is a fun rom-com about an English grandmother, Eileen Cotton, and her namesake granddaughter, Leena Cotton (get it?!) who switch lives for two months. I listened to the audio book which was narrated by Daisy Edgar-Jones (from Hulu’s Normal People) and Alison Steadman (an Olivier Award winner!) and it was terrific,
Still reeling from the death of her younger sister, Leena is given a two month sabbatical from her work in London. Meanwhile, her grandmother is newly single and looking for a second-chance at love but there aren’t many options for the 80-year-old in her small Yorkshire village so Leena comes up with the plan for them to swap homes and responsibilities for the duration of her leave. Eileen moves into Leena’s London flat and learns how to use online dating apps and bonds with her flatmates while Leena retreats to her grandmother’s cottage, taking over her grandmother’s role in the neighborhood watch and helping the other seniors navigate life. You probably won’t be surprised that both women end up finding themselves and true love during this experiment and the journey they go on of grieving, growing and learning is quite heartwarming. I laughed, I teared up and I loved every second of listening to this delightful book!
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books and the author for an advanced listening copy to review.
Loved this! Funny at times, heartbreakingly sad at others, with wonderful characters and a wonderful story that pulls at your heartstrings. Highly recommend!
Beth O’Leary will now be an auto buy author for me. I listened to, and loved, The Flatshare so I jumped at the chance to listen to The Switch and it did not disappoint!
Did you watch the 2006 movie, The Holiday? Well, The Switch gave me major The Holiday vibes and I adored both. They both had predictable endings, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all.
The Switch is told from two perspectives: Granddaughter Leena and Grandmother Eileen. Leena is a 20 something Londoner who still struggles with the loss of her sister, Carla, and is forced to take two months paid holiday. Something most people would love, but it left Leena reeling since she buried herself in her work. 79-year-old Eileen lives in Yorkshire and has had a lot on her plate as well. Her husband left her, and she’s been taking care of her daughter since her granddaughter, Carla, passed away. they end up swapping lives, and it was absolutely brilliantly done.
Leena had to try to fill her grandma’s big shoes. Just because she’s almost 80, does not mean she lives a slow-paced, relaxing lifestyle lol. She’s one busy woman, and reminds me a lot of my own grandmother at that age. Hearing about Eileen transforming lives in London was just fantastic. I love stories with inter-generational friendships, we can learn so much from each other. Character development is huge for me, and I was happy with not only the main characters development, but also side characters.
While this story was full of humor and positivity, it also covered some difficult topics, especially grief and the impact it can have on a family. O’leary handled it so beautifully.
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Alison Steadman brought the characters to life with the narrations, brought out the warmth of Leena and Eileen.
I think this would be a great book for anyone who needs a lighter read, if you liked her book The Flatshare, and/or if you liked the movie The Holiday.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Libro.Fm, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC and opportunity to share my thoughts on this delightful book!
Audiobook Review-
Overall 3.5*
Performance 3ish*
Story 4*
The Switch was an entertaining story. It was sweet and fun, and at times emotional.
I liked the idea of a granddaughter and her grandmother switching lives for a bit, to get them both out of the funk they seem to have found themselves in.
Leena definitely needed a break from her life and I enjoyed her time in Hamleigh- as she got to know the towns people, reconnect with her mother, and forged friendships with a whole new generation. Grandma’s time in London was entertaining. She really took to the whole dating scene and the veritable smorgasbord of eligible men in her age bracket. I thought it was sweet how Leena’s friends embraced her, and how she made herself at home for the short time she was there. I really liked the secondary characters, they added a lot of interest and entertainment to The Switch.
While I enjoyed the story, and would recommend reading it, I did not enjoy the audio performance and wouldn’t recommend the audiobook. I liked both narrators voices, that wasn’t the problem- I think they both did a really nice job with their characters, and even the secondary voices.
I don’t know if the quality of the audio will improve by release day, or if this was a finished copy, but I found it hard going, thanks to the “mouth sounds” of the narrator for Grandma. I could not listen to this other than in my car, when I tried it with ear buds it honestly made me cringe. I can’t think of another audiobook or narrator I’ve had this problem with, but it was very distracting and didn’t make for an enjoyable listen. I don’t know how to describe it exactly, but if you have any auditory sensitivity issues, you may want to steer clear.
Another issue with the audiobook- when Leena or Grandma were speaking to someone on the phone, it was made to sound like the other voice was coming over the phone line, which was fine, but a few times they seemed to have forgotten that’s what they were doing because all of a sudden it would just be them speaking, without the tinny sound through the “phone”. I would have preferred if they just left that effect out- it would have worked better with a full cast type performance.
I was excited to see NetGalley offering audiobooks as a review option, I’ve just disappointed this one didn’t work out better for me. I know I would have appreciated the story even more if I had just read it- the poor audio experience definitely clouded my enjoyment. This is a book I would recommend reading over the audiobook.
Favorite Quotes:
“Well, she better not leave it too long,” Betsy says. “I am eighty!” I smile at that. Betsy’s eighty-five. Even when she’s trying to make the point that she is old, she can’t help lying about her age.
I look down into the tea leaves. Letitia’s shoulders start shaking before I see what she sees… The tea leaves look like … genitals. Male genitals. It couldn’t be more distinct if I’d tried to arrange it that way on purpose. “I think it means good things are coming your way… That, or it’s telling me the tea-leaves game is a load of cock and balls.”
Leena keeps telling me that there are good men out there, that you have to kiss a few frogs, but I’ve been smooching amphibians for almost a year now and I am losing. The. Will.
It’s quite all right,” I tell her. “I’m seventy-nine. I may seem like an innocent old lady to you but that means I’ve had fifty extra years to see the horrors the world has to offer, and whatever that was, it’s got nothing on my ex-husband’s warty behind.
My Review:
This was great fun and my first experience reading Beth O’Leary and I’d gladly enlist for a lifetime of more of the same, she has mad skills! The Switch sparkled with clever levity, snarky observations and insights, sneaky wry humor, and razor-sharp wit. I gleefully indulged in a pleasantly entertaining day of fully engaged reading while giggle-snorting and smirking my way through this delightfully penned tale. Relevant social issues and concerns were laced throughout in a thoughtful and engaging manner while still amazingly maintaining an amusing tone overall.
The characters were fully inhabited, honorable, uniquely peculiar, realistically flawed, and significantly struggling with a variety of rather serious concerns, yet expending their energies creatively and in the intent of the betterment of others. I adored them although I found myself favoring the unpredictable antics and verbal exchanges of the elder contingent quite a bit more than the younger set.
And I hit a bevy of new words for my Brit Words and Phrases List with maungy – sulky or peevish, shambolic – chaotic and disorganized, and sling your hook – telling someone to go away.
A heartwarming story about friendship, family, second chances at love and how to survive after losing someone very important in your love. Three women, grandmother, mother and daughter trying to go on with the epic lives after the death of Karla, Leena’s sister. Leena and her grandmother decide to switch their lives for two months. Eileen is going to live in London and experience the big city and Leena is going to live in the small town and try to reconnect with her mother. A wonderful live and love . The audiobook is great with the two narrators impersonating Leena and Eileen.
A sweet PG story about two generations learning what to do after tragedy hits. The story of Eileen (79 year-old grandmother) and Leena (29 year-old granddaughter) is told from the alternating points of view of these two characters. Their story addresses many of the ups and downs of real life, including loss, divorce, dating, grief, friendships, and family.
Eileen becomes a temporary grandmother to Leena’s roommates. She befriends some of the elderly in the London area, sees a need for seniors and works to help. At the same time, Leena is the young, energetic personality who joins Eileen’s friends with their project. Both women learn a lot about what they appreciate in life.
The narrators, Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones from Hulu’s Normal People do a nice job. There are times when they pulled me out of story, mostly when talking on the phone. That doesn’t happen often though. Overall, I enjoyed The Switch on audio. It is a beautiful story that works well in an audio format. I plan to look for more stories from Beth O’Leary in the future.
ARC of audiobook received from Netgalley for an honest review.
3.5 Stars
I loved this book. Really enjoyed everything about it. It did not begin that way. I started this audiobook and early on stopped listening thinking it was not for me. I loved the idea and the editors description, but somewhere between chapters 2 and 3 thought “wow, this is ridiculous”. Additionally I never thought I could really dislike a grandma! As I was given the privilege of listening to an advanced copy of this book I picked it back up a few days later. I am so glad I did. I am not sure what I was thinking early on. I truly adored this book. Pretty much everything about it. The writing is wonderful, the toggling back and forth of chapters between Eileen and Leena, the many other people they all interact with and well, just about everything. Leena is been “forced” into taking a two month sabbatical from her job due to perceived burnout. She lives to work so is at wits end. She is very angry at her mother, still suffering and not quite mourning the loss of her sister and is in a relationship that she believes to be really good. Grandma Eileen is fabulous, if you can get past her overt pushiness. She is concerned about her daughter and grand-daughters relationship, their personal emotional well beings and knows she needs to do something major. She suggests, and by suggest I mean forces Leena into a two month change of lives. Apartments, responsibilities and even cell phones! I mean who in the world would consider switching cell phones regardless of all else they switch up. And so begins their individual adventures. Eileen is a take no prisoners kind of woman. She forces Leena out of her comfort zone which in turn helps an entire community, makes friend with and changes the lives of all of Leena’s neighbors, catches and kicks Leena’s boyfriends behind, learns to use dating apps and is generally a blast. Pushy but a blast. Leena, who is mostly coasting through life, working hard and accepting being emotionally numb so she can push away the pain. Their journeys filled with adventure, new relationships, mending of old relationships, discovery of who they are, who they want to be and learning what they really want out of life. The narration of the audiobook was wonderful. Truly draws you in. I highly recommend this book and if you have a moment very early on thinking this is not for you, do yourself a favor and give it another shot. You won’t be sorry. I certainly wasn’t and look forward to what is next from Beth O’Leary.
I received a complimentary arc of this audiobook from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an unbiased review.
This was an extremely humorous and witty story which I found wonderfully narrated. The voice and inflection of the grandmother Eileen Cotton sounds authentic for a 79 years young woman! I enjoyed this audio version of the book.
Leena Cotton is tired workaholic who hasn’t taken a vacation or day off work in years. When she totally bombs a presentation she fears she’ll be fired. She never expected her boss Rebecca to mandate that she take a 2 month paid leave from work! Leena is flummoxed and overwhelmed as to how she will manage without work.
We learn that she is most likely using work as a coping mechanism for the other personal stressors in her life. Her sister Carla died a year ago from cancer and she had been angry and estranged from her mother since that time. She believes more could’ve been done to save her sister. Fortunately, she does has a close work colleague with whom she had been discussing starting their own consulting firm. Bea is her sounding board and voice of reason while struggling herself to make sense of life as a single mother.
Leena lives in the fast paced city of London with her flat mate: Martha who is very pregnant waiting for her parent to return from her business trip and Fitz who always seems to be between jobs. They encourage her to use the time off to relax and regroup. Her boyfriend Ethan is just as much of a workaholic for the same company. They rarely spend time together mostly on weekends when he isn’t busy on a work project.
Leena calls her grandmother Eileen who lives in the quaint Clearwater cottage in Hendley where she grew up. She decides it’s been long overdue for a visit to her grandmothers house. She is hesitant being close to her mother who her grandmother has been helping out since they lost Carla. While there her grandmother who is recently reinventing her own life since her husband Wade decided to leave to be with a woman half his age. She confesses to a Leena how he had held her back from some dreams she had of experiencing London.
Leena suggests that they switch living arrangements for the 2 months of her leave from work. To keep her busy, Eileen provides Leena with a notebook of all her responsibilities and daily routine which involve helping her neighbors. Leena learns to discover that her grandmother is an extremely active and staunch advocate in her community. It takes her some time and many follies as she maneuvers her way around.
In London, Eileen is thriller and then overwhelmed with the stress and impersonal nature of living in the city. She is initially disheartened to discover mostly young neighbors with no time or fear of interacting. Having 2 cats back at home, Eileen becomes concerned when she finds a cat wondering around the flat. She immediately approached the neighbor with whom she believes the cat belongs.
Eileen is pleasantly surprised when Leticia invites her in for a chat. Her flat is filled with magnificent antiques although the woman looks dreadful. Eileen discovers that Leticia has lived there over 30 years and had never had a neighbor visit. She lives alone and both she and Eileen enjoy some laughs together and agree to visit again.
While Leena is discovering that the older people in her grandmother’s community may be opinionated she develops a soft spot for them. She actually enjoys taking over for her grandmother and her many responsibilities. Such as participating in the neighborhood watch meetings which is mostly a social time for the community.
There are many laugh out loud moments as both Eileen and Leena each try to adapt to their unfamiliar surroundings. Both of them find a purpose and sense of self engrossing themselves in their new communities with desires to improve the lives and join people together.
Along the way each may dabble a bit with romantic situations which are new and unexpected. Eileen especially finds that she can feel free to engage in satisfying relationships after so many years with Wade. She loves discovering the woman within who always wanted to experience life.
Leena learns that family is an important source of support and that reconciling with her mother, Marianne, a healing experience. Learning to accept their differences in their perspective as well as find new ground. Relationships between family and friends are important and should be nurtured and valued.
This is a delightful story of love, self awareness, grieving, family and resilience.
A lovely story and the perfect thing to read during lockdown/isolation. The characters are so charming and real it’s easy to connect with them and their experiences.
It’s really heart-warming but manages to be heart-wrenching at the same time. Full of joy, pain, humour and life.
I listened to the audiobook read by two narrators for the dual points of view. They did a wonderful job expressing the story really enhancing the reading experience.
This is a contemporary fiction novel about a grandmother and granddaughter who switch their lives and their homes for 2 months. This was an audiobook and I really enjoyed the narrators. They captured what I felt was the tone and feeling of the book.
Leena lives in London and has been working so intensely that she finally has a panic attack during a major presentation. She is “ordered” to take a 2 month paid vacation. Problem is, Leena doesn’t know where to go. She finally decides to visit her grandmother, Eileen whom she is very close to.
She visits Yorkshire where her mother also lives. She and her mom have been somewhat estranged ever since her sister passed away. She and her grandmother talk at length about what they want in life and decide it might be a good idea for them to switch lives for 2 months. Leena will stay in the village and do all of the things on Eileen’s “project” list, which ends up being more than she bargained for. Eileen will go to London and live in Leena’s flat with her flat mates.
Soon Eileen is helped to set up a profile on a dating website and makes friends in the apartment building. There are definitely some believability issues here with the many things that she is able to accomplish while she is there. She starts a club that will meet in a common space and hopes to bring seniors together. She also manages to meet two men on the dating site, one of which she has a “fling” with, for want of another word.
Leena meanwhile really gets to know the neighbors in Yorkshire. It’s a small town and everyone knows everyone’s business. She finds herself in charge of the local May Day event which is more work than she imagined. She also finds that her long time boyfriend, Ethan, isn’t very good at long distance romance while there is someone in this small town that she finds more than a little interesting.
Although I found the book a bit saccharine at times, there were some serious issues addressed including grieving over the loss of a loved one, really understanding and communicating with people and learning to love yourself and find your inner strengths.
I can highly recommend this as a great audiobook listen. It was quick and interesting and the narration was great.
I received an audiobook of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley Audiobooks.
REVIEW TIME
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
I ADORED THIS AUDIO BOOK!
Eileen Cotton simply won me over with her quick whit and charm, she’s the very best kind of granny. Leena is all of us at one point or another in our lives: a bit lost, looking for “what’s next” and wishing life was less complicated. Switching things up a bit will not only allow both ladies to deal with their personal baggage, but allow them to also heal from an unbearable loss that is still affecting their family’s happiness.
O’Leary did such an fantastic job at creating characters that bring both laughter and heartache to the story. I found myself cheering on Eileen and Leena, wishing them a happy ending… one they create for themselves outside of family and romance.
Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for advanced access to this novel on audio.
STAR RATING:
The story is set in and around London. I loved the characters, some quirky, some too serious, of course a few are grumpy and the list goes on. There a quite a few characters and I was getting a little lost with the storylines. There are really two main characters, Leena and her grandmother Eileen. Both have had a recent lost of a sister/ granddaughter and trying to get on with their lives. Things go down hill for Leena in London and she was given a two month leave of absent. She decides to go home to family and try to find herself again. There she comes up with the brilliant idea of Grandma should follow her dreams and move into Leena flat in London, while she takes over Eileen duties in the quiet little village that is home in Yorkshire. The switch is not as easy as one would think, there are a few good laughs and the ladies are very determine to make it work. A enjoyable listen with a ending that very well done. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story.
After having a panic attack during an important work presentation Leena Cotton is forced to take 2 months leave. She heads out to her grandmother’s house in a small town to get away from her busy London life. Eileen Cotton wants to find love again after her husband left her for another woman, but the small town she lives in has very limited options, especially in the over 70 category. Leena thinks the perfect solution is a swap, just for 2 months, they’ll live in each other’s lives.
The Switch is an absolutely delightful book. It’s sweet, funny, touching, and has wonderful characters. Both of the narrators in the audio version did an amazing job. I loved that Eileen was looking for love in her 70’s, but it’s about so much more than just finding love, we also see Leena working on and repairing her relationship with her mom, and dealing with the emotional fallout from losing her sister. The love story aspect was a slow burn on both accounts, but so sweet and worth the wait. This is a fantastic feel-good story, highly recommend.
The switch a good and entertaining story, that will keep you wanting more.
Lenna needs to start all over she feels like, after that blow with one of her presentations, nothing is working for her anymore, she needs to think and reboot and that’s why she felt it necessary to spend some time with her grandmother.
Eileen just turned eighty, she feels like her life needs a little more sauce so she is on a quest searching for her second love or her second chance in life.
The switch has the right amount of angst and situations that will give the story even more depth, it is a great summer read, that I definitely enjoy.
I really dont want to give much away but this book definitely is for anyone who wants to chillax and enjoy a good story with great characters.
The only thing that I really didn’t like was the narrators I had a hard time with one of them because I felt like she was more reading the book than narrating the story but even that was not enough excuse to take away the great story of The Switch.