Author: Beth O’ Leary
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Genre: Modern & Contemporary Fiction, General Fiction
Year of Release: 2020
Release Date: 28th April 2020 Rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟
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 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.
Once Leena learns of Eileen’s romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another’s shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.
Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn’t as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?
Review
Meet Eileen Cotton, a loving supportive mother and grandmother who finds herself newly single and about to turn 80 is not quite ready to give into the boredom of single life. Eileen goes in search of eligible gentleman, only to discover her tiny village doesn’t seem to have many options to choose from.
Leena Cotton is an overachiever and suffers a panic attack at work during a board meeting, her boss forces Leena to under-take a two-month vacation; reluctantly Leena agrees, deciding the best place to take time away would be her grandmother’s house in rural Yorkshire.
Leena arrives and soon discovers her grandmother’s dating list doing what she does best Leena sets about finding a solution to the Yorkshire elderly man draught, that solution comes in the form of a two-month house swap. Eileen will move to London and Leena to rural Yorkshire.
Upon arrival into their new lives the pair soon discover that the swap might not be as appealing or easy as it once appeared, will they make it to the two-month deadline? Or will the gossiping neighbours in rural Yorkshire and young trendy flatmates in an ever growing and ever-changing London prove to be too much of a challenge for grandmother and granddaughter?
I purchased this book thanks to the pretty pink cover and an inviting Synopsis.
Thanks to Author Beth O’ Leary skilled writing I was immediately drawn into Eileen Cotton’s family The Switch has characters to love and admire on the first page, it becomes clear this was going to be a feel good, touching and memorable read. The adventures both women faced through-out the novel are an added bonus; I was genuinely laughing out loud.
I really enjoyed the fact I could relate and connect with the Cotton family; the first half of the book was the standout portion of this read as it felt like I couldn’t put it down, the second half seemed to slow quite considerably in my opinion. That being said when I finished this book, I realised I couldn’t wait to spend more time with them all, even though the plot was a little on the predictable side I’m pleased I know what all the fuss is about.
Every so often you find a character worthy of love and The Switch has me loving Eileen Cotton forever and always as she’s everything you want in a grandmother friendly, fun-loving and not afraid of a little adventure. Poor Leena just didn’t have a chance of favourite character for this reader.
“Is it really and adventure if you don’t make at least one ill-advised decision?”
― Beth O’Leary, The Switch
The more I come across Contemporary Fiction the more I realise I enjoy a book with enjoyable minor characters just as much as a book with strong leading characters and in this instance The Switch delivers, I hope you’ll take the time to meet them.
If you’ve read and loved The Flatshare or The Road Trip I highly recommend The Switch, if you’re in the mood for a strong character based read, a perfect fit for a weekend read.