REVIEW:

Beth O’Leary seems to have carved out quite a nice niche for herself with her two recent “real estate romance” novels. In 2019’s The Flat Share, the two main characters time-shared an apartment, and in 2020’s The Switch, Leena and Eileen Cotton swap houses. Based on these two listings, I’ll be up for anything O’Leary puts on the market. Just hand me the keys and let me move right in.

In The Switch, I particularly loved living alongside Eileen for a few days. As a 79-year-old grandmother who’s experimenting with online dating after her husband leaves her, she may be my favorite literary character in years. She’s voiced to perfection by actress Alison Steadman in the audiobook. I wish Steadman had more narration credits to her name. And I hope Eileen gets a sequel.

While the “let’s swap lives” plot of this novel isn’t groundbreaking, I enjoyed almost every minute of it. Sadly, the storyline about losing a sibling to cancer hit too close to home to make this a 5-star read/listen for me. It’s pretty darn close though.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and the author for the advanced listener copy to review.

PUBLISHER 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?