The Switch by Beth O’Leary @QuercusBooks

Book Description:

Leena is too young to feel stuck.
Eileen is too old to start over.
Maybe it’s time for The Switch…

Ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, Leena escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some overdue rest. Newly single and about to turn eighty, Eileen would like a second chance at love. But her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen.

So Leena proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love, and Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire.

But with a rabble of unruly OAPs to contend with, as well as the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – local schoolteacher, Leena learns that switching lives isn’t straightforward. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, and with the online dating scene.

But is her perfect match nearer to home than she first thought?

My Thoughts:

Having read and loved The Flat Share by the author, I had to get another of her books and this one was every bit as good.

The story alternates between Eileen and Leena. Eileen is Leena’s grandmother of which they decide to swap places with Eileen coming to London and staying in Leena’s flat with her two flat mates and Leena staying at her gran’s house in Yorkshire. I wasn’t sure who had the better deal with Leena having a list of duties around the village that her gran usually carries out or staying with complete strangers in a big city!

I loved Eileen. I would love to think at nearly eighty I would be as brave as she is to up sticks for a while and throw caution to the wind. She is a force of nature and seems to make new friends wherever she goes. It was lovely to see young and old coming together with the most wonderful relationships.

Leena doesn’t get off to a great start in the village. She isn’t like her gran but is quite straight talking like she is. It’s a lot of fun seeing how she settles in with her grans friends and neighbours with the only one who is around her age being the gorgeous Jackson who seems to get Leena all flustered. There are some emotional parts due to the loss of Carla, Leena’s sister, who Leena is struggling with the grief. It was heartbreaking to see just how much the loss has affected this family and I wanted to give them all a great big hug.

The Switch is a heart-warming and fun read with a fab cast of characters. It makes you think how well we really know people and what goes on behind closed doors and how we should make more effort to get to know our neighbours better. It’s a lovely feel good read with plenty of humor and endearing moments. Beth O’Leary’s other books that I haven’t read have shot up my to be read pile as I have loved what I have read by her so far. A truly gorgeous and entertaining read!