the switch by Beth O’Leary

Thirty-sixth book of 2020

Reading period: Apr 02nd 2020 – Apr 09th 2020

Summary

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?

Rating

Review

I instantly liked this book and especially the two main characters who are as similar as they are different. I struggle a little more with the people in Hamleigh as they are at the beginning condescending toward Leena, but they grew on me as I was reading, I finished by loving them too.

The story is heartwarming and funny. The bond they have in this family is so strong, but due to one event it cracks, and the way they choose to heal is just brilliant. I like the fact that there is a clash of generation, but at the end, everyone evolves with this switch even the secondary characters.

I would love to have an Eileen in my entourage, as she is so helpful and it is always selfless even toward people that she doesn’t know. The fact that she is living a modern romance without shame or anything is marvellous and so actual.

Liz.