Review: The Switch by Beth O’Leary

Title: The Switch

Author: Beth O’Leary

Publisher: Quercus

Published: April 16, 2020

Pages: 336

Format: My e-book copy

I am so excited to have finally picked this up. Buddy reads have been saving me lately! Forcing me to pick up books that I want to read but keep putting off. I did a buddy read with Dini @ Dini Panda Reads. I have linked her review so you can check it out!! I really love doing buddy reads. I had a lot of fun and I cannot wait for the next one, Dini!

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read this because I loved The Flatshare. I went into this blind and I’m glad I did so. This is more of a generational type of read than her previous. We have Eileen (grandma), Marian (mom), Leena (daughter), and the relationship between them. There’s a death and they are all trying to cope with it and it’s mostly in an unhealthy way *cough* Leena *cough.* Leena is forced into a two month “vacation” from work. She ends up switching lives with her grandma.

“You were healing. You’re still healing. You’ll maybe always be healing. And that’s OK. It’ll just be part of what makes you you.”

I loved Eileen so much. She’s the grandma and she’s so full of life and wisdom. Her “switch” in London was absolutely the most interesting and fabulous part of the book. It was funny, sweet, inspiring, and kept me turning the pages. All of Leena’s friends, Fitz & Bee, are so refreshing and fun. I really wouldn’t mind a spin-off about Fitz. Anyways, Leena’s life back in Yorkshire is really bland and boring. It needed to be flushed out so much more but we just get overviews of time and the plot. One of the biggest issues in this book, is Leena and her mother’s relationship. Eileen is hoping that being forced together they could work through it. I wish we could have seen that. We needed that to happen and see it unfold and we just get a little summary. Her romances are really annoying. I loved Jackson but we barely know him and we don’t get much of that relationship depth. So, it was really hard to “ship” them.

“That’s the way with old friends. You understand each other, even when there’s not enough words out there for everything that should be said.”

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Dini and I really flew through it because it was hard to put down (especially Eileen’s chapters). Go into this one realizing it’s more about the women’s relationships than the actual romances. It’s also about learning to live and deal with grief. There’s a lot of laugh out loud moments to keep it from being too heavy. A really enjoyable read!