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The Switch
Beth O'Leary
336 pages | Published by Flatiron Books
A panic attack at work has Leena put on a non-negotiable two-month sabbatical. Her grandmother, Eileen, is newly single and has decided that she would like an adventure, and to find love in her seventies. The two decide to swap lives: Leena will live in her grandmother's small-town cottage while Eileen tries out the London life for two months. Both find that this simple experiment may be a bigger undertaking than they thought.
What an absolute DELIGHT this book was! I think that O'Leary's writing feels very cozy - it gives me the same feeling as re-watching Gilmore Girls. And in this book, that comparison is amplified because of the story's focus on mother-daughter relationships. I wasn't expecting that storyline going in, but the thread of grief and coping was lovely - it was interesting to see how a grandma, mother, and sister all were dealing with a loss in different ways.
I think what I liked most about this book was the extended cast of characters. Every single secondary character was an absolute gem. From the villagers in Hamleigh to the wild group of people living in Leena's building, there wasn't a single character that I didn't care for or wasn't amused by. This book could have been ten times longer with more details about all of them and I wouldn't have complained.
I did find myself gravitating more towards Leena's chapters, but I think that's just because we're about the same age so I could identify with her life a bit more. I wasn't sure at first how much I would enjoy reading about Eileen, a 79-year-old woman, but her story was just as entertaining and compelling as Leena's.
I know Beth O'Leary has already announced her third novel, The Road Trip, and I think she has become an automatic buy author for me. The Switch and The Flatshare were both excellent reads and I'm so excited to see more from her.
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