I'm currently wiping tears from my eyes as I finish up this book. What an emotional ending! However, it would be silly of me to begin at the end, so let me head back to the opening of The Switch:

We meet a tired, burnt-out Leena Cotton, as she struggles to meet work expectations and experiences panic attacks due to the stress of living in high-stakes London and constantly being on-the-go since her sister's death.

In sweet, rural Yorkshire, Leena's grandmother, Eileen, is feeling stagnant in her later years, after a nasty divorce. She wants love and passion and something more than what she currently has.

They decide to swap lives. Not "Freaky Friday"-style, but truly move into each other's homes and even switch mobile phones. Leena is tossed into the quirky neighborhood watch, and I found myself bubbling over with laughter as she dealt with her grandmother's cranky, elderly friends. I also cackled many times as Eileen tried to dive into online dating and figuring out a smartphone. There were comical mishaps aplenty.

However, the real reason this book hooked me was because of the emotion. Yes, there's a beautiful, loving bond between grandmother and granddaughter. However, a lot of that strength is tied to their loss of Carla, Leena's sister, and the difficulty Leena has relating with her mother, Marian. O'Leary did an incredible job depicting life after loss, the mess of family relationships, truly working through grief, and more. I found myself tearing up more than once, and was really impacted by how well these themes were handled. Nothing felt sugar-coated.

There were also the fantastic romantic elements that had me squealing for joy, but I didn't feel like they completely ruled this book, which I actually ended up appreciating more than expected. There was some appropriate cheesiness, but overall, this book was like a warm mug of coffee: comforting and energizing. It made me want to hug my mom and move to the country.

Props to O'Leary for knocking another one out of the park!