I’m sure we can all agree that characters agreeing to switch lives is quite a common occurence in romance – not just in books but films too – like one of my favourites, The Holiday.

But I can honestly say this was not like all the rest. I’ve definitely never read a book where one of the swappers was 79 years old, and I’ve definitely never read a book with a 79 year old like Eileen!

Leena’s life is kinda crumbling around her. Her sister died and she’s not coping very well (understatement) and she’s just fluffed up a very important meeting at work. When her boss insists that she take 2 months of paid leave to get herself right, she’s not sure what she’s going to do.

Her grandma Eileen is also not having a good time. Her husband has left her for their dance teacher of all people, and she’s lonely. The only problem is there are only a handful of men in the village where she lives, and after drawing up a detailed pros + cons list of all the men, she realises she might be out of luck.

So Leena needs a break and Eileen needs a bigger pool to fish in so to speak. Perfect. Leena goes to live in her grandma’s house in the small Yorkshire village, and Eileen heads down to the big smoke to live in Leena’s Shoreditch flat.

Usually when I’m reading a book from multiple perspectives, I have one that is clearly my favourite. But I genuinely loved both Leena and Eileen. Seeing Leena heal from her hurt and get to grips with (very) small town life was just so lovely. And seeing Eileen come to life in the world of online dating was both charming and hilarious – I mean you don’t expect to read about a 79 year old getting her first ‘unsolicited’ pic on a dating site!

Heartwarming and giving all the fuzzy feels, while still having drama and excitement, I read this book in a single day – a hairdressers appointment and a football game to ignore definitely gives lots of time for reading!

I loved the previous O’Leary book I read too (The Flatshare) so I can’t wait for more!