As a farewell to Valentine’s month, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the most unique contemporary romance novel I’ve come across in a while – The Switch by Beth O’Leary. Note: there will be spoilers but nothing you wouldn’t predict from the first two chapters of the book – this is the written version of a Hallmark movie after all.
The Switch tells the story of a young woman, Leena, and her grandmother, Eileen, as they decide to switch lives. Leena is a workaholic consultant in her 20s living in London while Eileen directs town affairs in the countryside. After bombing a presentation, Leena is forced to take 2 months of paid leave to reset and Eileen is looking for a new adventure after her husband just cheated on her and married another woman… ouch to both.
First of all, I love the swap premise. Eileen finally gets to live her dream city life, going on blind dates with one night stands and even taking on community projects. She brings London some of the home-y love it needs while staying true to the fast-paced life. There, I’ve said it – my dream is to be Eileen when I grow up. Watching Leena navigate life in the village is equally exciting – her missteps add lightheartedness while reminding us that country life is nowhere as easy as we like to think.
On a more serious note, something I really appreciate about this novel is the way it portrays toxic relationships from the side of the character being emotionally abused (without making it the entire plotline). Leena’s sister died 2 years ago to a chronic illness and her boyfriend, Ethan, helped her cope… kind of. You see his method of “helping her cope” was encouraging her not to feel and throw herself into her work instead. Which also meant helping him with his work while he still took the credit.
To any onlooker, it’s glaringly obvious that Ethan is taking advantage of Leena – he even tries to make her work on his projects during what was supposed to be her idyllic country getaway. But all Leena sees is the man who “helped” her through her sister’s death. I would say she should ask him to pay for therapy for the damage he caused but I have a feeling that wouldn’t fly in court.
A lot of times when we hear about toxic relationships – romantic, friendships, or even familial, the answer seems so simple – just break up! or stop texting them! But it’s never that simple – especially for the victim. Like Leena, half of the time they don’t even understand they’re being taken advantage of and other times, they keep falling back on the fact that the person was kind to them at one point in their life and feel too attached to let go. They don’t have the objectivity onlookers have.
That is why novels like these are so important. They help us understand what toxic relationships look like so they are easier to spot in our own lives and our loved ones’. They also help us become more empathetic toward these individuals’ circumstances.
Now, what you’ve been waiting for: the *romance* piece of our contemporary romance novel, I have to say the book falls a little short. Leena ends up falling in love with a teacher from her grandma’s neighborhood – are you surprised? Of course, they can’t spend too much time elaborating on the chemistry between her and the teacher because hello! Leena is still dating Ethan! But that did make the ending scene where they professed their feelings for each other a bit awkward. A bit more buildup would have been nice – maybe Leena could have broken up with Ethan earlier?
Nevertheless, I still rate this book 4.5/5 stars — there is so much more to this novel than I just described and I would hate for anyone to miss out on the joy I experienced reading it. I would especially recommend it to anyone looking for a contemporary romance novel where the male lead is not toxic and selfish while pretending to have the female’s best interests in mind… More on that next week!