I went into this based on a suggestion from a book club friend and I had high hopes since I love the Freaky Friday movie but unfortunately this kinda missed the mark. Yes, it definitely has a body swap, but the point of the book seems to be more about mom shaming and I’m not really into that. That being said, it wasn’t completely bashing, just trying to make working moms appreciate stay at home moms and vice versa, but in trying to accomplish that, it pointed out all the flaws with each and that didn’t seem necessary to me.
Celeste and Wendy are neighbors but not friends, even though their kids go to school together and at a school function they drink some “spiked” punch which causes their switch and they live as each other for a week til they can figure out how to switch back. There were some silly parts of trying to adjust to each other’s new normal, but there was also a lot of repetitive stuff, especially towards the end. It was a quick read and will prob make a great beach read for a lot of people this summer.
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

The Seven Day Switch is my first book from author Kelly Harms, but it definitely won't be my last.

This is a laugh out loud novel about the contrasts between working moms and stay at homes moms and the animosity that often exists between them.

Celeste and Wendy live in an upscale community. The only connection between them is their daughters are best friends. Celeste is a stay at home mom who cooks every day, makes sure her family eats healthy, keeps screen time to a minimum for the kids and is just an all around earth mother kind of woman. She is new to the community and trying to fit in but there is no love lost between her and Wendy. Wendy owns her own company and it takes up more hours than there are in a day. Her kids often get take out for dinner and even though she tries to be there for them, she often misses out. They each prefer their style of living and look down on the life style of the other. Celeste thinks that Wendy doesn't spend enough time with her kids and Wendy thinks that Celeste doesn't do much since she stays at home.

This is going to be a great summer hit- I am predicting it. I can't wait to read more from this author.

In this corner: Wendy Charles: a mother, wife, and business owner who is running around like a chicken with her head cut off but making it look effortless.

What she really is: Utterly exhausted.

In this corner: Celeste Mason: stay at home mom, cupcake baking, all organic, Pinterest extraordinaire appears to be living a pampered life.

What she really is: Lonely.

Enter Mommy Wars.

After they both indulge in an evening of Sangria and bitter comments to one another they wake up the next morning to realize that they have switched bodies.

I really enjoyed this book and felt it was equal parts humor and compassion. These women are polar opposites of one another but once they begin walking in the others shoes they begin questioning what makes them or any other woman a good mother.

I grew to really care about these women and their lives and I was rooting for them the entire way. A worthwhile, feel-good book with characters that I am so happy to have spent time with. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing my copy.

Freaky Friday meets Wife Swap in this laugh out loud book by Kelly Harms! This is my first Kelly Harms book and it will not be my last ! This was such a cute story with great storytelling and writing throughout. Harms truly captures the different types of motherhood and the highs and lows of it all. This book brings “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” to a whole new level. This was a cute, quick read and at the end of the day highlights how mothers just want the best for their kids.

This book is easy to read, enjoyable and has a happy ending. Slightly predictable but that isn't a bad thing for this story. There are enough twists in it to keep it from being boring. Perfect!

Freaky Friday for moms?!? Sure!
#Momshaming is real. We tend to be guilty of judging & envying others, but need to remember we never know what someone’s going through. Harms shows just that & appearances are often deceiving. Celeste & Wendy do a little #momswap, except their families aren’t in on it. They find that the grass isn’t always greener and not to judge a mom by her cover.
The perfect read for a long summer weekend!

A great summer read or something to curl up with on a rainy day. This is the classic book about the perception that the “grass is greener on the other side” mentality and protecting traditions and social status. This is a story of friendship.

Before the author even referred to it, this book reminded me of the Disney movie Freaky Friday even before the author pointed this out, where a mother and daughter switched bodies, except in this story it is two adversarial neighbors, Wendy and Celeste who think the other has it all. Wendy is a high-powered focused career woman who wants to have it all and Celeste a stay-at-home mom. Each looks at the other with some wistful envy of their lives. After a drunk induced sangria binge at a softball family picnic, they wake to find themselves in the wrong bed, with the wrong husband, and in the wrong body. As a result, they need to live each other’s lives for a whole week until they can hopefully switch back without their families knowing. They both discover that their perception of the other woman has been totally wrong. Wendy finds out that life as a housewife is not all sitting on the front lawn with a glass of wine while Celeste learns that juggling being a mom and the guilt of being a workaholic parent is quite a struggle. They learn to appreciate empathize with each other while also learning they have more in common than they think.

I found this book very entertaining and humorous at times, but also thought provoking at times. How does one find a balance in life to see what is really important? What should a parent’s priorities be to be happy? The back and forth by plays of both Celeste and Wendy were well done as they get to reflect on their own life. Don’t we all wish that we could have that luxury to view ourselves objectionably and see the effects of our actions? This is an enjoyable read that is more than the typical Freaky Friday plot. Just like previous books written by Kelly Harms, suchas The Overdue Life of Amy Byler and The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane, this was just fun to read.

Thanks to #kellyharms #tehsevendayswitch #netgalley for allowing be to read and review this book.

A fun book! I love Wife Swap, Freaky Friday and anything like that, and this book was plenty of fun but with some deeper undertones. You can definitely picture the storyline as you go along. I recommend this fun read! Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fun book to read as apparently opposites find themselves with switched bodies. The ultra-busy ladies, one a homemaker and the other a business executive, discover things about themselves, each other, and their families while trying to get back to their own bodies. Lots of humor and emotion.

Wife swap show!! I love the concept and this author just brings the humor!! I was laughing from start to finish. Very relatable as a mom

It took a while to get into this because Harms had to get the setting right and let us know exactly what each woman's life was like before she upped and changed it all for both of them. Once that happened, it was an easier read.
Because I'm now an empty nester and totally delighted to only have to take care of myself and my husband again, all the parenting info made it less enjoyable a read for me as some of her other books. That said, though, the last third of the book warmed up a lot in terms of the evolving friendship of the two women and the choices they made to help both themselves and each other. I imagine it's a great read for parents of kids who are still at home. For those whose kids are gone, it's still a good read.

Ohh Freaking Friday! I was on a thriller book run but this was the perfect break from that. I laughed, cried, got annoyed and went crazy with Celeste and Wendy throughout the book.
I suppose I would be recommending this to anyone wanting to have a Pink Sangria, because the level of crazy is almost the same!
Thank you for this ARC. Well written, light hearted but with a great message for all.
Cheers!

4.5 stars

This was such a surprising read! I downloaded this from Amazon’s first reads selection and was also given a copy via @netgalley. This is my first book by @kelly.harms but I will definitely be reading more!

The story follows two women, neighbours Celeste and Wendy. The ladies live next door to each other and have a passive aggressive rivalry going on. After another battle over sangria, the two women find themselves swapping lives and learning exactly what it’s like to live in the other persons shoes.

So! The first thing I really loved about this is the transparency in relation to the body swap. The film Freaky Friday is referenced and I loved that the actual body swap wasn’t trying to be sold as an original idea. What was original was that it was two mothers swapping lives - one a working mother and one a stay at home mother. Each of them thinking they’re busier or more important and judging the other.

There were so many parts of this, with one liners that really just made me laugh out loud. The ridiculous situation Celeste and Wendy found themselves in but also how they handled it. I found it to be such a quick read with some sweet meaningful moments and real wake up calls for both women.

I really enjoyed this story and how it wound its way to the ending which was expected and unexpected in equal measure.

Freaky Friday re-telling via Working Mom vs. Stay at Home Mom? Yes Please! I was drawn to this book because of the author and because I have been both a working mom and a stay at home mom and let me tell you...both are hard...very, very hard. Being a mom is hard, raising kids is hard. My two are grown and are thriving members of society and it has nothing to do with whether I stayed home or not. I loved this book because it gives us both sides of the story, without hammering you over the head with platitudes...It is serious stuff but also done with humour and love and especially kindness, in the end.

Kelly Harms has hit another one out of the park with this charming tale. This is a delightful story that made me laugh, cry, and remember times from my kids childhood. She really nailed the description of that "pit in your stomach feeling" when you aren't sure if you're doing right by your kids or not. Really, ALL moms should stop worrying about how they are perceived and just live with their kids in the moment. That's what I took away from this story...and I loved it.

I was absolutely obsessed with Freaky Friday when I was younger. I had that movie on repeat growing up, so I was sold after reading the synopsis of The Seven Day Switch.

The Seven Day Switch follows moms Wendy and Celeste who could not be more opposite. Wendy is juggling a demanding job, two very different children, plus a husband that is less than involved. Celeste is a stay at home mom that lives on organic food and little screen time for her children. The two women don't see eye to eye on anything, so what could be worse than being friends? How about switching bodies with each other for a week, forced to live each others' very different lives.

So many aspects of this book spoke to me as a mother. While Celeste is the mom I always thought I would be, Wendy's situation resonated more with me. Juggling work + kids + real life is difficult and can be exhausting at times. I felt validated reading her journey. As mothers, we tend to put so much pressure on ourselves to be everything to everyone and mom guilt is so real!

Thank you to Amazon and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This book drives home the message of the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I liked how both Celeste and Wendy not only learned how to appreciate each other, but they also learned about themselves and what they truly want out of life. If this past year of COVID has taught me anything, it's been to examine what's most important in life.

Super cute and easy to read book that reminds us that just because you know of someone doesn’t mean you know them. It was an easy to read book that you just sit back and enjoy.

What do career working moms and stay-at-home working moms have in common? According to the protagonists in this fanciful novel: GUILT.

Wendy Charles is a successful entrepreneur who has a jam-packed career, two children and a slacker spouse. Ironically, her consulting company focuses on helping clients be more productive and “have it all,” while her own life is stressful to the extreme. Wendy’s guilt stems from not having enough time with her kids and she compensates by indulging them whenever she is present. She swallows her resentment when her artist husband sleeps in and doesn’t contribute financial support nor helps with the children and the household maintenance. He’s the least productive person in her world.

Celeste Mason, on the other hand, is a stay at home mom by choice. Previously employed as a mathematics instructor, she now has three children who are growing up with the childhood she so desperately missed herself as a child. Her guilt manifests by being the “perfect” mother and homemaker who makes her daughter’s fashionable clothes, makes home-cooked organic meals, runs the free Uber service for working moms with kids, and volunteers for all things school related. She bristles when people comment that she doesn’t “work” and feels isolated socially when others cannot relate to her lifestyle choice.
So… these two polar opposites become neighbors. The tension between them is high until a mysterious event occurs – they wake up one morning in each other’s bodies. The old saying about not judging another until you walk a mile in their shoes is amply illustrated in the seven days of “the switch.”

Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought the author did a good job illuminating each women’s strengths and weaknesses. Their epiphanies that flowed out of this experience revealed their common bond and laid the foundation for respect and friendship despite their overt differences. At times the pace felt a little uneven, but the last half of the book intensified the issues and held my interest. The character development felt realistic and relatable. Perhaps the husbands’ portrayals were a bit clichéd and also reflected the polar opposites theme. The conclusion was a bit predictable, but with a satisfying resolution to several unexpected challenges.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing an eARC. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

This was a cute "Freaky Friday" style body switching story about two very different moms living two very different lives. I felt like the book tried really hard to be funny, which felt a little off-putting at the beginning, but eventually won me over. By the end I was laughing along with the characters and enjoying their little comments to themselves and each other. The middle of the book drug on a little long as well, but once I reached a certain point, I couldn't stop reading. There was a much heavier ending to the book than I was expecting and I was thoroughly invested by the end. All in all, I enjoyed this book quite a bit and would recommend it to others. It was fun, yet serious at times; lighthearted and yet deep too.

The Seven Day Switch, by Kelly Harms, is a funny neighbor/enemies/grass-is-greener on my side of the fence, body switch. Celeste is a SAHM and has the perfectly clean home and Pinterest meals. Wendy is a working mom, with frozen dinners and seems to be out of touch with home life. Nothing could be worse for either woman when they switch lives.
This book feels so relevant for the modern mom culture or even what it means to find home and work life balance in general. Reading this could also be the best birth control ever.
If you haven't read an Amy Harms books before, I also quite enjoyed The Overdue Life of Amy Byler.
I did a #buddyread for this with @letstalkbookspromo. Thanks to Lake Union and NetGalley for the #gifted copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

I’m always a fan of surreal stories, where you have to suspend disbelief. So the premise of The Seven Day Switch was definitely up my alley before I even opened it! And what was inside was even better than what I was expecting. Even though the topic of switching minds has been done before, such as in Freaky Friday, Kelly Harms puts a fun and refreshing spin on it, while also emphasizing the importance of balance in one’s life. As soon as I read just one chapter, I knew I had to tell my friend who runs Balanced Working Moms on Facebook about it. And, of course, I knew this book would be perfect for Jenny and I was not only excited for her to read it, but also to review it together at her blog.

I really liked and identified with both Wendy and Celeste in different ways. I enjoyed seeing them navigate each others’ lives and the things they did to try to help each other out, even if it wasn’t always with the best of intentions. There was one part I didn’t agree with at first, but I’m glad it was recognized and hashed out between the two women. Wendy’s son reminded me so much of my younger son. (Even Celeste’s son was similar to him in some ways.) I think, personally, I am more of a Wendy. However, I am thankful to have a relationship with my husband and kids that is more on par with Celeste. There were a lot of great moments, as well as some humorous ones. It’s always tricky to write about one character living another character’s life, but Kelly did this flawlessly throughout the novel.

This was a sweet and touching story that I definitely recommend!

Movie casting suggestions:
Wendy: Piper Perabo
Celeste: Ginnifer Goodwin
Seth: Alexander Skarsgård
Davis: Sam Page
Hugh: James Roday Rodriguez
Ruthie: Mary Elizabeth Ellis