I loved this fun, charming & easy read. I instantly liked Cassie and James and enjoyed it even more that they annoyed each other! Enemies to lovers always makes for a fun read!

This story was told from dual viewpoints which really allowed the reader to get to know each character, their struggles, and their growth. I loved that they each had their own demon’s to slay and watching their story unfold both individually and together made the story even better.

Aside from James and Cassie’s story, I thoroughly enjoyed James’ transformation while in Maine. I found it hilarious that he became quite the animal farmer. I mean who wouldn’t love chickens and alpacas?! Plus, anytime he spent with Laura always brought a smile to my face. She brought a little extra spunk to the island. She was my favorite minor character as I'm a sucker for an elderly, quirky neighbor.

Overall, this is a very sweet story and I think fans of Beth O’Leary will want to snatch this up.

TW: Miscarriage, IVF, Alcoholism, & Drug Overdose

Thank you NetGalley & Bookouture for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

The House Swap is a slow-paced haters to lovers romance. All in all the premise is interesting and unique but the execution is really quite ordinary, in my opinion. Many of the chapters were chopped up in really short scenes that could've been put together smoothly and given the story a bit more fluidity. Cassie's great obstacle, her past failed pregnancy, and still frustrated wish to have a baby was not very unique (literally the last book I read had the same thing) although I very much enjoyed James' personal struggles. Unfortunately, in both cases, the characters were a bit too transparent from the start, with no actual mystery in any part of the story to keep my interest peaked.

All things considered its an average contemporary romance, a comfortable (even if sometimes monotonous) read and would only recommend if that's specifically what you're looking for.

This was a slow burn romance, but I liked seeing how the two main characters evolved over the six month period. I liked seeing how they slowly grew fond of each other's personalities and quirks from a distance. I also liked that each character was tackling their own demons separately, with inspiration from the other person, but still independently finding their own strength. The supporting characters were awesome, and the Alpacas were a nice touch (I love books with sassy animals)

I also felt like it was a reverse relationship in some ways. Usually you meet someone and hit it off, but the real adjustment comes when your lifestyles bear the other person. Do they fit? It was a cool twist for things to play out how they did, in some ways they fit into each other's lives better then their own.

I however feel like for a romance, there could have been more steam. I waited forever for them to finally hook up and then when it finally happened, I blinked and it was over! All the intimate moments were skipped over or rushed through and I would have liked to see more of their physical connection.

Overall it was a really nice story. I very much enjoyed the ending

PS - WHY is James' hair BLACK on this cover when he is Blonde?

THE HOUSE SWAP – JO LOVETT
PUBLISHED BY BOOKOUTURE
PUB DATE 19TH APRIL
TRIGGERS – INFERTILITY
PLOT - Cassie lives in a beautiful countryside of Maine and needs an adventure in order to write her next novels much to her agents insistence!
James lives in a swanky London apartment and needs to escape from his Ex!
So here comes the perfect opportunity to swap homes with each other for 6 months!
But how can one swap homes without getting involved with each other’s lives ( dealing with James Ex and dealing with Cassie’s ever nosy neighbours).
From irritation to friendship to lovers, James and Cassie will have to decide about what they truly want from life!!

MY THOUGHTS
• I loved the dual POVs throughout the book hence each one’s perspective and feelings were clearly portrayed from their highs to lows.
• I felt the romance a bit flat was rushed in the end but the way the characters grow and overcome their difficulties due to the swap – getting their perspective and life priorities back was very well described.
• The only drawback was that I found the romance a bit lacking!

Thank you Netgalley and BOOKOUTURE for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Cassie and James each need a change of venue: Cassie so she can work on her next book and James to escape the fallout of a disastrous relationship. They find each other’s listings online and do a house swap. Things start out pretty rocky but eventually they settle in to their new abodes and start to find out more about each other as well.

I was drawn by the fun concept to build a romance off of a house swap. I loved the two very different places that were the set up for this story. Concert jungle of London and a sleeply quiet island off Boston. However, I could not connect to any of these characters! I wanted to so badly but Cassie and James both irked me. Several moments that made me cringe.

I struggled with the romance, this was supposed to be a contemporary romance and the romance was pretty lacking. I found myself rereading a few paragraphs to make sure I understood what had been hinted at.

The ending was good and you could see massive growth of the characters. I understand where some reviews felt the changes were to sudden or not true to who they were, but I think the moral was love can move and change a person into becoming better.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Cassie and James both need a change of location, and they end up on a house swapping website. Despite what seems like a through job of communicating beforehand, they navigate through a bunch of misunderstandings in the first few weeks. Quite a few funny/uncomfortable things happen. It's delightful to see how each grows more comfortable in their new "life" - getting used to new surroundings, neighbors, etc. In my opinion, the romance builds like a roller coaster.
Both characters have a lot of baggage/past hurts they need to work through, so they are real and flawed. The story is enjoyable, and I really liked the two different locations.

I was immediately hooked by the premise of a house swap when I read the info on this book and I was rewarded with a lovely read that also included one of my favorite tropes—the .”strangers to lovers/enemies to lovers” dynamic!

I enjoyed this book so much. I found the characters engaging from the beginning and grew to care even more as I learned their backstories.

Cassie and James each need a change of venue: Cassie so she can work on her next book and James to escape the fallout of a disastrous relationship. They find each other’s listings online and do a house swap. Things start out pretty rocky but eventually they settle in to their new abodes and start to find out more about each other as well

I found the writing pleasant, the progression of the story made sense, the issues that held them back and caused conflict also made sense and were very believable. I think the plausibility of their back stories and who they have become as a result of those experiences rang true, but this book also gave both characters an arc of personal growth and explored their vulnerability in a realistic way.

I liked the lead characters. I wanted them to be together. Their chemistry worked. I was invested in them and their stories. The side characters on both sides of the Atlantic added to the narrative and made the experience richer.

I’d read more about these two. I’d read more of this author’s books.

TW for frank discussions of fertility issues, IVF, pregnancy loss, and addiction. I do think these issues were handled sensitively and were appropriate for the story line.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Such a cute story !! I loved Cassie and James. They have such a hurt background, it's heartbreaking.

However, I must admit I almost dropped it when they first talk and meet. I mean, I could understand he didn't want to commit to crazy Emily but he seemed nice anyway. And then he's so unpleasant to Cassie that I thought it would be hard to keep going if it was as stereotypical as she's nice/he's nasty and becomes nice in the end.

Of course not, he's such a nice person deep down. I liked we met the neighboors but I would have loved to be able to see the island and all the places Cassie visites for her novels. Much more tell than show about the scenery while it would have being lovely the other way around.

4 stars anyway because my hearts missed so many beats for them <3

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an eArc in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you #Netgalley and #bookouture for the ARC of The House Swap! I really enjoyed reading this book!

This book first made me think of the movie The Holiday which is one of my favorites. Such a cutesy, easy read.

Cassie is such a strong, independent women and James comes off as this cocky, arrogant guy. It was fun reading about each of their backgrounds and them falling in love with each other while rarely even seeing each other.

I felt like there could’ve been a bit more talk about Cassie and her pregnancy/miscarriage and IVF. Great character development and really painting the picture of island life vs London life.

Cassie and James come from very different starting points, each have a painful history. This story is a funny, clever look into their worlds where we get to hear their innermost thoughts and experience the highs and lows right alongside them.

I enjoyed it very much and was eager to keep reading it as quickly as possible to find out what happened next and see where the story would take the two main characters.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley, Jo Lovett and Bookouture for the ARC of The House Swap. This is my personal review.
A book about swapping houses for a chance of scenery and a new look into the lives of Cassie and James sounded so promising.
After a few chapters I did not feel like I was connecting to either character. I could not find much to like about either of them to care what was happening in the story. The flow of the was slow and I was wanting so much more from the storyline.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Jo Lovett for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved the story in this book, the characters and their stories gripped me right away. Once I hit the 30% mark, I couldn't stop reading and finished the majority of this book in one sitting.

Cassie and James were both so real and I loved watching their story unfold.

The one thing that I felt was a bit lacking at times was the writing at times, I loved it at some points and cried a few times, but there were a couple other moments where I felt like the dialogue or pacing was weird and needed a little more... something. But that aside, I loved the story, the characters, and the idea behind this novel so much.

If you enjoyed The Flatshare, The Switch, or the movie The Holiday, stop everything and add this to your tbr pile immediately! The premise is not only similar, but the characters are also quirky, endearing, lovable, and complex. My favorite aspect of this read was how both James and Cassie have very real fears, trauma, and anxieties which make you root for them so much more. Also, because the POV switches between them you gain so much more insight into their mindsets…so even though it takes them forever to realize their feelings it makes sense.

Again as much as this is a book centered around a romance, I found it to be equally centered on each protagonist’s personal growth as they leave their comfort zones in the new environments they find themselves in. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the ending as I don’t necessarily think it best illustrated how much these characters had evolved, but it was still a sweet and worthwhile read. This is definitely one to pick up if you are dreaming of a London or Maine vacation and just need a light and happy read that is still grounded in the reality and struggles of life.

I really enjoyed this book. The romance was a lovely thing to read and it was nice to see real life things happening to characters. I hope to read more by this author soon.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I saw the synopsis of this book and had to read it once I realized it sounded like The Holiday. This book gave me the same lighthearted feels that the movie does. Despite being overall lighthearted, still TW for those dealing with miscarriages, infertility, and drug addiction. These topics have impacted the two main characters in a serious manner and they are dealing with the implications in their lives.

Cassie is a writer who needs to get back to London to make the setting of her next novels come alive. James is trying to escape London to avoid an ex who won't leave him alone and the craziness of London for a little while. Lucky for them, with the help of a website they decide to swap houses for a few months. With the swap comes healing for Cassie and growth for James. Cassie starts healing from past trauma, meets new friends in London, and decides to pursue IVF with a sperm donor. While anti-social James finds himself surrounded by very caring, but very intrusive neighbors on the small island he now is temporarily residing on. What is at first mutual annoyance, Cassie and James find themselves talking to each other on the phone about details of their swap, and eventually more. However, will the distance and difference in lifestyles make it possible for their attraction to turn into something more?

I really loved the settings in this book and the main characters Cassie and James. My only issue ws that this book felt long. Most of the time I find lighthearted romance novels easy to fly through, but it took me over two weeks to actually get through the whole book. I'm not sure if that's because of the pacing or just a very long plot development section in the middle that made it hard to get through.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Thirty-somethings Cassie and James are both on a home swap website, for James, he wants a place to go after a relationship hasn’t worked and Cassie, needs a different place for a book research that she’s writing.

So they swap, now James is in Cassie’s ramshackle beachside cottage, and the London apartment of James is now Cassie’s residence.

But what James didn’t expect was that he’d be sharing his home with animals - eleven chickens and three alpacas, and neighbours who find any excuse they can think of to drop by. On the other hand Cassie is also not impressed when James’s ex-girlfriend turns up at his door, wanting to know where he is.

As the talk, it’s not just insults that fly but so do sparks. When the time comes for them to go back to their respective homes, they find that they aren’t quite ready to let each other go.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Cute beach read that has the ever popular enemies to lovers trope. Cassie & James decide to swap houses and find that they are total opposites in just about every way. Although an ocean divides them, these two find their lives becoming intertwined and discover common ground that draws them closer together.

The first half of the book really deals with the swap and how these two settle into their new surroundings. They make life changes, do some soul searching and conquer some fears along the way. Although entertaining, it was a bit slow. The second half picks up speed and stirs up some emotion and excitement. I feel that the pace could have been better instead of saving all the good stuff for the second half. The transitions in the chapters were also very choppy and disruptive to the flow. You would be caught up in the moment of a particular day, and then it would skip onto something else without warning or connective descriptions to guide you there.

Overall, it is a sweet read with likable characters and it would definitely make a cute movie (like an updated "The Holiday").

Trigger warning: Miscarriage, IVF.

Rating edit: 4.5 stars.

Just finished 'The House Swap
by' Jo Lovett
Such a delightful, heartwarming love story! :)

This is my second book by the author. I really liked The First Time We Met, so I was really eager to read The House Swap.

'Demon slaying works…'

It's actually about slaying your demons.

It started a bit slow, too descriptive but it picked up after two chapters and how! Very engaging writing style. I loved the setting, especially the Island, Cassie's place. And I liked James version (while he was staying at Cassie's place.

Loved James-Cassie chemistry and conversation. Mostly phone calls and messages, as they mostly stay apart. And although their actual meetings and conversation are brief, those moments are so special!

They both have their backstory, and the backstories are meaningful and poignant and totally justify their personality.

Overall, an interesting and engrossing read!

Ekk this book was adorable!! The beginning grabbed me right away and then it kind of lolled with the whole house swap concept. I understand that we needed some context but I just kind of flew through it. I'm so glad I stuck that out because this story is just so good.

James is at the end of his relationship and ends up breaking up with his girlfriend who turns out to be a little psycho. His ex won't leave him alone and so James is desperate to get away for a while to get space from her. Cassie is an author who wants to get a more immersive experience of London so that she can write about it. so naturally they end up swapping houses.

This would be a great book for people who like Sally Thorne or Abby Jimenez.

In The House Swap, Jo Lovett gives us a cute, lighthearted tale of Cassie and James who decide to swap houses for an extended period of time. Each has their own reasons for wanting a change of scenery and so via an AirBnB type app, they agree to swap. Cassie leaves her remote island home and James leaves London. Neither one gets what they expected but end up with exactly what they wanted.

The story is cute, the characters likeable, and there are occasional flashes of humor and comedy. Lovett's writing is fine, if sometimes rushed and uneven; sometimes the narrative would jump ahead in time, or a scene might feel rushed, but the story itself was intact.

I enjoyed the descriptions of both locations very much and I felt like all of the characters were engaging and interesting.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!