I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
This was quite a slow paced book. We did get to know the characters thoroughly, and they also became intimate friends first... but there was not much happening at all for big chunks of the story.
Cassie's baby issues were insightful and felt very real. James as a character though, he just wasn't my kind of guy I think.
I can see other readers appreciating this more, apologies.
2.5 stars

Cassie lives on an island off the coast of Maine, James lives in London, England. For independent reasons they both need to spend time in each other’s areas and they connect through an online service that facilitates house swaps. Cassie is warm, thoughtful, inviting, and friends with everyone. To protect himself from his past, James is reserved, a little thoughtless, and pretty distant to those around him. What starts as a few snarky texts and phone calls turns into nearly daily conversations, and their story proceeds from there. This is a really fun, mostly lighthearted enemies to lovers story. If you liked The Switch by Beth O’Leary, this will probably be right up your alley.

*I was provided an ARC from @netgalley and the publisher @bookouture for my honest review.

She needs to spend some time in London researching her book. He needs to get far away from London for a while to distance himself from some personal problems. They meet on a house sharing website and decide to swap homes for a while. Simple, right? The characters were in their late 30's and set in their ways but there was a lot of personal growth during the swap and they each became better versions of themselves. I don't want to spoil this sweet story but look for it's publication on April 19th, 2021. Well worth the read.

I've just finished this book and I'm in love! The characters of Cassie and James drew me in as I followed their story of swapping houses on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Their relationship was frustrating at times but heartwarming as it progressed. A great story of friendship, alpacas and love!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.

Overall I’d give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. I found it very slow and lacking chemistry. The two main characters swap houses and start talking. They’re polar opposites yet we are led to believe that after 7 months of barley talking they fall in love? They barely know each other!

I kept reading thinking the story would pick up, it it doesn’t! Then James does a huge 180, it’s very unbelievable. There was hardly any romance for being called a “romance” and there was no depth. Entirely predictable and frustrating.

A lovely love story. I loved how different Cassie and James were over the house swop with food, bedding etc. The notes made me laugh and the phone calls to the alpac . I loved how James grew and how Cassie's editor kept her private and public life seperate. Had no idea how it would end. It was lovely how James and his sister reconnected. Also how James finally told his best friends what his home life had really been like. A must read

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. This was a great book, I laughed and cried in equal measure, a definite must read.

The House Swap is the first book I’ve read by Jo Lovett and I really enjoyed it.

James needs and escape and Cassie needs an adventure so why not swap homes and continents for six months via a hike swap website? Cassie needs to leave her island hideaway off the coast of Maine to research her new book in London, whilst following a break up, James just wants to escape the city. After finding each other it seems like the perfect opportunity for both of them. However it seems it’s not simply a case of just swapping homes as they both get involved in each others lives. This is a heartwarming love story that I found hard to put down as I was eager to see how their friendship progressed and whether it would lead to more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

A lovely romance focusing on James and Cassie, two people who are looking to swap houses for completely different reasons. The combination of travel and romance made it a great feel-good read that made me want to get on a plane!

To begin with, I wasn't so keen on the character of James, but he definitely grew on me as his friendship with Cassie grew. It definitely gave me vibes of an up-to-date 'The Holiday'! There is some fantastic character development and a lovely ending between the two of them. The book sensitively dealt with issues of loss linked to the main characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A nice read. For me it was a bit slow and too much back and forth at the start. For me it was probably from about 70% in that I got truly invested and I couldn’t put it down. It was easy to read and flowed well. The descriptions of Cassies island were amazing and I enjoyed seeing the change in James as he spent more time there especially with the alpacas.

The ending was amazing and I loved seeing Cassie and James happy and together.

I adored this book from start to finish. I think some trigger warnings would be super helpful for it and readers to look at before reading it. I got through this book so quickly and truly loved it

From start to finish I absolutely adored this book.

The genre would be one of my favourites and this book did not disappoint.

A nice light, easy read, lovable characters, and a love story that was heart warming.

This is a book I would recommend and would definitely be looking out for more from Jo Lovett

I was intrigued by the storyline of The House Swap and I wondered how the two characters would fall for each other if they were living on separate continents. I won't spoil how the plot worked but I found it a really great read.

I loved both of the characters but I think James was my favourite and was a character that went through the most changes; from aloof city type who didn't want to get involved in island life to kind hearted man who worried about alpacas not eating.

I enjoyed the banter between James and Cassie in the first part of the book and really enjoyed how their relationship evolved. I'm quite a fan of enemies to lovers storylines. I would definitely recommend this book to people who love a good romance read.

TW for miscarriage, stalking, fertility/infertility, and many more I’m sure. Overall I really enjoyed this. I loved James and Cassie’s relationship and found myself rooting for them. Although the relationship moved super fast in my opinion and wasn’t quite believable. Over probably more of a 3.5 because I did enjoy.

A great feel good book - just what I wanted to read at this stage of lockdown.
Cassie and James both have reasons to want to get away - they do this by organising a “house swap” between England and the USA.
Cassie is off to London to work on her latest books no whilst she is staying in the flat belonging to James, she is going to attempt IVF with a sperm donor.
James is headed to America, thousands of miles away from his crazy ex girlfriend and ready to steer clear of the life and people that Cassie has left behind.
Things don’t always work out how you expect....

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters and the locations - I’m really missing London! - as well as the storyline and especially the ending. Thank you NetGalley for my chance to read and review.

A perfect holiday read. Engaging and easy to follow. This is my first book by this author but I would definitely read more.

Not gonna lie. I went into this book because the plot reminded me of The Holiday. Hello, one of my favourite movies, I had to read it.

James lives in London, Cassie lives in a secluded island off the Maine coast and they couldn't be more different. James cares about money, he lives in a beautiful flat in Holland Park and doesn't know his neighbours (erm, it's London, I don't know mine either). Cassie loves colours, she is friends with everyone, she looks after alpacas and chickens and she always has a smile on her lips.
They meet online, through a website for swapping houses. And there starts a journey of discovery for both of them, while Cassie moves to London and James to the US.

The story was cute but something was missing. I liked James' journey through it all, his development, but everything was a little wobbly.
It feels like not much is happening for the majority of the book, some parts dragging a little, and then all of a sudden everything happens so fast it feels a little odd.
Overall a cute read, and I really appreciated the deeper touches, like the IVF talk.

Also, now I really want to go to Maine on holiday. I mean, I already wanted to rent a cottage in the woods, even with my friends telling me I would end up the new protagonist of a Stephen King's novel (I'd be the dead one). Now I'm thinking I should swap the forest for a house on an island with alpacas in the garden.

When I started reading this book, I recognized that the story could be predictable. It was a bit predictable in the end but that’s what I enjoyed about it. I liked the variety of characters and found the backgrounds of Cassie and James to be interesting as they moved through their lives. This would be a must have book in your beach bag this summer!

A sweet romance, reminiscent of the Holiday, or the Flatshare. The characters are easy to like, despite James coming off as a bit unnecessarily abrupt in the first few chapters. The premise of the main characters switching houses for a few months was a bit weird, but did actually work really well and make for a great set up for the supporting characters to get just as much attention as the main ones, which was lovely to see.

It was both super cute and frustrating.

Allow me to set some thing straight before I say anything else. I loved the main couple. I think they are adorable together and they worked so great. I really enjoyed them. And I liked the overall plot and the book idea. It was good.

Now, this story was always moments away of being amazing and heart-breaking and I kinda can’t forgive the fact that it wasn’t. It’s weird when I find that I like all characters in a book and the author makes such a good job at creating authentic characters but I do feel motivations and in-depth inner monologues or some very serious introspective moments were missing from both main character and the result was a little bit lackluster. Like, take James’ motivations for not having children for example; I knew that it was going to result at then and while the struggle was there, I feel like it wasn’t hard enough. Long story short, I felt like when certain characters died in Infinity War and you knew they had contract for x number of movies so they’ll be back. That’s how I felt with all the stakes in this story.

Other than that, and I’ll argue that the lack of depth really hurt some important aspects of the book for me, I very much think this is a very funny and solid romance and I just wish it was more developed because the talent is there. And just another thing I like? The age. I feel like, as I get old and experience more stuff, I want the type of books I read or the stories I gravitate towards to reflect that a little bit. Not to say I'll dicth NA or YA, not at all of course fuck no but I like all these 30 someting people and their stories.