Body Swap by Sylvia McNicoll

The Quick Cut: A fifteen year old teen girl and an eighty two year old woman swap bodies after getting into a car accident with each other. After feuds and miscommunications, these two do what they can to prove that what happened wasn't their fault and take advantage of their second chance at life.

A Real Review:

Thank you to Dundurn Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I inhaled this book in the time span of about 4 hours. Although it definitely has its flaws, the banter and chemistry between our two leading ladies really keeps the story moving so quickly that I quite literally didn't realize how much time had passed.

Hallie is a fifteen year old whose sole focus is boys - particularly Chael. The bane of her existence is the bus she needs to ride in order to get around town, like the mall she goes to with her friends. On this specific day, she is on her way to the mall with her blue haired best friend Abby. Its when they get off the bus and make their way towards their destination that Hallie gets run over by eight two year old Susan driving a new Hurriane SUV.

When these two meet at this afterlife carnival, they immediately dislike each other and start to fight. Neither of them wants anything to do with each other and why would they? Hallie says that Susan shouldn't be driving at eighty years old and killed her while Susan continues to insist that the car malfunctioned. Susan says that Hallie is young, entitled, and has no understanding of respect for others around her. Its in this moments that an olderworldly being Eli gives them a second chance at life and sends them back with a small hitch - they're going back in one another's bodies.

That's right - this is Freaky Friday, extreme ages version. May I say so myself, the story is done very well from start to finish when it comes to these two learning to listen to each other. While they each had their own problems and issues with each other, they eventually learn to put that aside in order to survive their new situations without getting caught. In the process, they learn something new about what its like living the other person's life and appreciating what they had to begin with. Hallie and Susan even start making an effort of protecting each other's best interests before the halfway mark!

There are plenty of flaws in the story too though. Hallie and Susan really are fairly stereotypical versions of the teenager and older woman. Hallie is self centered, only interested in boys, and ignores anyone who isn't her own age without any care for anyone else. Susan is an older woman who is brittle, being harassed by family to move into an old age community, and feels like young people are the problem. These characters could've been diversified a little bit from the social stereotype here. Plus, the SUV storyline gets fairly hard to believe by the end. Although its a perfect way to get our characters together with one goal, it also seemed too far fetched to happen in real life. A company wouldn't cover up like that if they were that wide scale of an organization without being bankrupt overnight.

Even with all its issues, this book is a quick read well worth the chemistry and banter between the two leads.

My rating: 4 out of 5