Life Swap

by Jane Green

The New York Times bestselling author of The Other Woman returns with a wry tale of two women who discover the grass is not always greener on the other side of the Atlantic

Vicky Townsley is single, solvent, and seriously successful. Features director of the hugely successful Poise! magazine, she has an amazing flat, good friends, a fantastic wardrobe . . . in short, everything-except the life she wants: marriage, children, and a house in the country. On the other side of the Atlantic, Amber Winslow has a stone mansion in Connecticut, two kids (and a full-time nanny), the requisite golden retriever, and a busy charitable commitment for the local Women's League. But she hasn't quite found the fulfillment she had expected from being a wife and mother. When she spots an intriguing contest in Poise!, Amber never expects to be picked.

Life Swap is a riotous and poignant look at what happens when two women, both of whom think their bliss lies elsewhere, walk in each other shoes for a month only to discover that happiness is closer than they'd ever thought. A rich, clever, and sharply observed chronicle of the true lives of women, Life Swap is a must read for the modern mademoiselle that will again squarely position Jane Green in a preeminent place in women's fiction

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Audiobook, Adult

463 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Jane Green's twenty first novel, Sister Stardust, is out April 5th 2022.

She is the author of eighteen previous New York Times Bestselling novels, and known as one of the world's leading authors in women's fiction, with over ten million books in print, and translations in over 25 languages.

Previous novels have included The Beach House, Second Chance, Jemima J, and Tempting Fate.

She joined the ABC News team to write their first enhanced digital book— about the history of Royal marriages, then joined ABC News as a live correspondent covering Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton.

A former journalist in the UK, she has had her own radio show on BBC Radio London, and is a regular contributor on radio and TV, including as well as regularly appearing on television shows including Good Morning America, The Martha Stewart show, and The Today Show.

Together with writing books and blogs, she contributes to various publications, both online and print, including anthologies and novellas, and features for The Huffington Post, The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan and Self. She has taught at writers conferences, and does regular keynote speaking, and has a weekly column in The Lady magazine, England’s longest running weekly magazine.

A graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, Green is bringing out her first cookbook: Good Taste , with Berkley in October 2016.

She is a storyteller for The Moth radio hour on NPR,
and lives in Westport, Connecticut with her husband and their blended family. When she is not writing, cooking, gardening, filling her house with friends and herding chickens, she is usually thanking the Lord for caffeine-filled energy drinks.


Jane's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jane-Gr...

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swapping Lives is a standalone women's fiction novel written by author Jane Green. I was very optimistic about this title when I read the book synopsis- who wouldn't want to swap lives with someone else for a while??- but unfortunately I was disappointed. I almost added it to my "lost interest" shelf after the first half (more like 60%) bored me to tears. The second half was a little better (when the two women finally swapped lives) but it wasn't good enough to make up for the overall somewhat dull experience. This book was just ok for me. I wouldn't discourage fans of women's fiction from reading it though because I have read Jane Green before and absolutely loved it even though the overall goodreads ratings were pretty low. Maybe with Swapping Lives, it was the fact that I just couldn't relate to either of these characters or their lives at all, and it's hard to feel engaged in something you are just reading the words to and not feeling emotionally invested in. I give Swapping Lives 2.5 stars, rounding up to 3 stars on goodreads.

My favorite quote:
"It's not what you think about that matters in life, it's what you actually do about it."

[Ashley P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated, hated, hated this book. I only finished it because I paid 70 cents for it dagnabbit. The character of Amber is the biggest Mary Sue I've ever read. I wanted to smack her idiotic face off. She's such a horrible person, always competing with her "friends", lying to her husband about spending, ignoring her kids, etc, but the author tells us numerous times that everyone just loves her and they understand that she's such a great person and that she really does love her kids. I kept thinking the author was being sarcastic placing all the fake praise on Amber, but no, she really means it.
This book had so many inconsistencies and eye-rolling scenes that it was ridiculous. I will for sure not read any more of this author's works.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6...

What a boring novel! I found this terribly dull and flat with page after page of repetitive descriptions of the life styles of the two shallow protagonists Amber and Vicky. Amber Winslow the American social climber, full time wife and mother and Vicky Townsley the single successful English girl leading a tough but hectic life as Features Director of a magazine. The theme of the novel is as the title implys a Life Swap between these two women neither of whom is satisfied with her life. The swap is therefore to see if it is true that in theory the grass is always greener and at the same time provide good magazine copy.
I know this is chick lit and I chose to read it as easy entertainment not expecting a great literary work, but I would have appreciated a story that either I can relate to in some way or has some excitement to offer.
This was not even entertaining so why did I bother? I suppose I just kept hoping it might improve, but it didn't, in fact the ending was as much of a let down as the rest of the book.
I have read three other titles by Jane Green of which I have no recollection at all, somehow I do not think I will be going out of my way to read any more of her novels. That is not saying that I cannot see the appeal they may have to others, just not for me. Too old maybe not the market the author is aiming to appeal to!

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm going to just come out and say it... this is the worst bit of chick lit that I've ever had the displeasure to read. As mentioned in other reviews, the repetitiveness of lifestyles was nonstop and exhausting. I was looking for something light and easy yet found myself skipping over large sections (entire pages!!) that were either redundant or useless information (it was simply a complete waste of trees to waste pages and pages on the other potential candidates... as if the fact that there are two main characters isn't enough, it says who does the swap right on the darn jacket!). A related point is that the author makes it so OBVIOUS at Hugh Janus's entry as a seemingly minor role that he'll have more to do with the story later on as Green launches into a full background report during their meeting. I mean, really?!

Anyway, what I found most unlikeable about this novel was the complete emptiness of its characters. I downright despised Amber and felt that Green's attempt to give her some depth and credibility by giving her a history in law was laughable. Green obviously just tossed that in to fill a bit of Amber's vapidness but to have literally wrote nothing other than "she went to law school and became a lawyer for a few years" multiple times just doesn't cut it. What also irked me was Amber describing herself as "secure", thus having absolute trust in her husband. What a complete contradiction to everything we'd seen of Amber at that point. No self-sure, secure woman would've allowed her entire life to be dictated by a bunch of Queen B's.

My apologies for this coming off as more of a rant but this book actually *angered* me. Never have I had such dislike for a character we're supposed to sympathize with (Hello! I'm a 30 year old single mother to two children; no nannies, cooks, gardeners here! If I can't sympathize with you, who will?!). Lightweight stories should still have at least a miniscule amount of character depth / growth and for god sakes a bit of mystery... Don't spell it all out by the third chapter and then act as though *anything* could happen.

[Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 At the very most...SSSOOOO where to begin? LOL... It was a total chick-lit and I thought it would be a light read but it seriously could've been made into a cutsie short story of 250 pages the most and be done but NNOOOO the author decided it needed to be over 400 pages.

My brain cells died after the plot began. A single 35 yr old girl in London that wants a house, hubby and kids-- works for a magazine and shags multiple losers. A middle aged lost (who am I?) mom in Connecticut, USA-- has the kids, a great husband (Wall Street), and a McMansion with lots of help as in nanny, gardeners, pool guy, etc...

The magazine editor gets the idea to do a "Life Swap." So they do and they come to terms with what is messed up in their lives and learn that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

I COULD NOT RELATE to the characters! They were rich whiny people that had no idea how ppl in the real world live. The mom from the US seemed to have a good heart but was dumb as H*LL. The London girl was funny but couldn't stop screwing guys that told her she was not ugly. I can't give my short life back the hours I lost. (Laughing awkwardly to myself)

[Donna Weber ( Recuperating from Surgery) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this definitely cute fun premise about two thirty something women swapping lives.
Told in the third person, unfortunately it read like an extremely long narrative filled with lengthy monologues and an abundance of characters that seemed to have no bearing on the story. This novel had some moments that were entertaining and even interesting at times but the abundance of minutiae leading up to the swap was never-ending. It took until more than halfway through the book which I skimmed, something I never do to get to the actual swap. The most interesting part of the book is wrapped up quickly and conveniently. A book with potential, but disappointing none the less…
I’ve read other books by this author I’ve enjoyed, so would definitely try other books that hopefully are a better fit for me.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I was delighted to see the main topics tackled, especially as it's considered "chick lit", were not about attaining the perfect guy or finding the perfect "shag" or following some bumbling female who doesn't do her job properly but somehow finds true love and sucess suddenly, and predictibly, at the end of the book... but rather about substantial and relevent stuff that we all deal with in our day to day lives: like what the most important things to have in your life in order to acheive true peace and happiness we all seem to be yearning for and addressing our every day snap judgements. So, if this sounds good to you grab a copy and enjoy! :)

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant story about two women who decide to 'swap lives' for a month. Vicky works for a fashion magazine in London and as part of a feature article, decides to swap lives with an American mother and social climber, Amber. Neither women are happy with their lives and think they need a change, and wonder if 'the grass is greener on the other side'. Some hilarious moments ensue and the story gave me a lot of laughs. Easy to identify with both women, and a really fun story. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, a perfect summer read.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK, I know this is a big call but this really was quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. Seriously. And while I love me a bit of literature I'm also no book snob and not averse to a bit of craptastic drivel or lighthearted chick-lit for a read on the beach either. I'm just grateful I didn't buy this book. It was lying around at my parent's house presumably from a guest who had left it there and as I had nothing to read I picked it up.

I'm one of those people who feel compelled to finish a book regardless of whether I'm enjoying it or not. Reader's guilt perhaps? Anyway, I read this ridiculous book cover to cover and I swear I've dumbened for it (nod to Lisa S).

I'm not going to go into the story as it has been covered more than adequately by others but honestly this book felt like such a waste of my time and whoever's money paid for it that I feel compelled to rate it.

In fairness the premise was OK. Two women swap lives to see if the grass is greener. But the execution was just appalling. I couldn't help but feel that poor Jane was under some immense pressure to churn out a book as part of some contract so she pretty much vomited this one out as quickly as possible. It's like she had an idea than had a day or two to get it done. The inner 'reflections' of the key characters were literally like stream of consciousness - hello editor, where were you? And the writing seemed so lazy that at one point she even switched the names of the main characters. One minute we've got Amber lamenting her pretentious life only to then have it switch mid thought to Vicky. Then back to Amber. Huh?

I don't blame Ms Green necessarily. By all accounts her other books are pretty readable and enjoyable (not that I'll read any of them now - I've been burned) but this one seems to have slipped through the cracks.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

First of all, this book was terrible. TERRIBLE. My review is mostly retching sounds. The fact that it's rated four stars on goodreads is proof that not only is humanity doomed, but also that we deserve it. In defense of this terrible, terrible book, with the terrible cliche plot and the two dimensional characters and the sickly pink cover and the author photo that looks like a knock off Sarah Jessica Parker who never heard the 90s were over, I knew it was going to be a terrible book when I bought it for $2 (I overpaid) at the local library, but sometimes you get tired of reading big important books and decide to settle for something UNGODLY TERRIBLE. The last 30 pages were sheer torture; I skimmed it. Also the fact that she couldn't convincingly switch back and forth between a character who uses London slang and a woman from Connecticut basically tells you the writer is crap, if you somehow managed to overlook every single other red flag, which was all of it. The good news is, I wanted to be a lady with a terrible pink book on vacation who absent-mindedly speeds through it while lounging and that's exactly what I did.

But it was fucking terrible.

[Allyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes, this book was a total mess. It was 3/4 back story! The actual plot didn't start until disc 6, and it was a 10-disc audio book! You got into every character's head and life story while two characters were in the middle of a conversation, making it incredibly confusing once the author jumped back into the present moment. Usually, I don't mind that writing technique, but when you're doing it for every character, rather than the main, and jumping between them all, it feels bogged down and slow. No humor either, which is disappointing, given Green's stellar work on "Mr. Maybe" and "Jemima J." This one was just...bad.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swapping Lives is the story of Vickie Townsley and Amber Winslow. Vickie is the features director at Poise magazine in England and is living the life of an urban, single woman in her mid-thirties. Amber is a rich housewife in Connecticut. Amber enters and wins a contest sponsored Poise magazine to swap lives with Vickie for a month to see if the grass really is greener on the other side. Is being a single girl as carefree and fun as it seems? Is being a rich, suburban housewife less stressful than being a career gal?

This was definitely a fluffy, chick-lit book. It was entertaining to read about Amber’s McMansion and her superficial social circle of Junior League friends. At the same time, I think reading it while currently experiencing a horrible economy (in real life) took some of the fun out of it. Amber’s friends, and to a lesser extent Amber, are so materialistic it’s almost unbelievable. When Amber is living Vickie’s life in England, she’s incredulous that one of Vickie’s stay at home mom friends actually takes care of her two children WITHOUT A NANNY. Maybe some wealthy people really are that clueless to how regular people live but Amber’s character grew up in a trailer park so I found it hard to believe in her case.

One thing that irritated me about this book is the lack of editing of the American dialogue. This book is written by an English woman and I would think someone would check the dialogue of the American characters to make sure it’s authentic. But the American characters say things like, “He just turned up” and “I want a proper dinner”. One English character tells an American character that they are being “saucy” and the American character had never heard of that word. It’s not really a big deal but it was distracting.
This was a good book to listen to in the car – it didn’t require much deep thought but was light and fun. It would be a good summer beach read too.

[Nina · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5⭐️
Plot kwam veelste laat in dit boek en verder was het een mislukte namaak van The Holiday.

[Sandra]

I'm about 40 or so pages into this book, and as yet it isn't really grabbing me. I'm going to give it just a bit longer and see if I get into it more, but when I avoid reading because I'm not that into a book, then I know that it's almost time to find something different to read. I usually like Jane Green, but this time, I'm just not sure. I have a heap of other books from the library to read, so if I'm not 'taken' in the next chapter or so, I'll be giving up on this one!

Well I've just read reviews from other readers, and I don't think I'll even bother trying to finish this one. It just doesn't sound like it's worth my time. Like so many other readers, I found it difficult to relate to the characters, and just didn't really find them very likeable. Another book to add to my 'started, but not finished' shelf!!

[Kathleen Brunnett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! A waste of my precious reading time. This book was given to me by a co-worker as it is one of her favorites. Note to self: politely decline next time she approaches with a book.

[Ellen Roxenius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was it the cheesiest book I’ve ever read? Yes. Did I somehow still enjoy it? Yes.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a disappointment! I saw the title and immediately thought of reality shows. Therefore, I thought this book would be really cute and funny.

Amber is an American married housewife with two children and feels like she is missing something from her life. Vicky is a British single career woman who envies women who are married and have children.

At this point the book really dragged for me. I was beginning to wonder if these two people were ever going to swap lives. The swap didn't seem to last very long and I was dissatisfied that it wasn't very humorous.

So overall I would give this book a 2.5 stars out of five...

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Qué mierda es esto?

[Karen Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice easy read.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certainly not the easy piece of fluff I was expecting, but it wasn't deep either. The actual "swap" (the supposed plot of the book) takes place very far in, and only for an extremely short amount of time/pages. We barely even see the swap, it's glossed over with saying each person was good at the other life, but missed their own. Show, don't tell!
For most of the book, Ms. Green employs odd time jumps, the character Vicky might be sitting at the breakfast table, then it jumps back to the night before, then an hour before, then back to the table, with no cues to help piece together the timing. I kept getting confused and had to turn back a page or two.

She also interrupts the story VERY often to give us insight and motivation into every character. We hear eight hundred times that the husband and wife will remain faithful and then get a rant about men and women being friends. We get a discussion of why a male friend with benefits doesn't want to settle down. We hear a convoluted back story about a girlfriend who wants to poke holes into condoms in order to get pregnant. It very much felt like Ms Green was trying to round out the characters, but it didn't work, it just threw me out of the story to have the omniscient third person give me long winded explanations.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say I really enjoyed this book. Who would not fantasize over living someone else's life? For a chick lit book, it was detailed with enough info about the different characters and what motivated them to want a change. I was glad I read it even after reading some not so nice reviews.
Funny, heartfelt, and fairly true enough.

[Linda Solomon · Rating 3 out of 5]

- debatable characterisation of american family
- a few errors regarding names
- intriguing plot, although fairly predictable
- was expecting a bit more drama in regards to certain actions
- depiction of Highfield was enticing and vivid
- probably wouldnt read again

[Colleen Whale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vicky is a single woman in London, who has to attend dinner parties alone and spends her weekends with her brother and sister-in-law living the perfect life in the country with their children. She keeps thinking about how wonderful it would be to be married and have children of her own. While discussing this at work, where she works for Poise! magazine, the next thing she knows she's agreeing to do a Life Swap with a married woman. After reading lots of responses, and meeting some prospect "Swappers", the one that "wins" is Amber Winslow, who lives in the suburbs in Connecticut. She has a big fancy house, gorgeous rich husband who works on Wall Street, adorable and well-behaved children, and a fat lazy golden retriever. Amber really does have the perfect life! But Amber doesn't feel this way and that's why she wrote in to switch. She has found herself getting caught up with "keeping up with the Jones's" and just needs a break from the Desperate Housewives scene. While the original agreement was for a month, after two weeks, we read on for quite a few pages of how neither of them feel they should've agreed for a month (seriously, so much repetition!). Overall, this book is okay. I absolutely hated Amber with every bone in my body. I'm sorry, but she's just a gold digging annoying wench of a woman. I feel like by the end of the book I was supposed to like Amber but I just didn't. I liked Vicky, she was the quintessential cheeky single British woman, but less ditzy than "Shopaholic" and less sad than Bridget Jones. I liked her. I feel like she set out what she wanted out of the mission. I wish we'd been able to read the final article at the end and I wish there was more of a resolution but at the same time, I was kind of glad to be done with this book by the time it ended.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho trovato il libro eccessivamente pesante nonostante lo argomento.
I pensieri della protagonista sono sempre gli stessi, fissata col trovare un marito a tutti i costi. La co-protagonista sembra uscita da Desperate Housewives, tranne che per avere tutto questo, ha faticato fin dalla giovinezza e alla fine neanche le piace!
Sono dovuta arrivare al sesto capito per trovare qualcosa d’interessante che mi convincesse ad arrivare alla fine del libro che poi l'unica cosa che mi ha sorpreso veramente è stato un meleto!
La delusione totale è stata lo scambio tra le due protagoniste doveva durare un mese e invece hanno fatto quindici giorni, non so perché ma ho avuto la sensazione che la scrittrice non sapesse che altro scrivere per coprire le ultime due settimane, oltre che quei quindici giorni scritti sono stati rapidi e frettolosi.
Secondo me, non vale la pena leggerlo, salvo che non piacciano parecchio gli stereotipi e le cose ridondanti.

[Cheryl Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't sure if I was going to like or finish the book when I was 4 chapters in. There was a lot of 'waffle' about how the house was decorated and it went on a bit too long. However I read it quite quickly so it didn't drag on and it ended the way I thought it would. Not a book I would read again ,some of it didn't really interest me. Ok if that's the only book you can find (better than no book at all!) but you wouldn't want to be stuck on a plane/train with only this to read.

[Jennsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a solid 4.5 story that is funny in places. In short, it is about a London journalist who decides to swap her single life with the life of an American married woman who is living the life with a rich husband in a suburb but who is also unhappy and wanting more from her life. Both women swap their lives and come to some realisations.

[ReadWithE · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm waffling between 3 and 4 stars because I'm a sucker for a happy ending. But there were some things in here that are really a product of their time and I'm hoping to leave those days in the past where they belong.

[Allison Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, chic lit style book

[Mayra Fernandez Duran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuando uno cambia lo que tiene , regresa agradecido de lo que tuvo. Lindo libro :) Un libro que cuesta dejar de leerlo