WILLA Film director LA insider Impulsive Looks like Alice
ALICE Eco warrior LA tourist Cautious Looks like Willa
Alice can't wait to visit Willa in LA – home of Hollywood, where dreams come true. Their plan is to explore the city and see the sights, but then Willa gets the opportunity to work on the film project of her dreams and she can’t say no! The only problem is she is absolutely 100% supposed to be taking part in a beach clean-up. Which, now she thinks of it, sounds pretty perfect for Alice... Can the girls really swap lives again? Cue plotting, outfit swapping and award-winning performances. But everyone knows that real life is nothing like the movies…
The second instalment in THE SWITCH UP series and the perfect read for fans of GEEK GIRL and SUPER AWKWARD.
Katy was born in Abu Dhabi, grew up in Wales, went to university in Lancaster, spent a few years splitting her time between London, Hertfordshire, and an assortment of hotels across the world. She now lives in a little market town not far from Cambridge. She has a husband, two children, a goldfish, and far too many notebooks.
Katy likes to write stories about the importance of friends and family, and especially those friends who become family. She considers herself most fortunate to have been blessed with an abundance of all three.
As a teenager, Katy was constantly in trouble for reading when she should have been doing something else. These days, she mostly gets in trouble for dreaming up new stories when she should be writing the ones she’s already working on.
Katy’s debut YA novel, LOVE, LIES & LEMON PIES, has been translated into eight languages. Her next book, AND THEN WE RAN, will be released in April 2017.
Katy is represented by Gemma Cooper at The Bent Agency.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
After being caught pulling the switch up last summer, Willa and Alice have become the best of friends. With Willa now living in LA, and Alice in London, they haven't seen each other for 9 months, but the Easter holidays is just around the corner, and Alice is headed for California to spend her break with Willa. But when Willa gets into trouble at school, and is forced to 'volunteer' at a local beach clean up charity, as well as being invited to help with a film shoot, she's spread too thin. How can she do both of these, and spend time with Alice? Can they pull off another switch, or have they learnt from the past?
This book was a quicker read that the first one, but at the same time, I think I got a little more annoyed at parts. I loved that Alice and Willa have stayed in touch, and are now really close friends, but really, have they learnt nothing? They knew that they had hurt people - namely Luca and Hal, and their parents - by the lies in the summer, so why could they think that to have Alice take Willa's place at the beach clean up, getting to know and grow close to Jake, without it causing some pain? I did like how it was all resolved though, and I think I'd probably read a sequel - I want to know what happens with Alice's dad's wedding. If you liked book 1, you'd probably enjoy this one.
In this book we rejoin the lives of Willa and Alice who are, two friends who look practically identical and in this adventure Alice heads out to LA to stay with Willa.
When Alice flies to LA to stay with Willa, she gets roped in to help. Willa should be volunteering at an ocean conservation charity but can't as she wants to help make a film, so Alice fills in for her. Only while there she falls for Jake only he believes she's Willa and as they get closer Alice has to come clean, will Jake understand why she did it and will Willa get on in her dream of being an actor and director wwith a successful first project?
Of course, will they actually get away with switching up places once again too?
I love The Switch up books, I grew up watching The Parent Trap film which is reminiscent of these books only these are more modern times and older characters too. The drama is constantly evolving and engaging and of course the not knowing if they'll get caught out swapping places kept me hooked it's a fun light read that teenagers will enjoy!
Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!
I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I read The Switch Up last year and found it to be the perfect summer read, full of friendships and the importance of family. So, I was overjoyed to find out that The Switch Up: L.A. Exchange was in the works and was delighted when I received an early copy. I was excited to get stuck into yet another adventure with Alice and Willa.
The Switch Up: L.A. Exchange follows Alice and Willa, as Alice visits Willa in L.A. – the place where dreams can come true. The girls plan to explore the sights is place under jeopardy when Willa gets the chance to help work on a film project, but also has to volunteer at a beach clean up, which sounds like the perfect job for Alice. Soon the girls are plotting to swap lives again, but will it work a second time without them causing chaos?
This was an enjoyable, quick, easy read that had me feeling all summery in the process. It’s full of quick schemes and adventure that will have you laughing but will also leave you feeling emotional at some points. Being back in the lives of Alice and Willa was so refreshing and it was great seeing them back to their old tricks again. It made me realise how much I had missed these characters and I was engrossed in their lives again.
The setting of L.A. was one that I was hooked on. As someone who would love to visit that area of USA, I found it interesting to learn about and discover all the tourist attractions and being able to visualise it through our protagonists. The beach where Alice volunteers was a particular location that I found to be the most vivid in forms of description and it had me longing to go there. Maybe one day in the future I’ll make it there. Also, you could tell how much research Katy had put into the setting, and it had me thinking that she’s been there before by how intricate the details were.
Plot-wise, it was both entertaining and engaging, and despite it being a little bit predictable I still found myself enjoying the overall story. Having Alice and Willa swap lives again could be seen as repetitive, however, the arc of the plot was different to the first book in many ways and you don’t see it as being tedious. I think I enjoyed this storyline to that of the first book and this was mainly because we got to see the two girls come out of their shells in regards to both their friendship and their personalities. We see Alice become more confident in herself and learn that she doesn’t need to act like Willa. She has her adventure and when Willa isn’t acting like the best friend, Alice stands up to her. Willa, on the other hand, learns to think of others before herself, and she realises that she needs to treat her friends and also her family better. In a way the journeys of both the girls go off in opposing ways, but like they say opposites attract.
A few themes that are relevant to real-life are brought up within The Switch Up: L.A. Exchange, but the one that stood out to me was the environmental message. Alice is a huge advocate for environmental change and she does all she can to try and make the world more environmentally friendly. Seeing her volunteer at the beach clean up and going on the march was inspiring and has made me want to strive to do all I can to help the planet. She’s a proper eco-warrior and we need to see more characters like her in YA and MG.
The Switch Up: L.A. Exchange was lighthearted, pleasurable read that is perfect for summer reading and I have my fingers and toes crossed that there’s a third book. I need it.
3.5/4 stars Going into this book directly after finishing the first book, I didn’t know what to expect as I felt like the first book wrapped up really nicely. I really enjoyed this book, especially Alice’s development throughout it. Willa kind of annoyed me in this book, and I felt like she spent the two thirds of the book being a bad friend and being incredibly selfish to everyone around her, but in the final third she did improve and realised how she was being a bad friend. I did enjoy the new characters introduced within this book, especially Jake, but I did miss some of the characters we met in the first book, in particular Hal, Mabel and Luca. Overall, this was a solid sequel to The Switch Up and I’ll definitely read the third book (which will hopefully be set around Mabel and Alice’s dads wedding)
The eARC of this book was sent to me by Little Tiger Group via Netgalley.
I didn't enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed the first book in this series. However I did enjoy being back in this crazy mixed up world and being back with Alice and Willa. I think this series is loads of fun and a bit of a giggle. I have been feeling a bit slumpy recently and this book was a total pick me up when I needed it most. I love the characters and their crazy schemes. I really enjoy the nostalgia that it gives me for The Parent Trap. The plot may be a tad nonsensical in this series but it provides loads of mischief and laughter along the way. A super quick and enjoyable read. 3 out of 5 Stars.
I wasn't particularly sold on this book. There was something about it that didn't quite gel for me. The pace is very up and down whereas you would expect it to be steady for this type of book. Not bad storyline but I couldn't quite click with this one, unfortunately.
The Switch Up: L. A. Exchange is a fun and intriguing read. It's got a good strong plot even if the pace of the story could be better. Very likeable and diverse characters which are very easy to relate to. The story is very current and relevant.
Un livre qui nous emporte dans le monde des États Unis. Du suspense, et de l’aventure, un livre qui fait vibrer toutes les tranches d’âges ! Je recommande de lire d’abord le tome un pour mieux comprendre l’histoire. Un livre que je recommande vivement !
It’s taken me a frankly ridiculous level of time to get to this given how much I always adore Katy’s books, but this was a spot of sunshine in a horribly dark week, so in a way I’m grateful that I left it till now. This is the sequel to 2018’s the Switch Up, and it sees Willa and Alice (who look like each other even though they’re not related) swap places again when Alice goes to visit Willa in LA for spring break. Alice has to volunteer at the Shore Project, a punishment Willa was supposed to undertake for a misunderstanding at school, while Willa helps shoot a short film which she sees as the first step to her achieving her dream of becoming a director. I love its messages about climate change/the climate crisis, and how hard it can be to fit into new situations you didn’t really choose, but most of all I just love how fun these books are! They’re incredibly readable and I often found myself reading a lot more than “just one chapter”, every time I said that to myself. I’m delighted with myself for picking it up so close to the time it’s set at, and I just had such a good time catching up with the characters and getting some cameos from book one’s characters, via text messages and phone calls mostly. I also loved the reference to How to Write a Love Story!
A nice short story, which is great to read while you are on the train on your holiday. A bit predictable. It reminded me of one of the old Olsen twin movies. Still, something easy to read on a hot summer day.