The Swap by Robyn Harding

The Swap by Robyn Harding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

June 23, 2020

NetGalley 

Women’s fiction, thriller, mystery, arc

Gallery Books

336 pages

ISBN: 9781982141769

7/8/20-7/11/20

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is definitely a page turner from beginning to end! I dare someone to start reading and not be so fascinated she tosses this book aside. It’s that compelling! Once I started reading my initial thoughts were quickly thrown in another direction. The characters are all so completely insane! Or, are they?!

In the Spring of 2019, Swallow (Low) Morrison is a 6’1” high school senior preparing to graduate from Bayview High. Since she was a loner and apathetic about a social life, she decides to take a gap year before college. Low is edgy and not easily impressed until she sees Freya Light enter her school to hang an advertisement for pottery classes. She immediately attracted to her and decides she needs to find out more about her.

She lives with her extremely unconventional family on a “hobby farm” on an island off the Pacific Coast. Her mother works as a bookkeeper from home and her father is a plumber. She also has 2 younger brothers: Leonard (11) and Wayne (9) until it’s announced that her mother is pregnant with her 4th child! They live on an island where couple swapping is called the Hawking Shuffle. It’s no wonder that Low is so ambiguous about relationships and sex. Her parents free loving hippie lifestyle was always a source of embarrassment for Low. In the end they seem to care and support her more than she realizes.

Freya Light and her husband Maxime Beausoleil move to the island for a fresh start after a tumultuous event turns them from loved celebrities to despised villains. Max has a career ending accident as a pro-hockey player which ultimately leads to the Freya the model turned social media influencer with no followers.

Low has developed an unhealthy obsession with Freya who easily changes friends when the mood strikes her. It’s no surprise that Low is receiving mixed signals from Freya. Jealousy has a way of creeping in when least expected. That is, Freya becomes friends with Jamie and Brian Vincent who are also new to the area. Things get messy when Low and Jamie feel like they are competing for Freya’s undivided attention.

Jamie is a married woman with no friends since they moved to Hawking. She latches on to the magnetic Freya as a lifeline to a normal social life. Little does she realize that Freya lives anything but a normal lifestyle. It’s when Jamie decides to trust Freya to be “a little wild” that her life turns upside down.

This story is a rollercoaster of emotions as these jealous and manipulative characters try to maintain their toxic relationships. No one is prepared for how their obsessions will ultimately change their lives.



View all my reviews