The Book:
The Seven Day Switch by Kelly Harms
Published July 1st 2021 by Lake Union Publishing
Date read: June 30, 2021
The Characters:
Celeste
Wendy
Their families
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Celeste Mason is the Pinterest stay-at-home supermom of other mothers’ nightmares. Despite her all-organic, SunButter-loving, free-range kids, her immaculate home, and her volunteering awards, she still has time to relax with a nice glass of pinot at the end of the day. The only thing that ruins it all is her workaholic, career-obsessed neighbor, who makes no secret of what she thinks of Celeste’s life choices every chance she gets.
Wendy Charles is a celebrated productivity consultant, columnist, and speaker. On a minute-by-minute schedule, she makes the working-mom hustle look easy. She even spends at least one waking hour a day with her kids. She’s not apologizing for a thing. Especially to Celeste, who plays her superior parenting against Wendy whenever she can.
Who do Celeste and Wendy think they are? They’re about to find out thanks to one freaky week. After a neighborhood potluck and too much sangria, they wake up—um, what?—in each other’s bodies. Everything Celeste and Wendy thought they knew about the “other kind of mom” is flipped upside down—along with their messy, complicated, maybe not so different lives.
The Review:
How is it that a book can make me simultaneously never want kids and want them asap? My ovaries are confused. I LOVED this book, though. The gist is that in a Freaky Friday-type body swap, workaholic mom Wendy and busy stay-at-home mom Celeste switch bodies and therefore lives. Wendy has to juggle Celeste’s crazy carpool and bake sale schedule, and Celeste has to keep Wendy’s small business afloat while keeping her family running in the evenings.
Obviously, they’re both in for a wild ride.
I loved Freaky Friday, so I knew this book would be right up my ally. It was so fun to see both sides of parenting choices, and read about how Celeste and Wendy aren’t as different as they’d thought. It was also interesting to see how Wendy’s life looked different through Celeste’s eyes and vice versa, and it helped them to realize things about themselves just by seeing life from someone else’s point of view.
Kelly’s writing is so good. Some scenes were straight-up hilarious! I have The Overdue Life Of Amy Byler on my shelves but haven’t read it yet, but now I’m going to have to prioritize it!
The message is that you truly can’t compare yourself to others, motherhood looks different for everyone, and everyone is trying their best. Definitely check this one out this summer!
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