Title: Body Swap
Author: Sylvia McNicoll
Release Date: September 15, 2018
Publisher: Dundurn
Pages: 248
Source: PDF provided by publisher
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Overall: 4 STARS

SUMMARY 

A fatal collision — who’s to blame? Two bodies, two souls switch in search of justice.

When fifteen-year-old Hallie gets knocked flying by a Hurricane SUV, her life ends without her ever having kissed a boy. At an otherworldly carnival, she meets and argues with the eighty-two-year-old driver, Susan. Both return to life, only with one catch — they’ve swapped bodies.

Now Hallie has wrinkled skin and achy joints while Susan deals with a forehead zit and a crush on a guy who’s a player. Hallie faces a life in a long-term care residence. Susan gets picked up for shoplifting.

As they struggle with technology, medications, and each other’s fashion foibles, they start to understand and maybe even like each other. But can they work together to prove that a defect in the Hurricane caused the deadly crash? Or will their time run out? 

MY THOUGHTS
When a twist of fate causes 15-year-old Hallie and 82-year-old Susan to switch bodies, how will they return to their own bodies? When I first read the plot description for Sylvia McNicoll's Body Swap, I was immediately intrigued! For many of you, the plot might bring to mind something along the lines of Freaky Friday, but my first thought was actually a Chinese movie called 20 Once Again. It's about a grandmother who becomes a teen again and experiences love and family from a new perspective. The movie was funny and sweet, and I'd hoped Body Swap could evoke those same feelings.

And it sure did! Hilarious and heartwarming, Sylvia McNicoll's Body Swap is an unforgettable story of life and death, a very unlikely friendship, and an engaging look at how technology can both help and harm us. Hallie's reaction when she finds herself an old lady were laugh-out-loud funny. Wrinkly skin! Bulging blue veins! Aching joints! And then there's Susan, who's absolutely enjoying feeling young and athletic again, who doesn't need to worry about arthritis or taking her daily pills.

To get their bodies back, Hallie and Susan must team up to prove there's a brake defect in Hurricane SUVs, the vehicle which struck Hallie and killed her, and caused Susan to have a heart attack... and basically got them all into this mess. But before they can begin their investigation, Hallie and Susan must convince their families that everything is normal. They immediately buy the latest smartphone to help them text/call/video chat each other (thanks Susan's Visa card!) and invent a reason for the pair to be together in front of their friends and family.

I really enjoyed seeing Hallie mature over the course of the book. This little adventure is sort of blessing for Susan because she's already experienced life and raised her children; feeling young again for a few days is a joy. But for Hallie, it feels like the end of the world. She's never even kissed a boy! She's much more indignant about being in an old body, and it gives her a deeper sense of appreciation for her own body, one she felt was always a little too short and thighs too big. And by pretending to be Susan, Hallie realizes it's actually hard to be elderly. Your body is slowly failing you, people don't trust your memory or judgement, and you can feel lonely. Susan's son also keeps encouraging her to live in a nursing home.

I absolutely enjoyed reading Syvia McNicoll's Body Swap! It had compassion. It had heart. It brought the laughs. I just had all the feels by the time I finished reading it. I really wanted Hallie and Susan to get their bodies back, to find a happy peace with their lives. And with the novel set in Burlington, Ontario, I loved catching all the Canadian references like Alice Munro, the Blue Jays baseball team, and the QEW. A story set in a Canadian city and written by a Canadian author. Yes! So. Awesome.