The Phone Swap by Lia Louis – A Book Review
Book Title: The Phone Swap
Author: Lia Louis
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: ★ (1/5)
Summary: Allie Lake is a scientist on a held-up flight travelling home from a job when she is seated next to troubled movie star Milo Ford. She is in no mood to talk to him, whoever he might be. Her most recent project at a research station has just come to an end, and she’s about to move in with her sister, and her love life is non-existent. As for Milo, he wants nothing more than to be at home, hiding out with a little normality. Instead, he has to go and film a movie in the Romanian mountains… all the while, the press are getting closer, circling his most closely guarded secret.
Post-flight, they both quickly realise they’ve accidentally swapped phones with their fellow passenger. Easily rectified, except Milo’s about to be on a remote set for a month… and Allie has no idea who Milo is, only that he is the keeper of her entire digital life.
As they trade back and forth on each other’s phones, they can’t help but notice there’s more to their chat than practicalities… (Goodreads).
Quick opinion of this book:
| One of the best books I’ve read | |
| Pure entertainment | |
| Guilty pleasure read | |
| Not what I expected | |
| It was just okay | |
| Emotional | |
| Hysterically funny | |
| X | Worst book ever |
Why I chose this book: Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be released in stores and online on August 25, 2026!
Date I began reading this book: July 2, 2026
Date I finished reading this book: July 8, 2026
Thoughts:
I wish I had found more enjoyment in this book, but unfortunately, I didn’t. Reaching the end was a relief because it meant I could finally move on to something else. When I first started reading, I had high hopes; the initial premise seemed quite charming and promising. I was especially intrigued by the unique format at the beginning, where we get to see the characters’ text messages and Allie’s diary entries. Sadly, my enthusiasm waned quickly after that.
Part 1 of the story begins with a tone that feels rather childish and immature. The text messages from Allie were fairly typical and relatable, but the way Milo communicates, especially for a 30-year-old man, felt completely unrealistic. His texting style lacked maturity, which immediately pulled me out of the narrative and made it difficult to take the characters seriously. As I progressed into Parts 2 and 3, the story shifted into the familiar territory of alternating point-of-view chapters, where we delve into their personal lives, struggles, and romantic developments. Part 3 is truly stupid.
However, even then, I struggled to connect with any of the characters. One of the biggest issues I encountered was the lack of depth in character development. None of the characters felt genuine or relatable. Even the side characters, who should have added richness to the story, seemed poorly developed and cringeworthy. Overall, I found myself annoyed by all of them – each one seemed childish, immature, and unable to handle situations with any real maturity or nuance. Their communication styles and responses often felt exaggerated or unrealistic, which only added to my frustration.
The writing style was another aspect I strongly disliked. While I don’t consider myself a grammar expert, I found the prose to be clunky and awkward. The frequent use of very short sentences and simple statements created a choppy reading experience that felt forced and, frankly, cringeworthy. The overall tone of the writing lacked sophistication and failed to engage me emotionally or intellectually.
At its core, the story seems to revolve around miscommunication and poor decision-making by the characters, which made the plot feel even more shallow. There was a noticeable absence of meaningful conflict or substantial development; it was mostly just characters making bad choices and misunderstandings dragging out endlessly. This made the story feel as if there was little substance or depth beneath the surface.
In the end, I rated this book 1 out of 5. Its weaknesses are evident in the underdeveloped characters, uninspired plot, and subpar writing style. It certainly doesn’t live up to the label of a romcom. On a brighter note, I did enjoy the STEM elements included in the story (yay, birds!), which added a small bit of interest amid the overall disappointment.
Check out The Phone Swap by Lia Louis on Goodreads or Amazon Canada on August 25, 2026.
Rating scale:
1 out of 5 = Hated it!
2 out of 5 = Didn’t like it.
3 out of 5 = It was okay.
4 out of 5 = It was great!
5 out of 5 = Absolutely loved it!
