Into You

By: Jay Northcote

Narrated by: Hamish Long

Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

What do you do when the body you wake up in isn’t yours?

Olly and Scott promised to be best friends forever. They grew up on the same street, went to the same school, and did everything together. But one hot summer night, teenage experimentation caused hurt feelings and confusion, and their friendship was destroyed.

Four years later they’re both 18 years old and in their final term at school. Scott is a football star and Olly’s preparing for a main role in the school play. After a heated argument in the street - witnessed by their mysterious, elderly neighbor - they wake up the next morning stuck in each other’s bodies.

With no idea how to get back to normal, they have to co-operate in order to hide their secret. Spending time together rekindles their friendship, yet feelings run deeper for both of them. With the end of school fast approaching, the clock is ticking. Unless they discover how to change back, they could be stuck in the wrong bodies forever.

©2016 Jay Northcote (P)2020 Jay Northcote

Adorable body swapping romance

This book was so adorable, I want to roll it over and pet it's stomach!

Olly and Scott are BFFs all through their childhood, until a kiss at 14 confuses and ruins everything, leaving the boys angry and ignoring each other for years. At 18, in their final month of school, a minor accident and a small portion of magical help from a weird old neighbour, Mrs. Wychwood, leads them to being trapped in each others bodies and having to find a way to co-exist and work together to be themselves again.

The bodyswapping trope is fun and Jay Northcote does it right, with hilarious and cute results - and some very sweet and guilty masturbation scenes. But despite the magical undercurrent of the book, it is actually mainly a story about being true to yourself and finding out who you want to be.

Olly is out and proud and have been in love with Scott forever, still is, despite the mixed feelings and animosity between them after the kiss 4 years earlier. Scott on the other hand is a bit of a mess. Stuck in a life he really doesn't want, with a girlfriend he doesn't really like and A-level courses that doesn't interest him, but too afraid to find his way out of it.

Naturally, Scott is the one with the most character growth through the story, but Olly too does grow, if in more subtle ways. Now, I am generally not a HEA kind of girl when it comes to very young characters, as I have a hard time believing in that, but for these two, I would believe it.

Warmly recommended story and the narration was lovely too.

Cute Easy listen.

Neighbor Miss Witchwood takes matters into her own hands when childhood blood brothers Scott and Ollie are unable to see what’s right in front of them.
Sweet easy listen. Suitable for YA I think.
Hamish does a great job as usual.

Cute story

I really enjoyed the characters and the narration. There were moments where I had trouble keeping track of who was speaking but that didn't detract from the overall storyline.

Ollie and Scott are Perfect

I love all of Jay Northcote's books and Hamish does a brilliant job narrating them. Into You was one of my earliest reads by Jay and it was great re-reading it again with the revamped cover by Garrett Leigh :) This was a YA gay romance version of Freaky Friday and wonderfully enjoyable. Their neighbor, Miss Witchwood, surprises them one day after their ball flies into her yard. After making a weird statement, the boys shrug it off and don't think anymore of it. After all, they're childhood best friends and nothing will change that.

Fast forward a few years later and now the boys are in their final year of high school no longer best friends due a misunderstanding. Miss Witchwood has watched their estrangement over the past few years and decides to do something about it. The best way for the boys to discover the truth and revive their friendship would be for each person to walk a mile in the other's shoes. In a classic body-switch-a-room, Ollie and Scott wake up one morning and discover that they're in the other person's body. Not only are they freaked out but now they have to pretend to be the other person until they can find a way to switch back.

Going to school and and returning home are now awkward as they both get a personal view of how the other's family treats them. Ollie is shocked and angry to discover that Scott's father is a homophobic prick and Scott is jealous over the ease and loving support of Ollie's family. Along the way, both boys discover the true way to return to their bodies and gain courage in living their lives according to them and not social or family pressure. Loved this audiobook and will re-listen over and over again!

A sweet coming from age YA romance!👬✨

This one had such a refreshing and an interesting premise.
I had such a blast listening to this one.
Olly and Scott story was very beautifully unravelled. I liked the shock and element of surprise they momentarily faced when they switched bodies and then the struggle of adapting to their lives. It was downright hilarious!
This one gave me Freaky Friday vibes but with a twist in the best way.

This was a sweet, friends to lovers, coming of age, YA romantic comedy with a feel good vibe.

Hamish Long did such a great job in narrating this one!

Imaginative Spin on Friends-to-Lovers Trope

"Into You" is an imaginative spin on the friends-to-lovers trope, with former childhood mates Olly and Scott having to navigate high school and each other after waking up inhabiting the other's body following an argument. Olly and Scott's story is a unique deep dive into their self-perceptions and how they view each other, literally and figuratively, that includes Scott coming to terms with his sexuality and true feelings for Olly. Their reconciliation from falling out years ago is gradual and heartfelt, which makes their HEA especially sweet.

Narrator Hamish Long is fantastic, as always, and has a youthful-sounding voice perfectly suited for the MCs here. His performance definitely added to my listening enjoyment.

The body swap premise is a lot to wrap one's mind around as a listener. With Olly and Scott's POVs being delivered in each other's established voice (so the voice matches the swapped physical appearance rather than the "trapped" character), I found myself having to concentrate on the story more than usual, particularly early on. I received this free review copy audio book by request and have left this honest review voluntarily.

Loved this story

The narration was good, though the narrator has some pacing issues when he is narrating, though not while characters are speaking. I had to speed up quite a bit to get over that.
I really enjoyed the hint of magic in this story, it's almost a YA with little to no steam
When Olly ans Scott bump together after their falling out, it's a catalyst for growth for both of them. I really liked how each boy saw the 'other side', which in turn brought them closer.
It's a really sweet story, with former friends getting over their differences and a coming out.

Into You

Olly & Scott
This was so different and so wonderful.
I loved that one; that characters knew each other growing up but grew apart. I know that seems sad but I think it needed to happen that way for the switch to happen and for each of the guys to see each other in a new way.
I like that they weren’t really judgmental of each but more than that they helped each other.
Communication was so huge with this book it was lovely to listen to and to follow. The writing is so smart.

I think the switch and the re-found friendship not only gave Scott the confidence he needed to be himself but to also tell his parents. Even if he knew one parent might not accept him. I loved his mother and how she was his ally right from the start and the father while not 100% on board listened to his wife and becomes the father his son needed him to be.

I really liked the narration Hamish is a favorite of mine and his accent I mean come on delicious.

Great book / Amazing narration

Olly and Scott have a freaky friday experience. That made them realize what is most important to them. I loved how they both came to live with the narration. This book lets you have a mixture of a fairy tale and freinds to lovers.

Excellent

Loved this one from Jay Northcote! It was a super fun novel that is pretty suited to older YA readers. I loved the Freaky Friday twist this book had and it was good from start to finish. Hamish Long does an excellent job narrating this one!