When I was a kid, my grade school used to have movie days twice a year where we would all go to the auditorium and they would play a classic Disney movie for us. I loved these days, and what made them even more fun was we never knew when movie day would arrive. We’d be sitting in class, and then our teacher would suddenly announce that we needed to take a bathroom break. Then, we were told to line up outside the classroom, and off we would go to the auditorium.

I distinctly remember the day we were shown the original “Freaky Friday” with Jodi Foster. Seeing as how I had an extremely overactive imagination, I became obsessed with the idea that I could swap bodies with an adult. It sounded so fun when I was six – now I would love to do the opposite. Oh, to have the energy of a twenty-something again!

Needless to say, when I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I needed to check it out. I read (and absolutely loved) Cesca Majors’ “Maybe Next Time” last year, so I knew I would be in for a treat.

This book focuses on Amy and Flynn, a couple at a crossroads in their relationship. Flynn is ready to move in with Amy, but Amy isn’t so sure she’s ready for that – in fact, Flynn has kind of been getting on her nerves lately and she’s considering breaking things off. On the way to Amy’s sister’s wedding, the two take a different route due to traffic congestion, leading to them getting lost and having an argument in the pouring rain. When lightning strikes, the two are thrown to the ground, and when they wake up, they find they have swapped bodies.

Now, the couple must attend the wedding while pretending to be the other one, and this is when all sorts of chaos ensues. They each learn all kinds of things about the other – including secrets that may rip them apart forever.

Using such a familiar trope is risky – how often have we seen body-swapping play out on the big screen? Disney did it with “Freaky Friday” (and again in the reboot), several “Shaggy Dog” movies where a man switches body with his dog, and of course, we’ve seen Tom Hanks play a child in “Big,” Jennifer Garner in “13 Going on 30” and several others. In this case, though, the author uses this as merely a plot point to move the story forward. The book isn’t about swapping bodies; it’s about two loveable characters trying to find their way back to each other.

Major does a fantastic job of exploring the complexities of relationships in a hilariously entertaining way. It would have been easy to go the slapstick route with the characters trying to figure out each other’s bodies, but these issues are only touched on briefly. That’s not what the book is about, and Majors keeps us focused on our main characters, their secrets, and their growth.

Speaking of the characters, I loved both Amy and Flynn. They’re very relatable and complex. I also really liked the supporting cast. Each of them had a distinct role in the book, and none felt like they were just fillers.

The structure of the book also works really well. We get alternating chapters from both Amy and Flynn’s viewpoints, and we also get chapters dedicated to different times in their lives before they met and after they first started dating. As the book progresses, we slowly begin to understand why each of them acts and feels the way they do and what has caused the underlying issues in their relationships.

If you are a fan of the body-swapping comedies of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, this is the book for you. It has a surprising amount of heart and is filled with a cast of unforgettable characters. Rom-com lovers and contemporary fiction lovers alike will really enjoy this one. After reading and loving two of her books, Cesca Majors has quickly become an auto-buy author for me.