I'm back with another holiday book review and this one reads like a Hallmark movie... but even better! I received an arc of "The Holiday Swap" on Netgalley earlier this year but never cracked it open until I was looking through my books and realized I had it!
This is definitely a hot book right now, especially because of the holiday season but mostly because it was a Book of the Month pick for December. Everyone is reading and loving "The Holiday Swap"... and right now its ebook is on sale for $5.99... I cannot recommend you going to scoop this up enough!
Publisher's Summary
All they want for Christmas is a different life.
When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell—both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family's bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won't get the memo that they're over.
With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven't done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins' identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?
My Thoughts
This book was just adorable and filled me with so much holiday spirit, it was such a delightful read! I loved the setting: a sweet, Christmas-filled town with the central location being a family-owned bakery... and then, the other location being a baking competition. I mean, does it get better or more Christmasy than that?!
I loved how this book was a mix of a Hallmark movie and the Parent Trap (minus the parents), set during Christmas time. It gave it a unique flair but was still a story and setting you were a little familiar with. I've never read a book like this so I was really pleased with the story and it kept my attention all the way through. I loved learning about Charlie and Cass, how they were different and how they were alike, and how they managed to 'screw up' each other's lives while they were switching places.
There is definitely a major love component to this book but I feel like that is a subplot. To me, the main story was Charlie and Cass both growing as people, learning more about themselves, their hopes and dreams, and their sister. It was a really interesting dynamic and it definitely wasn't the typical twin scenario you usually see in entertainment.
I thought the character development of both Charlie & Cass was spot on and I loved reading both of their point of view... I really enjoyed all the characters in the book aside from two: Austin who was Charlie's rival at the baking show and Miguel, Cass's love interest. I hated Austin for obvious reasons; he was a real douche lord but Miguel, there was nothing wrong with him but he seemed too fake. He seemed overly nice, overly loving and caring, and just a pushover. It was a huge turnoff and I felt like he had no depth. It could've just been me looking too much into his character but every time he came up, I cringed. Ugh!
I thought the writing was excellent, it read really practical and fun; the pacing was also pretty good. I did feel like it differed between going fast and slow at times but I've read books with worse pacing.
"The Holiday Swap" is all you could want from a Christmas read; small town, family 'drama', romance, baking -- it was perfect! I think this is a great book to pull you out of a reading slump. It was that good!
What's on your holiday reading list this year?
xoxo
B
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