Review: The Holiday Swap

A feel-good, holiday-themed romantic comedy about identical twins who switch lives in the days leading up to Christmas–perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and Josie Silver’s One Day in December.

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’s 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?

When I was a kid, The Parent Trap was one of my favourite films. I even watched this film recently! So when I heard there was a romance, Christmas version – I had to read it instantly. And that is what I pretty much did.

We follow Charlie and Cass, who are identical twins, when they are forced to switch places after Charlie has an accident that results in her losing her sense of smell which means she cannot continue working on her baking reality TV show. There are high stakes involved with her continuing to work, so in order to keep her job and her chances of getting a promotion, she and Cass switch places. However, in their new environment, they thrive and have to ask themselves – do they want to go back to their lives before? This question is made even harder to answer when they each themselves in a romance. But Jake and Miguel don’t quite know who they are dating.

Each romance was adorable! I loved them both so much. Although, if I am being honest with myself I did enjoy the romance between Charlie and Jake more than Cass and Miguel. I don’t really know why, because they were both sweet and both suited each other really well. I think I just liked the cosier scenes with Charlie and Jake.

I loved the baking setting in both of the perspectives. I loved that Cass was thrown into the deep end when it came to presenting a reality TV show and I really liked watching her navigate all of the horrible things that were just seem as a normal aspect of the job. And on the flip side, I loved that Charlie was an absolute wreck when it came to the sourdough bread! It was also nice to see someone in a very familiar setting, like the family bakery, but not recognise some of the things that they used to anymore. It very much gave that feel that there was this underlying sadness that someone has been gradually distancing themselves from their hometown.

It wasn’t just a romance story, it was also about each sister realising they wanted more than the life that they had for themselves. Charlie was realising that she wasn’t getting everything she wanted or needed out of her lifestyle in L.A. and was rediscovering and reconnecting with her hometown. And, Cass was realising that she had never really explored outside of her hometown. Cass had pretty much built her whole life there: she had worked in the family business for forever, and was soon looking to take over it; all of her friends were from the same place, and on top of that she had always been with the same guy who was not a good fit for her.

Overall, I loved this book so much. I can see it being a story that I return to every year to get me in to a Christmas-y mood!

Have you read this one and what did you think of it? Or is it one that is for the TBR?

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