Blame it on the Mistletoe - Beth Garrod

This is a YA Christmas book, inspired by the movie the Holiday! Two girls, one in New Jersey, and one in England, swap places for the holidays. We follow Elle and Holly’s POV. Elle is a social media influencer, and Holly follows her. Elle’s mom is from England, so she tries to find someone to swap places with her, and it turns out Holly and Elle’s moms used to be best friends so they end up swapping.

This book took a bit for me to get into, but once I did I ended up really enjoying it. Both girls have a romance in their opposing countries. I loved the friendships and the Christmas vibes, as well as the alternating POVs. Overall I had a good time reading this!

This modern YA-version of The Holiday definitely got me in the Christmas spirit. Holly and Elle were such cute characters and I loved their cast of friends. This book had a sweet ending, but it felt like it was too long while also not diving deep enough into some important details. It read too chaotic and immature and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone above middle school age. That being said, I think a lot of tweens would relate to the social media aspect of the story and the idea of focusing more on real life and family than the number of followers or likes you get.

This one took me a few chapters to get into, but I really enjoyed it. Holly was a bit naive and young, but she was also only sixteen years old. She was obsessed with Christmas and lists and it seemed as though her holidays were about checking traditions off instead of enjoying the holiday. And Elle was obsessed with her social media account and her role as an influencer. The two young girls end up switching places and I loved these two girls trying to complete as many Christmas "challenges" as possible. But along the way, there was a lot of friendship, romance and of course lots of character growth (on both sides) and I loved it. This was a great read to get me in the Christmas spirit!

This was a cute idea, but just a little too cheesy for me. I thought the influencer angle would make the story different, but it just felt annoying. The rest of the story was very predictable for holiday romances.

The younger YA crowd would really like this book. It fits the generation very well with the big fad on social media postings, follower count and a little bit of influencer drama. As a 34 year old woman, I can definitely appreciate the young at heart writing. It wasn’t my favorite, but a good holiday read.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blame It on the Mistletoe seemed like it was going to be a cute romcom. I was pretty excited to jump into it since Christmas is basically just around the corner. Unfortunately, I just didn't connect to anyone or the story. Which, yes, is a bit disappointing since I hyped myself up for it.

In it, you will meet Elle and Holly. One moves all the time and is trying to rekindle her relationship with Scrooge. Oh, I mean her brother Nick. The other loves all things Christmas and writes pretty fantastic Christmas cards. Both have problems they deal with daily, and they need a break. Stat!

Now I'll admit that I did get the Holiday vibes, but I definitely liked the movie a lot more than this. I just feel like things were overdone or overdramatic at times. Even though things moved at a fast pace, I still found myself being bored with what was going on.

In the end, I just wish that I liked this a lot more than I originally did.

Full disclosure, I almost stopped this book at 20% because the characters were so annoying. I'm glad I pushed through because they did get better, and I really enjoyed alllllllll of the Christmassy aspects of this book. It did move quickly last some things I wish would have had a deeper dive, but overall this was enjoyable. ⭐⭐⭐

Fans of the beloved movie The Holiday will definitely need to pick up Blame It On the MIstletoe! This book follows two teens who switch places to find a little magic again and escape their daily lives. The story takes place in New York and London and has lots of travel flair. Blame It on the Mistletoe's unique hook is that one of the teens is a big social media influencer. Teen fans of rom-coms will love this one.

I tried to give this book a chance, but I just came to a point where I couldn't anymore. I didn't feel invested in the characters, and the writing just missed the mark for me. It reads just like how teens talk, and I always struggle with books like that. While I didn't enjoy it, do I think a teenager would enjoy this book? Yes! So I do want to give it some merit. It really hits on things that today's teens value, and it would be a cute Christmas escape if you can get past the teen talk!

Yes yes yes. The Holiday meets Tweet Cute??? Perfection. Not only going to be purchasing a physical copy for my shelves but also going to make this our December bookclub pick for our bookclub of over 60 members.

A cute YA Christmas rom-com that runs on the young side. Even though the characters are in their late teens, this really feels like it would be more enjoyed by a younger teen audience.

Not a big fan of this one. I liked the idea of a romcom YA style, but the characters in this book were very shallow and felt far younger than they were supposed to be. Usually I have no problem relating to YA books despite the age difference but this felt way too big of a gap for me to care about or relate to. I am super active on social media so I had no problem with that aspect, it just felt quite boring overall.

Noelle &Holly swap places in this fun & fluffy Christmas book. It reminded me a lot of the Holiday movie mixed with a Hallmark film. I enjoy both, so this was my cup of tea. I easily read it in one sitting with a smile on my face. I also enjoyed the dive into cyberbulling mixed in.

This was a fun YA book that had all the festive vibes! I enjoyed reading it as an adult, but I know I would have absolutely loved it as a teen. Definitely recommend!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

It was a cute YA book but I think it was more for an audience a bit on the younger side, which is fine, I just wish I knew that before going in! It was a fun Christmas Rom-Com though, perfect for anyone who likes that type of book or movie!

This book was just okay for me. I actually tend to stay away from YA and it's possible I'm just to old and curmudgeonly to fall in love with a book written for this age range.

The dialog was filled with social media references and caps lock. The book lacked depth and the story was cute, but just not to my taste.

This who love YA and holiday reads might love really this book!

DNF 31%
The premise of this is cute, but ultimately I don’t think I’m the target audience for this. It’s a shame because I do usually enjoy YA, but this didn’t have the emotional depth I’ve read in some other YA books. There also was just a little bit too much capslock and text speak outside of text messages for my taste.
I did enjoy the Christmas aspects of it though. Holly, Noelle, and Nick are all classic Christmas romance character names, and I loved how much Holly loves Christmas.

This is a really fun read! I loved that it was a YA The Holiday. It started a smidgen slow for me (the letter at the start was a bit long and I ended up skimming it tbh) but once I got to the meat of the story I loved it. This book is told in alternate POVs and I really liked seeing each character adapt to their new surroundings. Sometimes it was easy for me to confuse Elle and Holly though. I'd have to sort of remind myself who was who. This might just be me and my scattered minded self though..

I totally recommend this for anyone that loves a fun Christmas read especially if they love the movie The Holiday.

Two teens swap places for the holidays as part of a social media challenge that one of them is a part of. Holly goes to live her Manhattan Christmas dreams, while Elle visits the small English village her mother grew up in for a cozy Christmas vibe.

10/10 for Christmassy goodness. The music, movie references, food, activities were top notch. The characters were literally named Holly, and Noelle (her brother’s name was Nick too 😂).

However, the social media aspect of the story did nothing for me (and honestly made me feel really old?), and I found the storyline pretty unrealistic to have two teenagers swap families for the holidays. But if this is something that you don’t think will bother you, I would recommend this one.

Super cute YA rom com! A really fun and quick read that definitely put me in a festive mood. It moved a bit slow in the beginning but I love the dual persepectives.