It's a holiday read that is sure to make it back into my hands every year around the holiday season! The Holiday Swap reminded me so much of all those Hallmark movies that we all watch (we know you watch them) and was such a fun journey to travel along with! You go Karma & Marissa! One for the win.

Cass and Charlie are identical twins. When Charlie suffers a concussion on the set of an LA based baking competition, she asks Cass, who runs a bakery in the quiet mountain hometown, if they can switch places so that she doesn't lose out on the opportunity to host her own show. Although each of them is out of their comfort zone, maybe they'll learn a thing or two about life and love.

This was a feel-good holiday read. We've all read or watched a similar plot before, but honestly, I find it just as entertaining each time! I got some good chuckles reading about each twin adjusting to the other's life, and their romantic interests were both dreamy in different ways. I enjoyed reading about the baked goods they were preparing, and it left me wanting some holiday treats. There was a lot of serendipity which made it a bit unbelievable, but who doesn't love a bit of holiday magic?

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a light read that is high on the feel-good factor!

Thank you to Penguin Random House & NetGalley for the review copy of this book.

When chef Charlie Goodwin suffers a head injury when a shelf falls on her at work, she sustains a concussion, but also loses her sense of taste and smell…and that puts a real crimp in her job as a baking competition judge. And her success as a judge could lead to her own show on the channel. What’s she going to do?

Charlie calls on her identical twin Cass to come to LA and fill in for her on the show until she gets her senses of taste and smell back. Cass, who runs the busy family bakery in the small mountain town they call home, is struggling with the annual Christmas rush as she tries to get her ex to accept they’re over, so she jumps at the chance to trade lives for a few days. What an opportunity to experience the glitz and glamour of her twin’s life in LA.

And so the plan is in place. As the twins try to negotiate each other’s lives, there are plenty of wrenches thrown into the mix, from a missing phone to a handsome physician assistant to a hunky firefighter.

The Holiday Swap was a sweet read. There were not a lot of surprises and some things that were quite predictable, but the characters and the challenges each twin faced as they negotiated the other’s life were well written.

I adore Christmas romcoms and this year I read 8 from November until New Year's! This was a fun read. A little cheese, a lot of fun, just the best way to close out the year and give my brain a little 'book candy'.

I quite enjoyed reading this one! While
It wasn’t my favourite, I think for a Christmas romance it did a really good job of keeping me intrigued in the plot as well as invested in the relationship!
At times I felt like the writing could have used a bit of improvement as it felt almost like how people talk in real life instead of the type of dialogue you usually see in books.
Besides that I really liked this book!

A f un and cute Christmas story. Twins who switch places after one twin vying for her dream job gets hit the head and loses her sense of taste and smell (she’s a tv chef!). I enjoyed the Christmas vibe, sweet easy story telling and during an often stressful time a great story to escape to.

This was a fun book with identical twins trading lives right before Christmas. One twin goes home to run the busy family bakery and the other twin goes to fill in on her sister’s TV cooking show. I enjoyed this light hearted Christmas read. There is a lot of food talk that is very mouth watering. Do the sister’s go back to their previous lives? Check out this book and find out.

I really liked the idea of two twins swapping places. It started out interesting but I found it a bit slow. It was still a cute holiday romance and fun to read. It would make a fun Hallmark movie!

Maggie Knox gives us a feel good, classic twin swap with a holiday theme! One sister is a chef on a tv show and is having troubles with a co-star and needs a break. The second sister is running the family bakery and is more than ready to step away from her life for awhile. As expected, things don’t go as planned and both sisters end up with more than they bargained for.
I really enjoyed this holiday romantic comedy and can’t wait to see what this author duo come up with next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read and review this book!

3.5 Stars

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really cutesy, twin swap romance novel. This read was fairly predictable, but a quick and easy read. The characters were fine, nothing too amazing but not terrible.

I mean I’d recommend it to someone who wants a fluffy holiday read (but saying that I didn’t find that much holiday ness in it).

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

Identical twins Charlie and Cass switch lives just before Christmas.

This one was my most anticipated holiday read for 2021. I enjoyed it! A good holiday read to get you in the mood for Christmas. I loved the bakery/small town setting.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available Now!

Full review and reading vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9B4DJw1nHY&t=34s

I really enjoyed The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox! It was a very fun read and had likeable characters, an interesting set of protagonists, and a good set of challenges and obstacles to overcome. I feel like it was a perfect read for the holidays, and it was just so cute.

Olivia and I give this book 4.25 stars! 😸

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publishers for providing an electronic copy for review.

I really , really wanted to love this one, but it was just way too cheesy, way too unbelievable and way too silly. Don’t get me wrong. I love a Hallmark Christmas type story, but the whole twins changing places thing just didn’t work for me. And doing it with little to no information for the other twin just seemed silly.

I didn’t care for either of the main characters or their love stories.
Sadly, I’m disappointed in this book.

The Holiday Swap was a good little read. When identical twins switch places and lives all kinds of things can happen. The nuances of daily life can play havoc on any plan. It reminds me of a Hallmark type movie. You can sit back and relax and just enjoy the story as it unfolds. When you don't want to get into a "heavy" read that requires a lot of brain power, this book will fill that need. Everyone needs a little light reading!

I received a preview copy of this book for my review!

Thank you Netgalley for sharing this eARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

When reality TV star and chef Charlie Goodwin gets in an accident on set she loses her sense of smell. Terrified that a slip up on set might jeopardize her chances of hosting the next baking show, Charlie enlists her identical twin sister for help. Cass Goodwin loves running her family bakery in her hometown, but she is falling out of love with her long term boyfriend. Cass jumps at the chance of escaping from her problems to help her twin. The two swap places- Cass goes to LA to take Charlie's place on set and Charlie goes back home to run the family bakery. Cass always envied Charlie's glamorous life but soon finds that a jealous co-host makes her sister's job a living hell. Cass finds solace in the handsome physician's assistant that examined Charlie in the hospital who is surprised at Charlie's quick recovery. Charlie thinks running the family bakery will be easy peasy after her Michelin training, but the affects of her concussion make her oblivious to the smoke that soon fills the bakery. She does not expect to fall for the firefighter that comes to her rescue. Will the twins pull off their swap before their careers, and love lives, are changed forever?
The Holiday Swap is a delightful book for the Holiday Season. Due to my busy work schedule I didn't start reading until Christmas Eve and I was finished by Christmas Day, The experience was such an enjoyable one I think I may start a tradition of reading holiday romances on Christmas Eve.

𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒑𝒔𝒊𝒔 :
Days before Christmas, Cass and Charlie, identical twins, swap places. Cass heads to L.A. to the set of Charlie’s reality baking show, and Charlie heads back to their quaint hometown to run the family bakery. Charlie recently suffered a concussion resulting in her loss of smell and taste, and It’s up to Cass to save Charlie’s spot on the baking show. But when a rugged firefighter, and a sexy physicians assistant are thrown in the mix, will the recipe go as planned or end up in disaster.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I wanted to so bad to love this one, parent trap vibes, baking, and romance, sign me up! But unfortunately this one fell flat for me in almost every aspect. I did enjoy the descriptions of the baked goods, the small town feel, and the dogs! But the lack of communication wasn’t for me, and I was honestly just a bit bored. I did finish because it’s my IRL book club pick, and thankfully I thought the ending was cute but predictable.

A beautifully written, light hearted holiday rom-com wrapped up in a book! When an on-set accident injures Charlie, she asks her twin sister, Cass for help by implementing their childhood fun of switching places. The alternating viewpoints of twin sisters, Charlie and Cass, keep you in suspense between chapters, wanting to know what happens in LA while you’re transported back to the Christmas town of Starlight Peak. It celebrates family and most importantly, finding yourself and what is important. However, can you really switch places with someone, even if you’re their twin? The mishaps that ensue makes this a wonderfully funny, and heartfelt, read.

After Charlie gets a concussion and can no longer taste the food on the baking reality show she co-hosts, she switches places with her identical twin, Cass, and returns home to their sleepy small town to run the family bakery while Cass heads to LA. As you would expect they inevitably find themselves getting into some hot water while trying to hide their switch from everyone else.

I thought this was a really cute festive read, which gave me all the hallmark movie vibes. I would love to see this one end up on the screen. Although this is ultimately a festive read, in the weeks leading up to Christmas the majority of the book isn’t hugely focused around Christmas itself so I think it could be comfortably read at any time of year. Definitely one I would recommend.

I had been eagerly awaiting the publication day of The Holiday Swap since authors Marissa Stapley and Karma Brown announced they had written it together under the name Maggie Knox. And that was sometime back in 2020. Needless to say, my expectations were through the roof. And guess what? It totally delivered. I absolutely adored the festive rom com and think it’s a must read for fellow romance readers this holiday season.

Here’s the book’s description:
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?

Just like In a Holidaze last year (also by an author duo, this time Christina Lauren), Knox delivered a classic rom com - but updated for 2021. The premise - identical twins swapping lives at Christmas - is perfectly set up for hijinks, miscommunication, and characters learning more about themselves. But even though it seems ridiculous and far-fetched, it totally worked. Of course, you have to enjoy these types of stories but I definitely do so the story completely captivated me. I was laughing and swooning and enjoyed the entire book.

I love watching baking shows (who else absolutely loves Great British Bake Off?) so the fact that Charlie works on a baking competition program was too much fun. And be warned: you're going to want all of the baked goods while reading this book!

There’s city living as Cass experiences the best of LA and small town charm with Charlie in Starlight Peak where the women grew up. I really liked the balance of small town and big city in this story. You might not picture Starlight Peak as Stars Hollow but I, Stapley, and many, many readers all did!

And the relationships! Swoon! The connections between the women and the men they meet were immediate and so delightful to read about. Neither woman needs a man to solve their problems and the men Knox wrote are wonderful and supportive.

The Holiday Swap is romantic comedy at its finest. Both sisters have important career decisions to make but romance is at the heart of the story and readers will be left with a smile on their faces as they finish the delightful novel Maggie Knox has written.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

This was a cute Hallmark movie type romance. I was hoping from the title that it would have way more holiday content than just being set at Christmas time. I also found that the characters were a bit one sided and I lost interest in it all around half way. Once the romances for the sisters really started to take shape, I was disappointed by how long the ruse of them switching lives was kept up, effectively lying to the people they supposedly cared for. Great for people who love a Hallmark movie and not much for anyone else.