This was such a fun, cute holiday book. I love the movie The Holiday and this has those vibes but queer! I loved it! The romance was sweet, the spice was great and there were some very emotional moments. I loved the different narrators. It made the story come to life. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of “The Holiday Trap” by Roan Parrish. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was fine for a holiday read. Two people swap holiday locations and find love in a new city. There were a lot of characters thrown in right at the beginning which made it a bit difficult to get into the story.

There were two stories happening and I greatly preferred Truman’s POV. Greta hooks up with her love interest almost too fast and so there wasn’t much else happening except sightseeing in New Orleans, even more new characters that didn’t have a big role in the story, and a bunch of people smoking stuff. Truman’s story at least had the slow burn and interesting elements with trying to help the flower shop and uncovering the mystery of whether Truman’s favorite author once lived in the little Maine town. I did like once Greta and Truman finally got to meet each other and become friends but this happens very late in the story.

The narrators did a great job but ultimately this story was just ok. I would recommend it for people trying to complete holiday bingo cards and needing stories about queer characters.

3/5 stars

The Holiday is one of my absolute all time favourite Christmas movies, so when I saw this was marketed as "The Holiday but make it queer" I was in. I am such a sucker for sapphic romances that I just knew I'd love this one. Though I don't normally exactly enjoy the whole dual relationship sort of novel, I did find this one to warm my heart. I do wish that maybe each couple had their own book because I feel there could have been so much more to the stories and the development of the relationships but I really ended up enjoying them.
On top of a sweet love story, I loved the idea of how the MCs themselves felt lost, and they learned who they were throughout the journey. The three narrators of the audiobook were such a plus, they gave the best inflection of emotion when needed and I truly felt caught up in the story they were telling. All in all, definitely recommend - and if you can get the audiobook, I highly recommend that one as well.

This book felt like a warm hug and I absolutely adored it. We follow the lives of two different people who are in desperate need of change. So they decide to swap homes for a month to experience something outside their norm.

Enter the two cutest and most healthiest relationships ever.

I adored watched the couples fall in love. I cried when they cried. Laughed when they laughed. And just had an overall warm feeling watching two people work on themselves and become better versions of themselves.

Could not recommend enough!

such a cute holiday swap! felt like a queer wife swap almost. i did thoroughly enjoy the book and would recommend it to customers. i really loved this

This was my first Roan Parrish book and while I could see this being some readers cup of tea, it was unfortunately not mine. The writing was just ok and I just wasn't pulled into the story line. After continuing to try to and push through, hoping for more, I ended up quitting. The main characters gave Eeyore vibes and I found it rather annoying. Again, I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion and some will love this book. It just wasn't for me. Thank you to the author and publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ramona sees herself as a problem solver. When her friend Greta Russakoff told her that her family is making her life in Maine difficult and she wants to get away for the holidays, Ramona starts thinking. And when her friend Truman Belvedere calls her from his home in New Orleans, upset that his boyfriend turned out to have a secret family and wanting to get away, Ramona puts two and two together. Or rather, she helps swap out one for the other.

Greta heads to New Orleans, leaving her house filled with plants to Truman to care for. He follows her directions as best he can, but despite all her heaters and humidifiers, he sees one turning a bit brown. He feels bad that one of her plants is already dying while he had been spending the night with a bottle of wine. He takes it to the florist he saw in the small town, woefully unprepared for the coldness of a Maine winter, and that’s where he meets Ash.

Ash is the local florist. He helps Truman with the plant (it’s just gone dormant). He helps Truman learn to dress better for the weather. And he steals Truman’s heart from him in mere minutes.

Meanwhile, Greta is in New Orleans, taking care of Truman’s dog and marveling at the warm weather and the climate that is perfect for those tropical plants she has to work so hard to keep alive in Maine. She wanders through the neighborhood, taking in the sights and the smells, and then she comes across a miniature horse. The horse is with Carys, who is smart and outspoken and decides to take Greta under her wings and introduce her to the city.

The swap is for a month, and then Greta and Truman are supposed to head back to their real lives. But for both of them, the more time they spend in each other’s homes, the more they feel at home. Truman’s finds hints of his favorite author in the small town of Maine, and his business ideas help Ash get excited about new income streams.

Meanwhile in New Orleans, Greta meets other gardeners and finds out about some of their community service. Carys introduces her to her roommates, who have a side hustle making King Cakes. One of them is a beekeeper, and she introduces Greta to the hive and shows her the community garden. Greta finds herself falling in love, both with the city and with Carys.

But as the weeks go by and the end of the experiment closes in on them, both Greta and Truman find that they are reluctant to go back to their own lives. Swapping lives for a month is one thing, but are they both really considering leaving their homes and starting over in a new city for good?

The Holiday Trap is a steamy LGBTQ IA+ rom com with lots of holiday charm. Greta’s family is Jewish, so Hanukah is represented along with a the more traditional Christmas ideas. Author Roan Parrish has crafted these interconnected stories to show that there is a place for everyone, which is a lovely theme.

I listened to the audio book of The Holiday Trap, which is narrated by Natalie Duke, Pete Cross, and Hillary Huber. I thought that all of them did an excellent job with their role, bringing these characters to life and expressing their emotional lives beautifully. I liked that there were separate narrators for Greta and Truman. It helped keep the details of the stories separate and helped me stay engaged with the two different love stories.

I really liked The Holiday Trap, but I wanted to love it. I love the premise, and I thought most of the storytelling was strong. I thought that the romance between Truman and Ash worked pretty well, but I struggled more with the storyline of Greta and Carys. I felt like Greta was the character who ended up growing the most to find her new life, but she didn’t have the space in this book to show her whole journey. And much of Carys’s journey happens before she meets Greta, so there is a lot of her backstory that we don’t find out about, making it more difficult to connect with her. I think Greta’s story would have been better if she’d had a whole book to herself, or if her challenges weren’t quite so big to overcome.

That being said, there is still a lot to like in this book. There is humor and romance and several very hot sex scenes. There are parties and gardeners and bullet journaling and superfans of a favorite writer. There are tough conversations and tough choices and a chance for latke eaters to choose between applesauce and sour cream (or ketchup, if that’s what they prefer). And there is the idea that you can be anything you want, which is a great theme for any holiday.

A copy of the audio book for The Holiday Trap was provided by Dreamscape Media through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I quite enjoyed this book. I was worried that I might get confused, with the switching POVs and such, but I did not.

So, the book follows Greta and Truman, Greta lives on a small island off the coast of Maine and Truman lives in New Orleans and after each has a personal crisis a mutual friend suggests that they swap houses, which they do.

I think I liked Truman's story a bit more than I liked Greta's, just because of the book aspect of it. So, there is this series of books that he absolutely loves and has read multiple times, and one of the reasons he decides to swap houses with Greta is because the author of this series is said to live in Maine. There is a bunch of stuff that happens around that and I really enjoyed it.

Both of the story lines romances felt a bit insta-love to me, which I'm not a huge fan of, but overall, did like how things played out.

While the story takes place over the December holidays, I would not call this a holiday book. It's just a book that happens to be taking place at the same time as some holidays.

I wanted to like this story. but it just sort of fell flat. there was so much rambling and wandering. and not a whole lot of substance.

This was a fun Christmas read. I love holiday books and this one did not disappoint. Read if you want to be in some holiday mood and enjoy Christmas books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to honestly review.

Nope not for me. I was so confused where this story was going to go and it fell completely flat. Unfortunately disappointed as I was looking forward to this one!

⭐⭐⭐.5/5

• holiday romance x2
• interesting, kind of annoying characters
• great settings

Mixed feelings on this one. The Greta/Carys relationship was a little too much, too soon for me. I most enjoyed the Truman/Ash storyline. It was fun learning more about NOLA and plants. It was too long IMO and the pacing was slow in parts. It gets an extra half star boost for me because of how everything wrapped up in the end.

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC audiobook! All opinions are honest and my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC!

Greta Russakoff lives in a tiny Maine hometown and also happens to be a lesbian, which isn’t always understood by her tight-knit family, needs time away to figure out who she is. Truman Belvedere has just been broken up with while also finding out that his boyfriend of a year has a secret family. He’s ready to get the heck out of New Orleans. Their mutual friend, Ramona, facilitates a month-long house swap over the winter holidays, with each of them trying out a new life. Read The Holiday Trap to find out what happens!

This was such a cozy, holiday read - especially with Christmas right around the corner. I loved the characters and how charismatic they were. It’s very similar to The Holiday, but the queer version. If you are a fan of that movie, you will most likely like this book.

This book is The Holiday, but with queer representation. I love the trope element of the story, but the trouble with all dual point-of-view stories is that one point of view is always more interesting than the other. In this case, it's a wide gap. I was much more into the story of Truman and Ash.

If you're looking for a story with a ton of holiday stuff, this one won't be it. They do swap over the holiday season, but very little of the focus of this book is glitter and tinsel. On the one hand, it means that you can read this in the summer and have a grand old time. But if you wanted Christmas trees and such, keep looking.

The narrator was fine, and I didn't have any moments with this audiobook where I thought the narration was getting in the way of the story. I would say the reading experience of this on audio or in print would be about the same.

*Thank you to Net Galley, Dreamscape Media for providing me with an Advance copy of this Audiobook in exchange for a honest review*

On the Story:

This book was super cute. It was strange for me to read a winter holiday book at the end of summer but nevertheless I really loved it! It is the queer holiday contemporary romance I live for.

Think The Holiday Swap with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet but make it queer and nerdy!

Nerdy book loving queer man who is heart broken and reminded of his ex everywhere. Plant loving lesbian hating her life stuck where she grew up with a family who doesn't accept her.

Why not swap lives for the holiday season and see where is takes them.

This was such a fun book! I enjoyed the found family, queer rep, unlikely love and so many more tropes. The narrators were incredible and made the characters come alive.

I am looking forward to reading many more Roan Parrish books.

The parent trap vibes but for adults. They changed houses but ended up falling in love with each other. I loves this lesbian rom com book. I will definitely be giving this out for the holidays.

Cute and cozy and everything someone would likely be hoping for from a "The Holiday" retelling.

I loved the trope-y premise! It felt brand new and refreshing, given its spin with queer characters. And I really enjoyed the setting of both swaps, the New Orleans and Maine backgrounds felt so atmospheric and real.

While it seems like a very festive sort of holiday read, I'd say you could pick it up anytime since Christmas and Chanukah don't play a very big role in the story.

This is a cute LGBTQIA+ RomCom where two characters switch houses for a month - Greta leaves her small town island home (and large, nosy family!) behind for Truman's New Orleans digs. (Side note - while the slow-paced, small town island life sounds great, I think Truman got the short end of this swap - he has some serious responsibilities taking care of Greta's huge collection of plants. She cares for Truman's dog Horse, which just seems to consist of walking him around and meeting new people in the Big Easy.)

Greta and Truman meet potential significant others right away, and we follow not only these budding relationships, but also their journey of self-discovery over the month of their swap. I enjoyed both characters, especially Truman who loves bullet journaling and is on the hunt for his favorite, extremely reclusive author.

The story alternates between Greta and Truman's journeys, and there are quite a few characters and side stories going on. I didn't have trouble keeping track of everything going on, but I have seen some reviewers who commented that it was a little too much for them. And while the book is titled "The Holiday Trap," the holidays didn't really drive the story. This is an enjoyable RomCom for any time of the year.

I listened to the audiobook (thanks NetGalley!) and enjoyed the narrators, it was a fun book to listen to.

A cute tale of two people escaping their day-to-day life to go in search of who they really are and who they could become.

The premise of this book made me think of a more progressive Hallmark movie. In retrospect, though I think the author bit off more than they could chew with having two romances at once. I think focusing on one or the other and really developing that one could have made the plot more enjoyable. In the end, I felt both were a bit rushed. 2.5 rounded up just because I liked Truman so much.

Greta Russakoff loves her tight-knit family, but they don’t understand what it’s like living as a lesbian on their small Maine island. Truman Belvedere has just discovered that his boyfriend of a year has a secret family, including a husband and a daughter. Greta and Truman’s mutual friend Ramona facilitates a house swap between the two. Greta gets to live in Truman’s New Orleans house for a month, while Truman gets to spend the month in Maine. The two will get a chance to make friends in a new place, space to figure out what they want, and maybe even the chance to fall in love.

This was a sweet queer romcom. As many others seem to feel, I enjoyed Truman’s story more than Greta’s. I did like how Carys, Greta’s love interest, explicitly stated what she needed from Greta when Greta tried to overstep boundaries she didn’t realize were there. Natalie Duke and Pete Cross did an excellent job narrating the audiobook. I would consider this a solid 3.5 star read.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.