Katie is a waitress at a diner, and her patron Juan (who she has a major crush on) asks her to be his pretend girlfriend for Christmas. He leaves his wallet after she accepts, and she runs to catch him. He is hit by a car, and ends up in a medically induced coma. His whole family, including his younger brother Mateo, believe that she is his serious girlfriend. Not wanting to betray his secret, she plays the part and ends up having conflicting feelings of her own…

This book was okay. It was a sweet holiday romance with a slow burn between the two leads. It’s an homage to While You Were Sleeping. I loved the culture represented here and the setting at the winery was a fun change of pace.

The writing is a bit on the juvenile side and I could have done without the flashbacks. I also wish the chapters were split into different POV. The third person didn’t work for me because it felt confusing with whose viewpoint we were supposed to be following.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an easy book to sink into and enjoy, with great characters who are easy to love. The moments between Katie and Mateo were perfect and you start to wonder what Katie ever saw in Juan. The vineyard sounds beautiful and the description of the lands made me wish I could visit it in real life. A lovely holiday read filled with lots of festive activities and romantic moments!

Fake Dating, Found Family, and a beautiful winery, what more can you ask for!? I did struggle with the first few chapters of this book but once we got to know the characters a bit more I was hooked. This book gave all of the warm Christmas vibes I was looking for and was such a fun twist on classic tropes. I’ll definitely be recommending this book to friends!

The Holiday Mix-Up is your typical holiday rom-com. Leaning more on the Hallmark side of romance. With the premise of While You Were Sleeping, I wasn't sure how this would play out without completely copying the movie. I love just about any holiday romance read and was looking forward to reading this as soon as I read the description. Overall, this was an enjoyable Christmas read that you can get lost in. I did find a few moments where the dialogue felt a little cheesy, but beyond that it was well-written.
Thank you Net Galley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC.

This was a super fun While you were sleeping remix featuring a lonely waitress who agrees to be a fake date for Christmas for one a patron she has a crush on only to have him get into an accident and be put in a medically induced coma.

As per the original, she goes along with the scheme to protect a sensitive relative and ends up falling in love with the coma patient's brother. I loved the big-hearted Puerto Rican-American family and the way that Katie helps saving their struggling winery.

Great on audio and HIGHLY recommended for any who loves that Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman holiday movie as much as I do! Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the complimentary digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

An accident, a misunderstanding, and a whole lot of fun happens when Katie Smith agrees to be Juan Martinez's date for the holidays. If you loved the movie While You Were Sleeping you will adore this holiday romcom.

When Katie is thrust into Juan's world after an accident she discovers the things she's looking for but her heart becomes conflicted. Will she tell everyone the truth?

Take a trip to a family vineyard with a cast of characters ready to accept Katie despite her presence being the biggest surprise this holiday season. There are plenty of secrets, deception, twists, and a ton of holiday goodness.

✨ The Holiday Mix-Up ✨⁣
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⁣Genre- Christmas Romance. ⁣
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⁣Length- 352 pages. ⁣
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⁣My thoughts- Who else is slowly getting in the holiday mood? I’m not big on Christmas books, but I try to read 3-4 a year. The Holiday romance is a cute, super slow burn romance about a waitress, Katie, that agrees to be a man’s fake girlfriend for Christmas right before he is hit by a car and put into a coma! For a week, Katie pretends to be Juan’s sweetheart while slowly falling in love with his family! ⁣
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⁣This was is sugary sweet and silly. Much of the plot is completely unrealistic and I’d 100% compare it to a Hallmark movie. Not really my favorite kind of read, but it was fine! Three stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley for my copy of The Holiday Mix Up. It is available now!

Messy and delightful.
When fake dating turns into a coma and his brother is looking fine, it'll be a Christmas to remember!
I love a messy romance, and this one was definitely messy. Katie is sweet and makes you ache for her, while Mateo is passionate and caring. I loved watching their story unfold and the chaos get resolved.

A sweet and simple modern and holiday take on When You Were Sleeping. I loved several elements that made this feel fresh. First the holiday setting lends itself so well to the trope, but more importantly the inclusion of a Latinx MMC and his family.

I loved seeing the Martinezes family dynamic, from the overly zealous and warm, to the brusque and suspicious, everyone in the family felt genuinely like someone in my chaotic Latinx family as well. I loved Mateo of course, he was equal parts charming and self deprecating, and his relationship with Juan especially was great to see, to tease out the tension.

I do wish as always that there was more spice, but this was still a very fun read.

While you were sleeping is one of my favorite movies. This retelling was cute. There was a little too much detail but it is enjoyable.

REVIEW
The Holiday Mix-Up by Ginny
2.75/5
Well, I am 2 for 2 with disappointing Christmas ARCs.

This one was a riff on “When You Were Sleeping”, but unfortunately it was a big miss for me. It started off with a decent start, then fell apart. There was a lack of chemistry (a 0 on the spice scale) and the whole book seemed unrealistic. Who is still living a normal life while their son is in a coma??

I’m starting to lose hope that there will be some magical Christmas reads this year. Maybe I’m just not ready for cheesy Christmas books yet.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of "The Holiday Mix-Up" by Ginny Baird in exchange for an honest review.

Holiday Mix-up by Ginny Baird is a standalone holiday novel that treats readers to a unique storyline. Katie Smith—a lonely waitress agrees to be the fake girlfriend of diner patron and her crush, Juan Martinez. Mayhem ensues when Juan falls into a coma and Katie is left to continue the deception with his family—especially his handsome brother, Mateo. Holiday Mix-up by Ginny Baird is a heartwarming romcom that is perfect for the holiday season.

*Holiday Mix-up by Ginny Baird is a perfect read for anyone that loves the movie—While You Were Sleeping.

The premises are very interesting but the book did not deliver it.

Too many characters to really care about and too many dialogues that borderline silly. It got me yawning from the early stage and I kept skipping to get to the dialogues of two main characters. The Spanish lingo although the family has been living in the US for several (!) generations was very forced and unnecessary - not cute at all. The whole chemistry between the two main characters was rather quick and forced as well.

Of course, everyone gets their love interest in the end. What a foolish book. Don't waste your time and definite... don't waste $16.99 (I am completely speechless).

Thanks Netgalley for a free copy in exchange of an honest review.

Any time you pick up a book by this author, you know it will be a good book. This one will not disappoint. Once I started reading I just could not put it down.

Katie has had a secret crush on Juan and she was so excited that he invited her to be his "pretend" girlfriend, to keep his family from matchmaking. Then she witnessed his accident, and she met his family, alone, at the hospital. Including his brother, Mateo.

This was a really good book that I think you will enjoy . Check it out. Thank you Net Galley and Sourcebooks for an advance copy of this book.

The Holiday MIx-Up gives you a heartwarming story about love and family.
Christmas Hallmark movie vibes make for a very cozy read.
Holiday romance
Fake dating
Vineyard setting
Family dynamics
Perfect holiday reading!
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was an epic fail of a holiday romance. The writing is awful. The main characters have no personality. Mateo and Katie have no chemistry or anything in common. Katie is not a motivated person.
Katie's and Mateo's internal thoughts are repetitive, boring, and have no development. It is truly the slowest and most boring lead up to Christmas ever. Despite knowing how it will end, there was no excitement or buildup.
Truly a miss.

I was instantly drawn to the book after reading the references to While You Were Sleeping meets The Wedding Date, two romantic comedies I adore.
however much I wanted to be reeled into this novel, something went amiss, and I didn't feel hooked at all.
Maybe I should try again later. But for now, i'll just set it aside.

The Holiday Mix-Up had the vibes of While You Were Sleeping mixed with a cozy, sweet Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movie. I was rooting for Katie and Mateo and their happily ever after. I loved the Martinez family and their efforts to save the family vineyard. This was a sweet Christmas romance!

*thank you so much to NetGalley for access to the eARC of this novel*

This novel was a adorable more modern take on the film, "While You Were Sleeping" but incorporates some very nice representation and also reimagines the story in a fun way. Baird's interpretation captures the magic of the original, while still adding in her own twists and turns to it.

Overall the story reads very cute, very holiday rom-com, and a perfect read for when you want something to cozy up to during any December day.

I do think something that could have been improved if anything would have been the tackling of the storyline with Juan. There was still room to discuss the nuances of being in a family where people expect so little of you and also how this manifested in his misguided actions. I also think for what happened, he got off relatively fine, despite what many would consider a disastrous thing he did.

The romance of the story was indeed adorable, but I definitely found myself more invested in the family dynamics simply because they were very entertaining to read about and also having family like that myself, a sense of relatability.

Thank to Netgalley and to the publishers for this advanced reader's copy. The plot intrigued me and I knew I had to read this. I love the nod to While You Were Sleeping and having a different way of approaching it. It has had a very Hallmark movie feel to it. My only qualms about it was it felt a little too perfect and too gushy. I feel l like some of the emotions could have been edited and the book shortened.