What's Christmas without a fake relationship drama? The set up here is a lesbian graphic designer (I think that's what she did) agrees to be her new male client's fake girlfriend for his week-long trip to his family's hotel for Christmas. So many warning bells already. Immediately on arrival, she meets (wait for it...) his single lesbian sister. There is not one moment of this book that is believable or not painfully predictable. The characters are described as 30ish, but read much much younger and immature. In what feels like an attempt to extend the page count rather than actually tell this story, the main character's abusive relationship with her ex-girlfriend is introduced. This comes out of left field, doesn't really change the trajectory of the story, but does feel extremely out of place with the overall "light" tone of the story. I was left feeling more "Bah Humbug!" than getting into the holiday spirit.

I’m not normally one for holiday romances OR romcoms, but this one really caught my eye. I was so thrilled to see a sapphic couple in a situation we don’t normally get to see them in literature, so I was willing to branch out a little bit. I was so glad that I did. It was a very classic “Hallmark movie” book, but it was done in such a way that it felt comforting, rather than over-done and trite.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was super cute and fun! The festive Christmas-in-the-country romance vibes were really enjoyable and I loved both Margot and Ellie—especially Ellie and her grumpy, suspicious jumping to ridiculous conclusions. I also really enjoyed the budding friendship between Margot and Ben, that was a nice little bonus relationship to get invested in. The set up and high jinks were exactly what you expect/want from a fluffy holiday romance, with a satisfying HEA.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I had a hard time caring about the characters or if they achieved their goals. It is a classic setup-guy needs date to get family off his back, lady getting over a break up, the twist was different (lady liking guy's sister), but this one just didn't click for me.
The setting was written well. The characters were not really fleshed out, but I get that this is expected for a Christmas rom-com.
Overall, it was ok.




Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an early copy of this book. Below is my honest review.

Book Review:
This holiday sapphic romance is absolutely delightful! It's a heartwarming rom-com with a touch of hallmark magic. Filled with charming misunderstandings, surprising revelations, tender moments, and plenty of laughter, this story is perfect for anyone seeking a light and uplifting read. It's the ideal book to add some cheer and joy to your holiday season. I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a slow burn beginning but finally picked up and kept me wanting more. This book is enemies to lovers with playful banter between our main characters. Both characters also go through a self discovery moment. This book had just the right spice and made me fall in love with Margo and Ellie's relationship. I highly recommend this book which I rated 5 stars.

This queer romance, unfortunately, falls flat with a plot that seems stuck in romance clichés. The characters lack the spark needed to make them memorable, and their development feels like ticking off a checklist. Sure, it's great to see LGBTQ+ representation, but the story leans heavily on predictable twists. The writing is okay, but it never quite hits that emotional high note. It's not a complete disaster, and there are some authentic moments, but it doesn't bring anything fresh to the table. Giving it two stars because, let's face it, there are better options out there for a more engaging queer romance read.

A fake dating story set in the British countryside at Christmas. I love the ol "fall for the sister of your fake boyfriend" trope, it's good times.

I really enjoyed this one! Super cute. Each of the characters were well developed and had great personalities! Overall super fun read! Definitely pick this one up if you love Sapphic romance! Love how the cover depicts the pairing but the synopsis mentions a man...

I like to read diversely and I like holiday romances so this cover really connected with me and made me want to check it out. This book is full of holiday spirit and sweet romance.. A young woman thinks she deserves a fun holiday romp with a client after a bad break up. The only problem is the sham relationship she is having with her boss is threatened by the romantic feelings she is developing for his sister. i liked the alternating narratives and the ending.

I was so excited about this arc and was so excited to read it! Definitely loved it and can see myself rereading it for the next christmas! thank you netgalley for the arc and i cant wait to read more of Talia!

Full of comical misunderstandings and Christmas magic, this sapphic romance was a wonderful addition to my holiday. While the story was primarily focused on the budding romance between Margot and Ellie, and the fake relationship of Margot and Ben, it also touched on some tougher topics that added extra depth to the characters and story. Margot is struggling to let go of her toxic ex-girlfriend, and Ellie is coping with her Grandfather aging and his possible dementia. While the majority of The Christmas Swap is lighthearted fluff, I appreciated the added emotional plot points as they rounded the story out. Beyond the general romance, there are also some mysterious subplots like the Gibson’s pregnant dog and the pup's paternity, along with the pony that Ellie and Ben’s Grandfather insists he has seen. These extras create some added humor that was just the right touch to an already cute story.

This was a fine, entertaining romance! Nothing really stood out to me though. The characters weren't super special and I wasn't very invested in the romance. But it was still a cute time and perfect for the Christmas season.

This book definitely suffers from being too similar in plot to "Kiss Her Once For Me" which I absolutely loved.

Overall, this isn't poorly written I just found it to be kind of boring. None of the characters are particularly interesting or deep except for maybe Margot and Taylor. The 'conflict' is not large enough to actually create any tension. There's not really sufficient reason given as to why she decided to do this. The only part of the plot that was actually interesting was Taylor's abusive behavior which is... sort of(?) appropriately addressed.

More than anything I was like "idk Margot, Ellie seems pretty toxic too and you should maybe stay single after only just starting to unpack how abusive your ex was for a bit and see a therapist."

It's about time the lesbians have a bad Christmas romance book. We've truly made it as a society. And this sure was a bad Christmas romance. The set up was some guy hiring Margot, one of the aforementioned lesbians, to be his Christmas date. But when they arrived at his family's ancestoral home turned hotel, there was a meet cute between Margot and the some guy's gay sister Ellie involving Margot hitting a pregnant dog with a car door and accidentally motorboating Ellie's tits. Insert some Christmas themed bonding scenes and way too much miscommunication and misunderstandings because these two have exactly one brain cell to share and they both fail to use it ever, mix it all together, and you get your bad Christmas romance! And the moral of this Christmas romance is to spay and neuter your pets and don't assume a girl your brother brings home is a gold digger because your family is NOT that rich and you're all grown ups in your 30s.

I was nervous about picking this one up since Alison Cochrun's "Kiss Her Once For Me" is a similar concept and I loved that book, but I liked this one, too. I had a few frustrations -- I really dislike the miscommunication trope and this one had miscommunication out the wazoo. I liked the main character, Margot, but I found her love interest, Ellie, kind of infuriating. Grandpa is an A+ character, though - I'm a sucker for a good side character.

I absolutely loved this book. It was cute and cozy. I was able to read it in one sitting and it just made me so happy. Taylor is the absolute worst but I loved the dynamic between her and Ellie. Also, Ben is so stinking adorable, I cannot handle it! I normally hate fake dating tropes but I loved the twist on this one.

There are so many holiday reads out there that they have to really stand out for me to enjoy and unfortunately this did not. It’s cute and I loved the inclusivity and unique spin of fake dating/dating a family member but everything felt forced and rushed. It was okay and an easy read but not super memorable

The Christmas Swap
Talia Samuels, 2023
New Release! A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley for the purpose of review.

Margot and Ben are driving to Ben's family home for the holidays. So far, so normal. Except Margot and Ben met through work a week ago and aren't actually dating, but are planning to lie to Ben's family so his parents will stop making him feel bad for being single.

The story gets even wackier once Margot starts to actually fall for Ben's sister Ellie. Meanwhile, Ellie can tell something is weird about Margot and Ben's supposed relationship, but she jumps to a lot of downright farcical conclusions.

This new holiday romance was quite good, although not exceptional. The characters do a few very dumb things that cause some painful miscommunications and misunderstandings, and those made me cringe. I've described the premise, and you need to be ready to suspend your disbelief a lot early on to get on board with Margot and Ben's initial plan as well as Ellie's immediate jump to the worst possible interpretation of everything. Also, who owns a country hotel and closes it for Christmas? Do they not like money?

However, once Margot and Ellie get on the same page, their romance is very cute. Very "I don't think of myself as romantic but YOU make me see stars" vibes from both of them. They're lucky that the author arranged a convenient happy ending for Ben as well so they aren't left being complete jerks for the way they treat him at one point.

However, I thought the best part of the book wasn't the romance, it was that both main characters (and several supporting characters) have other complex problems that are addressed in (eventually) healthy ways.

Ellie, Ben, and their other sister Kate each struggle with their parents' expectations while they also each assume that the other siblings are doing just fine. This comes out in pieces throughout the book and I found their sibling relationships just as compelling as the romance.

Margot, meanwhile, is just getting out of a long-term relationship, and it wasn't a good one. I thought the narration did a great job of slowly revealing to the reader that Taylor had been an abusive girlfriend, and how long it took (even sped up for the sake of the story) Margot to start to accept how unhealthy their dynamic had been and take little steps to help herself.

That said, how well everyone takes most of the various revelations and emotional conversations is often unrealistic, but such is romance. It's not so bad to read about people reacting in an objectively emotionally healthy way some of the time.

There's a lot here to recommend this to fans of holiday romance and family dramas.