Book Summary: 

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 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?

My Review:

For those feeling nostalgic for the likes of Sweet Valley High or Liv and Maddie, The Holiday Swap combines the delightful antics of identical twin sisters with the twisted dramatics of a daytime soap opera. Seriously, I was waiting for someone to say they had amnesia at one point! In this wonderful holiday switcharoo, Maggie set the perfect scene for romance as she welcomes us into the small town of Starlight Peak, a magical oasis of camaraderie, scenery, and tradition.

Meet Cass and Charlie, identical twins who have been pulling off their own version of Sister, Sister since they could walk. Prone to switching places when problems arise, Charlie needs her sister to step up to the challenge one more time when an onset accident causes her to lose her sense of taste and smell. As a celebrity chef in the mist of competing for her own show, Charlie promises her sister that she will provide everything needed in exchange for Cass posing as her to get through the holiday special currently being filmed. In return, Charlie would return to their hometown and take over the family bakery while their parents are on vacation. Having helped with the recipes alongside her parents for most her life, Charlie doesn’t need her senses to do what comes natural. In traditional holiday romance fashion, what should be a simple changing places situation turns complicated when a handsome physician assistant and sexy firefighter get thrown into the mix.

Unlike other romantic comedies I have read, I felt like this one only skimmed the top of who the characters were and didn’t really go below the surface. For that reason, I felt like a simple spectator to the story, unable to have an emotional connection with the characters. From a recap given by the author, I was able to confirm what I suspected as the psychological revelations of Cass and Charlie, seeing how spending time in the other’s world, their strengths became their weaknesses and their weaknesses, masked as the identity of someone else, became their strengths. Cass became more confidence, stood up for herself, and became more outspoken. Charlie learned how to slow down, appreciate life, and understand what it was to truly be happy, wanted, and accepted, seeing failure and fumbling as not a devastation and destruction of who she was, but as a reasonable way to approach life. I enjoyed that while the men of interest were a part of the story, like Elsa and Anna in Frozen, Maggie kept the story about the sisters, their relationship, and how much they loved and protected each other. 

An delightful serving of double trouble, this simply sweet strangers to lovers, mistaken identity romantic comedy is a great read for the holiday season.