Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Holiday Trap

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The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish

21 reviews

wardenred's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It’s like…like I’ve been so deep in this whole thing for so long that I honest to god stopped trying to think of any solutions and just figured this was my life now.

Talk about mixed feelings! :D This book is basically two stories meshed into one, and I liked some of the things about each, while low-key disliking others. In terms of characterization and personal arc, I vastly prefer Greta to Truman. I feel like she was a lot more relatable and well-written, and I wanted to root for her every inch of the way. Her story about finding herself and slightly belated separation from her family really resonated with me. Truman's journey to sticking up for himself was interesting, but somewhat blander in comparison (and also, Greta kind of did a lot of the work for him, when their storylines intersected directly late in the book?). Although I must say I really loved how invested he was in his bullet journaling!

When it comes to romance, though, I actually liked following Truman's and Ash's relationship more. Despite the largely identical timeframes, it somehow felt less insta-love-y and developed more naturally, and the problems they were facing, especially on Ash's side, were a lot more interesting for me as a reader. I really loved the way they got to know each other while Truman helped with the shop, and Ash's insecurities, and his struggles with being his mom's sole caretaker. Honestly, Ash is probably my favorite character in this one. When it comes to Greta and Carys, though, I was kind of hooked on their story during their first accidental date, but afterward... I don't know, I just didn't *feel* it, and I'm not sure how good they are for each other. Carys has this very understandable thing about borders, being the daughter of a covert narcissist; the narrative seems to portray her as the queen of personal growth, but I got the feeling she isn't completely healed and in her efforts to maintain her own borders may intrude on other people's borders by accident. And Greta's borders are rather fragile as she's only learning to stand on her own as someone other than a sister and a daughter; at the same time, she's also not as careful as she should be around other people's borders, as shown in the story. I don't say that I'm certain they'll become to clash and hold each other back in the long run, but I get the feeling they might, despite all those careful conversations about healthy communication they've had.

In terms of characters who aren't the leads or the romantic interests, I feel like there were too many, and as a result few were fully realized. Like, Greta's sisters are basically "the mean one," "the peacemaker," "the twin," and "the youngest one who has a bit of personality." That's just one example. That's a pity, because all of them sounded really interesting. Perhaps the book would have benefitted from a more quantity over quality approach: a smaller cast with characters the reader could actually get to know.

In terms of plot, this is largely a slice of life story focused on inner journeys, and I'm very much digging that. There were a couple of hiccups I've noticed along the way. Like, there was a certain event that happened in Greta's storyline and then impacted Truman's. Truman didn't even learn about it from Greta, and it wasn't mentioned in any of her chapters at all. I get that it wasn't a super important part of her narrative, but I still feel like it should have been mentioned somehow? As a whole, I expected more intersections between the two lead's journeys to tie it more into a single book.

What I very much enjoyed was a sense of place and setting. The characters' homes, the small Maine town with all of its small businesses, the strees of New Orleans, the bayou, the community garden with the beehive, the cave by the ocean bay—all of those spots were really vivid and added a lot to my understanding of characters who hung around them.

This book also reminded me why I so seldom pick up Roan Parrish's books, even though a lot of them look so cool and when I do read them, I end up finding something to enjoy every time. Somehow, I just can't click with the author's prose. It's so... unobtrusive to the point of being distracting? I know that makes no sense, but that's how it feels. Maybe one day, I'll be able to put a finger on the source of that disconnect. After all, I'm sure I'll keep occasionally picking up Parrish's books, anyway. Like I said: a lot of them look cool!

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cgbr's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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mldavisreads's review

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adventurous reflective

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Contemporary LGBTQ romance. Greta in Maine and Truman in New Orleans both find themselves needing to get out of town for the holidays. A mutual friend, Ramona, helps them arrange a house swap so that Greta can watch Truman's dog and Truman can watch Greta's plants. Greta loves the quicker pace of life in New Orleans, the weather that is conducive to growing almost year-round outdoors, and the LGBTQ scene she finds there. Truman loves the sincerity of the people on Owl Island, the small-town feeling, but does not particularly like the cold. Greta meets Carys and falls in love with her confident, no-nonsense approach to life. Truman meets Ash, a florist who owns his own business and needs a partner in more ways than one.

I enjoyed the house swap and the sense of reflection that comes from being in a completely new place around people that don't know your past. I really enjoyed Truman's journey but didn't enjoy Greta's story as much. Greta's story had a few too many characters to keep track of, and for the longest time I thought she was dating Muriel, a much older gardener she met, so I was a bit put off by that. I eventually realized that Muriel was an older friend who served more as a mother/mentor figure, but didn't like that I had been so easily confused by a central plot point. Lots of reflections about why we are the way we are, setting healthy emotional boundaries, and speaking up for our needs. The psychological aspect was a bit heavy-handed at times.

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kefowler's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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beth_s98's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was a mixed bag. While the concept was super fun, I struggled with one of the story lines, and felt like I kept waiting to switch back to the one I connected with more. It was a fine read, but I’m not sure I’m going to be jumping to reread it.

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maregred's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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daryn's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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hmatt's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very sweet queer holiday romance, and how novel that it's not even my favourite queer holiday romance that I've read this year. 🤯

The characters are fun and complex but the secondary characters are definitely a bit heavy-handed, and there's sort of a feeling of forced diversity sometimes. As tropey as you'd expect. Kind of hilarious how explicit the sapphic scenes are compared to the fade-to-black of the m/m scenes.

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was not a great execution of what it set out to do, which was to be a Christmas/holiday romance. In terms of holidayness, the holidays of Christmas and Channukah barely feature in the story to the point where I think this would have been better off as a regular romance. However, the romance was also lacking. With Greta’s story, her relationship with Carys felt more like a formative one you have in your 20s that doesn’t have an HEA because you’re there to change each other not be each other’s forevers. I didn’t like this, and I didn’t like that Carys seemed not that into Greta. And I’m not talking about Carys’ direct communication, which I liked, but about the fact that she seemed so dispassionate about the whole relationship. Truman’s romance was definitely my favourite of the two as it conversely felt a lot more equal in terms of love, and even just life experience. However I think Ash, like Carys, didn’t really feel like a real person, like the character wasn’t fully realised.

The strongest part about this book and what saves its overall rating was the character development of Greta and Truman. It was so cathartic seeing them learn about boundaries, and self-love, and living a life you’re in love with, and changing their lives accordingly.

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kharlan3's review against another edition

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