Reviews - The Christmas Swap

1.37k reviews for:

I mean it's a cheesy holiday romance and it does that pretty nicely.
I like that the characters are actually aware of their flaws and try to work through miscommunications.

Probably didn't need certain subplots and the language was a bit clicheed at points, so much food melting in mouths and flavours balancing each other out like this is not a recipe blog.

kayimreading's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 stars rounded up

This was a lesbian woman fake dating her client to help him be portrayed as not a loser to his family at Christmas story. Said client, Ben, is a self proclaimed loser and still is pinning after a girl he briefly dated in high school. He’s constantly talking about nothing but overall a cheery happy guy who takes our main character Margot home with him and their friendship was really sweet. Ben helps Margot get over her emotional abusive Ex, Taylor.

The plot line is that Ben’s sister, Ellie, a fellow lesbian, thinks Margot is a gold digger after Ben’s money after easedropping on a conversation and is set out to prove Margot is bad news. This goes on for about half the book where the two women get to know each other and eventually the truth comes out. Ellie and Margot start to secretly see each other at the family estate/hotel when the entire story takes place.

Cue the drama as the two women sneak around behind everyone’s back and neglect to tell Ben who finds out after his grandpa, who has memory issues, states he saw two love birds cuddled up for a date late one night.

There’s constant back and forth of “should we tell Ben?” Which they ultimately keep pushing back due to one thing or another. The family is all about presenting a perfect front with decorations, food, and even ugly sweaters to go ice skating. So this throws a wrench in Ben’s plans to appear to be stable and in a loving relationship.

For me, it lacked the Christmas sapphic love story I was looking for but it did a great job of exploring emotional abuse and recovering from that sort of situation. I found it hard to get into after Ellie and Margot tell each other the truth and start dating. At times it felt just repetitive and a simple conversation would have prevented 99% of the drama.

hannasharee's review against another edition

3.0

ugh I want to have christmas at a english manor and fall in love with my fake boyfriends sister

kierag's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 ⭐️ *

representation!!!!!

siobhangrace14's review against another edition

4.75

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

rainbowsweaterpaws's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I loved everything in this book... except Ellie. I just found her to be rude and generally unlikeable. From dunking on girl in red to always seeing the worst in people. She was so self-centred I found it hard to be happy for the couple during the first half of the book.
The descriptions of emotional abuse and coping with the aftermath of it was so good though. I truly felt for Margot and I think it's an important insight for many people to also question their own relationships.
As with any fake dating there were some questionable reasons to keep lying (especially to Ben) but oh well. All in all the second half definitely was a lot stronger.