A review by njh_books
The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels

hopeful relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was really hoping for a cute cheesy queer Christmas story and it was that at times, but it fell flat quite a lot as well.

I did enjoy the POV switching, was fun.
Misti the dog was great. Give me a book on Ben and Roberta as kids and now having reconnected. 

The book also examined aging & memory issues as an older person and abusive relationships well and had some insights that were touching and well-written.

The ending with Ellie just asleep in Margot's arms was cute, but just felt kind of strange with all the other chaos around at that exact moment. The ending felt rather rushed...

Actually, a lot of these major scenes felt rushed or cut off to quickly, to the story's detriment. While I did see some bonding before Ellie and Margot got together, it still was quite quick and kind of left you wondering why they we into one another (besides the physical attraction).

The epilogue, to me, read like a bad summarize the last year of your life in two pages...it was lackluster, not really satisfying, and could've been left out (don't get me started on the vegan cheese in the burrito part).


Probably won't ever read again, but did at least one Christmas-y read this year...
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