We’ll switch, like we used to when we were kids, remember? You come to L.A., I come home. It will be fun.

The Holiday Swap (From ARC, quotes may have changed in publication copy)

Thank you, NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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?

I love Christmas, and while it’s only October, I was thrilled to be able to pick up a Christmas book a little early to start getting in the holiday spirit. The Holiday Swap follows identical twins Charlie and Cass. They’re both pastry chefs, Charlie for a famous baking show in LA and Cass for the family bakery in their small hometown. Their lives are going according to plan, but when Charlie gets a head injury that affects her taste and smell and Cass breaks up with her longtime boyfriend, they decide to swap lives. 

Cass will pretend to be Charlie as a judge on the baking show, and Charlie will go back home to run the bakery and deal with Cass’s ex, who just won’t get the message. They’ve swapped before, but this time it proves more complicated than they can imagine when a charming fireman and a hot physician assistant walk into their lives. 

The Holiday Swap completely embodied the feel of a Christmas romantic comedy on Netflix—full of hijinks, feel-good vibes, and holiday cheer. I loved the Dual POV of Charlie and Cass. It allowed for the perfect combination of small-town and big-city Christmas. I also loved how baking was weaved into the story. Everything that the sisters baked sounded so good and definitely made me want to start my Christmas baking early. 

I have to say that only one person realizing that they switched felt a little unrealistic to me, but it always kind of does to me with the twin/doppelgänger swap trope. That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters are lovable (especially Cass and Miguel), and the pacing is fast without feeling rushed, making it the perfect lighthearted winter read. If you enjoyed The Princess Swap on Netflix or The Great British Baking Show, you would definitely enjoy The Holiday Swap.