The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox
My review
2/5 stars
Charlie works on a reality baking show, but loses her sense of taste and smell thanks to a concussion. Her twin sister, Cass, is at home running the family bakery and has just broken up with her boyfriend. They agree to switch places to help each other out and both get more than they bargained for.
This was a fun twin-swap story, with the sweet baking element thrown in. I enjoyed watching the sisters reconnect with each other through living each other's lives for a short period of time; it really highlighted the value of not assuming you know what is going on in other peoples' lives, even the ones of those closest to you.
For me, that was the main draw of the story, and I struggled with the rest of it. I didn't connect with either of the sisters on a personal level, and the respective romances they discovered as each other felt really lacklustre to me. I actually found myself losing interest in the story as it progressed, which is never a good sign.
I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who really loved this book, but it wasn't for me.
Book blurb
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?
More...
You can buy the book here now. It was published by Hodder & Stoughton.
For more on the author, you can follow them on Instagram, or check out their Goodreads page.
