The Christmas Swap

De: Talia Samuels

Narrado por: Kim Bretton, Emma Fenney

Margot Murray is a newly single, successful businesswoman with no interest in a cutesy seasonal romance after her breakup with her long-term girlfriend. Ben Gibson is an unlucky-in-love sweetheart in need of a woman to bring home for the holidays. Together, they make a pact: Margot gets two blissful weeks away from London in a picture-perfect manor, and Ben gets a fake girlfriend for his holiday at home with his family.

Upon arriving to the manor, Margot meets Ben’s sister, Ellie, who is suspicious of the supposed relationship right from the start. Ellie intends to get to the bottom of their relationship, not being able to see how the two of them work as a couple. As Ellie and Margot grow closer, will Ben and Margot be able to keep the charade up, or will Margot and Ellie risk the chance at something real?

©2023 Talia Samuels (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Hallmark vibes

This book reminds me of a Christmas Hallmark movie. If you enjoy those kinds of stories then this is for you!

All emotions

Once you get pass the narrator tone it's a great story. Just a holiday love story tangled in a mess of unexpressed family feelings and tension not talked about.

Just Okay

Stars: 3 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Kim Britton & Emma Fenney
Series: Stand Alone
Steam Level: Not Steamy

I wanted to like this more than I did. Fake Dating is a favorite trope of mine and this set up sounded fun, but wasn’t quite there.

Quick Thoughts:
- I liked how Ellie was suspicious of Margot right from the jump and kept hearing things out of context that made her more suspicious
- Ben is such a cutie and needs to be protected
- The grandfather is also a cutie and needs to be protected
- In a lot of books that deal with an emotionally abusive ex, they don’t call it abuse and just say they were horrible or mean. I like that it was explicitly called abuse and Margot was pushing back on that at first. Been there, done that. It takes a lot to get your head wrapped around the fact it did happen to you
- It bothered me that in the beginning of their secret relationship, it was said that it was exciting/fun to keep it away from Ben, who really REALLY didn’t deserve this deception
- This story would have worked better if the protagonists weren’t in their 30s. The way that things played out felt like they should have been in their early 20s.
- There was a bit of exposition from Ellie about her feelings on their date that felt very weird. It was made more so with how Ellie acts later in the story.
- How the affair gets exposed was inevitable but I did NOT appreciate how Ellie reacts. She knows about Margot’s past and she is an adult in her 30s and made that whole speech. Leaving for a little bit to cool down is one thing, but leaving for hours just highlighted how immature Ellie actually is
- Despite all that, I did enjoy the ending and cheered for Ben and the grandfather
- This was the first time I’ve listened to anything from these narrators and they did pretty solid performances. I would listen to them again.

Overall I enjoyed the book but I wasn’t blown away by it. I had to keep reminding myself how old the protagonists were, they just felt very young and immature. I wouldn’t recommend it if you were just looking for any holiday romance but I wouldn’t discourage you if you want to read this particular one. This book lives in that weird middle space for me of not liking or disliking it.

Heartwarming

This is a comical, heartfelt, light holiday romance. Fake dating a man for Christmas was a good idea until she met his lesbian sister. When she clicks with the sister her fake relationship goes down hill in a comical way. Throw in a pregnant dog and puppy daddy is a recipe for laughs. This is a hallmark kisses only heartfelt romance.

A fun holiday romance

I needed a distraction from all the badness happening in the world, and this fun, holiday sapphic romance was the cure.

Was OK

it could have been shorter and to the point, the first part was good but then it became a little boring but then it was OK. Good MC narration was OK as well.

great LGBT holiday read

What a cute, romantic, feel good story about two women falling in love at the holidays. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who craves representation. Someone should make this into a movie.

Great story

Thoroughly enjoyed it, highly recommend it as a fun read/listen! Good story, great leads, quirky characters, and some great laugh out loud moments. The author also gently touched on some of the harder aspects of life but without bringing down the mood (wonderfully balanced), and some of those aspects were unexpectedly healing for me. Looking forward to reading/listening to more from this author!