Book Review | The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker

Merry Christmas Eve!

Will all three women have their Christmas wishes come true?

Christmas is coming and best friends Chloe, Jules, and Lucy are needing change… so swapping homes for the holidays could be the perfect present for all of them!

Australian Chloe spends her Christmas in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire, England. She is totally star-struck when she discovers who lives across the road.

Lucy, who has jetted off to snowy Colorado for her dream-come-true white Christmas, is taken into the fold of Jules’s loud and brash family, discovering more about herself in a few short days than she has in years.

And Jules leaves the cold climes of Colorado to spend her Christmas on a beach with Chloe’s friends in Melbourne, finding that time away is just what she needed.

The only thing better than one Christmas romance is three, and this wonderful festive novel is perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan, Holly Martin and Karen Swan.

The Christmas Swap is a fun story that will get you ready for all the best parts of the holiday season.

I loved the different types of Christmases portrayed – a large, boisterous family gathering, a small intimate family celebration, and a Christmas orphans’ version. It made me reminisce about the different types of Christmases I’ve experienced at various points in my life and started preparing me for the holiday season.

I also loved the main characters – Chloe, Lucy, and Jules. I think I liked Chloe’s spunky, kick-butt attitude the most, but each has qualities that are endearing and qualities that grate on your nerves a bit. I wish there were another book or books out there with stories of the three of them together. I enjoyed them enough to love to see more of them and, more importantly, see them interact.

The locales are all so beautiful. I don’t know which I think is more beautiful and the perfect Christmas spot. A white Christmas in the Colorado mountains, a festival-filled English Christmas in a quaint village, or a summer Christmas down under – how do you decide? Well, I didn’t have to. I was able to experience all three in a day. All locations are beautifully described and incite the wanderlust inside.

I wish that all three characters did not instantly find the loves of their lives when they switched locales and holiday experiences. What are the chances of that happening? It would be rare for even one to have that experience, making it difficult to suspend disbelief. I would have loved to see some variety with this part of the plot, and that variety could have taken many, many different forms.

Lastly, I loved that, in the story, holiday romance movies were mentioned. That shout out to the type of tale that you would enjoy around the holidays on a particular network made me laugh out loud.

This is a beautiful holiday romance that will bring on all the feels for the festivities ahead.