The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox (Review for Virtual Advent Tour)

Title: The Holiday Swap
Author: Maggie Knox
Publication: Putnam, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Contemporary romance

Sprite Writes invited me to share a tradition as part of her 2022 Virtual Advent Tour and one I always enjoy is reading some holiday-themed books as Christmas approaches. Last year I read The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer, about a romance writer of Christmas stories who is actually Jewish and is asked to come up with a Hanukah novel. This year, I thought I would review a light-hearted impersonation story.
Description: Charlotte “Charlie” Goodwin is the co-star of a reality cooking show in Los Angeles, Sweet & Salty, which is in the middle of a 12-Days-to-Christmas Countdown when a shelf of cast-iron pans collapses on her. Charlie winds up in the ER with a concussion and attractive Miguel Rodriguez, a physician assistant, who warns her she needs to take it easy and avoid lights, reading, and stress. Fearful that illness will enable her competitive co-star to eliminate her from consideration for a new series, Charlie calls her identical twin, Cass, also a cook, who is working at the family bakery in idyllic Starlight Peak where their Starlight sourdough-based bread is part of local lore. What could be easier than switching places? Cass has just broken up with her long-time boyfriend so she jumps in her car and heads south to LA.

With help from Charlie’s friend in makeup, Cass is able to fool her television colleagues but she is disgusted by co-star Austin’s sneaky efforts to make her sister look bad and is determined not to put up with it. She also gets some TLC from Miguel who is worried she isn’t following the advice he gave to take it easy and Cass starts to fall for him, although worries he is reciprocating under false pretenses. Charlie learns it is harder to manage a bakery than she remembered, especially when dealing with the aftereffects of a concussion. On her first day, she burns the sourdough loaves and a handsome firefighter comes to the rescue. Jake and Cass were mere friends but suddenly he and Charlie have a lot of chemistry, which puzzles him and unnerves Charlie. Can the sisters maintain their impersonation and safeguard Charlie’s career? Can they find true love if the objects of their affections think they are someone else? Will there be Starlight sourdough bread to prevent a Christmas disaster in Starlight Peak?

My Impression: Impersonation stories require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief but can be a lot of fun if you can get past that hurdle. Here, the presumption is that Charlie has not been home for some time and Cass has never visited the set of her show, both of which seem unlikely but we’ll let that go. It also helps that Charlie’s friend Priya, a makeup artist for Sweet & Salty, is in on the secret because Cass is not the greatest conspirator and Charlie keeps forgetting to send her recipes she needs to prepare for the show. Most fortunately of all, Miguel only met Charlie briefly when she was not at her best, and Jake the firefighter only recently moved to Starlight Peak so doesn’t know Cass well:

Charlie had reached the point of no return. Neither of them moved, and even Gateau stayed still in Charlie’s arms. There was so much she wanted to share but couldn’t: this whole caper with Cass was proving to be harder than she imagined, but not for the reasons she’d expected. Charlie hadn’t planned to come home and develop feelings for someone who had been a complete stranger only days before.

A wiser person would put a stop to things. Right now, before someone got hurt.

Maggie Knox is the pen name for a writing duo of two Canadian authors and, as the story is told in alternating chapters from each sister’s point of view, I wondered if that was how they divided the writing in this book. An interview at the back of the book reveals that they had never collaborated on a book before or written a romance but I think it was a success! Charlie came across a little less favorably than Cass: she allowed herself to be a doormat to her obnoxious co-star and kept forgetting to call Cass with much-needed information. However, both sisters are sympathetic characters and fit right into their new settings, which are described realistically and sometimes mouthwateringly – frequent mentions of lemon squares, one of the bakery’s specialties, for example. This is a feel-good romance that takes place as part of a 12-day countdown to Christmas and will appeal to anyone who has ever succumbed to one of those holiday Hallmark movies.

Another, but very different, December favorite of mine is The Dark is Rising. I have one book left in Annabel’s Group Read of Susan Cooper’s classic series but may not get to it until after Christmas. For those with access to BBC World Service, a new dramatization is beginning on Tuesday. It sounds well worth hunting down!

Source: Personal copy