Review: The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker
Stories of big escapes over Christmas give me such cosy vibes dashed with excitement and I thought that’s what I’d be getting with this new Christmas romance.
Brit Lucy, American Jules and Aussie Chloe have been best friends since meeting at a kids’ club on holiday when they were 11. Now, over 20 years later, they agree to ‘swap Christmases’ to experience the festive period in each other’s countries. But with cute guys around, could the swap prove to be a little more permanent than a simple Christmas break?
My favourite thing about this book was experiencing three very different places at Christmas. I was treated to a winter wonderland with a blended Colorado family, a cosy family Christmas in a tiny English hamlet and a party amongst a group of fantastic friends under the searing Melbourne sun. It was really lovely to compare and experience the cultural differences between the three places but unfortunately, there wasn’t that much else that I loved about the book.
This is from one of the first scenes that Jules spends alone with her love interest, a handsome Australian vintner called Matt. I find it very difficult to warm to people who are so openly confident in their own looks. Maybe that says more about me than it does about them but this meant that I struggled to like both Jules and Chloe, who also seems to be fully aware of her own beauty. I have never had that level of security in my physical appearance (and actually, I’d be amazed if many women have), so I just simply couldn’t relate to them. I was aware that these women were nothing like myself and that stopped me from fully investing in their stories or romances, sadly.
Lucy was definitely my favourite and indeed, her dates with Jules’ brother Will were my favourite scenes in the book. She’s anxious, awkward and incredibly caring and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was merely unwavering loyalty and her good nature that kept her tied to her friends for as long as she has. Will is the perfect match for her, as he lifts her up, introduces her to new methods of fun and fully understands her insecurities. I was rooting for their success throughout the narrative. Certain events around the halfway mark that could potentially rock their cute little boat frustrated me and just caused me to spur them on even more.
Chloe’s love interest is a good looking, high profile British actor called Archer, who I pictured as a kind of Tom Hardy-esque. He is a really lovely guy who I doubt anyone really ‘sees’ properly. Chloe offers something new for him-a departure (although not a huge one considering we’re repeatedly told how beautiful Chloe is) from the glamourous actresses he’s used to dating. However, I failed to see what she’d really done to win everyone in the village over, which was repeatedly mentioned. Perhaps a few more scenes of her helping co-ordinate the Christmas fair may have helped this a little.
Archer and Chloe help out an elderly couple, The Capels, when Mrs Capel disappears in a dementia-induced state. Seeing how happy they both are on their reunion, Chloe longs for a love like theirs. I would have loved some more information on the Capels and I wanted to spend more time with them, as I’m sure this would have added a much-needed unique slant to the story. Their minor role in the novel could have been bigger and this disappointed me.
When I first realised that Jules, Lucy and Chloe were 33, I was a bit taken aback because before that, I’d been picturing them as girls in their mid-twenties. All three of them just had a really youthful air and their lives just didn’t seem to resemble that of women over 30. I think it may be down to the fact that none of them have children or husbands or ex-husbands, which is crazy because it isn’t that unrealistic for reality but it feels unrealistic for a rom-com. Apparently, not enough romance novels deal with whole groups of 30-something women experiencing the first flushes of new relationships all at the same time.
The Christmas Swap has essences of The Holiday with the swap element and the festive romances. A lot of the characters aren’t terribly well-developed and lack depth. I think I struggled to keep up with three separate story strands too, so although I loved the different settings, less may have been more in this case. Also, my favourite couple didn’t quite get the ending that I wanted for them, so I finished the book with a little bit of dissatisfaction. If you like pure, glossy, Christmassy romances, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book a lot more than I did.
The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker is available in eBook format now and will be published in paperback by One More Chapter on 26th November 2020.
