Synopsis
“A feel-good, holiday-themed romantic comedy about identical twins who switch lives in the days leading up to Christmas–perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and Josie Silver’s One Day in December.”
Mark my words – this will be a Hallmark Christmas movie one day. I have seen many Hallmark, movies and this book follows the exact same format. Small town, unexpected romance, and the rest is history. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way complaining about the predictable plot. In fact, I found the book quiet enjoyable.
In the book, we follow two twin sisters – workaholic Charlie, and shy Cas. The sisters decide to trade places after an accident leaves Charlie unable to do her job as a food competition judge. I found the sisters to be likable, but I don’t think there was enough character development. Honestly, we learned more about Cas than Charlie, but still not enough to get super attached to the character.
As I mentioned, Charlie is a host and judge on a Food Network type competition show. She is competing as well – against her co-host, for a permanent position on the Network. There is talk about being a female in the TV food industry, and how we females aren’t taken seriously. Sometimes we are excepted to stand still and look pretty. I found this subject matter a nice addition to the book, but the competition itself didn’t play a big plot in the story.
Upon switching with Cas, Charlie must return home to her family bakery in her quaint mountain hometown. Why does it’s always have to be a small town? And, a bakery or bookshop. Anyways, I found that Charlie didn’t take her position as Cas very serious. While on the other hand Cas was doing everything she could to help Charlie keep her job.
As for the romance aspect, the love interests were very obvious. You could tell from early on how the romances were going to play out. There was some instant love at play, which I don’t generally care for, but that is typical in a Hallmark movie type of story. Both the love interests were nice characters, but I found myself liking Charlie’s love interest, Jake, more.
“Time heals all things. If time fails, try cake.”
The sisters kept wondering if the guys liked them for them or the role they were playing. They would go back and forth on whether or not to come clean, which was slightly annoying. It’s not like the guys could blow up their plan. Honestly, the switch idea as a whole was a bit immature. However, I found lying to someone while also getting close to them to be even more immature.
By the end of the book, you could see that Cas and Charlie had grown as people. Although, I do think the author put more thought into Cas’ character growth. Still, the twins ended up forming a strong sister bond that wasn’t really there before. Most of all, the story shows that it is never too late to change your life in a way that makes you truly happy.
Overall, I found the book to be a cute and cliché read, which is usually how I feel about any TV romance movie. This book is certainly not for everyone, because there really isn’t much depth to the story. You jump right into the plot and you can basically figure out how the book is going to play out right way.
Yet, I enjoyed not only the storyline, but the easy writing style as well. My only major con is that the book isn’t very Christmasey. You’d think a holiday book would have thrown in a little more of the holidays. Give me Christmas overload! Nevertheless, I did loved that there was a time jump epilogue. In the comments, let me know your thoughts on this book. Don’t forget to hit the follow button before you go.
Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny
Jenny Hale
