⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5/5)

Inspired by the film The Holiday, three friends (Jules, Chloe and Lucy) decide to switch homes for Christmas and each jet off to experience a different kind of festive celebration. It soon becomes clear that switching countries does not leave all of your problems behind, and the women face some deicions.

This novel was such a fun and festive read and it was perfect Christmas escapism. It was light, wholesome, funny and flirty and I liked the characters as well as the different experiences of Christmas, whether it be in sunny Australia, the English countryside, or Snowy America.

The theme of friendship was really strong in The Christmas Swap and I loved having a group of three women who support and care for each other. I liked all three women, although they are all different, and I think Barker portrayed all of her characters well.

Barker writes the plot cleverly so that there is overlap between the stories of the three women and their narratives were entwined well. Each chapter ends so that you want to know more about that ladies’ narrative which means that the pace ends up moving along quite quickly as, for example, when reading about Jukes I wanted to get back to Chloe and Lucy but then Jules’ chapter would leave me wanting more!

Something that would have made me enjoy this book more was actually that I wanted more of it. I wanted more romance, maybe more heat, and definitely more of the book. I wanted to spend more time with the ladies (and the couples) to find out more about what happened after the novel ended and just to see more of the romances.

Overall, if you want a fun, festive romance, pick this one up next Christmas (or any time you want, we all need some festive escapism sometimes).