When I saw this premise was similar to The Holiday movie, I knew I had to pick it up. The writing transported you to each destination to experience how Christmas is celebrated locally, and of course each woman finds romance on their holiday adventure.

I enjoyed the girls’ friendship and how much they rely on one another while also pushing each other out of their comfort zones to make this Christmas swap. My Hallmark heart always loves a little romance, but instant-love connections are always a little hard for me to believe. I still thought each of the men were sweet in their own ways and brought out the best in the women they were with. The relationships were all healthy and had great communication which is always a major appeal to me.

I recommend this one if you want a light and fun holiday romance that’ll take you to celebrate Christmas around the world. It’s especially perfect since we can’t travel thanks to COVID.

A feel-good Christmas romance guaranteed to brighten up your day

Lucy, Chloe and Jules have been BFFs ever since they met during a trip to Hawaii when they were 11 years old. Now in their early thirties, all three of them realise the upcoming Christmas season isn't going to be what they actually want it to be. Lucy is longing for a snowy Christmas, which is unlikely in the small English village where her parents live. Jules is sick and tired of Colorado winters, she'd much rather go some place warm to defrost. And Chloe's parents are abandoning her to go on a cruise, leaving her to have "orphans Christmas" with her friends in Melbourne. They're all feeling rather glum, until they realise they can just swap Christmases around and give everyone what they want: Lucy goes to snowy Colorado, Jules gets a summer holiday in Melbourne, and Chloe borrows Lucy's parents for a traditional family Christmas.

I had a fun time reading this book, and while it did make me feel excited about Christmas coming up soon, the three storylines were just a bit too unrealistic. Of course all three of them are on board with switching Christmases, and of course all three of them meet handsome guys, and of course those guys all fall for them too. With three very different characters in three very different locations, the possibilities seem kind of endless. But all we got was three insta-love romances that felt very similar to each other.

The way the book is structured didn't exactly help with that impression. The POV switches between the women every chapter, and the chapters are arranged so readers can easily follow the timeline. Unfortunately, that also means it becomes obvious all three storylines are basically the same: character arrives at new location, settles in and meets guy, Christmas happens, character goes on a trip with the guy, conflict happens, and then it gets resolved, the end.

I enjoyed this book, but I would've liked more realistic love interests and original storylines.

Sandy Barker has written a Christmas masterpiece! I absolutely adored this book from start to finish. Chloe, Jules and Lucy are lifelong best friends who live in different parts of the world. They agree to swap homes for Christmas, which ends up being life changing for everyone! I laughed, I smiled and I squealed with glee as I was transported to England, Australia and Colorado on each of the girls' holidays.

One of the characters scoffs at herself, claiming falling in love in a week is just like a Hallmark movie. Well, I LOVE Hallmark movies. If you like friendship, romance and a fun, Hallmark-esque Christmas, you'll love this book too!

The May Ladies Club - Lucy, Chloe and Jules - all have birthdays in May and have been BFFs since they met on a trip to Hawaii when they were eleven years old. Twenty years later the three women realise they have never experienced their respective dream Christmas. One of them has always dreamed of a white Christmas, another has a longing for a traditional family Christmas and the third hates the cold and wants to spend the festive period somewhere hot. They have kept in touch over the years, remaining firm friends despite living at opposite ends of the globe, and so they decide to swap locations for the holidays, each of them staying with another's family or friend.

The Christmas swap was a fun, feel-good Christmas romance and it certainly woke the festive spirit within me. The plot alternated between the three women and locations as the reader got to see how they each spent the Yuletide season. Of course, there was a gorgeous male presence at the locales, including a winemaker, snowboarder, and an international film star.

It was such fun being privy to all of the different traditions, families, and romances. This was magical escapism, and Sandy Barker's descriptions were so good that I felt I was a visitor to the various places alongside everyone. I loved reading of the characters' different pastimes including wine tasting, skiing, the village fair, horse riding and naturally the sampling of all that Chrimbo food.

All in all The Christmas swap is a great, juicy, feel-good and compulsive story.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from One More Chapter via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

This was such a sweet book that I was sure I’d get toothache.!!! Do t get me wrong it was a lovely book to read and to sink into for a few hours but, at times I felt like “are these characters for real”? But, apart from that I did enjoy this story. The friendship between the friends was lovely and I enjoyed reading as the story developed.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

If you are a fan of the movie The Holiday then you re going to love The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker. Best friends since childhood, Jules, Chloe and Lucy each feel they need a change for the holidays. They decide to swap homes for Christmas and give everyone a chance to experience something new. Chloe who lives in Australia goes to London where Lucy lives.. Lucy goes to Colorado where Jules lives and Jules is going to Australia where Chloe lives. Each of the girls find that time away is just what they need. Of course there is unexpected romance and the girls find out so much about themselves. If you have ever wanted to spend Christmas in another place you can do it vicariously in this book. A feel good festive novel that will make you want to hear more from Chloe, Jules and Lucy.

I have to admit it took me a little while to get to grips with who was who trying to get to grips with three women going to different countries so I think I may have liked a few more chapters at the start to get to know them individually so that I wasn’t so confused.
It was great to get to experience the different Christmas’ with the Ladies and also the men that end up in their lives however was very unrealistic how they all instantly fell in love within moments.
Not sure I liked the references to weight (calorie counting etc) or the need to add in about the way Meghan and Harry have been treated but if you want a Christmas love story this is definitely it.
Personally I found I wasn’t wanting to read it in a hurry so it took longer than usual for me to finish but I’m sure if you want pure happy ever after escapism then you would find this an easy and quick read.

Three best friends- three Christmas romances, three different countries, can it all work out? Fun Read!!

I am a huge fan of Sandy Barker’s travel-based romances, but this standalone was seriously a cut above the others, was definitely my favourite of her books, and if I’m really honest, I NEED this to be turned into a movie! If you love the Christmas movie The Holiday, this book will tick every one of your travel, romance and Christmas boxes as well as embracing The Holiday vibes.

The story follows three friends who met in a kids holiday club in Hawaii when they were 11, and stayed friends into their 30s, who swap Christmases with one another. I loved the way the book jumped between the three women, although my head did spin trying to work out time differences, as we jumped between not only women, but continents! I loved Lucy’s storyline the best, but each story was lovely, and all three leading men, a snowboarder, a movie star and a winemaker were all really hot, as well as being genuinely lovely guys.

I loved seeing the different traditions between the three countries, the differences in food were really interesting, and the festive settings made me feel very Christmassy. Being from the UK, having lived for two years in the States and being married to someone who had lived in Australia too, I was familiar with some of the differences, although our Christmases spent in the US were basically British Christmases relocated. I enjoyed reading about the subtle differences. I wanted one of the hot chocolates served by Jules’ dad in the States so badly, and I may well add rum to my hot chocolates this Christmas!

This is a book focusing on friendships, and Sandy really knows how to create believable strong women in friendship groups. That’s not to say there weren’t a handful of ups and downs in their friendships, which I thought was realistic. I loved how each of the three women were immediately welcomed into their dream Christmas experience by the family and friends of the others. I really felt that I was transported to each of the locations, and loving each storyline, so much so that at the end of each part of a storyline I was immediately both frustrated and thrilled in equal parts because I wanted to continue on the one storyline, but also wanted to move straight to the other. This really made me not want to put the book down at all, and ironically given the publisher, I kept saying ‘just one more chapter’ as I read late into the night!

This book is pure Christmas escapism, and you get not one but THREE romances within this funny, romantic feel-good story so what more could you want? Buy this book, you won’t regret it!

Such a cute and fun read! Perfect distraction in life right now. Really enjoyable characters and story and hard to put down! Love a holiday rom com!

A delicious novel celebrating friendship, family and love. Three best friends since childhood, despite now living on different continents, each want to experience a Christmas with a difference and decide to swap families for the holidays. Each one if them slots happily into the other's lives, families and friendships but what will happen when the holidays end?' I loved this glorious book, evoking Christmas memories, traditions and nostalgia. I heartily recommend it to anyone wanting to swap their present situation and guarantee you will find love!

Escapist, witty and romantic, fans of rom com classic The Holiday are going to fall in love with Sandy Barker’s fun and feel-good new novel, The Christmas Swap.

The holidays are fast approaching and Chloe, Jules and Lucy decide that this year things will be different for Christmas. No longer shackled to routine and tradition, the three friends decide to take a walk on the wild side, throw caution to the wind and plunge into a daring new adventure that will see them bid adieu to the mundane and familiar and experience a Christmas somewhere far from home and from everything they know. Christmas is always a magical time of year, but for these three friends, this holiday season is going to be one that will change all of their lives forever…

Chloe decides to turn her back on the beaches and sunshine which usually dominate the holidays in Australia to head over to a sleepy Oxfordshire village that looks straight out of a Christmas card. Chloe is settling down for a quiet Christmas full of mince pies, eggnog and turkey sandwiches when she discovers that across the road, one of her new neighbours is somebody who is used to being in the spotlight. Getting starstruck is only natural for Chloe, but when events unfold in ways that she wasn’t expecting, she soon realises that she might end up finding just what she has always wanted under the Christmas tree.

Lucy has always yearned to experience a white Christmas, so spending the season in Colorado with her friend Jules’ family looks set to be ideal. Jules’ American family might be loud and brash, but they soon take her under their wing and straight into their hearts leaving Lucy to discover hidden depths within herself which she never imagined. Will Lucy forge forward a stronger and far more confident woman after the holiday season? Or will she allow her fears to continue holding her back?

Meanwhile Jules has swapped a white Christmas for a hot one when she finds herself in Australia spending the holiday with some of Chloe’s friends. Forget about Christmas jumpers and cosy chats by the fire, Jules’ summer is going to be sizzling hot as this time away far removed from her comfort zone forces her to reassess what she is going to be doing with her life. Will her much needed time away give Jules the confidence to fight for what she’s always wanted? Or will all her resolves melt away when she returns back home?

I’m a big fan of Sandy Barker’s. Her books are always warm-hearted, deliciously witty and immensely enjoyable and her holiday romance, The Christmas Swap, is certainly no different. Full of laughter, mischief and warmth, The Christmas Swap is a charming and delightful tale about taking chances, falling in love and the power of friendship I simply couldn’t resist.

A book that will effortlessly take readers away into a world they will not want to leave, Sandy Barker’s The Christmas Swap is a delicious Yuletide treat fans of Zara Stoneley and Sarah Morgan will not want to miss.

This is the first Sandy Barker book that I have read and looking forward to reading more. Set in the UK, US and Australia (Melbourne), three life-long friends decide to swap their homeland to visit one of their friends homes to experience a different Christmas to what they would normally have. An excellent plot and of course we can expect romances for the friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

“Chloe, Jules, and Lucy meet at a Maui resort kids’ club, aged 11, forging a lifelong friendship spanning two decades and three continents.

Twenty-two years later, they decide to swap Christmases, none of them expecting the hilarity and romantic escapades that will ensue.

Chloe from Melbourne spends her Christmas with Lucy’s mum and dad in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire, England, stunned to the core when she discovers who grew up across the road from Lucy.

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 a balmy ‘Orphan’s Christmas’ with Chloe’s friends in Melbourne, finding that time away from her mundane life is just what she needed.

Join these three lovable women as they each get a Christmas to surpass their wildest dreams.” – Goodreads

THOUGHTS

Oh my heart. This book is delightful. If you’re into Christmas books, and especially if you loved the movie The Holiday, you’re going to love this one. Instead of just two people swapping, which has happened in a few books (The Switch comes to mind), this is a group of three friends who all desire something different for the holidays. They live in 3 vastly different parts of the world, and have 3 very different family situations. On a video call, they all decide to swap Christmas vacations, still spending them away from one another, but with one another’s family/friends.

Predictable spoiler alert: all 3 have a chance at love, and it’s totes adorbs.

I loved everything about this. The swap. The friends. The changing POVs, the swoon-worthy love interests, the families, the traditions that differ around the world, and the Christmas atmosphere.

A lot of times I’ll request a book on Netgalley only to find that it’s not great and it just had a cute cover. Anyone else guilty of this? Happy to report this one is a hidden treasure.

@molly I’m lookin’ at you!

The only thing holding me back from 5 stars for this one is I honestly couldn’t tell you where each girl is originally from and where she spent her holiday. I just know that I loved all 3 love stories unfolding.

Thank you NetGalley, Sandy Barker and HarperCollins UK for the book The Christmas Swap. This is my personal review.
The Christmas Swap is everything I love in holiday books wrapped in romance and friendship for a wonderful story.
Chloe, Jules and Lucy are best friends and have been for years. This tells the story of how they decided to swap their Christmastime for that year. Jules goes to Australia, Chloe to England and Lucy to Colorado. They each have a Christmas they never imagined.
The different locations were so well described I could feel myself there.
The romances each have makes the story even better.

Chloe, Jules and Lucy live in 3 different continents. Chloe is Australian, Lucy is English and Jules is American. When they are 11, the 3 girls meet in a holiday Kids Club, where they all discover they have May birthdays and their best friends club - the May Ladies is born as the 3 stay best friends over 20 years - sharing many holidays together and chatting online in between.

This year they are all a bit jaded with the idea of another Christmas alone. Jules has always wanted a warm, sunny Christmas. Lucy always wanted a snowy white Christmas rather than the grey English winter, and Chloe really wants to spend a family Christmas, rather than the 'Orphans Christmas' she has planned with her friends.

Fuelled by the film The Holiday, the 3 girls decide to swap Christmas with eachother, with results that will change all their lives.

This is a lovely, sweet, Christmassy romantic novel. It has more than its fair share of comedy moments, and a few of pathos too - in just the right amounts. The characterisation was wonderful - by the end of the book I really felt like I knew and cared about these girls and their friends and family, and would love to be part of their group. A perfect book for the holiday season.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3605921002

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.

In one of the first scenes that Jules spends alone with her love interest, a handsome Australian vintner called Matt, she says that 'she knew she had a terrific body' -she worked out nearly every day, even in the dead of winter. 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.

Three friends, all in different countries, decide to swap their homes and countries for Christmas. Jules will swap America for Australia, Chloe will swap Australia for England,  and Lucy will swap England for America.
As they spend Christmas in different countries with the family of their friends new friendships and relationships develop.
How will their Christmas affect their friendships and their outlook on life? 
An enjoyable Christmas read with more than a nod to the film The Holiday.

The Christmas Swap was a cute Christmas read, about three friends who met as adolescents on holiday, and became the May Ladies, spending holidays with each other every year and growing closer as they grew older. Now at the ripe old age of 32, the all feel stuck in a rut in their high flying careers, and decide to swap Christmases.

Jules swaps the snowy and mad big family Christmas to spend the holidays in Melbourne with Chloe's flatmate Ash and their friends, the 'Orphans'.. Chloe heads to the sleepy hamlet of Penham to spend her first authentic English Christmas in Lucy's childhood home, and her parents; and Lucy heads to to snowy Colorado for a Christmas to remember with Jule's huge extended family!

I liked the alternating povs, and the group video chats which were scattered throughout. It was nice to see how each of the women were doing as they began to relax and realise just what they were missing. I was the biggest fan of Lucy's pov, and how she grew some balls over the course of the book lol. Chloe's story was nice, how she felt at home with Lucy's parent and quickly found her niche in the village setting by helping to run the christmas fair, with a little help from a Hollywood actor of course ;). I think the biggest change in the tree was Jules's, and she seemed to change so much in the book - initially appearing highly strung, to the chilled out person she was in the final chapters.

I rated The Christmas Swap 3* because I did find it predictable, and I'm not the biggest fan of instalove but it was still a cute and heartwarming story about three friends.

3 girls. 3 best friends. 3 sisters. 3 different Christmases. Meet Chloe, Lucy and Jules. It all begins when they decide they all want to swap their Christmases around. I mean we all would like to get away huh? But this is different…

It’s a chick-lit, romance and Christmas story all in one. Perfect. Told through each of the characters we get a glimpse into each of their Christmases and none of them expected what would happen to them… They all come back together at the end for New Year and it’s a beautiful happy ending. Their three way friendship is amazing and strong. This story highlights the power of that… Friendship and love. Brilliant endings for all three of them and I’d love to read more about their futures.

Parts had me giggling away so add in a bit of comedy too. It’s a story that will make you smile and warm your heart! Perfect to cosy up with and look forward to Christmas yourself. Brilliantly written. Highly recommend. A well deserved four stars from me.