In Blame it on the Mistletoe by Beth Garrod (originally released last year as All I Want for Christmas), social media influencer Elle, or @OneElleOfATime, decides to swap lives with a follower who lives in her mother’s childhood hometown, Little Marsh United Kingdom, in an attempt to win a high-stakes social media challenge. Christmas-fanatic, @OneElleOfATime fan, and Little Marsh resident, Holly, decides to apply for Elle’s holiday switch after finding out that her family is moving, her sister won’t make it home for Christmas Day, and her ex-boyfriend has already moved on. Once Elle and Holly figure out that their mothers know each other, plans are made for Elle to come to Little Marsh and for Holly to come to America for Christmas. Elle’s time in Little Marsh mainly consists of trying to ignore internet trolls while finding the most epic Christmas-themed photo ops (in an attempt win the drama-filled social media challenge) with the help of Holly’s cute yet quirky friend named Fred. Meanwhile in America, Holly gets all the holiday feels while hanging out with Elle’s Scrooge-like and secretive twin brother, Nick.

Blame it on the Mistletoe is a unique and “Christmassy” take on the classic switching places trope. Fans of Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox, Let It Snow by Johnson, Green, and Myracle, and So, This Is Christmas by Tracy Andreen will all adore this new release. I would also recommend Blame it on the Mistletoe to fans of Jenny Han as well as fans of Christmas movies like The Holiday and The Princess Switch. This book would be great to read during the winter months because it is full of festive adventures and holiday traditions. Whilst it is a festive book, it also deals with themes such as change versus tradition, desire to escape, family, growing up, love and heartbreak, and technology. As a result of temporarily switching lives, Elle and Holly develop a stronger sense of self and learn to embrace the true spirit of Christmas.

I loved all the holiday-themed and fun-filled adventures that Elle and Holly went on during their swap; my favourites were Elle’s #OneElleOfAChristmasDayInLondon shenanigans, including a visit to King’s Cross Station (a.k.a. the station where Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter is located), and Holly’s trip to Manhattan with Nick. Similarly, I loved Holly’s extremely festive personality; she breaks out the Christmas decorations and attire super early, she writes herself a Christmas card every year, and she has “golden rules” for Christmas (never say no to a holiday drink and never wimp out of the high notes in Mariah Carrey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You). Also, I enjoyed the Christmas Day playlist included at the end of the book—I will definitely be listening to this in December! Lastly, without giving anything away, I thought the ending of Blame it on the Mistletoe was perfect.

Some cons for me were that the book was slow to start and rather long; furthermore, it was frustrating to have to wait approximately 100 pages until Elle and Holly swap places and the holiday-filled fun ensues. I also didn’t like how the book was constantly switching between Elle and Holly’s perspectives because it was hard to keep track of and the storylines didn’t crossover with each other that much.

Overall, Blame It On The Mistletoe was a cute, fun, and festive Christmas read that I highly recommend adding to your December TBR list.

This is a teen Christmas swap story, similar in style to the movie The Holiday. And I loved them both!

When I started this book, I was a little uncertain- the teenage slang, the overly-dramatic events, and the teen social media life were a lot. But, by the end of the book, I was tearing up a little. I ended up loving it. If you're a fan of cheesy, holiday movies you'll love this.

At first I was worried all the posting and social media mentioned in the story was going to be a big turn off for me as a readers,, but as I sit here writing this review and listening to Christmas Time (Don't let the Bells Ring) by the Darkness, it clearly wasn't. Adorable and fun, I felt like I was watching a Netflix holiday film while reading it. A house swap story with teenagers, a little mystery and a lot of fun. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion...now to order a copy for my Christmas loving teenage daughter

It took me a little while to get into this one. Overall, it was super cute. The plot was a little too far-fetched for my liking. It was very chatty and fresh chapters.

This young adult romance spanning both the USA and England is an adorable novel about finding love and yourself in unexpected places and adventures! It also explores the drawbacks of social media for teens snd shows how you don’t need validation through likes on Instagram.

This was cute. It wasn't long enough for me to really develop a connection to any of the characters, but all in all it was cute. The social media aspect got on my nerves some but the characters were younger so I can understand it. Nick was probably my favorite of all the characters.

Christmas + London + romance = you don’t even have to convince me because I have already clicked “Request” on NetGalley.

I’ve been a little sad to find that when I try to pull books for a Christmas fiction display, my school library seems to have a serious deficiency in this department. (Of course, even when I get a new one and promote it, December just isn’t really a great time for teenagers to seek out pleasure reading — exams and general exhaustion, etc.) I’ll be excited to add this title to our library collection, and I can’t wait to share it with the students who come in wanting a romance every time!

The story is relevant: social media influencers, an obsession with collecting followers/likes — yep, that sounds about right. I love the idea of the two girls swapping lives. How much fun would that be? (I say that as if I would ever be brave enough to do such a thing.) I loved both Holly and Elle and all their friends and family. I would really love to understand more about Fred. Tbh, he was probably my favorite character, and I felt like I was cheated in his development up next to the parallel of Elle’s brother!

My only other wish for the story is that the girls would be even more distinct from each other in the early chapters. It took me a while to feel like I knew them well enough to know whose story I was reading without going back to check the beginning of the chapter. Some of that struggle could be attributed to trying to read while multi-tasking at school and being interrupted every 4.7 seconds by a student coming in and asking, “Do you know where the mystery books are?” (“Sorry, no, I have no idea where those are. I’m just the librarian. Seems to me like someone ought to figure out a way to organize all those books or something.” HA! Ok, I keep that answer in my head, but still…I digress.) Even when I sat down to read at home, though, the girls ran together for the first 1/4th of the book or so. Listening to an audiobook version would’ve made it much easier to keep them separate in my mind. Oooh, wouldn’t that be great, with their accents and all?!

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC of this novel; it was a great read! Now, if only I can quit singing the title to the “Blame It” song from a few years ago, the one with Jamie Foxx and T-Pain…”Blame it on the mi-i-i-i-i-istle-toe…”

Heartwarming, festive, and laugh-out-loud funny! Amazing friendships, and main characters you can relate to, regardless of how quirky they are. Exactly what I wanted from a Christmas Rom-Com! Absolutely loved it.

I always enjoy books that have different characters POV but unfortunately this one got a bit confusing, as it had so many characters I personally could not connect to them. It took me a few chapters to get into this book.

An American girl and an English girl swap lives in December for very different reasons,  Elle wants to increase her followers on her social media account to win a competition and Holly is obsessed with everything about Christmas! But they both struggle when it comes to love.

It was a bit far fetched, I mean who let's young girls travel to the other side of the world without knowing the family their going to stay with?You will really have to love Christmas to connect to this book, but if you do then you will probably love it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a digital copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

A great YA feel good romance. It’s based in the world of social media and desire to be an influencer. It’s a swap story where two girls switch places for the holidays to experience Christmas. It was a slower start but once they swap places you get a lot more into it. Maybe a great target audience is teens.

Sooo cute! Will definitely be gifting this to a few bookish friends for the holiday season!!! The perfect stocking stuffer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Where do I begin? I was drawn to this book because, despite my wariness of contemporary romances (I find them very hit or miss), but I loved the premise of a holiday swap romance. It had all the makings of a cheesy, feel good, holiday rom com, and who doesn’t love those? And this was cute! Blame It on the Mistletoe is a very quick and easy read; I flew through it whenever I picked it up. Both of the main couples were adorable and endearing, and it made me smile when both finally got together. I’ll admit, there wasn’t as much of a romance focus as I’d expected, but what there was was very sweet.

There isn’t really anything specific that I didn’t like about this book. There was an over abundance of ellipses and caps lock which, not exactly a deal breaker. In the end, the moral of the story was a bit heavy handed, much more of a “tell not show,” but I don’t think this is all that uncommon in YA books. Really, the reason I didn’t rate this higher isn't because there was anything particularly wrong with the book, it’s just that I found the book average. It was fun, but it wasn’t memorable and it failed to really make me feel anything. Some things didn’t speak to my personal taste—I can’t stand instant love, and I’m not huge on miscommunication trope, and there was plenty of both—but that’s just me.

This book is a hugely feel good read but it’s not all sugar and spice. Underneath the tinsel and candy cane we see two girls who are both a little bit lost and trying to find their way to happiness. Blame it on the Mistletoe was laugh out loud funny as you witness both Holly and Elle going to extreme lengths to check off their perfect Christmas lists. There are so many hilarious and cringeworthy moments as they try to fully embrace the Christmas spirit. I really appreciated the spotlight on how social media creates this false image of reality, luring followers into believing what they see on a screen when the truth can be so different.
This book has everything you would want from a Christmas read. It’s funny and festive and is sprinkled with romance but it also tackles some difficult themes in a thoughtful way. The author has a talent for creating characters that you genuinely care about and that you’re rooting for to have a happy ending. This will be the perfect read for the upcoming holiday season!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

"Blame It On The Mistletoe": 4⭐

(Unpaid Review: thank you to @netgalley, @bethgarrod and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review.)

What's better than reading a Christmas story? That's right, nothing! ❤️ This was definitely giving me "The Christmas Holiday" vibes and I digged it so hard - ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

It was just the kind of book I was needing! Devoured it in one sitting! Absolutely stunning and beautiful! Hope to read more of this author soon!

This is a typical cozy Christmas rom com - as they always remind me of Hallmark movies! The plot was cute and it has a happy ending! I am happy I got to read it because I don't typically purchase holiday books

BLAME IT ON THE MISTLETOE sadly was not for you and I unfortunately had to DNF at around 50%.

The premise of TWEET CUTE meets THE HOLIDAY was what got me in- TWEET CUTE is one of my absolute favorite YA contemporaries and THE HOLIDAY is one of my absolute favorite Christmas movies. These are definitely fair comparisons. The social media aspect of this book was quite similar to that of TWEET CUTE and obviously if you've watched THE HOLIDAY, you know where that comparison comes from.

For me, the book simply could not hold my attention because the writing style was aimed towards the younger side of YA. Of course, this is not an issue, but it is a personal preference of mine that I couldn't get past.

Along with this ,this book suffered from major "adult-author-has-never-spoken-to-a-teen-before" syndrome. This is one of my most common complaints in YA these days. Elle and Holly both seemed so immature for their age and much happier than every teenager I know, quite honestly.

Despite this, I do feel like the social media aspect was handled well. All of the interactions I saw felt like actual interactions I've had over the internet, so I do have to give kudos to Garrod for that.

One final complaint I had was the first chapter of the book and the letter to herself that she's reading. It was needlessly long and incredibly confusing, making for an off-putting beginning to a book. It was completely unnecessary and really seemed like it served no purpose but to make me confused.

Overall, a disappointing read that would be enjoyed by many but simply wasn't for me.

This is a super adorable ‘meet-cute’ story about two teenagers who swap lives for a week over Christmas as part of a social media challenge. Both Elle and Holly are trying to escape issues at home and have a perfect Christmas, finding Christmas frolics, friendship and some cute romances along the way.

I struggled a little to keep all the character names straight at first as we get introduced to a lot in the first couple of chapters but slowly they become distinct with their own personalities and you end up fiercely rooting for Ruby and Fred’s romances almost more than Ella and Holly!

I loved the new take on what can be a pretty overdone genre. It was nice to see how it dealt with the shittier sides of social media that teenagers end up dealing with whilst also keeping it insanely sweet with Christmas cheer. Plus, Dottie and Dominic were the absolute best characters!!

This book made me want to immediately decorate my flat for Christmas despite it being 3 months too early (even for a Christmas fanatic like me!). Will definitely be re-reading in December.

Blame it on the Mistletoe is a very cute, get you in the Christmas spirit kind of book!

It took a couple chapters for me to get into it, however I enjoyed it. It was a fast paced and heartwarming story that reminded me of the movie The Holiday, but for a younger audience.

Very cute story with some laugh out loud moments and a young love to warm your hearts.

DNF@22%. This is a classic case of it's not you, it's me. When I read the synopsis I assumed the social media influencer who switches lives with another person, was, you know, an adult. So I was taken aback when this turned out to be YA and I'm just not in the mood for that. I'm not quite sure how to describe the writing but it was a bit too colloquial for me.

But if you like YA Christmas stories, I think this could be a good option!

Cute little Christmas-themed rom-com about 2 girls, one an American Instagram Influencer and one a British girl who is trying to get over her ex-boyfriend, who trade places for one week at Christmas. Kind of far-fetched, which brought down my rating a bit, but stll a fun book about how they spend the week before Christmas, trying to have the best one ever to post on Instagram.