Thanks to #NetGalley Beth Garrod, and the publisher for the ARC copy of this book.
Elle is a social media start in the US that is looking to switch spots with someone in the UK for Christmas. Holly in the UK loves Christmas more than anything but had an mistletoe mishap with her ex boyfriend and wants to get away.
This reminded me very much of the movie The Holiday.
The story was a little slow to me at the beginning and took me awhile to get into it, but once I started reading I really enjoyed it. I know cyberbullying is a big thing right now unfortunately, but it seemed a little much to me.
All in all I would still recommend this book to others to read!

“You go to all this effort for Christmas, all these things ti make it special, but you have no idea it’s you… You’re what had made this Christmas special.”

When Tweet Cute meets The Holiday! Blame It on the Mistletoe follows two strangers that has the opportunity to swap lives for a very festive Christmas adventure. Elle is determined to gain 30k followers for Christmas especially after being trolled on social media. She joins a competition where she either wins or has to delete her account.

Holly just had her heartbroken and is set on winning her ex back. But then she gets her heartbroken again after seeing him kiss another girl and finding out that she’s moving. She’s a huge fan of Elle and when she heard about the competition, she volunteers to swap lives with Elle.

As both girls experience each other’s lives, they get the chance to meet new romantic possibilities. Elle meets the cute boy next door and the best friend of Holly, and Holly wasn’t expecting Elle to have a cute twin brother. Will this be a Christmas that they both won’t forget?

❄️READ IF YOU LIKE❄️:
- dual POV
- Tweet Cute x The Holiday
- social media influencer
- writing letters
- all the Christmas vibes
- NYC x London
- competition
- making a list & having routines
- Christmas decor family business

cw: cyberbully, jealous friends

Thank you to @Netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for an advanced copy! Blame It on the Mistletoe is now available!

Blame It on the Mistletoe Beth Garrod

MY RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Think: a fun take on the movie, 'The Holiday'. A cute holiday rom-com about two very different girls who swap lives for a Christmas filled with lots of unexpected surprises -- including romance! Fun, easy and cute. A great holiday read.

Check out Blame It on the Mistletoe Beth Garrod wherever you buy books!

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TAGS: holiday, fiction, romance, contemporary romance, women's fiction, chick-lit, rom-com, romantic comedy, young adult, young adult fiction, young adult, romance

*Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, & the author, Beth Garrod, for providing a free eARC in exchange for my honest review #BlameItOnTheMistletoe #NetGalley @NetGalley #sourcebooksfire @sourcebooksfire #BethG @bethg #BethGarrod @beth__garrod

This book gave me all the feels. I’m ready to whip out my Christmas tree and throw tinsel around the room and dance like its Christmas day and I got everything I ever wanted singing Mariah Carey’s “All II Want for Christmas is You at the top of my lungs not holding out on the high notes. It was BRILLIANT.

Thank you to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Fire and Beth Garrod for sharing this book with me to give my honest opinion and honestly, I LOVED IT!!!

We meet both Elle and Holly who couldn’t be more different from one another, but each has something to share with the other. Elle is an internet influencer who is trying to gain more followers by making a holiday switch for Christmas. She’s going to go to England to spend Christmas while someone from England will go to America to take her place. Holly is a serious Christmas enthusiast, but things aren’t going as planned at her house so when this opportunity arose, she couldn’t help but jump on it.

Holly meeting Elle’s family was great, I really enjoyed her interactions with them, the challenges, and adventures she bought on herself with her “Perfect Christmas =” Checkoff lists, she loves her list. I enjoyed seeing through her eyes the snow and wonder of New York for the first time. It’s all very magical especially if you go with the right people.

Elle on the other hand is meeting all of Holly’s family and her friends too. They really help her go through all her checklists for Christmas in England to try and gain more followers. Through all her adventures Elle realizes some things about herself and her family. I can’t really say much because I want you to read this and feel the magic of Christmas as well. But it’s worth it. Realizing that your life really wasn’t they way you thought it should be. Sometimes being real is more important than having a “perfect” life.

I absolutely cannot give this book any more love because it was a really great book and bought me into the season. I would buy this as a Christmas gift for friends. Love Elle and Holly’s adventures, and I’m not going to lie I can completely see this on a platform like Netflix. Adorable and so very realistic.

Holly is a long-time fan of Christmas. She waits all year to pull out her Christmas jumpers and set up a schedule for when to wear which one. She can’t wait to over-decorate her room and her family’s home. And then there is the first rule of the holidays that she must follow: never turn down a festive holiday drink. Her small British town, Little Marsh, goes all out for Christmas too, and this year her best friend has landed herself a big role in the panto. Holly is ready for the holiday season to start.

Or she was. Then she found out that her sister won’t make it home until Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. And her mom tells her that they’re putting their house up for sale, to move in to her boyfriend’s house. And Holly’s boyfriend dumps her for a girl she hates. Just like that, all of Holly’s celebratory energy dissipates, and she is feeling lost for her favorite part of the year.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Elle is struggling to find much holiday spirit. Her parents have a business decorating homes for Christmas, and it seems like they have to spend so much time focused on that they lose some of their own family Christmas magic. Plus, for the first time Elle’s Gram is in a nursing home and can’t leave for Christmas, so their holiday celebration just doesn’t feel all that exciting. Instead, she focuses on her Instagram account. After a nasty run-in with a troll, she had deleted her previous account, but she’s finally ready to try again, and she’s all in for growing her followers.

When she finds herself decorating the home of Dove, a girl from school with a big social media following, Elle is surprised that Dove even knows who she is. But Dove knows her and her Instagram posts, and she encourages Elle to join in with the challenge she’s putting out for a couple of her friends. Basically, the one who gets another 15,000 followers during the contest gets to join Dove in her group account. And the losers? Well, they have to delete their accounts. Elle is in, but she knows she needs something big to raise her numbers by that much. So she has a crazy idea. She posts a picture of the small English town that her mother is from and asks if anyone on the other side of the pond wants to switch places for the holiday.

Holly sees Elle’s post of Little Marsh and wonders if that’s just what she needs to get her Christmas spirit back. She’s seen all the movies where they go to Manhattan, and it’s always a perfect holiday. She messages Elle that she’s interested, but it’s not until the girls realize that their mothers grew up together that they realize switching places is actually possible.

And that’s how Holly finds herself in America to celebrate the season with Elle’s parents and little brother. And Elle finds herself in an adorable British village with Holly’s family and friends. But Elle forgot to tell Holly that her “little brother” is actually her twin brother. Her handsome twin brother. And Holly didn’t warn Elle about her lowlife ex-boyfriend who lives across the street or about her best friend Fred and his nervous habit of telling murder stories about all the places they visit.

While Elle is in England racking up new followers, Holly is in New Jersey learning twin brother Nate’s secrets. But while Elle is doing well in the challenge, getting her tasks done and adding more followers, she realizes that something is missing. Everything is perfect, except that she’s not with her family. And when Holly helps her see how many secrets she’s been keeping from her brother and parents, and how they’ve been keeping secrets too, she realizes just what she wants for her perfect hashtag holiday.

And while Holly is having an amazing time in America, she’s also been making some mistakes. After planning out how she wanted every detail of her perfect New York Christmas to be, Nick helps her realize that she doesn’t have to plan every moment to still have fun. But when she gets caught saying too much, based on rumors and assumptions, she knows she has to throw her Christmas wish list out the window and come up with a grand Christmas gesture to try to apologize to Nick.

Blame it on the Mistletoe is a delightful holiday swap story, filled with lots of good humor and holiday magic. Author Beth Garrod combines the best of a British Happy Christmas with America’s Merry Christmas to create this charming holiday rom com filled with laughter, music, festive drinks, over-the-top holiday sweaters, family, friendship, Twiglets, and a reindonkey.

I will admit I am not into over-the-top holidays at this point in my life, but I have to admit that Blame it on the Mistletoe put me in the holiday spirit. I enjoyed hearing about all the crazy celebrations and quiet moments of Christmas magic, and I found myself wanting some hot chocolate and a holiday movie or two. Anyone who loves holiday rom coms will adore this fun Noel novel, and those who may have been known to mutter, “Bah, humbug” under their breath during the holiday season may find themselves considering buying themselves a holiday onesie and belting out along with Mariah, “All I want for Christmas is you!”

Egalleys for Blame It on the Mistletoe were provided by Sourcebooks Fire through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Thank you to NetGalley and Source Books for giving me this free ARC for review.

I chose to read this story because the premise sounded interesting, and the cover is so cute!

Even though this is young adult, I would say that this book would fall under the younger side of YA based on how the characters act. They were a little too immature for my taste, but I think someone in their early teens would enjoy this book.

One thing that I loved was the two different points of view, especially because one was from an American perspective and the other was British. It made it fun to read two English dialects.

This story reminded me a lot of a Hallmark movie if it was marketed for teens. It had that cute Christmas-y atmosphere and predictable yet still fun storyline.

Out of the two main characters, I enjoyed reading more from Holly’s perspective because I felt that she was more likable. I didn’t dislike Elle, but I found her obsession with social media and followers to be very unrelatable.

There were quite a few moments throughout the book that had me laughing because they were so ridiculous.

I think my biggest problem with this book was actually the ending because it left so many loose ends that weren’t really tied up.

Overall, I think you would enjoy this book if you are looking for a light-hearted Christmas romance.

DNF @ 36%

It's no secret that I love a cheesy holiday rom-com, but unfortunately, this one is a little too cringey for my taste. I'm willing to overlook the excessive use of caps lock, but I found the characters shallow, which makes it difficult for me to feel invested in the story. However, this book is still upbeat and quirky, and I'm sure a younger YA audience will enjoy it more than I did.

A few chapters in I began to think I might have been too old for this but I pushed through with a healthy dose of denial and ended up really getting in to it!

I loved the characters on both sides of the Atlantic but have a special soft spot for Holly. Her quirkiness and crazy antics gave me flashbacks to Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging which can only ever be a good thing...Georgia Nicholson would totally end up dressed as a pumpkin at a Christmas party.

I would definetely recommend if you're after something fun, festive and feel-good!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Where to start with this book? Perfectly festive and adorable, with the right mix of drama and romance. I adored the way representation didn't feel forced and how it tackled serious topics without making the story heavy and awkward. It's a perfect Christmas read and I will most definitely be buying my own copy soon.

This was a cute Christmas read! It had some really good characters with a good story. It was a quick read and if you are a fan of the movie The Holiday then I definitely recommend giving this one a try!

🎅🏾It's finally November which means queue All I Want for Christmas is You⁠⁠
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🎅🏾Blame it on the Mistletoe is a cutesy YA story about two girls who want to escape their lives and switch places for the holidays. Their names are adorable (Noelle and Holly) and the shenanigans they take part in had me engaged throughout. I got ideas for future holiday traditions (writing a letter to myself sounds so cute!) and the push to have fun with the season and celebrate as I see fit, regardless of what others/society might say.⁠⁠
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🎅🏾If you want a nice story to kick-start the holiday season, go give it a look! It's out today!⁠⁠
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🎅🏾Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review and the opportunity to read this work of art.

Initial Thoughts
I love a holiday read. I was super excited to receive an early copy of this book for review. This story sounded super fun.

Some Things I Liked
Social media as a theme. As a bookstagrammer, I loved the elements of the familiar with Elle's social media platform. I also loved the lesson she learned throughout the story about enjoying the experience and not the picture she could post about it.
References and monologues. I loved both Elle and Holly's inner monologues. They were so funny. Sometimes I feel a bit of an age issue when I read first person YA narration in contemporary books but I didn't feel that here. Basically, I wasn't saying "oh god, I feel so old" while reading this and I loved that.

One Things I Wasn't Crazy About
At times the story was too far fetched. Obviously, this is fiction, but it's contemporary fiction so the story should be remotely plausible. I feel like a lot of the story operated on assumptions and conversations that took place off the page so it was hard to really feel like it all made sense.

Series Value
I don't really think we need a series here. This was a one time experiment but I did enjoy these characters. I would read more from this author and I'd probably read a spin off about other characters we met in this story.

Final Thoughts
I wanted to like this more but I found the lack of believability to be a bit hard to deal with. Similarly, Holly was a bit immature (which is totally fine because this is YA), but, I felt like this only added to the unbelievable factor of the events.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book: Blame It On The Mistletoe
Author: Beth Garrod
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication Date: 2nd November 2021

Blame It On The Mistletoe has me absolutely buzzing for the Christmas season. Elle am American social media influenced needs to do something big in order to win a competition on instagram. She connects with Holly in the UK online and they decide to trade places for 10 days before Christmas; Elle heading to the UK and Holly off to America.

We follow the ups and downs of both girls and their shenanigans away from home on the lead up too Christmas. This is a cute young adult Christmas story and I loved it!! It’s a perfect read to get you into the Christmas spirit!

Thanks so much to @netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of Blame It On The Mistletoe in exchange for an honest review.

ok, this is so sweet. This book is basically if The Holiday with Cameron Diaz ad Kate Winslet, but with teenagers. the setting of both stories (a picturesque English town close to London, and a New Jersey suburb a train ride from NYC) was filled with so much holiday spirit, it was a lovely time.

one complaint would be that there were kind of a lot of smaller plot points happening at the same time. Elle has been struggling to deal with online trolls and a shakey relationship with her brother (who has 'secrets' of his own) while Holly was still painfully not over her ex and seemed to create problems where there were none. unsure.

I would still 100% recommend this book for YA readers who are looking for a fun Christmas time read!

Rating: 3/5 stars

I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about this book. It definitely has some romance and a cute vibe, but it just felt childish to me. I didn’t care for the characters development and felt they seemed quite immature. Maybe it was supposed to seem that way, but I personally did not care for it. It does have the basic components of a romance and a decent storyline, so I gave it a 3/5 stars.

Synopsis:
Elle, a social media star swaps lives with Holly, a British Christmas lover during Christmastime in hopes that she will gain followers on her page. Elle meets the cute neighbor across the street that Holly has been trying to avoid and Holly finds out Elle has a cute twin brother. Their switch ends up bringing more than just new followers into their lives.

After pushing through the first few chapters I came across an adorable Christmas story of two teens switching their lives for the holidays. Easy to read and fast paced this is exactly what you need this holiday to put you in the mood for a good Christmas playlist (Mariah Carey is a MUST according to Elle) and a novelty cup of any holiday drink (another recommendation from the MC).

Pick up for a story about what the holidays are truly about—family and friends. It’s the reminder we all need.

Thank you NetGalley, et al. for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was extremely cute, fluffy, and just the thing to get me into the Christmas mood (even though today is… Halloween. Oops.) Perfect for those, like me, who love a good Hallmark Christmas movie,

Admittedly, I thought Elle’s romance seemed a little more rushed and therefore slightly les believable. There were also times that I completely lost the thread of whose POV chapter I was on (although that might have been a bit my fault- don’t read distracted, folks).

All in all, this was a cute little story that I did have a lot of fun reading. Now excuse me, I have a festive holiday beverage to make and drink.

I’m quitting this book around 30%. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I requested it since I don’t usually read YA novels unless they’re thrillers. I think it was the comparison to “The Holiday” that made me give it a try, but I just can’t put in any more precious reading time on this. I knew instantly upon reading it that it was a book for juveniles because the writing is so full of caps and OMGs and rambling thoughts. I like the idea of the main characters switching places at Christmastime, but I honestly can’t stand either girl. Noelle is obsessed with followers on Instagram in a way that makes her social media use more of an addiction than a hobby. Maybe they get more likable as the book goes on, but I have limited reading time and don’t want to spend it all on a book that I have to force myself to get through. Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I wish I had enjoyed it more.

I'd heard that this book was on the same sort of concept as Tweet Cute, which I adored. This book was a little difficult to follow which character was Elle and which was Holly--both teen influencers who adore Christmas. This book was fun, fast, and cute. As a fellow Christmas lover, it was great to get me in the spirit. However as they raced through the competition of getting followers, I wanted them to slow down and give details of all the awesome Christmas-y things they were doing. Great read!

Oops, it’s Halloween but I’ve already read three Christmas books 🙈 Combine Hallmark with YA and The Holiday, and the result is this book! Cute and totally PG.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!