I'm really sorry. I gave this book a chance but it is really confusing. The events are overlapping. Their thoughts are confusing and I just cannot force myself to finish it. Made a 71% progress but still confusing as hell! Sorry. It was promising but it is not giving.

Trading Places sucked me in and didn’t let go.

Lexi is a socialite living on daddy’s money and has zero clue what the real world is like. Evan knows all too well what the real world is like, working as a mechanic and caring for his niece while his sister is in prison. They have a car accident, promises are made, daddy finds out and tells Lexi she has to take the bet and voilà - the switch is done.

Both Lexi and Evan had a lot of growing to do, and Emily Duvall did an excellent job showing their growth and change and even when they were making mistakes you couldn’t help but root for them. I especially loved that Lexi did get her hands dirty working at Evan’s brother's mechanic shop, and appreciated her joy in seeing her first ever real paycheck.

While you wouldn’t think that Evan would have as much growth to do, he had a big chip on his shoulder, and Lexi and his niece CeCe were the perfect ones to knock that down.

This is my first novel by Emily Duvall and I doubt it'll be my last.

When a rich trust fund socialite gets into a fender bender with a grumpy paycheck to paycheck car mechanic, all it takes is one smart little niece to trap them into trading lives for two months.

I have got to hand it to Duvall. It's been a bit since I've gone from disliking an MC to being their number one fan. And to top it off, I did it twice! The character development in this book was some of my favorite aspects. I found myself on a roller coaster of emotion from fluctuating between the sexual chemistry of Lexi and Evan to the frustrating secrets and misunderstandings. It's hot, steamy, funny and tender at it's heart.

😽 Opposites Attract
😽 Social Classes
😽 Life Swaps
😽 Steamy 💦
😽 Dual POVs

Even though this is a romcom it also has an interesting spin on how financial situations mold a person. Be prepared for a highly frustrating first chapter or two first getting to know Lexi and hang around for the adventure that follows. True rating 3.5/5.

This was a fun, quick read. Mechanic Evan and Socialite Lexi make a bet (on social media so no backing down) and are trading places/lives for two months.

I could totally see this as a movie. A cute, cliched, fun movie to watch. I am enjoying the predictability of the switches and the attraction between the two of them. It's a fast, fun read that didn't go too deep. There's definitely some backstory (Evan's raising his niece) but there's also lots of superficiality (I love hearing about all the expensive gadgets at Lexi's house) and humor as they experience each other's lives. It wrapped up quickly and everything resolved easily (again, it lends itself to movie magic).

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher for sharing a copy with me. All options are my own.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. It really made you think. I loved it can't wait for others to read it too

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I read a few pages of this but realized it wasn’t for me.

“I thought not kissing you would be easier. Turns out, it’s harder.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Contains some sexual content.

“Trading Places” follows Lexi North, a spoiled millionaire’s daughter, after she agrees to swap places with the blue collar mechanic she rear-ended, Evan Bailey. Evan is just a hard working man who’s looking to support his niece and not let his mechanic business fail—but give as much power as Lexi used to hold can change anyone. In a similar manner, learning the worth of putting your hands to work can humble even the meanest of heiresses.

This was the most fan fiction-ish book I’ve read in a while, because, let’s be honest, in what universe would this ever even happen—yet it was still quite entertaining. Told through two points of view, this book really gives off that Lady and the Tramp vibes, wrapped up with some tension-filled enemies to lovers.

If you’re looking for a life-swap situation in a slow burn romance novel, then look no further, “Trading Places” is most definitely for you.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: September 26, 2023

I was given an arc for my honest review.
Trading Places by Emily Duvall tells the story of Lexi North and Evan Bailey. A spoiled heiress and a car mechanic are two people who would never cross paths. One fender bender, a bet on social media, and life, as they know it being ready to crumble before them has both of them finding out that they aren't actually that different.
This book is a 3/5 on the spice scale. The sex starts before the halfway mark and is pretty frequent after.
The characters aren't very likable when the book starts, but they all go through heart-warming changes by the end. Fans of Gossip Girl, The Kardashians, and Paris Hilton would love this book! The pacing was good. It has a dual POV between Lexi and Evan. Both POVs are distinct and interesting. I had a fun time reading the book.

This was a stange read for me. I loved and hated Lexi and Evan at the same time. Overall enjoyed, but definitely missed a few key moments to really tie the whole story together.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing, LLC, Entangled: Amara, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

Loved this book from the title, the cover and the characters and plot! I enjoyed that it was an easy read and would definitely recommend to my friends and family

I didn’t like it but don’t hate it either. It’s pretty slow paced and as someone that are struggling from reading slump, this is not the book from you. The female characters are insufferable and feels hollow(?) Like i don’t know how to describe her as hollow(i’m sorry), and the male character is just downright cruel🥲 Like i love myself some enemies to lovers but not like this

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is about an immature socialite who doesn't go past the surface of anything and a mechanic who has had to take life very seriously, very quickly, to raise his niece. In a rush of emotion during an argument, they agree to bet on whether they can each handle the other's life by trading places. I have mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand, it was slow paced, somewhat repetitive in the way they each had to deal with unfamiliar tasks in their new roles and the character of Lexi was too immature to start. On the other hand, this really is a good story. An opposites attract, Hallmark type of rom-com. I just think that that the overall pacing was slow until we got to the end where it became very rushed. Almost as if the author reached a certain point and decided to just wrap it up and move on. I also feel as though the side story with Evan's niece, while not taking away from the main plot, didn't really add to it either. I am still giving this book four stars because it really was a good story that I overall enjoyed, I just don't think I'll be reading it twice.

I had to DNF this book because while the author was going for enemies to lovers, the male character was needlessly cruel and rude. Not to mention the fact that he limits his niece from living her own life and limits her to his stubborn and small mindedness. I wanted to keep reading to see some growth but I can’t.

Trading Places is a modern twist on the Eddie Murphy movie from the 80s. A spoiled socialite desperate to find her place in life and a struggling mechanic who's been scraping by while raising his niece are thrust into each other's worlds by a simple bet.

The author does an excellent job making you both despise and feel sorry for Lexi in the beginning. It's easy to see how she fell into her habits and why she acted the way she did. That doesn't mean she should have gotten away with it of course, and I'm glad she learned the error of her ways.

She and Evan had instant chemistry, and I was rooting for them to be together the entire book, but his descent into a different, selfish man seemed pretty extreme and was a little forced. I wasn't a huge fan of his for a while and was glad Hudson did what he did when he did it.

I waffled between 3.5 and 4 stars for this book because of the huge misunderstandings at the end. Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. There were plenty of laughs, a heart-warming moment between Lexi and her dad, and hope for CeCe!

Thank you, Entangled Publishing and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really wanted to love Trading Places, but there were a lot of elements of this book that just didn't land for me.

First, the protagonist Lexi was extremely insufferable and had almost no redeeming qualities at the beginning of the book. She is so privileged and vapid that even her equally privileged friends see her as stuck up. And while I think she does go through some major character growth by the end of the book, it was difficult to root for her at times.

This was made more difficult by that fact that the book seemed to want me to equate the struggles and hardships of Lexi, who has all the money in the world yet an emotionally distant family, to the hardships of Evan, who is struggling to make ends meet while raising his niece whose mother is incarcerated.

(As a side note - the circumstances that led to CeCe's mother committing the crime resulting in her incarceration were not ever explored in the book. No time was spent exploring the effects of incarceration on parents and family, and CeCe's mother was villainized as a result. I know this is crass, but if the author wasn't going to give this page time, I think it would have been better narratively if CeCe's mother were out of the picture for another reason, whether it be death or choice.)

Evan was also unlikable by the end of the book, and engaged in a lot of actions that seriously harmed Lexi, without truly apologizing in an effective way. I think part of this was due to pacing issues with his character arc. He made a lot of sudden and rash decisions that were then difficult for him to roll back and were not given a lot of time for resolution in the book.

Overall, I really wanted to like this one, but I'm not sure the concept was executed with care.

2.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to love this book but I just couldn’t get through it. It felt incredibly disjointed and the chemistry between the two main characters was just not there. I didn’t love the pacing, I kept feeling like something should be happening but every time I felt like we were getting somewhere, it ended. It also felt like there was a lot of miscommunication between the two MCs and I just wasn’t thrilled with it overall.

That being said, someone else may love this book and I’m hopeful that they do. The idea was cute but just not as well written as I had hoped.

Lexi is a wealthy socialite who has never met a problem she can't throw money at to fix. Evan is a single guardian raising his niece on his mechanic salary. When she insults him, his niece challenges her to trade places. They'll both try to live on each other's income and with each other's responsibilities.

Lexi was such an obnoxious main character that the first two chapters were difficult to read from her first person perspective. I couldn't relate at all to the way she sees the world and is utterly dismissive of people.

Although I started liking her better as the book continued, I started liking Evan less. I'm somebody who is especially drawn to character-driven stories and needs to identify with and root for the main characters to fully enjoy a book. So this wasn't a great fit for me. But it has some great comedic moments and a wonderful little girl that I think many people will enjoy.

Thank you to Entangled and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

🌶🌶/5

This is an ARC review and these are my honest thoughts and opinions.I absolutely love the cover of this book, the bright colors are giving me lifeee! This RomCom is about Lexie (MFC) and Evan (MMC) who decided to settle a debt by switching places. Lexie comes from an abundance of wealth and money while Evan is a humble mechanic just trying to make a living and provide for his family.Of course Lexie is very accustomed to being a pamperd princess so she definitely has a bit more of a harder time figuring out her new role in life (even though it is only a short 2 weeks).
Againt the odds these two polar opposites fall in love....but can they make it work? I will definitely recommend this book to others!
I want to say thank you to entangledpublishing Netgalley and Emily for my ARC to read and review. As always ,please check the TW!

Read this if you like:
- Forced Proximity
- Dual POV
- Enemies to Lovers

I’m a huge fan on romcom’s, so this was a great read for me. This is my favorite genre though, so I may be biased. I love reading books where we can see the changes that the characters go through, and where they end versus when the book began.

That’s why I really enjoyed this book. Our FMC starts off a spoiled rich girl, and it’s always refreshing to me to see them change and evolve in their ways. You can never go wrong with a romcom is my opinion. So if you’re also a fan of romcom’s, then I suggest you read this book.