Member Reviews

Thank you Net-Galley for this ARC! This book was a solid 3.5 out of 5. It’s perfect if you like cheesy rom-coms with someone being rich. Lexi’s development was nice to read and was definitely worth it. This is a great book for you if like some spice as well! Overall I will be buying this book as well!

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From the outside looking in, socialite Lexi North’s life looks decadently perfect, right down to her diamond-dusted nails. But you know what they say about glass houses… When one night goes horribly wrong—with the whole world watching— she’s challenged to swap lives with the salty, albeit gorgeous, man she rear-ends with her car.
For mechanic Evan Bailey, life is definitely not a party. There’s no “daddy’s credit card” for fixing up his family’s auto shop, raising his too-precocious-for-anyone’s-good niece, and getting his accounts from deep in the red to black. Which is precisely when opportunity—and celebutante Lexi North—smashes into his life.
But what should have been an easy bet gets a whole lot harder with the inexplicably hot chemistry between them. Now the only way for either of them to get what they want is to go for broke…
I didn’t really like Lexi at the start of the book, she came across as a very selfish and self absorbed person, but slowly she redeemed herself to the point that I really enjoyed her storyline. I liked the concept of the book, it was a fun read. The ending felt a little rushed, but overall it was a good read.

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My first by Emily Duvall. I really enjoyed this one. I liked the growth of spoiled rich girl Lexi North and how much Evan stuffed up when he thought he was the better of the two.
It was a solid story, if a little predictable, but isn't that what we like about romcoms? I'd read Emily again 😊

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3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

I found this book to be entertaining if a little bit rushed at times! I think it was a fun romcom about a rich socialite trading places with a mechanic, but the story felt a little bit unbelievable to me at times. The spicy scenes were fun, and the banter between the characters was engaging. The character development of the female main character was the most fun to read about!

Thank you Emily Duvall, Entangled Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange of my honest opinion!

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Trading Places by Emily Duvall
Trading Places
by Emily Duvall
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Trading places kicks off with spoiled heiress Lexi having a meltdown at her ex firmly moving on. This news guts her and she distractedly hits fellow driver Evan. He has their cars towed to his brothers Mechanic shop where he works and gets caught up in a bet filmed by his niece. The bet is they switch places for two months. Since the bet goes viral both are stuck honoring it and learn a lot about the other through the experience. Neither could expect the attraction and emotional connection they'd feel towards each other though.

Lexi was sufficiently spoiled and pretty unlikable at the beginning so she was due a big growth arch. I cheered on her resilience and determination as well as her desire to be better. Evan is a bit grumpy but has a big heart as guardian of his teen niece. She is a typical teen and is living up the break from their frugal lifestyle. Evan went through a surprising change in a different direction, but I loved seeing his emotional grovel. I enjoyed the premise and banter this story delivered and definitely want to read more books with this kind of trope

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Trading Places was such a cute book! I loved the idea of this socialite that seems selfish switching lives with a mechanic that is just scraping by and single parenting his niece. I loved that we got dual pov and loved how much insight we got into each Lexi and Evan’s lives. The story picks up pretty quickly and we get thrown right into the bet, with lots of moments with Cece, Evan’s niece. I loved Cece and Alec’s characters. They were so real by supporting Evan and his worth, but I also loved the relationship they both made with Lexi throughout the bet. I really just liked all the characters at the auto-shop, they were amazing friends to Evan and accepted Lexi when she proved herself (after showing up on time). I loved the banter between Lexi and Evan, the flirting they didn’t really realize they were doing until they were practically kissing. I was upset that about halfway through they started changing themselves, which does end up becoming a problem. I loved that it really was just them trying to fit into the other’s lives so that when they were supposed to go back to normal the other may still like them. But, obviously that was resolved by the end and they each admitted to loving everything that made them, them. This was such a quick and fun read. It was full of lovable characters (except for Hudson, I hate him), with good banter and chemistry.

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What a premise! I loved that there was more background story of the two that the story unveiled as it went on instead of just “heiress” and “blue-collared worker”. Lexi was pretty unbearable at first and I had to keep telling myself that was the point. No fault on the author! She was doing her job right. I just really dislike all that entitlement. Thankfully, the point of the bet is to essentially give her a wake up call. After being caught in a livestream, Lexi is basically forced into a bet where Evan and his niece, Cece— who he is single-parenting, get to live her luxurious life for 2 months, and she has to live like they would. There is an added 3rd party condition to the bet, set by her dad; if she doesn’t follow through on the bet, he will cut her off forever. If you like a romcom with character development, this is a good read for you!

Thank you Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to read this one early!

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I wanted to like this book.
Spoiled heiress Lexi and mechanic Evan switch places after a bet proposed by his niece goes viral. The premise sounded really fun and the cover is so cute, but I just was not a fan.
Lexi and Evan were the stereotypical cliche characters of a cheesy romcom. I couldn't connect to either of them and I really wanted so much more.
The pacing of this book is way off. It started off choppy and there were many time when the author jumped around and I was left felling confused and like I missed something.

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Trading Places by Emily Duvall follows spoiled socialite Lexi who has been challenged to switch lives with a mechanic, Evan, for two months. The prize: she gets to keep her inheritance. Lexi struggles to adapt to her new working life on a limited budget, while Evan thinks he is in for a vacation. What do they say about glass houses? Both help one another acclimate to their new lives but somewhere along the way things start to change between the pair.

Trading Places is an interesting contemporary romance for readers looking for a quick read. It's funny and the pace is perfect. 4/5 stars. Thanks to entangled for allowing me to read this arc. Happy release day!

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Trading Places by Emily Duvall is a super fun and entertaining romantic ride from beginning to end.
I adored everything about this contemporary romance. Both Lexi and Evan are wonderful characters with real development throughout the story both individually and as a couple.
Funny and flirty with super witty and sharp writing.
This unique and totally enjoyable rom-com was a great read.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Entangled: Amara for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

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3.5/5 stars

This was cute! Lexi, a spoiled rich girl, swaps lives for two months with Evan, a grumpy but humble mechanic due to a bet. We then follow these two as they try to survive in each other's completely different worlds. I was reminded (and I'm aging myself here), of the 1980's movie, Overboard starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. It had the fun banter, enemies to lovers, and opposites attract tropes present in the movie.

The slow burn attraction and spice were very good and done well. I also enjoyed Lexi's character growth into becoming a better person, and Evan's dedication to his niece and family. There were funny moments throughout that made me actually laugh out loud and I remained engaged with wanting to know how things would end.
Where this fell a little short for me is that I wasn't as emotionally connected to the characters. I know not to expect deep character studies from this genre but it would have been great to have spent a little more time on getting to know the family backstories that made L&E who they were. This aspect felt somewhat rushed to me and so did the ending which was nonetheless still satisfying. I closed the book with a smile on my face.

I do look forward to reading more from this author in the future and recommend this book to those who like fun rom-coms with happily ever afters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entagled Publishing for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

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I enjoyed this book so much!
It is such an easy and cozy read. As much as it is easy is also funny and heartwarming.
I found myself kicking my feet and giggling the entire time. I love the character development, even when Lexi is a rich princess, I ended up loving her.
I would probably read again when I need something light and cozy.

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I don’t think this book was particularly for me or maybe I just read it at the wrong time. The curse of being a mood reader and being an arc reader is that sometimes you request an arc when you’re in one mood and then when you get approved you’re in the mood for something else. The tropes of this book in a way reminded me of It Happened One Summer but didn’t feel as well executed. The characters were hard to get into (which I know was intentional for the beginning) but didn’t seem to change by the end. Again, I was not in a romcom/fluffy mood at all so that could be a contributing factor to my lack of enjoyment.

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I received this book as an ARC from Entangled Publishing through NetGalley and this review is based on my own opinion.

The life of socialite Lexi North looks perfect from the outside world but when one night goes horribly wrong, for the whole world to see, she's challenged to swap lives with the grumpy mechanic Evan Bailey and his niece CeCe.

Lexi starts off on the wrong foot and is having trouble with her new life but it gets easier for her, the longer they are in the bet. Meanwhile Evan gets swept up into the rich people lifestyle and seems to start forgetting what's really important in life.
It should have been an easy bet but it gets a lot harder when the two develop a chemistry.

At the beginning of the book I was annoyed by Lexi's character and I liked Evan but when the book developed it turned around for me and I started rooting for Lexi and got a bit annoyed with Evan and his choices.

I liked the chapters where Lexi was working in the garage and the other mechanics were making fun of her or making her do chores no one would like to do because they turned into such fun chapters with them bonding slowly and having fun together.

Overall it was an okay story for me and I would recommend it if you love a bit of a slow burn, 'enemies' to lovers romance with grumpy-sunshine main characters.

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Predictable but binge worthy! A slight take of Pretty Woman and Grease (which are some of my favorites!). Lexi was a bit annoying but I think that was just the entitled aspect of her personality.

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Thank you to Entangled Publishing for an eARC of this book.

I actually dnf’d this book pretty early into it. It just didn’t seem right for me. I didn’t really care for the main character very much.

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This book had so much potential, like the idea they are trading lives for a bet is quite interesting rather than the typical body swap but the execution was a let down. Both characters are so annoying and I had no desire to see if they changed because he seemed like an ass and she was so stuck up it was unbearable to read. Also the way in which the bet arises was not good in my opinion and the fact they are keeping her heirloom seems illegal as it is her property. I don't know I really tried with this book as the writing isn't too bad but it had so much potential that the characters and execution of the plot really let it down.

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I didn't hate Trading Places. I liked the switching lives element to the story. I found it believable and was totally into it. What drove me slightly mad however, was the writing style in this book. It was choppy. It was difficult to follow. I would've appreciated a bit more depth to the story however I think this could be a really awesome rom-com on Netflix lol. I'd love to see this on screen and I think had it had a bit more polishing, I would've really enjoyed this read!

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This was a cute rom-com, although if I’m being honest, I felt the main characters were a little too immature for my taste. There was a point in the book where the conflict reached its crescendo, and the decisions made by the MMC had me side-eyeing so hard, I nearly DNF’d. But I kept reading and, while the actions were eventually explained away, it still left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The only good thing I got out of the story was the FMC’s growth throughout her character arc.

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Thank you to Entangled and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
I only made it to about 44% into the story before I stopped reading. This book had great writing and the premise of the book sounded really fun. Unfortunately, It just wasn't super enjoyable to me and I found I was struggling to get into the story and stay there. Most of the characters were great and I loved where the story was going but I felt like it lacked any character growth in the amount I read which makes me think it will feel rushed towards the end which is not always bad just not what I expected. I may pick it back up in the future to finish it but for now, it stays at 44%.

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