I finally managed to finish reading The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay(too early for holiday reads?😂) and it was quite cute and fluffy! I felt like we got two stories in one - and I liked both!⁣
⁣
Holly and Ivy have been best friends since meeting at a Christmas party many years ago - and they're like peas in a pod with matching festive names too. So, when Holly's fiance dumps her right before their wedding, she asks Ivy to go on the honeymoon to Hawaii that was gifted by Holly's parents - and Holly decides to go to the Hudson Valley cabin that Ivy had rented for an art retreat. After landing in Hawaii, Ivy is shocked to find Holly's ex fiance - Matt with his new girlfriend and she's left without a place to stay until a hot bartender comes to her rescue. At the same time, Holly meets her ecocabin host - an old highschool classmate of hers.⁣
⁣
This was a cute read and it had a premise that was a bit different from the usual holiday reads - with the vacation switch😂 I loved the friendship between Holly and Ivy in this one - definitely a highlight! I feel like both of them got what they needed in unexpected ways. The romance (Holly+Aiden and Ivy+Oliver) was pretty sweet too - but also very insta-lovey. I feel like Holly jumped into another relationship a bit too quickly but it wasn't completely unbelievable 🤔 What I didn't understand was Ivy's desire to hide from Matt at first? Like she hasn't done anything wrong lol and it took her so long to just confront him on behalf of her bff😂 That was so weird. But I did like the holiday vibes in this one - and the different storylines too!⁣
⁣
Overall it was a cute and easy holiday read with an entertaining plot!

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch was a good cleansing palate book for me in between reading spooky reads for October!

Best friends who switch places and fall in love on vacation? Yes, please.
I felt like the dual story views could have been paced a little better. At times the writing felt slow. However, I did enjoy reading this. It felt like a hallmark movie. I even ditched my pumpkin spice latte for some Hot Chocolate to set the mood.

If your ready for Christmas and want to skip spooky October reads this one is for you! The book was a level 1 spice, and the story focuses more on friendship than love. Every one in life needs a friendship like Ivy and Holly. It was a sweet, fluffy, light read.
I recommend waiting to read this in December to get all the vibes!

Thank you NetGalley!

This was such a cute book! I really enjoyed it. The dual storyline and locations are so fun! Two best friends, Holy and Ivy, switch vacations after life took a u-turn.

Read if you like:
🌊Vacation reads
❄️Dual storyline
🌊Best friends
❄️Holiday
🌊Secret past love
❄️He falls first

I highly recommend this quick and sweet read for the holiday!

Thank you to NetGalley and Julia McKay for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story about best friends Holly Beech and Ivy Casey. The night before Holly's wedding , Matt breaks it off. Then he ask if she is going to use the honeymoon in Hawaii. She says no. She gives the honeymoon to Ivy and she takes Ivy's 2 week art trip in a cabin in the woods in upper state new York. When Ivy gets to Hawaii she finds that Matt has brought his girlfriend Abbey with him but Ivy finds a place to stay and makes some new friends. Holly actually meets the owner of the cabin who Holly knows from high school See how the Honeymoon works out for them. A GREAT CHRISTMAS READ.

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch was a great read. It was two romance stories in one. Holly and Ivy are the best of friends having met in college at a frat party. Holly is now getting married to her college boyfriend but the wedding is cancelled when her groom decides they are not right for each other. Holly insists that Ivy go on her honeymoon while Holly goes to Ivy's snowy retreat. There are twists and turns that follow.

This book reminded me of The Holiday with the exception of the female characters being best friends and not strangers. I loved both Ivy and Holly. They really support each other and it was heartwarming to read. The love interests, Oliver and Aiden, were the perfect matches for the ladies. I enjoyed that there were other characters who fleshed out the stories but it really focused on the romance and the growth of both Holly and Ivy.


Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Putnam for the e-ARC of this book. This review is my own opinion.

This book was such a fun read. Yes, it's totally predictable, but that's OK. Even knowing what was going to happen, I still smiled throughout the story, and chuckled a few times too.

Holly & Ivy are the kind of friends we'd all be lucky up have. They're there for each other, no matter what. You can't ask for more. This book is more about their friendship, in my eyes, which I love.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3⭐️ I normally rate my Christmas reads very easy and while I liked this one it just wasn’t my favorite.

While this book is about friendship, it was also about 2 friends falling in love and therefore 2 romances that felt very insta-love, and rushed. A very easy read and definitely will get you into the holiday spirit

This was an advanced read copy I received through Netgalley so it’s not going to be officially published until October 8, 2024! But this is my honest review!

Add this book to your to read list, I promise you won’t regret it! & then let me know what you thought!

#books #bookstagram #booktok #bookrating #library #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookrecs#bookcommunity #booklovers #booksofinstagram #bookish #fivestarbooks #romancebook #kindlebooks
#kindleunlimited

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch was a cute holiday romance story. You get viewpoints from both of the friends on their vacations. While I enjoyed the story, I will say that I'm not a huge fan of the insta-love in Contemporary Romance books, although I understand it needed to fit in the timeline of the girls' vacations. Overall, the story gave me Hallmark movie vibes (especially with the Holidays), so if you like to cuddle up with a blanket and watch Hallmark movies, I think you'd enjoy this!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

a fun, enjoyable holiday romance read!

I loved the dual story-line and the overall concept of the book! The two FMCs were likable, and you rooted for their success. I liked that the storylines were also basically two completely different words - outdoorsy/cabin vibes and then Hawaii.

The beginning brings you in immediately due to the conflict that starts the entire plot, and i enjoyed that!

I regret taking so long to read this, but it’s a good change of pace in holiday romances! Normally they’re all pretty much the same, but this one has a lot of good, creative, original ideas!

I would definitely recommend to my peers! 🎅🏼

Loved, loved, loved this book! So much fun! Great character, fast paced plot, great locations. Just a lot of fun!

This was such a perfect balance of holiday and anti-holiday vibes. I absolutely loved the best friend dynamics between the girls. And then love stories were utterly perfect! It was really like you got two romance books in one. I’ll definitely be recommending this one for the holidays!

This is a very charming story about two women,Holly and Ivy, who became immediate best friends when they met at a college frat party back in 2016.

Now in current day, Holly is about to get married to a man her parents think is perfect for her. Ivy, however, has never been a fan. As Holly and Ivy spend Holly’s last night before getting married together, they’re surprised at a knock on the door. It’s Holly’s finance saying he can’t marry Holly.

As Holly and Ivy deal with the shock, they also decide to switch their holiday plans. Holly will go to the eco-friendly cabin Ivy was planning to visit for the holidays while Holly insists Ivy go to Hawaii and enjoy the honeymoon she’ll never have. Neither could have predicted what they find when they switch holidays.

This was a cute and fun read that was a solid four stars! I highly recommend checking it out!

Such a light and fun read. Some parts felt too slow for me, but I enjoyed this novel overall. Would definitely recommend it for a cozy weekend.

This was a fun holiday romance with Christmas at the beach and in the mountains; a little bit for everyone.

I enjoyed the premise of the book and how Holly and Ivy each found what they were looking for when they were least expect it.

It was sometimes hard to keep Holly and Ivy's dialogue straight especially when they were together. I think the names were so similar it was hard to distinguish them apart.

Overall a cute holiday romance to add a holiday reading list.

Holly and Ivy have been ride or die besties since their frat party loving boyfriends insisted the meet because they were “döppelBANGERS” (the guys’ term, obvi).

When Holly’s fiancée dumps her for another woman rhe night before their wedding, she and Ivy decide that Ivy will go on Holly’s planned honeymoon to Hawaii and Holly will go to Ivy’s annual art retreat in the Adirondacks.

Both women receive more than they bargain for when their getaways come with very hunky fringe benefits, and possibly happily ever afters.

This funny and emotional novel was a wonderful meditation on the power of women showing up for each other no matter what. It was an enjoyable read, and while the steam wasn’t nearly as spicy as I prefer, it was still romantic.

I was fortunate to have received an advance reader copy from the author and NetGalley, and I’m happy to share my honest review.

🖤🖤🖤
3/5

I wanted to like this book. I requested it because the idea of it sounded so good. The Holiday-esque with twinning bffs? What wouldn’t there be to love. Well. I found out that quite a bit. I think this book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t relate to the characters and the writing was just eh for me. I also found out afterwards that it was written by one of the coauthors of All I Want For Christmas that I read last year and felt lackluster about. This wasn’t all bad though and I did enjoy parts of it a lot and I am glad I didn’t DNF this book!

Things I didn’t like:

💔 the way love is depicted…everyone experiences love differently. And I felt this gave some shade to what love feels like for different people. Marriage is meant to be a lifelong commitment, but people do change and also, love changes overtime. Yes, passion is amazing, but it’s not consistently sustainable. And I know books give us sustainable consistent passion, but it doesn’t need to tell us that it’s crazy to have anything different. That’s just untrue.

🗣️ the dialogue felt so unnatural. Especially when Holly & Ivy met. It felt like they were reading their About Me out loud to each other at a frat party.

🙅🏼‍♀️ the “spice” in this was a tad cringy. Was like 75% of a pepper rating.


Things I did like:

💔 the way Holly needed to grief her lost relationship alone. I related to this.

👩🏻‍❤️‍👩🏻 the fact that they look so much alike that they could just switch since the honeymoon was non-transferable.

❌ I hate miscommunication tropes, so I am SO glad that they were honest about their identities right off the bat!!

☁️ the cozy picturesque cabin in the woods

🪩 the winter dance

I loved this story! If you love best friends, Christmas vibes, “when you know you know” type of love, and vacations…you’ll want to check this one out!

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay published this week and is a very quick and easy read! Also very swoon-worthy.

The story features dual POV-best friends Holly and Ivy (who both coincidentally do not like Christmas). After Holly is dumped the night before her wedding, she insists that Ivy go on her honeymoon to paint, while Holly takes Ivy’s painting getaway in the snowy Hudson Valley. Both women encounter unexpected romances that just might change their views on Christmas.

A fun holiday read! Two best friends Holly and Ivy swap holiday vacations in this fun, fresh holiday romcom. I found the dual POV of both characters to be liable and entertaining. The author does a great job of expanding on the settings of each holiday trip and making you feel as though you’re there experiencing it alongside Holly and Ivy.

I enjoyed the BF duo and found it to be heartwarming watching their heartbreak turn into new love. This was a quick read for me, I almost wish I’d saved it for the holiday season, but close enough!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️.5

When I first started, this, I wasn’t super crazy on how it was written. And by that I mean, it was all third person narrator, even though the point of view and the story was changing from character to character (aka Holly and Ivy). I think personally for me I prefer it when it’s the character themselves narrating what’s happening and not a narrator narrating for them.

But I kept reading, and I have to say I really loved where the whole thing went. Like both of their adventures were just very inspirational. They both found themselves when they didn’t expect it at all and also found love. In Holly‘s case I honestly felt so bad for her, but then ending up meeting her high school academic rival felt very fortuitous. And with Ivy going on the honeymoon that Holly was supposed to have and meeting Oliver who is living the life that she should be living was like destiny because it showed her that she could live a life of art and make money.

A Christmas romance with a big focus on friendship too! Loved the two different settings - Kauai and a wintery small town. Double the romance! Swoony and a little steamy.