This is my favourite Sandy Barker book! With some brilliant characters and a fantastic plot, I couldn't put it down. The perfect book to get you in the mood for Christmas!

i super enjoyed this book. it was sweet and precious and full of heart. i hope you enjoy it as well and i' so thankful to netgallye for the review copy!

This was such a fun holiday book. It was a little predictable, but the story was sweet and cute. I would love to read more of this authors books!

A solid 3 stars on the enjoyment basis and another .75 stars for Barker's writing ability. She takes 3 distinct characters and splits them up across three distinct settings  and yet manages to explore each woman's personality, fears, issues and quirks along with a budding romance. Of course it's full of <i>insta-love</i> and yet it didn't veer into the annoying. 

I received a dARC from the publisher via Netgalley for review. This is my honest opinion.

Thank you netgalley for an early copy of this! This reminded me so much of one of my favorite holiday films, The Holiday! Such a good book, I’m definitely be recommending it!

It was an absolute DELIGHT reading this story, and I was so lucky to be able to partner up with One More Chapter to be a part of their read-along and get to do an author Q&A with Sandy on instagram! 

WHO, especially this year during the pandemic, doesn't dream of having THE perfect Christmas - swapping your location & families with your lifelong friends. Certainly, that's going to go perfectly for all involved, isn't it? LOL 

Chloe, Jules, and Lucy are such fun characters, I really enjoyed getting to know each of them, each of their traditions & the hilarity that ensues. Sandy made this such a fun read, and I loved getting to talk to her about some of the behind the scenes details that created this wonderful story! 

Pick this one up if you want something just a little bit different during the holiday season, I highly recommend it! Thank you to One More Chapter & NetGalley for providing me an eARC to participate in the read-along in exchange for my review, I just LOVE being able to participate in these!

I absolutely adored this book and didn't want it to end! What a better way to spend the Christmas period, than travelling back and fourth between the UK, Australia and America - perfection! All three ladies were just so amazing & I only wanted the best for them. I couldn't recommend Sandy's travel romances enough.

This was my first book by Sandy Barker and I really enjoyed it. It was fun, easy to read, warm, cosy, light and fluffy. Would recommend.

Once I got to know the characters, I enjoyed this fun and uplifting festive read. Will be looking out for more from this writer.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was the perfect Christmas pick me up! Was such an easy book to get into but also a book I didn't want to put down at all! You can tell the author has been to the places in the book as the descriptions make you feel like you've been there before as well! Will definitely recommend this book!

A fun-filled, feel good festive romance! Exactly what you want to read at Christmas time!

What’s better than one romance? Three!

I loved the main characters; each on a different yet equally as exciting journey. I loved the romances, the humour & the family relationships.

Lovely feel good seasonal book. It was just lovely. Romantic book you dream about. Great plot and characters. Perfect for reading over the festive period. Or at any time if the year. Christmas books can be enjoyed anytime anywhere. Very well written and flowed well. A charming book to read

(links to review will be added soon, when post goes live on my blog)
Book Review | The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker 

⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5/5)

Inspired by the film The Holiday, three friends (Jules, Chloe and Lucy) decide to switch homes for Christmas and each jet off to experience a different kind of festive celebration. It soon becomes clear that switching countries does not leave all of your problems behind, and the women face some deicions.

This novel was such a fun and festive read and it was perfect Christmas escapism. It was light, wholesome, funny and flirty and I liked the characters as well as the different experiences of Christmas, whether it be in sunny Australia, the English countryside, or Snowy America.

The theme of friendship was really strong in The Christmas Swap and I loved having a group of three women who support and care for each other. I liked all three women, although they are all different, and I think Barker portrayed all of her characters well.

Barker writes the plot cleverly so that there is overlap between the stories of the three women and their narratives were entwined well. Each chapter ends so that you want to know more about that ladies' narrative which means that the pace ends up moving along quite quickly as, for example, when reading about Jukes I wanted to get back to Chloe and Lucy but then Jules' chapter would leave me wanting more!

Something that would have made me enjoy this book more was actually that I wanted more of it. I wanted more romance, maybe more heat, and definitely more of the book. I wanted to spend more time with the ladies (and the couples) to find out more about what happened after the novel ended and just to see more of the romances.

Overall, if you want a fun, festive romance, pick this one up next Christmas (or any time you want, we all need some festive escapism sometimes).

Thanks  for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Unfortunately this one didn’t work for me and I found myself skimming just to reach the end.

I was just in the mood for an uplifting, festive read when I picked up this book, the news is quite depressing at the moment isn’t it, and what a perfect choice this is for anyone looking for something to warm their cockles and bring a sprinkling of Christmas cheer into their lives. It also addresses one of the burning questions of the age – is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

The book follows three friends who meet on holiday aged eleven and forge a bond that survives over the years, despite the fact they all live on different continents. Fast forward a couple of decades and all of the girls are at some kind of cusp in their lives with issues that need a shake up. Will swapping homes and Christmases for one year provide the catalysts they need to move to the next stage of their lives?

The premise of the book is charming and it works perfectly. Cue the opportunity for the author to transport us to three very different countries for three very different Christmases. In Oxford, Melbourne and Colorado, the three girls are taken in by their friend’s families and find out how the other half does Christmas. Warm beaches, snowy mountains and the English countryside provide the perfect backdrops against which the girls can explore unique Christmas traditions, and maybe make new friends, even of a romantic variety! The author does an absolutely fabulous job of drawing the different environments and transporting the reader there. This book is armchair travel at its most enticing and I felt like I had been transported to the locations in the novel. I defy anyone to come away from reading this book and not wish they could be snow-shoeing through a quiet, Colorado forest or doing a horseback tour of Australian wineries. My passport is itching just thinking about it, especially given my lack of travel this year.

For me, the most compelling thing about this book is the portrayal of the friendship between the three girls. Each of the characters was perfectly drawn and absolutely believable, and the dynamic between them realistic and charming to read. I have two very close groups of female friends who mean the world to me and are the first people I would turn to, in times of trouble and turmoil, but also in times of joy and success. I recognised immediately the workings of the friendship between these women, even went it was sent slightly off track, and it was such a joy to read. I so wanted everything to work out for them, shared their happiness and disappointment throughout and, by the end, I didn’t want to leave their company. I felt like they had become my friends, and I really want to know how things end up for them.

This is a really cheering read with the perfect flavour of Christmas to get you in the mood for the upcoming holiday. I would highly recommend it to all fans of romance looking for a bit of Yuletide cheer. And, as for that burning question at the beginning – is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Of course it is, and that is a hill I am prepared to die on.

This book was like The Holiday but on steroids! Trust me, that’s a good thing. The Holiday is my favourite Christmas rom-com of all time.

If you’re looking for a fun-filled festive book, then this is the book for you! All of Sandy Barker’s books have the feel-good factor and this is no exception.

It’s the perfect Christmassy book for this time of year. Packed with tradition, fabulous characters and festive delights, you’ll want to pick this up and be whisked away.

If you enjoy your books to be full of sweetness and light. If you love The Holiday. Then The Christmas Swap is definitely for you. 

I found this such a nice easy, light hearted read. It's a great escape from reality. This is chic lit magnified. Everything you dream of having in a romantic book is heaped into this story.

I read this book as part of the One More Chapter readalong, which is a fantastic opportunity to engage with other fellow like minded readers. It's great to see what everyone else thinks.

The May Ladies and their Christmas Swap

With notes of “the holiday” scattered throughout this is a good Christmassy feeling book. It is sweet and features three separate stories of friends. The search for the perfect Christmas, is it one where you wake up and the ground is covered in snow? A traditional English Christmas with a Christmas fayre included? Or a complete get-away where snow is a distant memory. For Jules, Lucy and Chloe each are hoping for a different type of Christmas and they find the solution in each other and thus a Christmas swap is arranged.
Laughter, tears, gossip, romance and injury all merged into three stories contained in one book. It is a very Christmassy book that allows you to escape into festivities reminiscing or escaping your own Christmas,
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I will note that there are some references to pop culture that some people may or may not like but each to their own.

Thank you to NetGallery for the option to read this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

A lovely romance novel set at Christmas.
3 friends, who live in the UK, US and Australia, swap Christmases.
A really comforting read, a great one to escape with.

Perfect read for Christmas time! Fun concept and light hearted! I really enjoyed it!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange of my review!