Book Review: The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo

Book Summary

Lila Castro loves her small town in Upstate New York that is obsessed with everything Christmas. One of the most famous holiday movies was filmed there and now every year tourists flock to the beautiful town. Lila also works at the Bookworm Inn, where scenes of the movie were filmed. Everything about this holiday season seemed perfect, until Lila’s boss tells her that she can’t work more hours over winter break because there’s a new seasonal worker joining the team.

Enter Teddy Veracruz: the owner’s nephew and a complete pain in the ass. He doesn’t follow directions and refuses to follow Lila’s checklist. One afternoon, Lila and Teddy switch phones, forcing them to get to know the other person instead of making rash judgements. These two will have to see if they can get along and maybe, just maybe, find love along the way.

Discussion

1. What made the book’s setting important to the overall story?

We wanted something light and fluffy for the last book club meeting of 2021 and we got it! The setting was something everyone loved. From the beautifully decorated town, to the adorable Inn, Marcelo did a great job describing the scenery. We get why people would visit this town in December! We would totally go ice skating and the make ornaments for our trees.

The best part of the setting was this book couldn’t take place anywhere. It needed to be in a part of the country that has snow during the holiday season. The unique town played a huge part of the story, especially because of the movie set there and everyone’s obsession with it.

2. Which character did you relate to the most in the book, and why?

We found ourselves really liking Teddy more than Lila. It was unanimous that Teddy was the favorite because he had relatable family problems, treated people well and just wanted to do what he loved. We found him kind and considerate from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, it was hard for us to connect with Lila. While we loved that she was a book blogger and had a wild/fun family, she was too judgmental and really hard on Teddy at the beginning. However, we did warm up to her more as the story went on.

3. How did you feel about the overall plot?

One problem we had with the story was the switching phones idea. We felt it didn’t work with the fact that they had distinct cases on their smartphones and most people have password protection. This idea would have worked better if it were the 2000s and they both had flip phones. Remember how cool the original Motorola Razor’s were?

However, we did like that both Teddy and Lila kept secrets from their families of what they wanted to do with their lives. This plot point felt super relatable because it balanced wanting to do what you love with not disappointing people.

4. Did the book live up to your expectations?

Yes and no. While we need something quick and easy after a lot of heavier books recently, we found The Holiday Switch to be fairly predictable.

Overall though, we had fun reading it. Marcelo has a great sense of humor and kept us laughing throughout. If you’re looking for a light holiday romance that you can read in a day, The Holiday Switch is for you.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐