I love a cozy romance book at the holidays–it just gets me in the spirit like a great Hallmark movie. And the joy of THE HOLIDAY HONEYMOON SWITCH is that, very much like THE HOLIDAY, you get two holiday romances in one. The story is actually very similar to THE HOLIDAY in that two best friends, Holly and Ivy (a coincidence, they swear!), decide to switch holiday travel plans when Holly’s jerk of a fiancé dumps her the night before the wedding. Since their honeymoon to Kauai is non-refundable, Holly insists that Ivy goes on that trip and she will go on Ivy’s planned art-retreat to small town upstate New York. Romance ensues for both when they arrive at their destinations.
I think the conceit here is really cute, and I knew going in that it would probably mean some suspension of disbelief. But I felt like this one just pushed reality too far in certain places that it pulls away from Holly and Ivy’s story. Holly’s story is the most plausibly egregious because she, after being surprisingly dumped on the eve of her wedding by a fiance she had dated over a decade, immediately falls in love with the owner of the eco cabin she is staying in. It also turns out that she knew the owner because they went to high school together and were academic rivals, which honestly makes no sense given that this is not a hometown for either character. Conveniently, hot eco-nerd Aidan always harbored a secret crush on Holly in high school. All of it just feels really far flung, and when you start thinking about this from Aidan’s perspective, it’s actually surprising that he’s not a bit more mistrustful of how convenient Holly’s arrival at his eco cabin actually is. If you can get past these coincidences, they do have a lovely small town romance complete with quirky characters, a small town Christmas parade, and a charming widower and his cat.
On Ivy’s side of things, the insta-love is equally challenging. In her case, she shows up at the hotel only to realize that Holly’s fiance is here with his new girlfriend (again, how did all of this happen so fast!). Rather than confronting him about it, she hides and slinks into the hotel bar where she immediately meets and falls in love with Oliver, the hot hotel bartender/artist. I think this may be the fastest anyone has ever met a potential husband once getting off a plane. He offers to let her stay with him and his best friend, Larry (a girl), and both are super welcoming and have no problem inviting a stranger into their home. In another kind of story, this would be the entry point of the serial killer, for sure. Similar to Holly’s, their romance is sweet, but you have to get past a lot of plot points that don’t feel believable to engage with them.
The other important element of the story is Holly and Ivy’s friendship, which is depicted as unbreakable. But this too pushes credulity in that Holly seems to obviously love Ivy more than her fiance Matt, which should be a wake up call to her. And Ivy’s devotion to Holly allows her to blindly support her and her new relationship even in moments where in reality, a best friend would probably try to talk some sense into you rather than just supporting you faithfully. I wanted this element of the story to work for me, but it didn’t feel like it was based in the reality of female friendship.
Aside from these frustrations with the unbelievable elements for THE HOLIDAY HONEYMOON SWITCH, I do think, if you can turn your brain off from some of these red flags, the writing itself is enjoyable enough that it kind of skates along on top of the flaws. There’s fun banter, and I did enjoy the idea of getting two vacations in one. I just wished that it could stop feeling so far flung at times that I wouldn’t have to be actively ignoring elements in order to enjoy the holiday. Read this after enjoying a long day of holiday gift delivery and/or an hours long visit to the post office and you’ll be ready for some light holiday fun.
3.5 stars out of 5
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Holly Beech and Ivy Casey are bury-the-body besties. They’re so in sync, they even look alike. When Holly’s fiancé jilts her, leaving her in shock and with a nonrefundable honeymoon, Holly convinces Ivy to switch places. Ivy will go on the Hawaiian honeymoon her best friend can’t bear to take alone, while Holly escapes to Ivy’s rented Hudson Valley cabin to binge-watch holiday movies and heal.
But Holly’s wallowing is interrupted when her rugged Airbnb host turns out to be her high school academic rival who’s had a major glow-up. Meanwhile, Ivy’s (now Hawaiian) annual solo art retreat is upended when Holly’s ex-fiancé checks into the honeymoon suite—with a new woman. Raging and bed-less, the last thing Ivy expects is for the hot hotel bartender to come to her rescue. Against all odds, this Christmas might prove the most magical yet.
