Identical twins--20-something sisters who are both successful bakers--switch lives in The Holiday Swap, a fun and quick-witted first novel by Maggie Knox (pseudonym for authors Karma Brown and Marissa Stapley).
The story launches days before Christmas in sunny
California. Charlie Goodwin, a noted Paris-trained pastry chef, is embroiled in
a network reality baking show. Her program--Sweet & Salty, produced
for two seasons in Los Angeles and cohosted by Chef Austin Nash--is facing the
threat of replacement with another show slated to feature only one chef.
Charlie and Austin, who leaves Charlie feeling more "bah-humbug than merry
and bright," embark as judges on a 12-days-to-Christmas countdown, where
12 amateur bakers compete for a $25,000 prize.
After a shelving unit tips over, giving Charlie a
concussion that strips her of the ability to taste and smell, she is ordered to
take it easy. But how can she possibly rest with her show and job on the brink
of peril? Afraid to tell anyone of her sensory malfunctions, Charlie secretly
enlists the help of her lifelong confidante, her identical twin, Cass, who
steps in to save Charlie in her hour of need, agreeing to swap lives
temporarily--and covertly.
Knox assembles a memorable cast and whips up inventive
switched-lives scenarios filled with a host of mishaps that double the fun. Delightfully
romantic plot twists further sweeten this lighthearted, feel-good story with a
message that is sure to make rom-com readers hunger for whatever Knox decides
to dish up next.
The Holiday
Swap by Karma Brown and Marissa Stapley
G.P. Putnam Sons Books (Penguin Books), $17.00 paperback, 97805933307398, 352 pages
Publication Date: August 10, 2021
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NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission
of Shelf
Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (October 8, 2021), link HERE
To read the longer form of this
review as published on Shelf Awareness for the Book Trade (September 3, 2021),
link HERE
