Is it Ever too Early for a
Christmas Romance?
Synopsis
All Emma Daley wants this holiday season is a white Christmas. But the young teacher and struggling musician sure can’t find that in sunny Arizona. Luckily, there’s someone living in a perfect mountain home in the Colorado Rockies looking to make a vacation trade this year.
Tyler Prescott is an in-demand songwriter and talented musician who put his own singing career on hold to write songs for celebrity acts to perform. When his mother convinces him to do a vacation trade for Christmas, he never imagined one of the houseguests would be so sweet–or so strikingly pretty. Naturally, he decides to stick around, and, to get better acquainted, he poses as the house’s caretaker. But when Emma’s friend Gillian discovers his true identity and sets her sights on him, things
get . . . messy.
Details
- Title: The Christmas Swap
- Author: Melody Carlson
- Publisher: Revell
- Publication Date: September 1, 2020
- Pages: 176
- Excerpt
My Thoughts
While I liked the thought of grabbing a cup of hot cocoa and curling up with an early Christmas novella, it ended up bringing mixed emotions.
I never like to give a low rating since an author has spent lots of time and energy creating his/her literary baby. But to remain credible I need to express my opinion.
To begin with, I felt cheated out of the festive, Christmas feeling that accompanies most holiday books. Though the house switch had them in Colorado where there is snow, not much else revolved around the holiday. Or the emotions that accompany the festive season.
Emma, who is friends with Gillian, plans to celebrate Christmas with Gillian’s family since hers is overseas. So Gillian’s family, plus Emma and a friend of Gillian’s brother, will fly to Colorado. The other family will go to Arizona.
The Characters
So far so good. But then we really get to know the characters. The first thing to hit me was the unlikelihood that the normal, kind Emma and the snobbish, self-centered Gillian would ever be friends. No matter the reason their initial friendship happened. For Emma to remain Gillian’s friend instantly caused me to think less of her, again, regardless of the initial reason. (And that reason felt extremely out of character for Gillian.)
Another red flag went up when Gillian’s family arrived at the house at Breckenridge. Her mother’s unkind comments certainly didn’t help create a warm, fuzzy Christmas story.
After complaining about nearly everything regarding the home: no elevator that would whisk her to the third-floor master suite, the bathroom wasn’t equipped with guest toiletries and a shower cap,
“And the pillows on that bed. I can’t sleep with a rock-hard pillow. Never mind that the bedding is substandard.”
And the list goes on. So far no happy Christmas feelings happening.
And since the owner quickly assumes the position of caretaker when he is discovered after returning to the house, Gillian proves that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She is extremely rude to him thinking that his job description of caretaker doesn’t need to be treated with respect.
Without continuing to describe all of the characters, I felt many were exaggerated stereotypes of a snob, blow-hard, etc. They didn’t ring true.
And lastly, the romance was barely included and felt too simplistic to bring out much in the way of emotions. When it did finally begin to develop, the story ended abruptly.
As you can easily tell, this just didn’t provide a warm, cozy, happy story for the holidays.
My Concerns
The characters and story didn’t work at all for me.
What I Liked Best
Perhaps done with the right characters, a holiday house swap could have been a good idea. And while I had many reservations about the story as a whole, I didn’t struggle to finish reading it. Curiosity kept me turning pages.
For those who can overlook exaggerated personalities, and love reading about skiing and snow, I would still recommend the book to you.
Melody Carlson is a prolific writer with many good reviews, so I think this particular story just wasn’t my cup of tea.
My thanks to Revell/Baker Publishing for a beautiful hard copy of this book. . As always the opinions expressed are my own.
Rating
This one missed the boat.
About the Author
Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over 200 books with sales of more than 7 million, including many bestselling Christmas novellas, young adult titles, and contemporary romances. She received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her many books, including Finding Alice. She and her husband live in central Oregon. Learn more at www.melodycarlson.com.
