It’s a classic story. Boy brings Girl home for the holidays and she falls in love with him, even though they were only supposed to be fake dating. Talia Samuels turns that narrative on its head in The Christmas Swap, a holiday romantic comedy where Margot Murray goes home with Ben Samuels for Christmas and ends up falling in love with his sister, Ellie.

Margot is a lesbian who just got out of a long term relationship. Over the course of the Book, we find out that this relationship was emotionally abusive. The way the abuse was portrayed felt a bit like a caricature of abuse, and while the signs of abuse they talked about were real, the way they were portrayed was dramatized and tightened into minute long conversations. Other than that, Margot is a very likable narrator and I enjoyed existing in her head.

Ellie, on the other hand, was not a particularly likable character. Similarly to Margot’s ex, her bad characteristics were overdrawn and exaggerated. She’s 30 years old and wants to settle down a bit more, but she’s also still incredibly insecure and thinks her parents and siblings judge her for everything she does. I wanted to know more about Ellie, but her interiority was never as fleshed out as I would have liked.

That being said, I did enjoy this book as a queer Christmas story where coming out wasn’t a part of the narrative. Ellie and Margot were both openly lesbian with parents and families who accepted them fully. It’s refreshing! It made everything feel a little lighter and happier than other LGBTQ+ holiday stories do.

There was a lot of potential in this book, but I don’t necessarily think it was executed as well as it could have been. The book is told from the alternating perspectives of Ellie and Margot, and as a result we tend to hear about the same period of time twice, when their perspectives on a given event differ. This hurt the pacing of the book and also served to over-exaggerate the negative traits of each woman. We would have understood enough about them to not require the repeating time frames.

To be honest, I’m interested in reading a sequel to this book where Margot explores her healing from an abusive relationship and Ellie explores her healing from the trauma inflicted by never feeling like enough during her childhood. These women have fascinating stories to tell and I would love to hear them, which is a testament to the character development that did occur over the course of The Christmas Swap.

If you’re looking for a Christmas story featuring two lesbians and a likable cast of familial characters, this could be the book for you.

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