I realize Christmas is still 80 days away. We still have Halloween and Thanksgiving to do. Some of you probably think I’m jumping the gun on the most wonderful time of the year.

To those who think that, I say, “Bah, humbug.”

We watch Christmas movies all year here. We started re-watching some of our seasonal Hallmark faves in August. There is no such thing as too early for Christmas entertainment here!

Because of that, I was thrilled to receive a copy of Tif Marcelo’s YA Christmas romance The Christmas Switch from NetGalley and Random House in exchange for my honest opinion.

Overview:

Lila lives in Christmas-obsessed Holly, New York, the setting of the greatest Christmas romance book-turned-movie of all time, Holiday by the Lake. (Sidebar: Tif Marcelo needs to write that book, too, because I need to know if the hype in Holly was worth it!) She’s muddling through her senior year of high school, working and preparing for college, but she keeps secret from her privacy-focused family- she writes a holiday book-themed blog. (Sidebar 2: I also want to subscribe to this imaginary blog.)

Teddy stumbles into Lila’s life at work and really messes things up for her. After mixing up their phones, the two become secret keepers for one another, and of course, romance blossoms. As they grow closer, new exciting opportunities arise for both of them but also create some great conflict in their relationship.

My Rating and Rationale:

For the first quarter or so of this book, I wasn’t feeling it. I just didn’t see the potential and I thought the setup was weak. They switched phones. So what?

Then, the characters began developing and I was hooked. I felt bad for doubting the power of this story! It was a truly delightful Christmas read!

Despite my early misgivings, this book was a solid five-star read. I ended up falling in love with Lila and Teddy and the whole sweet town of Holly. I adored the concept of Lila’s book blog and her journey to discovering that she is a writer in her heart. I learned a lot about Filipino family life from this book, which was an unexpected bonus. I also appreciated that it was a clean read that I am not ashamed to share with my daughter and her friends.

Yesterday was this book’s debut date and you can purchase it here: https://amzn.to/3myV2L7 .