Genre Fiction
![Maggie Knox - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B094367N3H.jpg)
The Holiday Swap
The International Bestseller-A feel-good, holiday rom com about identical twins who swap lives twelve days before Christmas-perfect for fans of Christina Lauren's In a Holidaze and Josie Silver's One Day in December
All they want for Christmas is a different life.
When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell-both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family's bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won't get the memo that they're over.
With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven't done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins' identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?
All they want for Christmas is a different life.
When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell-both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family's bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won't get the memo that they're over.
With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven't done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins' identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?
Editorial Reviews
Advance Praise for The Holiday Swap
"An utterly adorable, pitch-perfect romance with just the right amount of Christmas cheer. The Holiday Swap is a pure delight, I couldn't stop from smiling."
-Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six
"Every bit as warm and cozy as a Hallmark Christmas movie."
-PopSugar
"I love this book! It is deliciously fun and wildly romantic, and the dual settings of a baking show set in LA and a family-run bakery in a small snowy town feels like Great British Bakeoff meets Gilmore Girls.… I wanted to befriend the twins, throttle the villains, fall in love with the heroes-and bake up some sourdough."
-Jennifer Robson, international bestselling author of The Gown
"I devoured this delightful romantic comedy in two nights. It's like Gilmore Girls meets The Parent Trap meets Cake Wars. In other words, it's perfect."
-Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of You Were There Too
"It's double the treats and double the trouble as twins swap holidays and dramas in this delightful yuletide romance from Knox…There's both tenderness and comedy as the sisters rediscover their priorities and sibling bond while hilariously struggling to draw the line between their roles and reality. This light romantic romp is delicious fun, perfect for rom-com fans in need of some Christmas cheer."
-Publishers Weekly
"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. –Shelf Awareness
"The Holiday Swap dishes up a double dose of fun-loving, feel-good, Christmas cheer, with a recipe for love that's deliciously irresistible."
-Karen Schaler, author of Finding Christmas
"The Holiday Swap is the cozy holiday rom-com you crave, complete with double the swoony meet-cutes, scrumptious desserts, and happily-ever-afters. With small-town gossip and reality-TV drama, Maggie Knox serves up a treat that will have foodie fiction fans begging for seconds."
-Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
"This debut from Maggie Knox about twins who swap places for 12 days at Christmas is twice the fun, double the trouble and all the feels. Warm cozy bakeries, cold snowy nights, holiday traditions a...
"An utterly adorable, pitch-perfect romance with just the right amount of Christmas cheer. The Holiday Swap is a pure delight, I couldn't stop from smiling."
-Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six
"Every bit as warm and cozy as a Hallmark Christmas movie."
-PopSugar
"I love this book! It is deliciously fun and wildly romantic, and the dual settings of a baking show set in LA and a family-run bakery in a small snowy town feels like Great British Bakeoff meets Gilmore Girls.… I wanted to befriend the twins, throttle the villains, fall in love with the heroes-and bake up some sourdough."
-Jennifer Robson, international bestselling author of The Gown
"I devoured this delightful romantic comedy in two nights. It's like Gilmore Girls meets The Parent Trap meets Cake Wars. In other words, it's perfect."
-Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of You Were There Too
"It's double the treats and double the trouble as twins swap holidays and dramas in this delightful yuletide romance from Knox…There's both tenderness and comedy as the sisters rediscover their priorities and sibling bond while hilariously struggling to draw the line between their roles and reality. This light romantic romp is delicious fun, perfect for rom-com fans in need of some Christmas cheer."
-Publishers Weekly
"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. –Shelf Awareness
"The Holiday Swap dishes up a double dose of fun-loving, feel-good, Christmas cheer, with a recipe for love that's deliciously irresistible."
-Karen Schaler, author of Finding Christmas
"The Holiday Swap is the cozy holiday rom-com you crave, complete with double the swoony meet-cutes, scrumptious desserts, and happily-ever-afters. With small-town gossip and reality-TV drama, Maggie Knox serves up a treat that will have foodie fiction fans begging for seconds."
-Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
"This debut from Maggie Knox about twins who swap places for 12 days at Christmas is twice the fun, double the trouble and all the feels. Warm cozy bakeries, cold snowy nights, holiday traditions a...
Readers Top Reviews
Elaine Fairfield
I love a good twin swap story. It gives us non-identical-twins a glimpse into the possibility of being able to switch places with your twin and dog yourself out of a sticky situation. I know some identical twins and I’m pretty sure they’ve never actually done this, but the idea sells doesn’t it? We’ve seen it so many times in so many movies and books - take Erich Kästner’s “Lorrie and Lisa” - which you may know as the movie “The Parent Trap” - one of my favourites. I was so excited to start this book, and it was the first of my 2021 Christmas reads. I liked the characters and instantly warmed to our main protagonists Cass and Charlie. The story unfolded nicely and I enjoyed reading their romantic entanglements; especially as the swap created an inevitable confusion. I did feel the story slow about halfway through and had to power through the last half, which was a bit of a trial for me, so I can only give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for that. Had I enjoyed it more and not felt such a stalling in the story I’d have loved to have given it more.
A Grand RomanceLady
What you need to know about “The Holiday Swap”: ✔ Kissing-only Romance ✔ Dual Point of View: Cass & Charlie (no POVs from the male main characters) ✔ Twin-swap Romance ✔ Charlotte “Charlie” Goodwin, ambitious pastry chef, co-host of reality baking show: Sweet & Salty ✔ Cass Goodwin, Charlie’s identical twin sister, baker in her family’s bakery in the small town of Starlight Peak ✔ Christmas x baking romance ✔ Hallmark-like ✔ Complete Standalone Charlie Goodwin is the co-host of Sweet and Salty, a reality baking show which is filming its Christmas episodes in Los Angeles. She has a few allies on the set but horrible co-host Austin is after her job. She has an accident on-set and hurts her head after which she loses her sense of smell and taste. Cass Goodwin, Charlie’s identical twin sister, lives in their hometown of Starlight Peak. Starlight Peak is a few hours from L.A. but has snow-capped mountains and is a quaint and festive small town. Cass is a baker at her family’s bakery. She is trying to get her parents to retire and leave the bakery in her capable hands. The twins sent their parents on a whale watching trip as part of their scheme to get them into a retirement frame-of-mind. As part of the town’s Christmas celebrations many families get one of the special Christmas Starlight Loaves from the bakery on Christmas Eve. Cass is stressed out. Add to that a boyfriend that she’s just made an ex just won’t clue in that they are broken up. Charlie calls wanting to swap places so that Cass can take her place on the TV show as the twin with a working ability to taste and smell. Charlie wants to win a spot on a new baking show so everything depends on her performance. Even so, Cass doesn’t have to think about it for very long before saying yes. They swap places with Charlie working at the bakery and Cass stumbling her way through working on a reality baking show. Cass and Charlie each get a do-over in a way and a taste of another life. I loved this concept and wished for a twin of my own so I could experience it. Perhaps without a concussion and less stress. You get two love stories in The Holiday Swap as Charlie shakes up Cass’ life in Starlight Peak and meets firefighter Jake. Cass also starts dating Miguel, the physician assistant who treated Charlie after she hit her head. Things grow complicated with these fresh relationships as both Cass and Charlie are lying to these men about who they are. During the swap, both Cass and Charlie gain some new perspective on their own lives and each other's situations. The Holiday Swap is a warm, endearing romance about finding yourself while you’re pretending to be someone else. It’s a wee bit silly and can be overly dramatic but it's ultimately a nice bit of Christmas cheer that would make a good present for...
Alicia Bell
This is such a fun and cute story! I can already picture it as a Christmas movie! Loved it from beginning to end!
Mallory Lambert
Such a cute book! I had a hard time stopping reading to go on being productive because it’s seriously that easy and sweet of a read. Very much enjoyed!
Samantha Johnson
I liked it. Cute. Holiday themed. I have twins so I like twin themes but it was kind of slow paced. Happy ending. Still kept me intrigued enough to finish!
Short Excerpt Teaser
CHAPTER 1
Charlie
Monday: 12 Days to Christmas . . .
Los Angeles
Charlie Goodwin drew a shaky breath and tapped furiously on her phone, the screen illuminating her face in the otherwise dark storeroom. She opened an app and searched for the emergency two-minute stress-release meditation. Once the soothing voice began, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath, trying to slow her frantic heartbeat. But all that did was bring the sharp scent of peppermint extract further up her nose and into her throat. Normally she loved the smell of peppermint and all Christmas-related things. But this had been sabotage. She smelled like a giant candy cane-and she wasn't feeling very festive about it.
Her phone buzzed in her hand and she cracked an eye, glancing at the screen. Priya Basu, her friend and on-set makeup artist.
Don't let him get to you.
He's a jerk and you're YOU.
Priya was right. Sighing with frustration, Charlie leaned her head back against the wall. She whispered the mantra in time with her exhales and peppermint-scented inhales: Don't let him get to you.
Austin Nash. Someone she had a sour history with and her co-host on the network reality baking show Sweet & Salty, which had run for two seasons but was slated to be replaced by a new show, called Bake My Day, after the holidays. The current Sweet & Salty special they were co-hosting-a twelve-days-to-Christmas countdown, featuring twelve amateur bakers vying for the top spot and twenty-five thousand dollars-was meant to be festive and fun. However, Austin Nash left Charlie feeling more bah-humbug than merry and bright. This holiday special was also Charlie's last chance to impress the network executives and secure the Bake My Day hosting job, which would mean the end of having to share a stage with Austin Nash.
The two had known each other back in culinary school, where she'd discovered Austin was more cheater than chef after she'd caught him co-opting one of her recipes as his own. But he was slick, and she could never prove it. After school Charlie headed to Paris for a coveted internship with a celebrated Parisian pastry chef, and Austin went to New York City and, really, she hadn't thought of him again.
Charlie had been "discovered" by the formidable television producer Sasha Torres-who was now her boss . . . and Austin's. Sasha had come into Souci-the L.A. hot spot where Charlie had made a name for herself as head pastry chef since her return from Paris. Charlie had been tasked with presenting Sasha's table with the flambéed cherries the restaurant was known for. Sasha offered Charlie the "Sweet" hosting side of the reality baking show on the spot.
While it had meant giving up the security of Souci, Charlie had known it could lead to even greater, more exciting opportunities-like the chance to be a solo host on a syndicated cooking show like Bake My Day-becoming an established name in the culinary world. Maybe even have her own line of cookbooks. However, what a somewhat naïve but highly ambitious Charlie hadn't realized when she said yes to Sasha's offer was that she'd be sharing the stage with her culinary school nemesis, Austin Nash.
"Worst luck ever, Goodwin," Charlie grumbled, momentarily pulled out of her meditation mantra as she thought back to that day, almost a year ago now. Apparently Austin had gotten the job because he was friends with the son of one of the network executives, yet he behaved as though he deserved to be there more than Charlie. From their first moment on set Austin had been deceptively charming and self-assured, while Charlie was initially a nervous wreck-television hosting had pushed her out of her comfort zone. And it didn't hurt that, according to Sasha, Austin looked like a young Rob Lowe. With his impossibly perfect hair, chiseled jaw, and blue eyes with lashes for days, Austin became the "Salty" half of the duo, and it wasn't long before things went south on set between the co-hosts.
Initially Charlie had tried to give Austin the benefit of the doubt. Even if he proved as infuriating as he had been at school, Charlie was prepared to deal with it-because this kind of opportunity didn't come along every day. But it was soon clear Austin Nash had changed...and not for the better. For one, he had developed this particularly obnoxious routine, where he would give shoulder massages while delivering condescending advice, regardless of whether either was wanted or warranted. "One more minute of boiling and that pâté à choux would have been sublime, Charlie. Next time."
Things got even worse when th...
Charlie
Monday: 12 Days to Christmas . . .
Los Angeles
Charlie Goodwin drew a shaky breath and tapped furiously on her phone, the screen illuminating her face in the otherwise dark storeroom. She opened an app and searched for the emergency two-minute stress-release meditation. Once the soothing voice began, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath, trying to slow her frantic heartbeat. But all that did was bring the sharp scent of peppermint extract further up her nose and into her throat. Normally she loved the smell of peppermint and all Christmas-related things. But this had been sabotage. She smelled like a giant candy cane-and she wasn't feeling very festive about it.
Her phone buzzed in her hand and she cracked an eye, glancing at the screen. Priya Basu, her friend and on-set makeup artist.
Don't let him get to you.
He's a jerk and you're YOU.
Priya was right. Sighing with frustration, Charlie leaned her head back against the wall. She whispered the mantra in time with her exhales and peppermint-scented inhales: Don't let him get to you.
Austin Nash. Someone she had a sour history with and her co-host on the network reality baking show Sweet & Salty, which had run for two seasons but was slated to be replaced by a new show, called Bake My Day, after the holidays. The current Sweet & Salty special they were co-hosting-a twelve-days-to-Christmas countdown, featuring twelve amateur bakers vying for the top spot and twenty-five thousand dollars-was meant to be festive and fun. However, Austin Nash left Charlie feeling more bah-humbug than merry and bright. This holiday special was also Charlie's last chance to impress the network executives and secure the Bake My Day hosting job, which would mean the end of having to share a stage with Austin Nash.
The two had known each other back in culinary school, where she'd discovered Austin was more cheater than chef after she'd caught him co-opting one of her recipes as his own. But he was slick, and she could never prove it. After school Charlie headed to Paris for a coveted internship with a celebrated Parisian pastry chef, and Austin went to New York City and, really, she hadn't thought of him again.
Charlie had been "discovered" by the formidable television producer Sasha Torres-who was now her boss . . . and Austin's. Sasha had come into Souci-the L.A. hot spot where Charlie had made a name for herself as head pastry chef since her return from Paris. Charlie had been tasked with presenting Sasha's table with the flambéed cherries the restaurant was known for. Sasha offered Charlie the "Sweet" hosting side of the reality baking show on the spot.
While it had meant giving up the security of Souci, Charlie had known it could lead to even greater, more exciting opportunities-like the chance to be a solo host on a syndicated cooking show like Bake My Day-becoming an established name in the culinary world. Maybe even have her own line of cookbooks. However, what a somewhat naïve but highly ambitious Charlie hadn't realized when she said yes to Sasha's offer was that she'd be sharing the stage with her culinary school nemesis, Austin Nash.
"Worst luck ever, Goodwin," Charlie grumbled, momentarily pulled out of her meditation mantra as she thought back to that day, almost a year ago now. Apparently Austin had gotten the job because he was friends with the son of one of the network executives, yet he behaved as though he deserved to be there more than Charlie. From their first moment on set Austin had been deceptively charming and self-assured, while Charlie was initially a nervous wreck-television hosting had pushed her out of her comfort zone. And it didn't hurt that, according to Sasha, Austin looked like a young Rob Lowe. With his impossibly perfect hair, chiseled jaw, and blue eyes with lashes for days, Austin became the "Salty" half of the duo, and it wasn't long before things went south on set between the co-hosts.
Initially Charlie had tried to give Austin the benefit of the doubt. Even if he proved as infuriating as he had been at school, Charlie was prepared to deal with it-because this kind of opportunity didn't come along every day. But it was soon clear Austin Nash had changed...and not for the better. For one, he had developed this particularly obnoxious routine, where he would give shoulder massages while delivering condescending advice, regardless of whether either was wanted or warranted. "One more minute of boiling and that pâté à choux would have been sublime, Charlie. Next time."
Things got even worse when th...
