Book Review – ‘The Holiday Swap’ by Zara Stoneley (@ZaraStoneley) @HarperImpulse

Blurb.

Florence Cortes has the perfect life – an apartment in the trendiest district of Barcelona, a job she loves and a boyfriend who’s whisking her away on a romantic break to Paris to no doubt propose.
Only, he’s planning something far different, and Flo soon realises her life isn’t so perfect after all.

Home loving Daisy Fischer is perfectly happy in her idyllic home in the Cheshire countryside, with an on-off boyfriend who might be slightly dull but is totally dependable. Until he issues an ultimatum, and Daisy suddenly realises that there might be a whole different world out there that she’s missing out on.

Have Flo and Daisy come up with the perfect solution to escape festive heartbreak?
Can a snowbound Christmas in Cheshire – with aristocratic, handsome Hugo as her neighbour, a house full of animals and a leaking roof – help Flo mend her broken heart, and remind her of what she really wants in life?

Can a sunny break in beautiful Barcelona – with the dishy but brooding Javier, a never ending supply of cava, and a sea view to die for – prove to Daisy that playing safe isn’t always the answer?

Love actually does seem to be all around this Christmas – and in the places Flo and Daisy least expect to find it, but where will they be for New Year?

What does TWG think?

Thank you to the TBConFB family for allowing me to get all festive in August!

I’ll be honest, the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title was the movie ‘The Holiday’! I think my fingers were slightly crossed for it to be similar because I ADORE that film, but I have never read a book that had the same feel to it. Until now.

I am quite ashamed to admit that this is the first book of Zara’s that my eyes have had the pleasure of reading! However,  it is safe to say that after reading ‘The Holiday Swap’, I will quickly become her groupie and buy her other books!

Florence and Daisy both live lives that people would dream of living but in completely different ways. Florence classes Barcelona as her home now, yet Daisy knows ‘no place like home’, after all, she hasn’t flown too far from the nest. Despite having quite obvious differences, both ladies have something in common; men. As both ladies try to figure out the next step in their love life journey, a change of scenery becomes their only option for self happiness. But how far are they willing to go?

I am probably not the only person that will dislike both men, I thought that they had been dragged up and not brought up! One of them was living in their own arrogant dream world, and the other, well, what an absolute…..read the book, the character can explain himself more than I ever could.

Every chapter of the book that I read, gave me the excitement and cosy feeling  you get when you’re unwrapping a present on Christmas morning. I couldn’t wait to find out more about the characters, their lives before and their lives now. Would Florence and Daisy get a happy ending? It was a question that didn’t leave my mind the whole way through. Zara’s cosy and warm writing pulled me into the book with such force, I just yearned for the ladies to be happy and to live with no regrets. They had such a fantastic opportunity, a chance to find themselves, it would have been a travesty not to go for it.

For me, the storyline was quite predictable. That said, it didn’t ruin the enjoyment that I got from reading the book as it was such a joy to read. I didn’t have to think too much, I literally curled up on my sofa with my Kindle and surrendered myself to Zara and her enchanting words within ‘The Holiday Swap’.

‘The Holiday Swap’ is a story about second chances, grabbing life by its baubles and making every single moment count. It is also a book that will reignite the magic of the festive season, bringing the true meaning of ‘family’ and ‘love’ to the forefront of my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Holiday Swap’, a lovely, easy to read book to curl up with any time of the year.

The Holiday Swap by Zara Stoneley, published by Harper Impulse, will be released on the 2nd September 2016, but is available to pre-order right now from Amazon UK.