If you liked The Holiday (movie), you'll enjoy this book!

Holly and Ivy are best friends, and when Holly's fiance cancels their wedding the night before to go explore a relationship with his coworker, they decide to switch vacations. Holly gets Ivy's wintery artist retreat in an off-the-grid cabin, while Ivy gets Holly's honeymoon trip to Hawaii.

I found this was an easy, fun read. It's a bit insta-lovey, as the relationships develop over the course of a week, but I appreciated the warm holiday vibes of it. We get to celebrate Christmas with the MCs and see how they fit within the little found families they quickly build.

I haven't read Marissa Stapley before, but based on her repertoire, I was surprised by the writing in this book. The prose was often repetitive (I get it, she's a Senior Graphic Designer at a magazine), the dialogue a bit clunky at times (the amount of disappointment I had in those confrontations), the epilogue was dialogue that would never exist in real life ("we did this, we did that," but they're saying it to each other when they well know what they've done and why). The writing felt rough and gave the book an unrealistic sheen that would take me out of the world at times. That, mixed with the insta-love, had me raising an eyebrow.

As a whole, a fun holiday book, but not something I'll probably think of again after this review.

TW: alcohol, infidelity; mentions sexual content

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World Building: 4/5
Writing: 2.5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 3/5

Finished copy gifted by Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review.