The Book:
The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish
Published September 6, 2022 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Date read: August 25, 2022
The Characters:
Truman and Ash
Greta and Carys
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Greta Russakoff loves her tight-knit family and tiny Maine hometown, even if they don’t always understand what it’s like to be a lesbian living in such a small world. She desperately needs space to figure out who she is.
Truman Belvedere has just had his heart crushed into a million pieces when he learned that his boyfriend of almost a year has a secret life that includes a husband and a daughter. Reeling from this discovery, all he wants is a place to lick his wounds far, far away from New Orleans.
Enter Greta and Truman’s mutual friend, Ramona, who facilitates a month-long house swap. Over the winter holidays, each of them will have a chance to try on a new life…and maybe fall in love with the perfect partner of their dreams. But all holidays must come to an end, and eventually Greta and Truman will have to decide whether the love they each found so far from home is worth fighting for.
The Review:
This was an adorable queer version of the movie The Holiday! I loved this steamy two-for-one love story.
Just like the movie, we’re treated to two separate storylines: one in a small island town in Maine, and one in New Orleans.
Truman was by far my favorite POV. His character was just so sweet and relatable, and I loved the small-town Maine location. His love for his favorite fantasy series was especially relatable to this book-lover, and this is the first time I’ve seen bullet journaling in a novel! I loved that Truman was so ready to help Ash with both his business and personal life.
My favorite parts of Greta’s scenes were her love of plants and her found family in Louisiana. Her romance felt a little less like the light holiday romance I was expecting, but it was sweet and steamy nonetheless. Carys kind of rubbed me the wrong way in some scenes, in that she seemed a little dismissive of and disinterested in Greta. Especially the scene after their party–I didn’t understand Carys’s anger at all.
Roan Parrish is a new-to-me author, but I certainly hope she continues to write holiday rom-coms!
Audio Review: This book was narrated by Natalie Duke, Pete Cross, and Hillary Huber. I thought it came together beautifully! All their voices were distinct enough to keep the different scenes straight, and I thought they were all well-matched to their characters.
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