Review: The Holiday Switch

Title: The Holiday Switch
Author: Tif Marcelo
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Underlined
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: October 5, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A paperback original romance about a bookish Filipino-American girl who crosses paths with the innkeeper’s aggravating nephew–but when they accidentally switch phones, their newly discovered secrets draw them together.

Lila Castro is ready to take on her last winter break of high school. The snow is plentiful, the mood is full of holiday cheer, and she’s earning extra cash working at the cozy local inn. But her perfect holiday plans crash to a halt when her boss’s frustratingly cute nephew, Teddy Veracruz, becomes her coworker. When they accidentally switch phones one afternoon, they both realize they’ve been hiding things from each other. Will their secrets–and a dash of holiday spirit–bring them closer to love?

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Review:

Lila Castro lives in the small town of Holly, New York, which is always festive. She’s looking forward to working extra hours during the winter break at the gift shop where she works so that she can save money for college next year. However, the extra hours she planned to work are taken over by her boss’s nephew, Teddy Veracruz, who is visiting for the holidays. Teddy doesn’t want to follow the rules they’ve always had at the shop, so Lila becomes frustrated while training him. Then one day, they end up switching phones by accident. Lila and Teddy each discover a secret the other is keeping while they have each other’s phone. Now they have to work together so that they don’t expose their secrets, while possibly finding a holiday romance along the way.

There was great Filipino representation in this holiday story. Lila and her boss, Ms. Velasco, were both Filipino. The star of her favourite holiday movie was also of Filipino descent. I had many Filipino friends while I was growing up, but I didn’t see them represented in North American books or movies, so it was really nice to see this kind of representation in a fun holiday rom com!

I could relate to Lila’s love of books. She organized a free library at the gift shop where she worked and had a secret romance novel blog. There were blog posts throughout the story of her holiday romance novel reviews. They were so cute and relatable as a book reviewer myself!

The Holiday Switch is a fun YA holiday rom com!

What to read next:

Have you read The Holiday Switch? What did you think of it?