The Holiday Trap

Roan Parrish — 2022

For fans of Alexandria Bellefleur and Alexis Hall comes a charming, hilarious, and heartwarming LGBTQIA+ romcom about two separate couples finding love over the holidays from acclaimed author Roan Parrish! 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 hasjust 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.

Reviews

Cloudface@cloudface

Dec 16, 2023

This was okay, but I didn’t connect much to the characters or the writing style. Greta’s POV had too many undercooked characters, and to be honest I could not tell you a single reason why her love interest was attracted to her. Truman and Ash had better emotional development between them, but I also found Truman’s whiny self deprecation to be exhausting after a couple hundred pages. And although this novel tackles some more serious issues and does it well, it was undermined by trying to wrap everything up with a feel-good romcom ending.
Overall I think this book has a good premise and some interesting things to say about family dynamics and advocating for yourself, but it was bogged down by trying to fit into the romcom formula.

Kendra Leigh @kendraleigh

Jun 8, 2023

This book was super cozy, and I loved the premise because I’m a huge fan of The Holiday. That being said, I sometimes felt like it was so similar to the holiday that I knew exactly what would happen and was a little surprised that it was legal to publish something so similar. I also am not a fan of Carris- like, I think setting boundaries is great, but being so harsh about someone doing something nice was kind of bullshit. And her reasons were dumb. How was this girl who you knew for two weeks supposed to know that you had traditions to clean after, or that you couldn’t just have any ice cream after finishing finals? I personally would not be with such a high maintenance person. Both main characters also were pushovers, which I understand is what the book is about, but the character development felt meh. But still a pretty enjoyable read, very cozy but did not totally clash with reading in summer!

This review contains a spoiler

Jessica Ford@jessford

Jan 7, 2023

3.5 stars

Marsha Evelyn@evelynyle

Jan 2, 2023

OMG!! This is wholesome!! Listening to this audiobook is so soothing. Knowing the story between Greta, Truman, Veronica and Ramona really what a new thing for me. Perfect for Christmas story. What a heartwarming story and really my new favourite!! The Holiday Trap is one of a kind for me. The level of funny killing me. And to know there's astrology, Mardi Gras, King Cakes... once again... make me learn Mardi Gras culture; once again.

Emma@fae_emma

Dec 29, 2022

A very sweet holiday/winter romance! If you love the movie The Holiday, I strongly recommend this book.

Katie Tuggle@toreadforthehopeofitall

Dec 22, 2022

For me, this book was a 3 star read. I really enjoyed some parts of it but I didn't love other parts. I loved that there was a wlw and mlm relationship in this book. I think the dual point of view was fun but after a while the book felt like it dragged at times. This book was a cute romance for the holiday season. This book was over 400 pages and it got to where I was just waiting for it to end. I think that the book could've still stayed with the same story but could've been split into two different books with each book either being from Greta's poverties or Truman's pov.

Amanda@tearex

Dec 22, 2022

Adored this story. Loved all the characters and the settings and the friends. Love that the solution doesn't 100% come up roses and happiness for every relationship in the book. Very enjoyable read that gave me exactly what I was expecting from it. Thank you for the ARC