Holly is a long-time fan of Christmas. She waits all year to pull out her Christmas jumpers and set up a schedule for when to wear which one. She can’t wait to over-decorate her room and her family’s home. And then there is the first rule of the holidays that she must follow: never turn down a festive holiday drink. Her small British town, Little Marsh, goes all out for Christmas too, and this year her best friend has landed herself a big role in the panto. Holly is ready for the holiday season to start.
Or she was. Then she found out that her sister won’t make it home until Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. And her mom tells her that they’re putting their house up for sale, to move in to her boyfriend’s house. And Holly’s boyfriend dumps her for a girl she hates. Just like that, all of Holly’s celebratory energy dissipates, and she is feeling lost for her favorite part of the year.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Elle is struggling to find much holiday spirit. Her parents have a business decorating homes for Christmas, and it seems like they have to spend so much time focused on that they lose some of their own family Christmas magic. Plus, for the first time Elle’s Gram is in a nursing home and can’t leave for Christmas, so their holiday celebration just doesn’t feel all that exciting. Instead, she focuses on her Instagram account. After a nasty run-in with a troll, she had deleted her previous account, but she’s finally ready to try again, and she’s all in for growing her followers.
When she finds herself decorating the home of Dove, a girl from school with a big social media following, Elle is surprised that Dove even knows who she is. But Dove knows her and her Instagram posts, and she encourages Elle to join in with the challenge she’s putting out for a couple of her friends. Basically, the one who gets another 15,000 followers during the contest gets to join Dove in her group account. And the losers? Well, they have to delete their accounts. Elle is in, but she knows she needs something big to raise her numbers by that much. So she has a crazy idea. She posts a picture of the small English town that her mother is from and asks if anyone on the other side of the pond wants to switch places for the holiday.
Holly sees Elle’s post of Little Marsh and wonders if that’s just what she needs to get her Christmas spirit back. She’s seen all the movies where they go to Manhattan, and it’s always a perfect holiday. She messages Elle that she’s interested, but it’s not until the girls realize that their mothers grew up together that they realize switching places is actually possible.
And that’s how Holly finds herself in America to celebrate the season with Elle’s parents and little brother. And Elle finds herself in an adorable British village with Holly’s family and friends. But Elle forgot to tell Holly that her “little brother” is actually her twin brother. Her handsome twin brother. And Holly didn’t warn Elle about her lowlife ex-boyfriend who lives across the street or about her best friend Fred and his nervous habit of telling murder stories about all the places they visit.
While Elle is in England racking up new followers, Holly is in New Jersey learning twin brother Nate’s secrets. But while Elle is doing well in the challenge, getting her tasks done and adding more followers, she realizes that something is missing. Everything is perfect, except that she’s not with her family. And when Holly helps her see how many secrets she’s been keeping from her brother and parents, and how they’ve been keeping secrets too, she realizes just what she wants for her perfect hashtag holiday.
And while Holly is having an amazing time in America, she’s also been making some mistakes. After planning out how she wanted every detail of her perfect New York Christmas to be, Nick helps her realize that she doesn’t have to plan every moment to still have fun. But when she gets caught saying too much, based on rumors and assumptions, she knows she has to throw her Christmas wish list out the window and come up with a grand Christmas gesture to try to apologize to Nick.
Blame it on the Mistletoe is a delightful holiday swap story, filled with lots of good humor and holiday magic. Author Beth Garrod combines the best of a British Happy Christmas with America’s Merry Christmas to create this charming holiday rom com filled with laughter, music, festive drinks, over-the-top holiday sweaters, family, friendship, Twiglets, and a reindonkey.
I will admit I am not into over-the-top holidays at this point in my life, but I have to admit that Blame it on the Mistletoe put me in the holiday spirit. I enjoyed hearing about all the crazy celebrations and quiet moments of Christmas magic, and I found myself wanting some hot chocolate and a holiday movie or two. Anyone who loves holiday rom coms will adore this fun Noel novel, and those who may have been known to mutter, “Bah, humbug” under their breath during the holiday season may find themselves considering buying themselves a holiday onesie and belting out along with Mariah, “All I want for Christmas is you!”
Egalleys for Blame It on the Mistletoe were provided by Sourcebooks Fire through NetGalley, with many thanks.
