‘The Parent Trap’ meets ‘The Holiday’ sounds interesting, so that’s why I requested and received an eARC from Edelweiss Plus.
Allie is British and dreams of becoming a spy while she deals with an annoying older brother and whiny little sister. Sage is an only child from sunny California with parents on the brink of divorce. They meet when Sage and her mom arrive at Allie's house in the country and Allie's still there with her mum (their families were to do a house swap) taking care of a sick dog. As Allie tries to help Sage get her parents to reconnect, she struggles with being in the heard of her big family.
I enjoyed ‘The Holiday’ aspect of it, where an American girl switches homes with an England girl. Both Allie and Sage definitely act their age and are polar opposites, but that’s what makes them interesting characters. I loved visiting England with Sage and enjoyed that the chapters were told from alternate viewpoints of Sage and Allie.
I’m more into teen books, so if I were to change anything about this story, they would be older (teen years) and have boys that they’d be falling for. But for a middle grade story, this was interesting. There’s not really a lot of ‘Parent Trap’ in it, other than Sage trying to get her parents back together. Also, at times, Allie was self-centered, but I understood why later in the story.
In conclusion, this is a nice little read to add to your collection of stories