Kira Jeanette

A YA Christmas love story set in a London Black-owned bookshop.

Charming, handsome Trey Anderson balances the pressures of school popularity with a job at his family’s beloved local bookshop, Wonderland.

Quirky, creative Ariel Spencer needs tuition for the prestigious art program of her dreams, and an opening at Wonderland is the answer. When Trey and Ariel learn that Wonderland is on the brink of being shut down by a neighborhood gentrifier, they team up to stop the doors from closing before the Christmas Eve deadline—and embark on a hate-to-love journey that will change them forever.

Heartwarming and romantic, this read is the gift that keeps on giving, no matter the season.

Love in Winter Wonderland by Abiola Bello follows Trey Anderson and Ariel Spencer. Trey is seemingly friends with everyone and he is dating his on and off girlfriend who is doesn’t have much in common with. He is also working at his parents bookshop, and realises at the start of the book that things are not looking good for the bookshop and its closure is imminent.

Ariel is an artist and on the opposite side of the popularity spectrum to Trey. She has gotten in to a prestigious art program that she has dreamt on for so long, but she needs to get a job in order to pay for the program. This is when she starts working at Wonderland – Trey’s family owned bookshop.

Together, they navigate ways to keep the bookshop alive and thriving. They throw parties and charge each party-goer to attend, they fundraise, and get big celebrities on board to save the bookshop. They balance all of this whilst also trying to work out how they feel about each other, and Trey particularly struggles with this as he has a girlfriend. The two of them clearly had a lot of chemistry, but there were many obstacles in the way to stop them from exploring their connection.

It is a quick young adult Christmas read – I devoured it in one sitting! This book is honestly so, so, so cute! It still dealt with quite some heavy topics though like binge eating or grief and these were handled very well throughout the novel. I thought the writing style was incredible and I will be checking out more of Abiola Bello’s work.

Have you read this one? What did you think?

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