Love in Winter Wonderland
A feel-good bookshop romance to warm hearts this Christmas!
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Love in Winter Wonderland
Narrated by:
Ben Bailey Smith, Nneka Okoye
Buy Now for £10.76
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Narrated by:
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Ben Bailey Smith
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Nneka Okoye
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By:
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Abiola Bello
About this listen
‘A screen-worthy holiday romance.’ Joya Goffney, author of Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
Trey Anderson is popular and handsome, and he works at his family’s beloved Black-owned bookshop, Wonderland. Ariel Spencer is quirky, creative, and in need of a holiday temp job to cover her tuition for The Artists’ Studio. An opening at Wonderland is the answer . . . and the start of a hate-to-love journey for Trey and Ariel. When Trey and Ariel learn that Wonderland is on the brink of shutting down, can they get over their differences and team up to stop the doors from closing before the Christmas Eve deadline?
PRAISE FOR LOVE IN WINTER WONDERLAND
‘A sweetly seasonal YA romance.’ Guardian
‘Gorgeous writing, witty dialogue, a magical setting and two characters you'll fall head over heels for.’ Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places
‘A story so charming and fun it will whisk you away. It has TikTok sensation written all over it!’ Laura Jane Williams, author of Our Stop
‘I devoured this delicious YA rom-com. A treat to read any time of year.’ Katherine Webber, author of Twin Crowns
‘Charming, heartwarming and perfect cosy reading, complete with the perfect holiday soundtrack!’ Ciara Smyth, author of Not My Problem
‘Full of warmth, humour and joy. A delightful read!’ Michelle Quach, author of Not Here to be Liked
‘A dazzling love letter to bookshops, and the power of community.’ Adiba Jaigirdar, author of Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating
‘A wonderfully warm love story.’ Candice Brathwaite, author of Cuts Both Ways
‘A warm and cosy read that pulls you into the perfect winter romance. Abiola has given us all a gift to swoon over.’ Benjamin Dean, author of The King is Dead
‘A gorgeous love story, full of joy, humour and heart. Abiola Bello has given us something truly special!’ Danielle Jawando, author of And the Stars Were Burning Brightly
‘The most joyful, cosy and swoon-worthy love story.’ Kate Weston, author of Diary of a Confused Feminist
‘Fans of Mean Girls will love this delightful and riveting read.’ Clara Loveman, author of Crown of Crowns
The perfect Christmas story!
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I thought it was a decent book by the end, I loved the idea of the story but I think it somewhat fell flat on the execution. I really wanted to love it, I really did but I just think it lacked in areas.
Firstly there was a bit of dream selling re the plot. On the publishers’ website it’s described as a hate to love journey aka enemies to lovers but that’s not really true. They were very much strangers and within a day the misunderstanding that led to them being “enemies” in the afternoon was resolved by that night.
That aside, in truth you could have changed the skin tone of the people on the cover and you wouldn’t need to change much of the book for it to resemble your typical white Hallmark Christmas story. If it wasn’t for the random mentions of areas such as Hackney / Stoke Newington you’d think it was set in the States (maybe that was done on purpose for international reach?) or literally anywhere else in the world but London, and more specifically Black London which is such a shame and a waste.
The names felt very American too. You mean in all of that side of London there was not one Nigerian, Ghanaian, Congolese, Sierra Leonean, Trinidadian, Jamaican person? Like nothing about the characters, their friends or their families indicated that they were Black Londoners either. Not their names, the food they ate, mannerisms. I’m only assuming they’re Caribbean but Literally nothing about them indicated they were black people in London talk less of heritage other than when the author said “Black owned bookshop” or “BLM”.
And more specifically on the plot, I also wasn’t sold on Tre and Ariel’s relationship. There was nothing about them that made me want to root for them. They had things in common like best friends, but nothing really made me think they should be together, only that he shouldn’t be with Blair.
As I said, it had a lot of potential and it wasn’t a BAD book it just wasn’t anything to write home about. Really and truly a white woman could have written this which is disappointing. I think a British-Nigerian author has subtle nuances they can bring to their writing that makes their storytelling unique and I feel like Abiola didn’t really try at all.
a white woman could have written this and it wouldn’t have made a difference
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