Who says romance is dead? They’ve clearly never experienced love in a bookshop! Love in Winter Wonderland is a heartwarming, beautifully written holiday romance that captures the magic of Christmas and the joy of community.

Set in a London-based, Black-owned bookshop called Wonderland, the story follows Trey and Ariel as they team up to save the shop from closure. Both characters bring their unique skills to the table, but their mission to preserve the beloved indie bookstore is only part of the journey. Beneath the surface, both are battling personal challenges: Ariel is navigating grief, an eating disorder, and relentless bullying, while Trey struggles with being undervalued and treated unfairly by those around him.

This story checks all the holiday romance boxes—festive charm, heartfelt moments, and a strong fighting spirit. It reminds us not only of the power of love but also of the importance of supporting local businesses and independent bookstores. Wonderland becomes more than just a setting; it’s a symbol of hope, community, and the magic of connection.

Beyond the romance, the book dives deeply into themes of family, friendship, and resilience, offering readers a wholesome and uplifting read. With a perfect blend of romantic hope and festive cheer, Love in Winter Wonderland is a must-read for the holiday season.

#LoveinWinterWonderland #NetGalley #romancebooks #christmasbook #wholesomereads #feelgoodread #books #booktok #bookgram

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I am ALWAYS down for a Christmas read. This was such a fun time. I don't usually read YA but I will say this was a quick read that really put me into the holiday spirit in summer!

This is such a cute little listen
A fun and diverse story which is directed YA but I did enjoy it. It was a quick listen but enjoyable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am ALWAYS down for a Christmas read. This was such a fun time.

What you’ll find in Love in Winter Wonderland:
Jock/ Nerd Romance
Set in Lonon
Christmas Story
Curvey FMC
Feel Good

The audiobook narration was great, both narrators were fantastic.

Ok this book was ADORABLE! I loved how these two found their way to each other through this bookshop and the love of story. I appreciated how grounded each character felt even though it was a YA romance. Everyone felt so real and recognizable to me. There was so much heart within this story that I didn't expect, and I think it's the perfect wintery comfort read!

I found this a really sweet audiobook. I liked that both the POVs had different voice actors as it made it more enjoyable and I found that I was not bored because of this. Trey and Ariel are absolutely adorable and it was interesting to follow the journey of both the characters. I felt that despite a lot going on in the book, I did not feel overwhelmed and felt that the pace of it was just right.

This was just a really sweet Christmas read that I also enjoyed not reading actually at Christmas.

First of all I love the cover and the inside flaps of the book are beautiful! I thought the story was ok, but I've read a lot of books with similar vibes recently. I liked that each chapter started with a Christmas song from their playlists. I like that the main characters got to know each other slowly and didn't fall for each other immediately as well.

My rating: 4.5 stars

I absolutely loved this book! It is such a sweet and heartfelt read that will make you smile. Trey and Ariel are two characters that are just wanting what’s best for their families, while also trying to figure out life. With Trey you have his family owning a black owned book shop and them potentially having to close due to financial issues. Then with Ariel her dad died a year ago and her family has been struggling since then, she is an artist like he was and wants to go to university for it, but isn’t sure how she is going to be able to do that. Ariel ends up getting a job at Trey’s family bookstore and together these two come up with ideas to help raise money for the store to be able to stay open and to have more customers. This book is filled with so many ups and downs as they go through life and have school, dreams, and friend and family drama. It’s a lot but is told so well.



Overall I highly recommend this book if you want a nice Christmas read that has community building, family bonding, figuring out who you are, friendships, and advocating for yourself, friends, and community.



The audio narrator did a fairly good job, with all the different characters and having slightly different voices for them. There were only a few that I struggled with at first, but by the end of the book I knew which character was talking all the time.

(Review will be posted during Christmas in July on my blog, Instagram, and Tiktok.)

❄️🆂🅴🆅🅴🅽 🅻🅸🆃 🆃🅷🅸🅽🅶🆂 ❄️
|| 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 by Abiola Bello ||

𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?
* Yes, it enjoyed the soft, swoony British romance with a hint of drama and a little bit of Christmas on the side. I’d read another one by Bello for sure.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿:
* I have a favorite couple who actually aren’t the main characters, but the side characters—Boogs and Santi—I know I cannot be the only one who loves them, right? They are just perfect for one another. So cute and authentic.

𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆:
* Gentrification of Black neighborhoods are ruining great landmarks and Black-owned businesses. 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 shows readers just how vital it is stay aware and present in your local communities to support and patronize independent bookstores and retailers so they can stay in business to affect change and be a light to someone else. If not, greed and capitalism win.

𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀/𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀:
* Friendships
* Community Building
* Family Bonding
* Changemakers & Advocates

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆?
* Yes, because when no one else is around Trey and Ariel become entwined in the bookstore “Wonderland” as if they are in love and are in pure bliss, but poof like a cloud they float away when everyone else comes around.

𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁/𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
* Yes, I was completely entertained with the antics and drama of a jealous and selfish Blair as she fails to get what she wants. That “pretty privilege” only takes you so far, ma’am!

𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱?
* I didn’t enjoy all the bullying and fat shaming done to Ariel by the “popular” teenagers. So often nobody hears their cries or insecurities and it manifests into other problems and concerns.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ben Bailey Smith and Nneka Okoye narrate Abiola Bello’s YA debut, Love in Winter Wonderland. Devoted readers/book lovers Ariel Spencer and Trey Anderson fall in love over the Christmas holidays while working together to save his family’s local, Black-owned bookshop, Wonderland, from shutting down because of neighborhood gentrification. Creative, artistic, and quirky, Ariel longs to be an artist and painter like her father. A job at Wonderland Bookstore will help her achieve her dream of attending the same prestigious art program as her father by providing tuition money. Trey Anderson is charming and handsome, but he struggles to balance working at his family’s bookshop, Wonderland, with the pressures of his popularity, social life, and girlfriend.

Devoted readers and book lovers Ariel and Trey reluctantly team up despite their differences to save Wonderland—a place each loves very much—and discover that they have far more in common than not. Working together at the book stop fosters the growth of a surprisingly deep connection fueled by a burgeoning attraction that complicates their lives as they fall for each other and their lives unexpectedly change.

I love Okoye and Smith’s voices, exquisite accents, and vibrant, expressive narration that draw readers into Bello’s emotional holiday romance, keeping them avidly listening as it flies by. Their narration excellently captures the character’s personalities and the novel’s depths of emotion and shifting tones. Each provides distinct narration that differentiates between the characters using pacing, intonation, inflection, and emotion to give them distinct voices, revealing their personalities, feelings, quirks, and states of mind. Okoye and Smith become each of the characters, regardless of age or gender. However, Okoye’s narration for the young women is better. Okoye’s narration of Ariel’s emotional trauma and angst is phenomenal. She imbues Bello’s emotional scenes with so much raw emotion that Ariel’s pain is a visceral, living, breathing entity. The narrators wonderfully capture Bello’s touching and thoughtful story. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than them narrating.

It’s no secret that I love YA/Teen romances, especially with Black lead characters/couples, and over the last few years, I’ve really gotten into British Black YA and New Adult romances. Bello’s vivid storytelling, worldbuilding, description, language use, and colorful and natural-sounding dialogue create visual images with each word, drawing you into her multilayered love story from the first scene. Her complex characters are fascinating, likable, flawed, and sometimes frustrating as she develops them through emotional, funny, dramatic, snarky, and charged interactions. In combination with her writing style, all these qualities make the pages fly by quickly. I love Bello’s introspective and insightful exploration of self-esteem, artistic expression, popularity, and emotional healing. The cover is super cute, perfectly capturing Bello’s hero and heroine and a pivotal scene from the novel nicely.

Bello tells Ariel and Trey’s story in alternating first-person POV. One of the novel’s coolest aspects is that Trey and Ariel are really into playlists and how each chapter begins with the POV character listing a song from their Christmas playlist. Learning about new Christmas songs and versions of songs recorded by artists I was unaware of was excellent. I also love Ariel and Trey’s discussions of books and Bello’s exploration of YA romance and book love through their evolving relationship. The book Love that fills the pages of Love in Winter Wonderland is incredible and 100 percent relatable to YA romance and book lovers, who will get a kick out of the characters’ book love and discussions about popular YA series.

I love Bello’s development of Ariel and Trey’s relationship and connection and her description of their building temptation. She smoothly develops their attraction and feelings for each other from not exactly enemies to lovers but an apathetic dislike to co-workers to friends with the potential for more. In addition to working at the shop together, Ariel and Trey begin to have conversations about books, music, their dreams, and life.

Ariel’s a lovely, kind, talented, resilient young woman with a sweet spirit. I really like her. She struggles with issues concerning insecurity, self-confidence, and self-esteem, particularly about her art and her body and self-esteem. Still, she hides it pretty well, burying and keeping those feelings at bay with her painting, art, and dancing. I love her relationship with her cousin and friends, which helps to further her character development.

Aside from having to work at the bookstore, Trey has no complaints about his life. He wants to be a singer but fears public performance. Although Trey seems shallow, Ariel discovers there’s more to Trey while working to save Wonderland. Unfortunately, he behaves like a jerk, being mean and rude to Ariel during the novel. He also treats her horribly over a misunderstanding out of her control. His relationship with his BFF Boogs and his younger brother, who are both quite likable, helps soften, reveal, and evolve his character and offer hope of redemption for him.

An angsty, funny, sweet, and sexy Christmas/Holiday romance, Love in Winter Wonderland explores themes of the creativity of Black artists and writers, supporting Black businesses, following your dreams, facing your fears, self-esteem, standing up for yourself, gentrification, self-acceptance, self-love, self-confidence, grief, loss, and healing and recovery. I recommend the novel to fans of Black British Love, book Love, YA romance, and enemies-to-lovers romance.

**Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book in return for an honest review.**

I adored this book! It was such a sweet and fun read! I loved watching Ariel and Trey's relationship grow and this was a perfect read for the winter time. Would highly recommend 😊

Love in Winter Wonderland is a cute British based Christmas romance.

I love anything that takes place in a bookstore, and this super sweet romance did not disappoint. It is written in a dual POV between Ariel, an artist in need of a confidence boost, and Trey, a kid who will do almost anything for his family.

Ariel was the real star for me in this book. She had depth and character development that made me excited to get to her chapters. Ariel was dealing with so much during the course of this book that she felt like my best friend from high school, or even me at times. She was sweet, funny, and relatable.

Trey was a lot harder for me to like. While I didn't like the his girlfriend at the start of the book, I started to empathize with her a bit because of how much he was juggling the two girls and getting emotionally attached to Ariel while still in a relationship. While I know this does mirror how relationships, especially at this age, can be in real life, I like a little bit of fiction with my fictional romantic couples.

While I'm new to reading romance, I do know that I'm not a huge fan of long drawn out emotional affairs, which this book really is, and that is why I settled on 3.25 ⭐. I would recommend this to my friends who love YA romance and don't mind a bit of infidelity with their romance. All and in all, it was a pretty enjoyable read.

Thank you so much to the author, Abiola Bello, Publisher, and Netgalley for a free copy for this review.

This book has no right to be this adorable. 🧡

Two black teenagers that can’t decide if they like each other are trying to save a black-owned bookstore at Christmas? Just stop. Stop it right now.

This was a super cute story, but it also had some really deep feelings and handled grief, money troubles and bullying with care. So be careful if any of that is triggering to you. 🥰

Also, who says you can’t read holiday books in January? It was snowing & cold & this book warmed me right up.

Special thanks to @soho_teen for the ARC and @recordedbooks for the ALC!

A sweet YA Christmas romance! Trey is handsome and popular and his family owns an independent bookshop that has fallen on hard times. He uses his social media presence to rally support for his family to keep the shop. Classic "need to make a decision whether to sell it to the money hungry big business man by Christmas Eve" plot device.

Ariel needs a job to afford to go to art school and starts working at Wonderland bookshop to help out. It's there that her and Trey' romance starts to form!

Cute and sweet with lots of expected teen drama and poor decisions.

This was a cute story. Christmas time in a bookshop. The main characters, Ariel is a artist who is trying to get into an art school her dad went to. and he idea of a good time is her friend's and art and music (I can relate) and being a part of the in crowd is not something she cares about.
Trey is part of the in crowd and his family owns the bookshop that is struggling and as much as he doesn't want to take over the book shop he doesn't want to see it fail. He wants to become a singer and tour.
With the 2 of them together to help bring life back into the bookshop they become friends and feelings start to take shape.
It was a cute story around the holidays and I liked the family, friends and Ariel. Trey I had issues with. When he got upset he would last out or be mean. and he automatically thinks the worse about people. I also had 1 min he doesn't want to jump into anything then hes like i need to. lets take a few. and thats for both of them.

I listed to the audio and the narrators did a great job.
Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the audio-arc in exchange for my thoughts

I loved every second of this book! Ariel and Trey were really cute together and I loved the way they worked together. It’s really refreshing seeing books that have people of colour as the entire main cast. This book was just enjoyable from cover to cover. It made October feel like Christmas! I’d recommend this book to anyone!

My 💭:
⠀
Holiday setting in the UK about saving a Black owned book store? Sign me up! I really enjoyed this story and I’m not going to lie I wanted to reach into the book and throttle Blair. I loved when Ariel found her strength and courage and finally stood up to the mean girls in this book. Trey had his moments but he was a sweetheart.
⠀
Notable Quote:
⠀
“I wonder if people care now that the hype has died down.”
⠀
Trey was reluctant to ask for help with the bookshop via social media because he felt people didn’t care after the hype died down for George Floyd. As a Black person this is exactly how I feel at times. The hashtags aren’t trending, but we are still in the same place dealing with ongoing racism. Do people even care?

YA holiday romance taking place in a bookstore? Not just any bookstore, a black owned bookstore? Score. I love the traits that these characters held so deeply into their identities. Ariel is extremely creative and attempting to save for tuition to a prestigious arts program. Trey holds his family values and compassion so deeply and I love a popular guy who doesn't let it get to his head. He's written in such an incredibly humble way and I loved that this duo teamed up to try and save Trey's family bookstore from being shut down. Themes of gentrification are woven throughout and in a way that is easy to digest for someone who might not be familiar.

Overall, I enjoyed this read. My qualm was the narration at times pulled me out of the story just a bit. My guess is that consuming YA romance in the form of audio just doesn't work well for me and I'm better at just reading a digital or physical copy. That's a me thing though and at no fault to the author or narrators.

Love in Winter Wonderland is a YA romance about Trey and Ariel, two high school students who come together in an effort to save Trey’s family bookshop called Wonderland. Trey has been in a long-term relationship with Blaire, the popular but shallow half of a set of twins, and he has always felt like they belong together. However, after discovering that Wonderland might need to close from lack of sales, Trey dives headfirst into a solution, and finds that his girlfriend Blaire quickly loses patience when he isn’t as available for her as he always was. Ariel is a temporary hire at the bookshop while Trey’s father recovers from an accident, and she can see the passion Trey and his family have for their business. Together, they use Ariel’s creativity and passion for art, and Trey’s avid social media following, to draw the attention of their community onto Wonderland’s struggles.

The real strength of Love in Winter Wonderland is the plot: the author does an excellent job of leveraging the reader’s passion for books and indie bookstores and the struggles of black entrepreneurs to push the plot forward. There were certainly times when the romance in the novel fell a little flat: Trey and Ariel are fairly typical high school students who make dumb mistakes and sometimes can’t see past their own egos, but I stayed invested in the fate of Wonderland, and itw as always clear that Trey and his family cared deeply about Wonderland as a representation of their family legacy. The plot structure was fairly straightforward with a clear goal, a typical third act break-up, and a tense climax when Trey isn’t certain whether they will raise the funds they need to keep Wonderland open. It worked quite well though – even if I could see the simplicity of the structure, it made for a cozy read and I enjoyed following along.

I appreciate the effort the author placed on keeping characterization unique: Blaire was the only character that really felt like a stereotype. Trey managed to walk the line between popular kid with his social media followers and good looks, and genuine geek with his love of books and music, and I appreciated how approachable he felt. Ariel too was more than just a quirky artist – she and her family are struggling after her father’s untimely death, and her history of an eating disorder, paired with her own passion for books and music, made her an interesting and dynamic character that I could root for. My struggles with the characters ultimately boiled down to their age – they’re teenagers and often act like it, and I can’t relate quite as well as I once could. Trey makes choices several times that go just as wrong as I think they will, and Ariel often struggles with boundaries and self-awareness. It makes them realistic, though, and probably more relatable to readers of a similar age, so it’s not a real complaint, just a personal preference.

In all, I’ll give Love in Winter Wonderland a 7 out of 10. This is a cute, light-hearted YA romance, and I think readers who are looking for something in that genre will really enjoy this. Readers who want a little more maturity out of their characters though are better off finding something aimed at an older audience.