I really wanted to enjoy this book, while is started out great, it just went down hill for me. And Aaron could be a little annoying at time. 3 stars

This was just such a sweet little holiday tale! I don't read much YA, but I always enjoy June's work. All the characters were amazing, and I loved the 100% of the time christmas setting. It's very much a nod to christmas romcoms in such a fun way.

Flopping in a Winter Wonderland is an adorable, heartwarming, and quick romantic comedy.

The story follows a young man named Aaron, who travels to Winter Wonderland to help his brother, Casey, get over a breakup. The plot twist comes when he realizes that Casey’s ex, Raquel, is also at Winter Wonderland. Aaron enlists the help of Kris, a Wonderer, to help keep his brother and Raquel apart. It truly is the perfect Hallmark plot.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the book was the magical setting. Winter Wonderland, a Christmas theme park in Alaska, was a whimsical and joyous background to the story. The winter festivities hosted at the resort are incredibly fun to read about and put me in the holiday spirit. I just wish that it was more developed, and we got to see more of the Alaskan setting.

As per Hallmark tradition, this book was also extremely cheesy. Casey is constantly trying to win Raquel over with over the top gestures. There are holiday puns and snowman contests. Occasionally, this cheesiness became slightly too much for me. But overall, I knew going in this book would be cheesy in a fun way, and it just added to the charm.

This book did an amazing job of balancing hard topics like homophobia with light hearted joy. It also went into topics such as the long term effects of divorce, which I appreciated.

I had such an amazing time reading this book. It was the perfect sweet and fun book to help get in the holiday spirit. Fans of The Nightmare before Kissmas by Sara Raasch would adore this! This was a 3.5 star for me!

This was a fun New Adult M/M holiday romance set in the year-round Winter Wonderland theme park located north of Alaska and has young Kris, trying to get his uncle to return so he can be the first gay Santa and Aaron trying to help his brother get over his toxic ex.

Neither was expecting to fall for anyone but they can't help resist the magic of the holidays as they compete in a race to prevent Aaron's brother from falling for his ex again and spend more time trying to resist each other than either expected.

Jason June does a great job mixing whimsy with more serious topics of homophobia in the story perfect for fans of books like The nightmare before Kissmas by Sara Raasch or The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky. The romance is charming and the world is truly magical. Great on audio read by the author and Shawn K. Jain. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

тιтℓє: Flopping in a Winter Wonderland
αυтнσя(ѕ): Jason June
яєℓєαѕє ∂αтє: November 12, 2024
яαтιηg: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

му тнσυgнтѕ:
Aaron wants to help his brother get over his ex and Kris wants his uncle to become the first gay Santa at the Winter Wonderland theme island.
When these two physically flop together on some ice, they agree to help each other.
They don’t have time to fall in love but both young men can’t quit thinking about the other.

This was a PRECIOUS little ya romcom, y’all.
Kris just wanted equal representation and inclusion at Winter Wonderland and Aaron just wanted his dad and brother to be happy.
Both boys did things from the heart, regardless if they were good or bad.
The mental health rep was superb.
I adored the Merry Trio!
The pain and struggles were raw and realistic.
And the love was endearing and SO sweet.
Whether that love was romantic or family-oriented, it was a pleasure to witness it all.

I really loved how mature these boys were.
They may have made mistakes but they owned them and made adjustments.
They communicated.
And it’s one of those 3rd act youknowwhats that’s actually needed.
I appreciated it because the story needed it.

And that ending was too cute!
A genuinely festive, queer, romantic, fun holiday read!

𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣.

i received an e-ARC and am giving this review :)

i don’t know where to start, i loved this. this was such a cute and lighthearted read, and will be SO perfect for the holidays. i loved getting to know aaron and kris, even if i already felt i knew aaron a little too well from my own personal experiences haha. this was just so cute while still relatable and helpful to the reader to feel things. i don’t know how to put it exactly, but this book allowed me to feel things i hadn’t let myself think about while not making it a trigger thing, if that makes sense. felt more like chatting with friends than therapy. but it was just so, so lovely to read, to feel for all of the characters. it just filled me with such hope. this was so wonderful

Ahhhhh this one was so good!! It’s the perfect mix of cheesy rom-com, family drama and fighting the capitalist corporate machine! If you’re looking for a fun YA holiday romance with a whole lot of heart, this is absolutely for you ♥️🎄

Casey Merry is desperately, obsessively in love with his girlfriend Raquel. So when she dumps him just before Christmas, Casey’s younger brother Aaron knows that he needs to distract him. In an almost magical turn of fate, the Merry family win an all expenses paid trip to Winter Wonderland, a Christmas Themed Island holiday experience in Alaska (think Disneyland, but Xmas). Aaron thinks this will be the perfect distraction for Casey… until it turns out Raquel is at Winter Wonderland too, with her new boyfriend! Determined to help Casey learn to be independent, Aaron sets out to help sabotage his brother’s attempts to win Raquel back, with the help of a very cute Winter Wonderland worker, Kris Bright.

Kris was born in Winter Wonderland and working there is all he’s very known, but the sparkle was taken out of his life when his Uncle Toby left because he wasn’t allowed to be Santa and gay… he’s always felt stifled being a gay teen at Winter Wonderland but he has a plan. Every year the teens of Winter Wonderland play ‘the race’… a competition to see if they can get a tourist to admit to being in love with them. He intends to win and therefore get a trip to New York and talk to the CEO of Winter Wonderland and get Uncle Toby to come back.

So ensues an adorable romance between a boy who lives and breathes (and hates) Christmas and a boy who never wants to fall in love because he’s too busy looking after everyone else. I loved the weird almost dystopian aspect of Winter Wonderland, where you can get fired for not presenting with Christmas cheer at all times and where you are expected to give your entire life over to Kringle Korp. This book has so many layers and I just loved Aaron and Kris (and Casey, bless him!) - it was just such a delightful read and the ending was absolutely Christmas rom-com worthy!

Read Flopping in a Winter Wonderland for:
✨ YA Queer Christmas Rom-Com
✨ Sabotaging your brothers dates
✨ Weirdly dystopian Xmas themed island experience
✨ Finding out who you are (and what’s just trauma)
✨ So. Many. Flash. Mobs.
✨ Fighting the capitalist corporate machine
✨ Why can’t Santa Claus be gay?
✨ Reindeers, skating, hot chocolate, kissing!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper360YA for an eARC of this amazing book! It’s available on 12th November 2024 ❄️

This was such a sweet, fluffy, perfect holiday YA romcom! I loved Aaron’s type A self and Kris’ personality that completed each other so well. The setting was idealistic and really lent itself to the perfect holiday theme of the book - I find that many author’s try too hard to incorporate holiday items/details into their books but this was effortless and made for such a cute and cozy read. I loved the sweet relationship development between the two. 🥹

This was a fun read! I'll admit there were times when I wanted to throw a snow ball at Aaron's face, but all in all I really enjoyed it! Loved all the characters (minus Aaron sometimes). I did enjoy the side stories. It was just fun, which is what you want for a Christmas themed romcom.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of this book!

I have been a Jason June fan since I read Jay's Gay Agenda and have tried to read everything Jason has written since. Flopping in a Winter Wonderland did not disappoint. I loved the character arcs and development of Aaron and Kris. Their instant connection, mixed with their cynicism of believing in connections and love, made for a more a great story to read. With all the elements of our favorite holiday movie moments, I felt like I was snuggled on the couch during a snowy day with a cup of hot coco while I was reading it, even though it was sunny and in the 70's outside. I enjoyed the growth that the characters received and the ending. Definitely one of my new favorite holiday reads!

Aaron is determined to help his brother Casey get over his breakup, a relationship that lasted six years. When they win a trip to Winter Wonderland, the year-round Christmas Alaskan destination, Aaron hopes that his Christmas-loving brother will move on. But when Casey's ex-girlfriend also shows up at Winter Wonderland, Aaron's plan gets much harder.

Kris wants to win The Game during this last Twelve group of the year. He doesn't believe in Christmas magic or love, but he does a great job selling it as a member of Winter Wonderland. This Game is the most important because winning will get him the opportunity to get his Uncle Toby hired as the first gay Santa at Winter Wonderland.

When Aaron and Kris cross paths in Winter Wonderland, neither is looking for love. Can Christmas magic make everyone's dreams come true?

I enjoy a good Christmas rom-com, but this one felt too forced. I wanted to fall in love with Winter Wonderland, but the vibe just felt off the whole time. The Alaskan setting didn't feel well explained until partway through the story, and Winter Wonderland felt too fake. Aaron and Kris's romance felt authentic, and I adored the family relationship with Aaron, Casey, and their dad. A good start to a Christmas rom-com, but I've read ones that have been more well-written.

This book was so cute and got me right into the holiday spirit! For starters I loved the characters and their dual POVs. I instantly fell in love with Aaron, with his type A personality and devotion to his family. He had amazing development learning to talk about his feelings and rely on others. It took me slightly longer to warm up to Kris, but I adored his love for his uncle and the queer community. He also had great development learning to be his own person and dream of a life outside of Wonderland. Together Aaron and Kris had a fantastic relationship, softening each other’s jadedness and showing each other the meaning of love. I also loved the setting of Winter Wonderland. It was nuanced, with beautiful scenery but a questionable origin and operation. The only part of the story I didn’t completely love was the plot to keep poor Casey single. I also didn’t love the physical escalation of Kris and Aaron’s relationship. But I did love the ending for all the characters and their relationships. So overall I recommend this book.

*I received a digital copy of this book for review, all thoughts are my own*

Aaron wants his brother Casey to move on from his ex, Raquel, but finds that she has shown up at Winter Wonderland, where Casey is determined to win her back. Meanwhile, Kris hopes to win a competition to bring his uncle back as the first gay Santa, but when he teams up with Aaron, their scheming leads to unexpected feelings, challenging their holiday plans and desires.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I had so so so much fun reading it. Kris and Aaron have never done anything wrong in their lives (this is a lie), and I love them so much. They really had good intentions and wanted to join forces for different reasons. I loved how their relationship developed organically. Their first date was lovely and their first was epic. I will always remember the magic of first kisses.

I loved our side stories, and they were surprisingly emotional. Casey was lovely comic relief along with bringing a lot of heart. Dad, Uncle Toby, and so many others brought out the love in these characters.

Truly a beautiful story and so much fun. Perfect for a winter day with a cup of hot cocoa.

To start off with I got the ARC today and finished it today, it was THAT good!

This was one of the books I have been waiting all year to get my hands on and now that I finally did I want to reread it over and over and over again. Having the story being dual-pov was such a smart idea, because you get follow the timelines in both Aarons and Kris’ eyes. The writing, the plot, the drama was so so so perfect.

Seeing these two characters go from both believing in love to downright falling in love with each other was magically in itself. Them both finding themselves during those 12 days together and even afterwards, was so touching to see happen. I won’t lie, I probably teared up a few times (especially at the end).

This probably one of the best books I had the pleasure of reading this year (Jason June never disappoints me honestly) and probably one of the only books the will ever make me say “I really want Christmas to come sooner!” It definitely got me more in the spirit for the holiday to come even if both MCs weren’t that jolly about the holiday (which is ironic in itself with their names).

I FULLY recommend y’all getting this book when it comes out on Nov 12th, it was such a delightful read. ❄️

I'm incredibly thankful to have read an advanced copy of this book. Initially, it took time for me to get into it. Like Aaron, it's been extremely warm where I'm from and I wasn't interested in a Christmas story. Then I realized how much more this book had to offer. For example, both of the main characters are disillusioned with the idea of love. They definitely aren't looking for something genuine. Then they meet someone new, which makes them rethink everything they believed up until now.

Reading this book takes you to that same island that Aaron has traveled to. You experience everything that he does with the added bonus of it all being new to the reader. If this was a real place, I would want to visit. Now I'm just imagining what this fictional place might look like when they inevitably make a movie based on this book. Aaron and Kris are perfect for Amazon's next big LGBTQ+ movie. Just make sure that they have plenty of hot Santa actors on standby.

Rating: 4.5, rounded for NetGalley
Grade: A-

Summary: After his brother's long time girlfriend breaks up with him, Aaron Merry's family jump at the chance to spend Christmas at Winter Wonderland, THE Christmas village. There, Aaron meets Kris, who lives there and works at Winter Wonderland. Kris is attempting to the Race, a competition among the kids in his grade to win a trip to New York that goes to whomever makes a guest confess love to them first. Aaron is really not the type for love, but when his brother's ex shows up at Winter Wonderland, Aaron needs all the help he can get keeping them apart, and he and Kris begin spending a lot of time together...

Review: The biggest pro of this book for me was Aaron. My closed, type-A soulmate, I just GOT him and seeing him get to open up and grow really touched my heart. This book did well what I feel a lot of romance books don't these days - within a few chapters, I knew exactly what Aaron and Kris "needed" from one another in a relationship to become better, happier people. It also just really got me in the mood for the holidays - I loved these two and their slightly Grinchy attitudes. My largest cons was that they spent a little too much time thinking about their private parts for my taste in a YA book, and I would have preferred an epilogue slightly in the future because I felt the ending didn't quite give Kris' story/development justice but I could see that justice coming in a year or so, when he settled more.

Oh my <i>gods</i>. This was tooth-rotting, Hallmark-esque, holiday fluff (with a touch of angst). It was everything I could have wanted from a queer YA holiday book all rolled into one. I fell head over heels for Kris and Aaron, rooting for them the entire time. I've always enjoyed books by Jason June and "Flopping in a Winter Wonderland" was no exception. Christmas has never been my favorite holiday (Halloween takes the win, sorry) but this creation enthralled me.

The closest I'll ever get to a 'Winter Wonderland' is Santa's Village in NH, and believe me, I do not doubt that it would pale in comparison to the magic that Kris and the other 'elves' work hard to bring to the people who visit. I don't think there are enough words available to me that I could use to describe the pure, feet-kicking giddiness that I felt as I lived this relationship with Aaron and Kris. Should it have felt cheesy to me? Maybe, but isn't that what we all look for during the holidays? We might make fun of Hallmark movies because of their formulaic plotlines, but isn't that part of the fun?

You don't have to worry about anything feeling formulaic or repetitive in June's book, however, because not one moment of the book caused boredom. I would happily read many more just like this one if June wanted to explore the other holidays!

Flopping in a Winter Wonderland by Jason June is the literary equivalent of a warm, cozy blanket wrapped around you on a cold winter night. This book beautifully captures the charm and nostalgia of every Hallmark holiday movie, and as I turned each page, I felt like I was watching a musical unfold in my mind. To me, I loved all these aspects of this Rom-Com. And no one does comedy quite like Jason June.

One of the standout aspects of the book is Aaron. His character is a delight— a type-A personality who has been single his whole life, with a strong distaste for the holidays (AKA just like me, very relatable). Yet, despite his initial cynicism, he can’t help but fall for the magic of Christmas when he visits this Holiday Wonderland, which feels so relatable and authentic cause who would not get swept up in a place that makes Hallmark Holidays come to life with the magic of Christmas? Aaron's protective and loving nature towards his family and his sharp wit make him an endearing character you can’t help but root for to experience love. His journey from a Christmas skeptic to someone who embraces the holiday spirit is heartwarming. As Aaron says, “Love might not be real. But kissing is. And it’s great.” This line captures his humorous yet vulnerable side perfectly.

The book is filled with so many cute and quintessentially Christmassy moments—sleigh rides, snowball fights, figure skating, and that inevitable holiday love. However, we also have the plot of Aaron trying to sabotage his brother's holiday romance, which is just an amazing idea for a great comedic plot. Each winter scene feels like a delightful nod to all the best parts of the holiday season. The chemistry between the characters is electric, and you can feel the sparks flying in every interaction. As Casey wisely observes, “The magic of Christmas and the magic of love are natural partners.”

The theme of Christmas woven throughout the story is truly the heart of the book. Jason June captures it perfectly with the line, “Christmas is about family. It’s about community. About coming together and making magic.” (Kris, page 237). This message resonated deeply with me and is a reminder of why we cherish this time of year so much. It’s about more than just decorations or gifts—it’s about connection and creating moments of joy with the people we care about.

Aaron’s transformation is punctuated by his hilarious and sometimes grinchy commentary. At one point, he quips, “She looks so Christmassy it makes me want to barf.” Moments like these balance the book’s sweetness with humor, keeping it from becoming too saccharine. And by the end, when Aaron declares, “You’re the greatest Christmas present I’ve ever been given,” it feels like the perfect culmination of his journey.

Flopping in a Winter Wonderland is a delightful, heartwarming read that captures the essence of the holiday season on every page. Whether you're a Christmas lover or a skeptic like Aaron, this book is sure to make you smile, laugh, and maybe even believe in a little bit of holiday magic.

Big Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to get into the festivities early!

Aaron and Kris are an unexpectedly delightful pair in a holiday theme park that’s almost too festive to be true. Their chemistry, combined with the over-the-top Christmas setting, makes for a fun, fluffy read that perfectly balances humor and heart.

You know those Hallmark movies? This book is just like that! ‘Flopping in a Winter Wonderland’ feels like pulling the Grinch onto an island where it’s Christmas every day. Grinch (though I don’t blame him with a brother like Casey) meets a boy who is trying to win a bet (a trope that never gets old, LOL!) All that to say, I enjoyed this story; it was cozy. I like a rom-com now and then, but I have to ask—are there really people like Casey in the world? Serious question! Anyway, the chemistry between Aaron and Kris was so cute, and it gave me all the feels. I will be grabbing this to read again around Christmas break.


Thanks, Netgalley and HarperCollins Children, for the ARC!