e-Audio, 07:33:18
Narrated by: Ben Bailey Smith & Nneka Okoye
Release Date: November 10, 2022
Published by: Simon & Schuster UK
Read from: January 4-5, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Binge eating
For Readers Interested In: Realistic Fiction, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Holidaze, Contemporary Romance, YAThe greatest love stories don’t just exist in books. Last Christmas meets The Sun is Also a Star in this hopelessly romantic Christmas love story set in a Black-owned bookshop.
Trey Anderson is popular and handsome, and he works at his family’s beloved local 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?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I found out about this book because I actually bought it for work. I was like what is this and why haven’t I heard about it before? And then of course I promptly forgot about it until I was more in the Christmas mood. And then of course I ended up being 51891518 on the hold list for the audio. (Not really but it felt like it lol) So I bought the Kindle edition. And of course I had to read 206519851 other books before I got to it still, so here I am reading this in January lolol
But I didn’t mind at all because a Black YA Christmas book about a Black owned book shop? And there’s Black romance?! Sign me tf up! But even with all that going for it, there were still some things I didn’t like, so I’ll start there…. So the first thing is the pacing. I’m just gonna say it….. There was no way he should have been with that foul ass girl that long. If she did that foul ass shit in the first place, she shouldn’t have been able to hide it as good as she did from him. But then again, she was foul to him from the very beginning. She didn’t listen to a thing he said and she basically decided how she was going to treat him based on what he gave her. The whole time they were together I kept shouting NAW. Had they broke up sooner, Trey and Ariel could have gotten together sooner and things would have been better.
I also didn’t care for the characters. I literally only liked Ariel, the nice twin, and her boyfriend. Even Trey was too much. He was legit out there singing , “I can’t see I’m bliiiiiind, BLINDDDDDD!” And Ariel, although I liked her, I hated seeing her depend so much of her happiness on what the truly horrible people thought about her and how they saw her body looking. At one point she even binge eats because she feels bad about what they said to her. My heart broke for her. I want to do away with the lack of confidence because they’re on the bigger side.
Other than that, I loved watching everything they did to raise money for the bookshop! And I loved seeing some of the programs and things they did to help too. I saw that because it was all things I would have done. Like shouting out to the author on Twitter, or using social media and other platforms to help the shop? I thought that was genius. I was glad Trey’s parents got over being so stubborn and let Trey help. Because that also felt hella realistic too. Black parents always act like they don’t need the help or that if someone helps them it takes something from them. Too prideful. I was glad they let it go because it was obvious that the shop meant more to other people than they even knew themselves.
Now with the romance between the two of them, like I said, it took forever to get there, and even then it was non-existent. Like finally, when ol girl was finally gone, they still wanted to take it slow because he had just got out of a relationship. And really by slow she meant for them not to get together. I was a little upset by that because here I am thinking this is a romance and it really didn’t feel like one. There’s a break up and they’re real cozy, but there’s no cheating, and FINALLY when the witch is dead, they still don’t get together. I was disappointed to say the least. BUT with that being said, the author wrote it in a way that was hella cute to listen to.
I was a little disappointed that I didn’t love this more because this cover is so gorgeous, but it was just ok. I hope the author revisits this couple and the bookshop in the future on another holiday because I feel like that would redeem this for me? Even if it’s just a short from like Valentine’s Day? Idk lol But this is still a cute read, so I would suggest if you heard about it late this year like I did, go ahead and put it on your TBR for this year for around Christmas time!
Overall, I give this
