I saw this meme on It’s All About Booksand thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!!
This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy, too!!
Bon Voyage!!
Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas.
Countries I visited the most:United States, England
States I visited the most:New York. North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Jersey, California
Cities I visited the most:New York City, London, Boston
United States
North Carolina (Bitter Bark), New York (New York City)New York (Edgewater, New York City), New Jersey (Newark), Georgia (Atlanta), Delaware (Dover, Howl Bay, Leipsic), Utah (Salt Lake City)Massachusetts (Cambridge, Boston, Gloucester, Danvers, Dorchester, Wellesley), Rhode Island, New York (Brooklyn), Washington D.C., New HampshireColorado(Last Word)North Carolina (Tarburton), New York (New York City)Mississippi (Flora, Jackson), Illinois (Chicago), New York (Harlem)New York (New York City)New York (Ray Brook, Clermont), Ohio (Cleveland), Massachusetts (Boston)Pennsylvania (Harrow), New Jersey (Manalapan Township), New York (New York City)California (Oceanside)Tennessee (Nashville), Michigan (Le Croix), California (Los Angeles)Texas (Hamchet)Wisconsin (Seven Sisters)
England
Hackney, London1940’sLondonLondon
Xiingjia System**
Bagoha, Calimon, Halleveh, Feraygo
Rabraman System**
Echuazi, Gorgjian, Kadefen, Omega 8, Yurdite
Castor & Pollux and Leda System**
Alpha One
**All listed for The Captain: 17 Planets are planets in the solar systems
France
France (Paris)
Czech Republic
Prague
Human Lands
Aloriah
Fae Lands
Essence Court (Azalea), Earth Court, Water Court, Air Court, Fire Court, Witches Territory, Mermaids Territory
Blake
Holding, Sermouth, Highstone Hill, Poulsen, Katton, Doscadia, Rothmount
‘The Sun Is Also a Star’ meets ‘You’ve Got Mail’ in this 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.
First Line:
I’m about two seconds away from committing murder.
Love in Winter Wonderland by Abiola Bello
Important things you need to know about the book:
Love in Winter Wonderland is a medium to fast-paced book. The book starts fast, slows down around the middle of the book, speeds back up, and then slows down for the ending. I had no issues with the pacing of the book. It allowed me to digest some things that the author brought up and discussed. There was some lag in the middle (right around Trey’s shop party for Blair), but it didn’t affect how I liked the book.
There are trigger warnings in Love in Winter Wonderland. If any of these trigger you, I suggest not reading the book. They are:
Alcohol:Trey and Ariel underage drink throughout the book (in England, the legal drinking age is 18; both are shy of 18). Trey drinks until he is blackout drunk during Blair’s second birthday party.
Anxiety:Ariel suffers from anxiety due to bullying. Trey and his mother suffer from anxiety over the bookshop closing down.
Bullying:Ariel is bullied throughout the book by Blair and Bebe. She is bullied because of her weight, her painting (her hands are usually covered in paint), and her friendship with Trey. It is painful to read because, until almost the end of the book, Ariel doesn’t say anything back to them and internalizes everything.
Cancer:Ariel’s father passes from cancer before the book starts.
Cheating: I went back and forth on including this and eventually decided to include it. Trey emotionally cheats on Blair with Ariel. It never gets physical but emotional; he’s all in. Ariel discourages it at first but then gives in to it. Trey’s friends (including Blair’s sister) encourage his relationship with Ariel, which I found weird.
Death:Ariel’s father died from cancer earlier in the year.
Depression:Ariel’s mother suffered from a deep depression after Ariel’s father died. But she has come out of it by the time the book starts.
Eating Disorder:Ariel binge eats during the book. It is mentioned that she had an issue with binge eating and worked to keep her compulsion to do so under control.
Fat shaming:Blair and Bebe bully Ariel over her weight. Blair because she is insecure over Ariel’s relationship with Trey and Bebe because, well, Bebe is a colossal jerk.
Grief:Ariel is grieving the death of her father throughout the book.
Gentrification:Wonderland is a Black-owned business in an area that is in the process of being gentrified. Trey mentions that the area used to have multiple small businesses owned by different cultures that white developers were buying out. These white developers are looking to buy Wonderland, so Trey decides to save his family’s bookshop.
Sexual Content: There is sexual content in Love in Winter Wonderland. It mainly centers around Trey and Blair. There is a nongraphic sex scene, where Blair shows Trey her boobs (after he spends the night with her), scenes where they kiss, and one scene where Blair strips to her underwear and attempts to have sex with Trey. There are also a couple of near-miss kiss scenes between Ariel and Trey.
Language: There is a lot of language in Love in Winter Wonderland. There is swearing. There is also language centered around bullying.
Setting:Love in Winter Wonderland is set entirely in Hackney, England. Hackney is a borough of London. The author does a great job of describing Hackney and its community. She made it to a place that I would love to visit. I would also love to visit Wonderland!!
Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):
Trey hates working in his family’s bookstore, Wonderland. He doesn’t want to run it. Instead, he wants to be a singer. But his thinking changes when two things happen. First, his mother tells him that Wonderland is on the verge of closing and is considering a developer’s offer to buy it out. The second, Trey’s father falls and breaks his leg. The shop becomes his responsibility and, soon, his passion. He would do anything to save Wonderland.
Ariel is a quirky, shy artist who has known Trey from afar for years. When she gets invited to apply to the same art program her father attended, Ariel knows she needs a part-time job to cover the tuition. So, when the job at Wonderland falls in her lap, Ariel accepts. She becomes deeply involved in Trey’s plans to save Wonderland. But, with a monetary amount that is staggering (50,000 pounds) and a two-week time limit, she needs to think fast. What Ariel doesn’t take into consideration is her developing feelings for Trey. As the Christmas Eve deadline looms and the developers become brazen in their attempt to buy Wonderland, Ariel wonders if they will make it. She also wonders if her heart will survive working so close with Trey. Can Trey and Ariel save Wonderland? Will Trey realize that Ariel is the girl for him? Or will he miss his opportunity?
Main Characters:
Trey Anderson: I didn’t like Trey when the book first started. But his character growth throughout the book was terrific. He went from being a slightly self-involved kid only interested in his needs to this fantastic young man who wanted to save his family’s legacy. My only quibble with him was that he strung Blair and Ariel along. It wasn’t intentional, but he did it. And his treatment of Ariel when she missed the interview was awful, considering who was behind her missing the interview and how it happened.
Ariel Spencer: I loved her. Her character growth over the book was similar to Trey’s. I liked that she finally told Bebe and Blair what she thought of them. Of course, not before being put through hell by them. I loved her strong and supportive friend base (Annika and Jolie were her true ride-and-die friends). My only quibble with her is that she kept letting Trey in, and he kept hurting her. I wondered how the future would be for both of them.
Secondary characters:
Each of the secondary characters was great. They were just as fleshed out as Trey and Ariel. Of course, some of them did get what was coming to them. Others were great as the supportive best friends or parents. The main secondary characters are:
Trey’s parents and younger brother (Clive, Mrs. Anderson, Roen), Trey’s best friend (Dre Denton akaBoogs), Boogs girlfriend (Santi Bailey), Santi’s identical twin sister and Trey’s girlfriend (BlairBailey), Bebe Richards (Ariel’s bully, Blair’s frenemy, and Annika’s cousin), Noah Spencer (Ariel’s younger brother), Annika (Ariel’s best friend), and Jolie (Ariel’s other best friend).
My review:
Love in Winter Wonderland is a well-written book focused on Trey and Ariel’s budding relationship and Trey and Ariel trying to save Wonderland, Trey’s family bookstore. This book touches on numerous subjects, from bullying to gentrification. The author did it in a way that it didn’t feel forced down your throat, and you wanted Trey and Ariel to succeed.
The storyline centers around Trey, Ariel, and their rush to save Wonderland. I liked that it was written realistically. Trey tried raising the money without the internet before listening to Ariel and posting about the shop’s plight. And, it took traction. I liked that while I knew it was a foregone conclusion that Ariel and Trey would save the shop, the author didn’t cement that idea at the end of the book. I also liked that Trey’s father slowly realized that he needed to modernize how he sold books. If Trey’s father wanted his business to survive, his store had to compete with the boxcutter bookstore down the street. It was painful to read, but I am glad he finally saw the writing on the wall.
The storyline centered around Trey and Ariel, and their relationship was cute. I liked seeing how they went from frenemies to friends to something more. But I wasn’t a huge fan of Trey cheating on his girlfriend. I want to clarify that he was emotionally cheating (he checked out of their relationship emotionally right after Ariel started working at the shop, so 3-4 chapters into the book). That aside, I loved the back-and-forth and the banter that Trey and Ariel had. Of course, they ran into issues (that pesky girlfriend), but they overcame them by being open with each other.
The end of Love in Winter Wonderland was what I expected. I did like how the author wrapped everything up. I also liked how she left it as happy for right now instead of a happily ever after. And the author’s note broke my heart. Before I forget, the author also does include a playlist for the book. At the beginning of each chapter (be it Ariel or Trey), she had a Christmas song sung by Black artists. I wrote each one down so I could listen to them (and yes, Mariah is featured).
Many thanks to Soho Press, Soho Teen, NetGalley, and Abiola Bello for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Love in Winter Wonderland. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoy reading books similar to Love in Winter Wonderland, then you will enjoy these books:
Here is what I am currently reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.
Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!!
Happy Reading!!
What I am currently reading:
‘The Sun Is Also a Star’ meets ‘You’ve Got Mail’ in this 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.
What I recently finished reading:
A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.
Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.
When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her?
As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?
What I think I will read next:
From Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Last Dance of the Debutante, comes the first in the mysterious and immersive Parisian Orphan series, A Traitor in Whitehall.
1940, England: Evelyne Redfern, known as “The Parisian Orphan” as a child, is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne on a night out, Evelyne finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.
However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at work is murdered, and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer. But doing so puts her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real mission is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up.
With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, will Evelyne be able to find out who’s been selling England’s secrets and catch a killer, all while battling her growing attraction to David?
The Christie sisters and their bookshop cat, Agatha, flirt with cold-hearted crime when bookish matchmaking turns into a date with death.
Sisters Ellie and Meg Christie share a love of books, reading, and their new roles as co-caretakers of the Book Chalet, their family’s historic bookshop tucked midway up a scenic Colorado mountain. But romance? That’s another story. Ellie and Meg joke they’re in sisterly competition for worst relationships. So, when their cousin signs them up for her newest business endeavor, matchmaking based on bookish tastes, the sisters approach their blind double dates with foot-dragging dread.
While Ellie’s date meets her low expectations, Meg’s match, a book-loving romantic straight out of classic literature, charms her over a lovely dinner. The next morning, Meg is giddy with anticipation of a second date—until she’s stood up without a word. She fumes that she should have known better. However, her date had a good reason for ghosting her. He’s dead. Murdered, the police later confirm.
As the last known person to see the victim alive, Meg becomes a prime suspect in his death. She grimly quips that at least her dating record can’t get any worse. But it does. A thorn from Meg’s romantic past returns to little Last Word, espousing motives too sweet to believe.
To sleuth out the truth, the sisters must sift through secrets deeper than the February snowfall. Clues accumulate, but so do suspects, crimes, and betrayals. Ellie and Meg can’t afford to leave any page unturned. Romance may not be their forte, but hearts and lives are on the line, and the Christies know how to solve a mystery—especially when murder is involved.
“Intense and creepy. A look into the dark depths of psyche, trust, and family, with twists so jarring, you won’t know right from wrong.” –Tarryn Fisher, New York Times Bestselling Author Twenty-four-year-old Charlotte Stahl would do anything for her older brother, Ian. After all, he’d done everything for her growing up.He played Burken with her—a hide-and-seek game they made up as kids.He comforted her when their mom deserted them. He raised her when their dad went to prison for murder. To Charlotte, Ian is the only reason she’s still alive—he’s her rock. So when Ian asks her to play Burken in the isolated woods of Cadillac, Michigan, Charlotte feels she could use the nostalgia and agrees. Burken—it’s the one thing that never changes… …until Ian threatens to kill her in the middle of the game. More than the rules have changed as Brother turns to Predator, Sister turns to Prey, and she’s navigating the forests of Northern Michigan on foot with nothing but the clothes—and a target—on her back. If Charlotte wants to stay alive, she knows she has to untangle the web of her haunting past to find out where things went wrong, and at what point she lost sight of reality. With no other choice but to reopen old wounds—and with Ian hot on her trail—Charlotte learns that sometimes evil has to manifest in order for good to succeed. Which makes her wonder… Is Ian really a monster? Or her savior?
The day I turned nineteen, I expected to gain what little freedom I could within the restrictions of my bank account and the hallucinations that had haunted me for the last six years. I expected to drive away from a life that had been dictated by the tragedy of others and shaped by the care of strangers. I expected to be alone. Actually, I relished the idea of being alone. Instead, I found fear I thought I’d overcome. Uncertainty I thought I’d painstakingly planned away. And terror that was more real than anything I’d ever hallucinated before. I’d seen terrible, fantastical, and utterly impossible things … but not love. Not until I saw him.
Riley Walker is one of the world’s best covert operatives, employed by a top-secret sector of the U.S. government known only as the Agency. Highly skilled and lethal in a fight, Riley is fiercely independent and adamant that she work alone after the mysterious death of her partner in an assignment gone wrong.
All that changes when she’s thrust onto a new assignment investigating the deaths of twenty-seven Agency operatives. Forced to work with twelve-year Agency veteran Scott Hunter–a stickler for following orders and a loner by nature–Riley doesn’t get a chance to protest before she and her new partner are passed to a sector of the Agency that they never knew existed. As they investigate the murders, Riley and Scott learn that there’s more to the Agency than they ever suspected.
They discover the existence of monsters right out of their wildest dreams.
A woman with an extraordinary mind and a dark past demanding revenge. 17 planets divided into four factions whose leaders forgot their inhabitants all arrived from the same place: Planet Earth. A threat that could turn a tool that saves everyone’s life into the worst imaginable nightmare. Elizabeth, a chameleonic and seductive woman, is the only one who can make a difference, but her uniqueness weighs on her shoulders like the world weighs on Atlas’ shoulders.
These are just some of the ingredients of this novel where action scenes alternate with political ones and the relationship between the many characters, as much as the suffering and the claustrophobic anguish, alternate with the human need for love and loyalty. All seasoned with a drops of eroticism and a hint of humour.
From Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Homewreckers and The Santa Suit, comes a novella celebrating love and the warm, glittering charm of the holiday season.
When fall rolls around, it’s time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family’s Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry’s ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself.
In the weeks leading into Christmas, Kerry quickly becomes close with the charming neighbors who live near their stand. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, Kerry will need to combine her country know-how with her newly acquired New York knowledge to protect the new friends she’s come to think of as family,
And complicating everything is Patrick, a single dad raising his adorable, dragon-loving son Austin on this quirky block. Kerry and Patrick’s chemistry is undeniable, but what chance does this holiday romance really have?
Filled with family ties, both rekindled and new, and sparkling with Christmas magic, Bright Lights, Big Christmas delivers everything Mary Kay Andrews fans adore, all tied up in a hilarious, romantic gem of a novel.
In 1930s Mississippi, Mary Johnson hates the oppressive heat, working on her family farm, and having to attend her minister father’s church several times a week. But she loves Mason Carter, her musician boyfriend. Both fantasize about living the high life up north in the big city.
When William Bevers, a wealthy old preacher, comes to court her, he promises a life of luxury along with money and status for her family. Mary wants nothing to do with him, but her parents decide for her. Determined to avoid a forced marriage, Mary elopes with Mason to the bright lights of Chicago.
But life up north is not the dream they expected. Multiple tragedies push Mary to the brink, and she soon returns home to the very world she tried so desperately to escape.
Too numb to stave off the pressure from her father, Mary considers accepting William’s proposal. But she soon realizes that life as the preacher’s wife might not provide the safety and security she craves.
Buzzword Reading Challenge 2023 (magic-related words: magic in the title or related words. Example: Witch, Charm, Conjure, Spell…etc.)
2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (a book with a double or triple number in the title: Any number between 10 and 999 count)
Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (a star)
The StoryGraph Reads the World (Trinidad and Tobago)The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge (a travel memoir)Beat the Backlist 2023 (set or inspired by the 1700s or 1800s)Scavenger Hunt (a book you had to read in school that you want to reread)Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (a romance with a fat lead)2023 TBR Toppler (A 5-star prediction)2023 Monthly Themes (October—Thrilltober)2023 Reading Challenge (A Green Book: either a green cover or green in the title)2023 ABC Challenge (J)Romanceopoly 2023! (romantic suspense set in a country that you don’t live in)2023 TBR Prompts (a book about mental health)
Here is what I am currently reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.
Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!!
Happy Reading!!
What I am currently reading:
Mary Ketch signed on to the Tantalus 13 deep space survey mission to get some time and distance from her problems at home. It was supposed to be a simple piloting job to help an artificially intelligent, self-constructing factory called SCARAB lay the foundations of a mining colony on a barren rock.
But when the barren rock turns out to be a solid sphere of pure platinum, the astronauts realize they’ve made the greatest discovery in human Tantalus 13 is not a planet at all, but an ancient artificial construct of unknown origin and purpose.
As the crew begin to meet gruesome and fatal “accidents,” their sense of achievement dwindles and Mary suspects the guilty party may be the increasingly deranged SCARAB. But SCARAB may not be acting alone, and Tantalus has only begun to reveal the dark secrets that lie in its depths…
What I recently finished reading:
Decades after events during the Gulf War that left two men for dead, William Paradise and John Brazer are in the U.S. planning revenge against the man that ordered the hit on them.
These men risk everything they have in order to bring down their former General.
Sometimes the “Good Guy” doesn’t always win.
What I think I will read next:
Garrett Kilcannon, a former dot com super-success who now devotes his life to rescuing dogs and finding them homes, prefers to keep his secrets buried as deep as a dog hides his bone. So when he learns his father has invited a journalist to Waterford Farm to write and produce an in-depth profile on him, he doesn’t care that she’s a childhood friend or drop dead gorgeous. He has zero tolerance for the media…until he sees a different side when she gets through the walls of a rescue dog who’s refused to eat during her short stay at Waterford. Unwillingly charmed and undeniably attracted, Garrett agrees to the interview that could break down a few of his emotional walls, too.
Garrett might not want to share the story of his colorful former life, but Jessie Curtis has the skills to peel back the layers of this sexy, complicated, caring man. In the process, she not only discovers his secrets, she finds herself falling for a man who touches her heart in a way she never thought possible. Her entire career is riding on this one explosive interview, but can she bear to repay Garrett’s trust by selling his secrets? Or can a woman who gave up on happiness a long time ago learn to believe that all it takes to rescue a lost heart is the love of a good man?
After Dina Ranger loses telepathic contact with her twin brother, Duncan, she breaks into his apartment and stumbles onto a special government unit responsible for monitoring the psychic population. She’s offered a job where she can use her psionic gifts to help people.
Stranded on earth over a hundred years ago, Liam of Shria is searching for a metal needed to repair his ship when he finds Dina inside an alien escape pod and narrowly saves her after she trips the alarm.
As the mystery and their relationship deepens, Liam helps Dina learn the truth behind her abilities while uncovering a plot to rebuild an ancient weapon, exposing dangerous secrets about the alien presence on earth that may change the future forever.
Twenty-four-year-old Charlotte Stahl would do anything for her older brother, Ian. After all, he’d done everything for her growing up.He played Burken with her—a hide-and-seek game they made up as kids.He comforted her when their mom deserted them. He raised her when their dad went to prison for murder. To Charlotte, Ian is the only reason she’s still alive—he’s her rock. So when Ian asks her to play Burken in the isolated woods of Cadillac, Michigan, Charlotte feels she could use the nostalgia and agrees. Burken—it’s the one thing that never changes… …until Ian threatens to kill her in the middle of the game. More than the rules have changed as Brother turns to Predator, Sister turns to Prey, and she’s navigating the forests of Northern Michigan on foot with nothing but the clothes—and a target—on her back. If Charlotte wants to stay alive, she knows she has to untangle the web of her haunting past to find out where things went wrong, and at what point she lost sight of reality. With no other choice but to reopen old wounds—and with Ian hot on her trail—Charlotte learns that sometimes evil has to manifest in order for good to succeed. Which makes her wonder… Is Ian really a monster? Or her savior?
The day I turned nineteen, I expected to gain what little freedom I could within the restrictions of my bank account and the hallucinations that had haunted me for the last six years. I expected to drive away from a life that had been dictated by the tragedy of others and shaped by the care of strangers. I expected to be alone. Actually, I relished the idea of being alone. Instead, I found fear I thought I’d overcome. Uncertainty I thought I’d painstakingly planned away. And terror that was more real than anything I’d ever hallucinated before. I’d seen terrible, fantastical, and utterly impossible things … but not love. Not until I saw him.
A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.
Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.
When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her?
As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?
‘The Sun Is Also a Star’ meets ‘You’ve Got Mail’ in this 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.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookishin June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Every Tuesday, a new topic is assigned from the schedule below. Then, you take that topic and fly free with it. You can do as little or as much as you want to (I have done as low as two before). If you want, you can link back To That Artsy Reader Girl and show her what you posted.
The Schedule
September 19: Books on My Fall 2023 To-Read List
September 26: Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book
October 3: Reading Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year (We’ve just begun the last quarter of the year! What bookish goals would you still like to accomplish? If you participated in TTT’s Bookish Goals for 2023 topic this past January, update us on which goals you’ve achieved, which you’ve given up on, and which ones you’re still working on!)
October 10: Bookish Jobs I Would Do For Free (Real or Imaginary) (Submitted by Susan @ Bloggin’ bout Books)
October 17: Books with Weather Events in the Title/on the Cover (I’m picturing a list of titles with weather-related words in them like storm, rain, blizzard, flood, lightning, hail, snow, wind, etc. OR covers with lightning/storms in the picture.)
October 24: Atmospheric Books (The Novelry explains this concept as: “A novel feels atmospheric when the setting and the narrative are deeply involved with one another; when characters and plot are physically embedded in their surroundings, and a near-tangible mood lifts from the pages and wraps itself around the reader.” Study.com explains that, “The atmosphere is how a writer constructs their piece to convey feelings, emotions, and mood to the reader. The atmosphere in literature might be tense, fast-paced, mysterious, spooky, whimsical, or joyful and can be found in poetry, stories, novels, and series.”)
October 31: Halloween Freebie
November 7: Book Titles That Would Make Great Newspaper Headlines (Submitted by Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next)
November 14: Mainstream Popular Authors that I Still Have Not Read (Submitted by Rissa)
November 21: Reasons Why I’m Thankful for Books (In honor of Thanksgiving in the USA.)
November 28: Books Set In X (Pick a setting and share books that are all set there. This could be a specific continent or country, a state, in outer space, underwater, on a ship or boat, at the beach, etc.)
December 5: Freebie
December 12: Books On My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List
December 19: Books.I Hop Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes
December 26: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf (Maybe share your holiday book haul?)
2024
January 2: Favorite Books of 2023
January 9: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024 January 16: Bookish Goals for 2024
January 23: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To
January 30: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023
So here are mine.
All my books are taken from my NetGalley Goodreads shelf.
