Book Review - Hygge & Kisses By Clara Christensen

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Hygge & Kisses

"Bo, 26, has always been careful, cautious. However, she's just been made redundant and her life plan is beginning to unravel. Before she starts immediately applying for other jobs in a panic, her friend Kirsten persuades her to take a holiday, to visit Kirsten's mother's house in Aalborg, North Jutland, a part of Denmark Bo is ashamed to admit she has never heard of.

'What's the weather going to be like?' she asks Kirsten hopefully, scrolling her cursor over the budget airlines webpage. 'Terrible,' Kirsten replies, 'London is positively Mediterranean by comparison, and of course it's November so it'll be dark seventeen hours a day. But no one goes to Denmark to get a tan. You need a change of scene and to blow away the cobwebs, and trust me, Skagen will do that. Besides, the summerhouse is cosy whatever the weather, and you never know who else will be around.'

A few clicks later and there is no going back. And Bo's life plan is about to be entirely rewritten."

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I think I first became obsessed with Hygge about 2 years ago. I was intrigued how it related to mindfulness & I loved reading about the history of how it came about in Denmark. It initially started when I picked up The Little Book Of Hygge & now anything that's related to Hygge, I immediately gravitate too.

My mum kindly got me this book, she said it was because it reminded her of me. Cups of tea, candles & a cosy setting. That's everything I love on a front cover basically! 

Let's start with the main character Bo. I'm not really sure what I thought about her if I'm honest. She's supposed to be a 26 year old, but I felt at times, she seemed alot older. I thought I'd be able to relate to her more, being a similar age, but I didn't really feel that connection. I also didn't enjoy the character of Ben. I know he was supposed to be the one that treated Bo badly & she was therefore drawn to another character, but I just felt their relationship wasn't very believable.

My favourite part of the book was the second half when Bo goes to Aalbord & meets Emil, Flo & Simon. The house they stayed in was beautiful described & I could almost imagine myself there, snuggled up in bed with a book, watching the snow fall outside. The Danish landscape sounds truly breath-taking.

Flo soon became my favourite character, she is just so sassy & funny. I love her relationship with Simon as well, the characters bounced off each other & made me laugh out loud.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, it was a nice light-hearted read, but not a story I'd reccomend if you want something to get stuck into.

Overall Rating - ★★★

Have you read any 'Hygge' books? What do you think about the whole concept?

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Life Lately #147

Hello lovelies,

I know you're probably all incredibly bored of me talking about my new house by now (especially if you read last week's post!) but I'm still absolutely loving it! I can't believe we've been moved in over a month now & the weather has been so beautiful, we've been out in the garden eating breakfast & dinners most evenings. We've also had family & the doggies over for BBQ's, which has been lovely! Honey & Harvey adore the garden & spent the first day exploring every nook & cranny they could stick their noses in. Once our grass seed has improved the lawn, I can see them sitting out there for hours! 

We have also been doing some work on the actual garden. Like I say, we've laid some weed killer & grass seed, as well as planted some flowers & seeds for onions & lettuces. I've started weeding the patio as well, but had to stop as I got so hot last weekend! I'm currently writing up another post all about falling in love with our garden, which I can't wait to share with you.

At the end of April, it was Gem's birthday. We celebrated by having the most delicious roast at a local pub. Baby Alice also said my name & made me cry, much to Boop's amusement!

At the beginning of May, James & a few of the girls & I went to watch Bo, Chris, Cathy & Ben perform in a play at our local theatre. It was such a good production! They performed Night Must Fall, a play I have to admit I hadn't heard of, which actually made it alot more interesting to watch the story unfold. 

The Sunday after, James & I went to Hever Castle. It was the most stunning day & we explored the castle & gardens before heading home to a BBQ with Allan & Maria. I've written a full post about our day here if you'd like to see what we got up to.

James & I went to Prezzo for a date night on last Wednesday. I know we live together but with our work schedules being so different, there's nothing quite like getting dressed up & spending quality time together. I have to mention my dish, it was absolutely delicious. I had the penne gorgonzola, which I'd highly recommend!

Last Saturday, the girls came round to mine for a housewarming / Eurovision night as James was in London on a stag do. We all dressed up in connection with our countries, either colours from the flag or something related to the country. We also had a prize for the highest placed country, which Char won! Congrats again Israel!

Last Sunday I went to Ikea with Cathy. We had such a good time! I managed to pick up a few extra bits for the house, including some more tea lights, which I buy on every single trip! But I did manage to resist bringing another plant home.. amazing for me as I seem to pick up a new baby every time we go..

Oh & I've been feeling like complete death this past week. I've been off sick from work & am just starting to feel human again. It always feels so wrong to me being ill at this time of year, it's Summer! I should be out in the garden with my plant babies, not wrapped up in 10 blankets sweating my face off! Nice image for you there.. haha!

Oh & I can't not mention the Royal Wedding in this post. What an amazing day, Meghan looked absolutely stunning & I honestly couldn't have been more proud of our country. I actually wish I'd booked the day off work & had the girls round because it would have been so much fun as I heard there were so many wonderful events in our area!

& finally yesterday James & I went to Brighton as we had some vouchers to use at Café Rouge. Never, ever again will be go to Brighton on the same day as the "mini marathon". The journey was supposed to take us 45 minutes max, but we ended up on the road for 2 hours. The traffic was at a complete standstill in some places & we had to call the restaurant twice to say we were going to be late! They were very understanding & weren't fully booked thankfully, so we managed to get a table & sit down to eat at 2.15pm, instead of our initial reservation at 12.45pm. We had planned to go shopping for last minute holiday bits as well, but we couldn't face the shops after the ordeal of getting there, so we headed home! We had a lovely lunch regardless, it was just so frustrating!

How has your week been lovelies? Did you watch the Royal Wedding?

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Our Adventure To Hever Castle

Hello lovelies!

On Sunday, James & I went to Hever Castle.

It's a place I'd heard so much about but had never visited. My parents kindly bought James & I gift vouchers to go for Christmas & as we had a heatwave in the UK, we decided it was the perfect day to go.

We'd done our research online & saw that the castle tour would take around an hour & the gardens about 1 hour 30. We packed a picnic, suncream & my camera & headed off down the M23. As it was such a beautiful day, we took my car so we could have the roof down & even though we got attacked by the fairies on the route, it was so nice to finally feel the sun on our faces!

The first thing you see when you arrive is the lake, which was absolutely stunning with the sun shining on it. You can hire a paddle boat or pedalo to enjoy on the lake, or you can walk around it, which takes approximately 1 hour 15. We went & took a few pictures by the side of the lake but didn't actually complete the walk as it was so hot, we just enjoyed taking in the view!

We decided to do the castle tour first, so we made our way through the Italian & Rose Garden to the castle. As it was May bank holiday weekend, the grounds were alive with Morris dancers, families dancing round the maypole (which brought back fantastic memories for me from Primary School!) & there was even a procession following the Green Man through the gardens! Obviously there are different events on for different days, James & I were also very keen to see the jousting which is happening in July & August & the 'Castle Canines' event at the beginning of August.

The tour of the castle was extremely busy! If you're going to do it, just be aware you are stuffed in a confined space with alot of other visitors & it can get a bit squished heading up & down the stairs! (We both commented on how Henry getting up & down the stairs would have been near enough impossible as they were so tiny!) It's definitely worth doing & you find out alot of history about the castle & Anne Boleyn's life.

We then sat & had a picnic by the river, next to the castle which was the most perfect view of the gardens. After that, we headed back towards the rose garden but I caught sight of the most beautiful staircase in the distance. Just look at it! It reminded me of something out of Beauty & The Beast! It was just incredibly charming.

Of course, I then got James to take a flurry of photos of me on said staircase. BUT JUST LOOK HOW CUTE IT WAS! & it seemed extremely quiet, a few other people had ventured to it, but otherwise it was secretly hidden in the grounds. Once you reached the top of the staircase, there was a beautiful waterfall as well, with some benches to sit on & flowers decorating the path. I'd definitely recommend finding it if you go!

Have you ever been to Hever Castle? We'll definitely look to go back again to enjoy the gardens in the Summer.

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