♡

Of all the times I've been to London, I had never been at Christmas time until last year. Ed and I were so excited to see the lights and soak up the Christmassy atmosphere, and I figured there was no point posting this last year AFTER Christmas, so here it is now!

I've popped a list below of the things - in my opinion - you absolutely cannot miss. Most of these we managed to see, however in 30 hours we didn't manage to hit everything, so I've added in the places that we wanted to go that are also fab. You can see more in my reel on Instagram of the lights in all their glory.

Christmas lights/displays:

• Carnaby Street/Soho lights
• Bond Street lights
• Regent Street lights
• Mayfair lights
• Covent Garden Christmas Village
• Annabel's Mayfair Swarovski Gingerbread House
• Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree

My favourite Christmas tree I have ever seen in all my days. Currently trying to convince Ed that tinsel is back. Pray for me people,

• The Ship, Soho (or literally any of the cute old man pubs with tacky decorations)
• The Miracle Bar at The Henrietta Hotel (Covent Garden) - this is a 70's Christmas-themed bar upstairs in the Henrietta Hotel and is the best, tacky Christmas atmosphere you will probably find in London

A MULLED WINE DONUT LADIES AND GENTS. Run don't walk.

Greetings, and welcome back! I'm just now noticing that there have been 3 book blog posts in a row - I hope you don't mind - shortly there will be a handful of travel posts in a row as I appear to have a backlog of those (New York, Antibes, London at Christmas that I never posted last year), so keep your eyes peeled if that's your kind of content.

1. Beloved - Toni Morrison

TW: racism, abuse, rape, infant death

This book has been on my TBR list for quite a while, and I managed to find this vintage edition in Chapters so I had to pick it up.

This story begins in 1873 and centres around Sethe, a woman - literally - haunted by her past. Sethe was born a slave but managed to escape "Sweet Home" where she was held and put through unthinkable things, and 18 years on she still doesn't feel truly free. Widowed Sethe's house in Ohio where she lives with her daughter Denver and mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, has been haunted for a long time by the ghost of her eldest daughter, who died as a baby without a name and whose gravestone is engraved with one word (all Sethe could afford), "Beloved."

When a man who was enslaved with Sethe at Sweet Home arrives to her home in Ohio, he drives the spirit of Beloved out, causing nothing but trouble when they arrive home that night to a sickly young woman sitting out front, calling herself Beloved. Paul is suspiscious, but Sethe and Denver immediately take her in and care for her, believing she is the lost baby returned. Paul soon finds out the dark secret about Sethe's past after Sweet Home, and flees. Beloved then turns on Sethe and Denver, and trouble ensues.

This is a dark but brilliant read, would highly recommend. 

2. The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai

TW: homophobia

I picked up this book after seeing a TikTok of books you will like if you liked "The Hearts Invisible Furies" (review here) - which I absolutely loved and is definitely one of my favourite books of all time - so I was sure I would love this one too and I wasn't wrong!

The story is set between 1980s Chicago in the height of the AIDS epidemic, and modern day Paris, and follows the lives of Yale Tishman, his friend Nico, Nico's little sister Fiona and their wider circle of friends.

One by one, Yale's friends are dying around him, all the while the AIDS virus seemingly coming closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon, the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister, after Nico passes away, along with many members of their friendship circle. 

Jump to 30 years later and Fiona is in Paris, trying to track down her daughter who she is estranged from and whom she hasn't seen in years. In Paris, she stays with an old friend of hers who played a pivotal role as a photographer documenting the AIDS crisis in Chicago in the 80's, which brings it all back up for her, including Nico's death and how it affected her life and the relationship she had with her daughter.

The book takes us through the intertwining lives of the characters, jumping between 1980s Chicago and Paris in the modern day, from the heartbreak of the AIDS epidemic to the chaos of the world today, as they struggle to find light at the end of the devastation they have experienced.

This book is fantastic, very sad and heartbreaking, but beautifully captures the essence of friendship in the midst of deep despair. A must read.

3. Intimacies - Katie Kitamura

I won't lie, this was a bit of a random one. It has been on my TBR list for ages, probably since back when I got ALL of my book recommendations from Dolly and Pandora's The High Low podcast, and - get this BARACK OBAMA also loved it - so I'm wondering did I miss something as I was a little disappointed with this one. I do see how the metaphors and meanings of certain events in the book come through, so in that way it is well-written and clever, so maybe that in itself is the draw of the book. Other than that, I found all the events a little random and very loosely connected, but again, perhaps I missed something and it needs another read.

The novel follows an interpreter who has come to The Hague from New York, wondering if it will be the place where she feels at home, and has a new job in the International Court there. A host of kind of random, dramatic events occur in her personal life - she finds out her lover Adriaan, while separated from his wife is still very much entangled in his marriage, her friend Jana witnesses an act of violence just outside her apartment block on a seemingly unsuspecting victim whom the interpreter oddly becomes friends with the sister of, Jana also acts strangely when she is introduced to Adriaan (we never really figure out why, which is slightly irritating).

At work, the drama continues, as she is required to interpret for a former president accused of brutal war crimes, putting to the test her abilities to separate her personal views on what he has done from her professional relationship with him as his interpreter.

Again, it was well-written, but not my favourite book, and quite boring overall. But as I said, maybe I just didn't get it and missed something, as it comes so highly recommended from others. Do let me know if you read it and loved it, and tell me what you think I might have missed!

4. It Ends With Us - Colleen Hoover

TW: domestic violence, abuse, abusive relationships

Firstly, I feel this book needs an entire paragraph on these trigger warnings because I didn't know about them and I probably wouldn't have read it if I had as I found it quite triggering. I will say if you have been in an abusive/manipulative relationship of any kind - emotional, physical, mental, verbal - then just watch out for this one, it's quite a brutal read. 

When I was looking for a book to read in the airport on the way home from New York (didn't pack enough books for the 2 long haul flights), I saw this and had seen and heard SO much about it all over social media that I figured I would give it a try. Granted I did read the back but I feel like the blurb on the back makes it sound more romantic than problematic, which is problematic in itself. I digress.

This story follows Lily, from adolescence to young adulthood and the trials and tribulations that appear to follow her wherever she goes. Beginning with a difficult childhood and an alcoholic father who was abusive to her mother, Lily swore she would never forgive someone for treating her that way, criticising her mother for staying with her father. As this is going on at home, she meets Atlas Corrigan, and they quickly become enamoured with one another. Atlas goes off to the military, Lily moves to Boston and starts her own business and they lose contact.

In Boston, she meets Ryle, a neurosurgeon with whom she instantly becomes infatuated with all his fantastic qualities, and the feeling appears to be mutual, apart from the issue that Ryle is a notorious committment-phobe. They begin a whirlwind romance and Lily thinks things can't possible get any better for her. But when Ryle finds out about Lily's past with Atlas and how that links to her current life, a side of Ryle she never thought existed rears its ugly head.

It's a book you will devour in probably the shortest time you've ever read a book, it's definitely a page turner and you're dying to see what happens next, but please please be warned about the themes and content of the book - it is a tough read so put it down if you need to.

And those are my reads for the last two months! I'm currently reading Pew which is another very odd book. I appear to be at a gloomy section of my TBR.

I would love to know your thoughts if you have read any of these or want to. Feel free to leave a comment or DM me on Instagram. I'm also on TikTok if you want to follow over there!

Thank you for reading as always,

Sending lots of love for these darker months, I know they can be tough.

S ✗