The Chicklit Advent Calendar - Door three

No matter how much I love Christmas, I have to admit it has its stressful points....... However, I have never had a Christmas quite as stressful Lydia Grant's.

A Christmas break away with your best friends, boyfriend, the perfect Christmas dinner and a lot of alcohol sounds perfect. Until you find an engagement ring in your Boyfriend's sock drawer......realise you probably don't want to marry him...... and get snowed in at your best friend's (not so perfect) hotel. Throw in the secret love of your life (who just happens to be the new love of your best friend's life), a central heating system that doesn't work, a cooker which keeps giving up, a giant mutilated turkey, a new hunk (I don't usually use that word, but believe me - he is a hunk) a dog with one ear, two children and a very pregnant friend........ then you have Lydia Grant's Christmas - The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey.

Poor Lydia is desperate to make Christmas perfect, but the more she tries, the worse it gets.

Scarlett Bailey has created the perfect Christmas novel of fun, laughter and tears from a very honest cast with a very real story line.

No Christmas is ever what you imagine and Scarlett captures this perfectly.

The book is full of lovely, festive moments mixed in with the not so festive nightmares everybody experiences at least once (don't tell me you haven't ripped the turkey's leg off in a vain attempt to get it in the too small oven)

The friendships are perfect, the scene is perfect, and if you don't shed a little tear when Carole arrives, quite frankly, there is something wrong with you.

If you want to escape Christmas for a while and immerse yourself in someone elses..... this is the perfect book.

Scarlett Bailey also has her very own advent calendar.....featuring the heroine Amy (she visits Hull and had a boyfriend called Gavin so I like to pretend she is almost me).

Click here.... http://adventcalendr.com/scarlettbailey/ to get a snippet of story behind every door.

What are you waiting for - you've got thirteen to catch up on! And today..... today is the very special day when Bronson makes an appearance. I can confirm Bronson the Reindeer really is named after my lovely dog :) (Thank you!)

The Chicklit Advent Calendar - Door two

Behind the second door of my festive selection of chick lit was the lovely Miracle on Regent Street by Ali Harris.

Another Tiffany blue cover, splashes of pink baubles and the words 'Dreams can come true.... it could happen to you' and I was tucked in with the electric blanket back on and my new Christmas lights twinkling.

This gorgeous book is an advent Calendar in itself - buy it quickly and you will be able to catch up! Starting on the 1st of December, you are taken through to the 19th December in shopping days. This, in itself, made me ridiculously excited! If I could have read the right chapter on the right day, I would have done..... but be warned, you will have to wait until 1st January (and 357 shopping days until Christmas) to read the epilogue!

Evie Taylor works in the Stockroom of Hardy's, an old fashioned department store at risk of being sold. She is invisible to the shop floor staff, who don't even know her name and her talents are wasted stuck in the basement. To be perfectly honest, for the first few chapters of the book, I really wanted to ring Evie up myself and tell her to stop wearing those shoddy black trousers..... but a little touch of festive sparkle later and she starts to slowly reinvent herself.
Hardy's Department store was opened in 1910 and Evie's stock room is full of glamorous vintage beauties which have been hidden away for years.

When Hardy's starts losing money and is threatened with closure, Evie envisions a store which was as amazing as it used to be.... romantic, dazzling and the place to be.

Vowing that nobody will ever find out who has changed the store bit by bit, she turns 'secret Christmas elf' gives Hardy's a brand new lease of life.

Whilst doing this, Evie is pretending to be somebody else..... literally..... falling in love.... trying to keep her family together and realising friends are the people who are always there for you.

If you love shopping, Christmas and London.... you will love this book. I want to go to Hardy's, I want to buy their vintage make up compacts, go in their VIP changing rooms and have tea at Lily's tea room.

Most of all, I want to congratulate Evie on 'The Wardrobe' and visit the shops in her Vintage London Address Book with her.

Delicious!

Daisy Does.... Dazzling Designs!

There is something seriously special about having one of a kind jewellery..... and if it was made just for you...... well that is the most perfect thing in the World!

With the trend for personalisation soaring, I decided it was time I got my hands on some commissioned jewellery and discovered http://www.daisydoes.net/

What a find!

Daisy stocks ready made handmade jewels on her site. Everything is only made once so every design is one of a kind. You can choose from this selection (I did and bought Snow White) or you can contact Daisy about her commissioning a bracelet for you.

That's exactly how the AMAZING Christmas Deluxe came about.

Clearly, I love Christmas. I cannot get enough of it. So when I asked Daisy to make me a bracelet which wouldn't look out of place on a Christmas tree, I was worried she would think I was slightly strange.

If she did, she didn't show it!! She explained to me she would include stars, snowflakes, snowmen, Christmas trees, stockings and even a partridge - all set off by red, gold and green baubles and little ice cubes.

I knew it was going to be good. I didn't know it would be THIS good!

Daisy explained she would need to order the charms in especially for me - so I thought it would take longer for my bracelet to arrive. I desperately wanted it for my BIG SURPRISE weekend away which is the 10th December.

I ordered it on 25th November and it was ready by the 29th.

They arrive beautifully packaged in tiny little gift bags with Daisy's little card inside.

I also ordered a second commissioned bracelet, which for the time being, must stay secret..... but Daisy was just as lovely helping me with that one.

I can't say enough about how helpful, professional and lovely Daisy is. At a time when personalisation is huge, it's so nice to see that Daisy cares about her customers and wants them to be happy. Her replies to questions are instant and she is genuinely pleased when you are happy with your jewellery.

Receiving a bracelet you know is a one off is a lovely feeling. I can't wait to wear mine for the rest of December and have people ask me where it came from.

I've already got my eye on this fairytale of a bracelet http://www.daisydoes.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_2&products_id=471

I also can't wait for the Valentine's Deluxe...... the Easter Deluxe...... the Tooth Fairy Deluxe..... ermm...sorry Daisy!