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Don’t let Blue Monday get you down…

Just in case you haven’t heard enough about it already, today is Blue Monday – supposedly the “most depressing day of the year”. Now, this may all be an elaborate marketing ruse, but who doesn’t need something to brighten up a dreary Monday? Stick with us as we take you through our sure-fire tricks to chase the blues away…

Put on some feel-good music

There’s nothing quite like putting on some feel-good tunes and letting the negativity of Blue Monday melt away. Here are our top picks:

Helena – Beyonce – Why Don’t You Love Me will give you the sassiest walk ever if you’re out and about, it’s impossible not to strut down the pavement flicking your hair.

beyonce satisfying GIF

Alice – Anything that gets me dancing around the kitchen (Sadly the only place I get to dance nowadays!). Current faves are Shape of You by Ed Sheeran and the classic (in my eyes) Uptown Funk.

Aimee – When I’m feeling down, I love to listen to anything with a good beat. Something like The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go, The Kinks’ All Day and All of the Night or Jack White’s Love is Blindness. Anything that gets my toes tapping.

Hannah – My all-time favourite is California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & the Papas – it reminds me of sunny days and I find it literally impossible to be sad when that song is on. I’ve also been getting into classical music a lot more since reading Fire on All Sides by James Rhodes where he talks passionately about the curative power of music (if you’re not sure where to start, he’s curated this brilliant playlist: https://apple.co/2Erw6xh)

Cook some comfort food

We’re not sure about you guys, but after books, the number one thing that lifts our spirits is a plate of hearty food! Follow this scrumptious Filled Yorkshire Pudding recipe from The Great British Bake Off: Perfect Cakes & Bakes to Make at Home for guaranteed deliciousness: http://bit.ly/2mFRE2z

Filled Yorkshire Puddings

 

And of course, indulge in some super reads to banish those blues…

Team Bookends, of course, find nothing more soothing than getting lost in a good book. And this Blue Monday, now that you’ve got your playlist and your comfort food sorted, now comes the serious part – deciding what to read!

cozy sarah chalke GIF by HULU

Here are some of our top recommendations to put a spring back in your step:

This Could Change Everything by Jill Mansell

The perfect antidote to those January blues.

On the one hand, if Essie hadn’t written that letter – the one that only her best friend was meant to see – then she’d still be living like an actual proper grown-up, tucked up with Paul in his picture-perfect cottage, maybe even planning their wedding…

On the other hand (if her true feelings hadn’t accidentally taken the internet by storm, that is) she wouldn’t have moved into the attic flat on the square. She would never have met Conor. Or got to know Lucas…

And she wouldn’t have found herself falling in love with someone she really, really shouldn’t fall in love with…

A Perfect Husband by Hilary Boyd

If you’re stuck in a rut this Blue Monday there’s nothing that will help you out of it quite like a page-turner of a book, and this gem by Hilary Boyd is just the ticket! You’ll completely lose yourself unravelling the twists of this book!

What would it take for you to give up on the perfect husband? Lily and Freddy have a wonderful relationship: passionate and fun. Freddy taught her to love again after the death of her father. But then Freddy becomes tense, snappy and distracted. Is he having an affair? The truth turns out to be much worse…

The Worst Case Scenario Cookery Club by Chrissie Manby

In this hilarious romantic novel, three very different people, who only have their appalling culinary skills in common, are brought together in a cookery course. Will they find the recipe for happiness? (What do you think?!)

The Honey Farm on the Hill by Jo Thomas

If you need a little escapism from the cold this Blue Monday then let Jo Thomas whisk you to warmer climates.

One magical summer Nell fell in love in the mountains of Crete and her life changed for ever.

Eighteen years later, Nell is ready for a new beginning. When she sees a honey farm in the same hilltop town has lost its bees, the opportunity is impossible to resist. Welcomed back to Greece by the warm sun and aroma of wild thyme, Nell finds memories of her past at every turn. But much has changed since she’s been away.

As Nell throws herself into restoring the honey farm, she starts to unlock the truth of what happened all those years ago. She soon learns that the course of true love – just like Cretan honey – can be wild and sweet. And well worth the wait…

The Hope Family Calendar by Mike Gayle

Heart-warming, lyrical, real: Mike Gayle is the king of the feel-good, emotional read. I guarantee you’ll laugh as much as cry reading this. His forthcoming novel The Man I Think I Know, is an absolutely cracker publishing in April.

Tom Hope is broken. Ever since his wife Laura died he hasn’t been the same man, and definitely not the same father. Luckily for Tom his mother-in-law Linda is around to pick up the pieces and look after his two struggling daughters, Evie and Lola.

The Early Birds by Laurie Graham

Peggy, the southern belle. Kath, the pragmatist with the only Norfolk accent in New York state. Gayle, the preacher with healing hands. Mrs Colonel Audrey Rudman, forever keeping up the standards of the Officers’ Wives Club. Lois, who’s never had a thought she didn’t voice. Loudly.

Their menfolk may be long retired, but once a US Air Force wife, always an Air Force wife, and the bonds of friendship forged in base after military base are still going strong fifty years later. Time is rendering its Accounts Payable for all of them now: hip replacements, eye problems, forgetfulness and departures.

In this hymn to lifelong female friendship, Peggy soldiers on through new upheavals, including her ex-husband Vern’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, the death of one of her nearest and dearest, a life-changing house move and the world-shattering events of 9/11 with the help of her sharp-tongued, often eccentric, but always loyal group of friends.

 

Find out Team Bookends’s most anticipated reads of 2018 here!