Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. Let’s hope 2017 turns out to be a better year than 2016 has been, I have a hard time imagining how it could be worse to be honest.

One thing will be great for sure: I’m going to be a published author!

And here to make sure your year ends in the best way possible is Sweden’s pride and joy: ABBA 🙂

A small update

I made a little update to my site and added a Coming Soon-section which can be found here:

Seemed appropriate now that I actually have something Coming Soon 🙂

God Jul!

I just wanted to pop in and say Merry Christmas (=God Jul)! Swedes celebrate today, on Christmas Eve, and this is how we do it:

• We eat smorgasbord for Christmas dinner
• With the food we drink snaps (spiced alcohol taken like a shot) and we sing a little song to go with it, called snapsvisa. Click here for the most famous one Helan Går, performed by ABBA, our national treasure  🙂
• If you don’t want alcohol with your dinner, drink julmust. It’s a Swedish soda that makes The Coca Cola Company cry every December when Swedes stop drinking Coke and switch to julmust instead  🙂
• We watch Donald Duck at 3PM on Christmas Eve. Non-negotiable. (Note: this article is a few years old and the racist element mentioned is since removed. Fortunately.)
• We drink glögg, which is a kind of mulled wine
• And we give each other presents, of course

This is my Christmas tree from last year, when we celebrated in Malaysia. We did our best to recreate a true Swedish Christmas, we had even downloaded Donald Duck and pressed play on the computer at 3PM sharp 😀 But this year traditions are back to normal and we’re spending Christmas in Sweden.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Christmas music

I’m a big fan of Christmas music and sometimes I start listening way back in October (if I can get away with it without my husband complaining 🙂 )

I thought I’d share a few of my favorites with you.

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Last Christmas – Wham
I was a teenager in the 80s and a huge fan of Wham and George Michael (still am). I loved this song so much and I simply couldn’t understand how that girl could choose Andrew Ridgeley over George Michael? She must be crazy!

The 80s was also the time when we still believed George Michael was straight and that we girls might have a chance. Hah, as if he would ever been interested in a teenage girl from small-town Sweden? But a girl can dream, right? 🙂

Anyway. 30 years later I still love this song.

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Fairytale of New York – The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl
Another song from the 80s and it’s simply fabulous. I love that it isn’t so perfectly christmassy, but gritty and tragic. I love the arguing part of the lyrics, but my favorite part is the following:

(Man:) I could have been someone
(Woman:) Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
(Man:) I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you

I love that she’s bitter and angry with him because he took her dreams, while he felt he needed her dreams too to survive. It’s fabulous writing, and I can feel it in my soul when they sing the words.

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I’ll be home for Christmas – Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé has a voice made for singing Christmas songs. He sings this one with such feeling, I can’t help but sob a little every time I listen to it.

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Mer Jul – Adolfson & Falk

This is a bonus one which you most likely haven’t heard before. It’s a Swedish song from the 80s (noticing a theme here?) and it’s about our Swedish Christmas traditions. Mer Jul means More Christmas and the song is about a guy who’s normally quiet and reserved, with one exception. When it comes to Christmas he wants MORE of everything: more lights, decorations, cheer, snow, food, and…everything.

I adore this song. It makes fun of our traditions, but in a loving way and it’s impossible to be offended.

Unconditionally

On the blog today: an unedited blurb for my upcoming release Unconditionally. If you want to see the picture that inspired the story, you can find it here. 

Flamboyant book café owner Luca Moretti and geeky doctor Gus Hansen have been together for 6 years when the Supreme Court ruling makes same-sex marriage legal in all states. On June 26^th 2015, Gus gets down on one knee and Luca screams yes.

On their wedding day, shortly before the ceremony, Luca’s mother explodes in anger, calling him a freak. The reason? He’s wearing a white veil, sprinkled with crystals.

Their relationship has been strained for a long time and her words trigger traumatic memories. Instead of walking down the aisle, Luca runs. Away from his mother. Away from Gus.

Gus counts down the minutes when Luca’s mother comes knocking. He realizes something’s wrong, but when he goes to talk to Luca, his husband-to-be is nowhere to be found.

Will Gus find Luca in time for the wedding and manage to convince him to come back and get married?