This is a story that will stay with me for a long long time, what a beautiful love story with a hint of unease disguised carefully within.
The story is split into two bits, one in the present day that follows Bo and her boyfriend who are instagram famous for their daring travels and adventures around the world with their faithful cameraman Lenny, the other bit is based on a young shepard girl known as Signy. Set in the most fabulous settings of the Norwegian Fjords this is such a well written enchanting story with a hint of danger, first book I have read by this author and it most definitely won't be the last! A must read

This is a book that I really enjoyed reading. Descriptive and evocative, the writing brought you right into the forests, feeling the coldness of the atmosphere and the fascination of the Sami people. If you have seen the 2 hour TV programme on the Sami you will recognise so much of the lifestyle portrayed here. I could feel the chill, hear the crunch of the snow and the ski runners, taste the reindeer stew. What super writing.
As for the people, well Bo was such an interesting personality, moving from frothy party going 'celeb' to a deeper and more thougtful person. Zac and Lenny were what one expected, two people in love with themselves, egotistic and selfish. Thoroughly unlikeable.
Anders was calm, self sufficient and proved more man that the other two put together,
I have always enjoyed Karen Swan's books, they have a much grearer depth than the average 'romantic ' fiction, and her research is meticulous.
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Turns out that, despite the cover, the opening of the book was quite melancholy and dark, so I'm afraid I went no further. I'm sure Karen Swann is a great writer, but this book proved not to be for me.

This book is the perfect festive book for many reasons, the storytelling, dramatic and homely settings, characters and depth. It has romance, suspense, drama, history and action entwined with snow, trees and Christmas as Bo an Instagram influencer discovers more than waterfalls on her trip to Norway.

I received a free download of this book from Net Galley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. And I can honestly say that I didn't like it very much. Zac and Bo are two of the most unlikable characters I have read about in a very long time. Maybe I am the wrong age to read about Instagram celebrities making a very good living from having a blast. I wouldn't recommend this story to anyone wanting to read a Christmas romance. It's way too dark. And the twist wasn't twisty enough to fool me. The descriptions of Norway and it's nature, and Signy's backstory are what earned this the extra star to raise it from a two star read.

I was expecting this book to be a basic romance for Christmas. It was nothing of the kind and I was pleasantly surprised. I was interested to read how social media can portray a certain image when in fact the truth is almost the opposite. A bit like 'fake news'.

The characters were interesting and you could easily relate to them. The description of the Norwegian scenery and culture was exceptional. A recommended enjoyable read.

Like many books with Christmas in the title 'The Christmas Lights' is only loosely about Christmas but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The story follows Bo, Zac and Lenny on their travels around the world and is centred on a stay in Norway in December 2018. Couple, Zac and Bo, are known online as the Wanderlusters and have no fixed base. They move from location to location while blogging and posting on Instagram.. They occasionally have sponsors and the revenue pays for their constantly transient and extravagant lifestyle. They met Lenny in Sumatra and hired him to work for their ‘Wanderlusters brand’ when they discovered he was a photographer. So now the threesome travel, live and work together as they seek to get ten million Instagram followers. They are just two hundred thousand short of that figure as they move from the tropical Samoa to dark, cold, icy Norway in mid December. Lenny, who is also the organiser, has booked a shelf farm high up above Geiranger fjord in Norway. The owner, Signy, is in her 90s and lives in one of the basic cabins on the farm.

This is when the book really got my attention as I was on that fjord just 5 months ago and saw the shelf farms from a ferry trip along the fjord. They are tiny bits of land that look completely uninhabitable hundreds of feet vertically about the fjord. Most have been abandoned as the practically of living there had become too difficult. One or two still exist mainly for tourists to hike to. Some were so small and steep that animals and small children had to be tethered to stop them falling over the edge.

So my attention was gripped by the location which Karen Swan has clearly researched well and writes about very evocatively. The plot was less gripping as it started off with much emphasis on the blogging and taking photos making the three main characters seem very shallow and quite irritating. It’s always hard to stick with a book when you cannot like at least one of the characters. I did stick with it because of the locations and actually the story did get more interesting for the second half and had a decent ending.

The current day plot is interwoven with one from 1936 when Signy was 14 and spent the summer on the high hills with other teenage girls from the community caring for the goats and sheep and making milk products.

I really enjoyed the whole book and especially the research that Karen Swann put into it. Without giving spoilers she includes real life places and events from both timeframes which I knew about from my visit and enjoyed being woven into the story. I loved Norway, especially the part around Geiranger fjord (the author calls it Gerainger for reasons unknown as all other locations are correctly named) which is especially beautiful.

I’ve just got back from the Canadian Rockies and see that Karen Swan has set another book based there (Christmas under the Stars) so no prizes for guessing my next read....

With thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to PanMac Marketing for inviting me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you're choosing to read this book because you want a good Christmas book, don't bother. Like Swan's last Christmas book "Christmas Under the Stars", this book is only a tiny bit Christmassy. It's only at 58% through does Bo go to a Christmas party. 
However, I love Karen Swan's books and this one is no different. Her writing flows easily and before you know it, 3 hours has gone by and all the things you should've done in your adult life, still haven't been done.
I'd recommend this book if you want a light hearted, easy book, with some hidden secrets and a nice, happy ending. Just don't expect it to be Christmassy!

“The Christmas Lights”, set in the beautiful and raw Norway, introduces us to a bunch of different characters. Bo and Zac are living the dream life, being the Wanderlusters who share their adventures on Instagram with their 9 + million followers. There is also Lenny, their photographer and manager who organizes all the trips and schedules. After their recent trip to Samoa they are travelling to the remote shelf farm in Norway to spend Christmas there. The owner of the farm is Signy – an older woman who’s going to change the lives of the threesome.

As usual, this book also starts with a chapter set in the past that ends with a cliffhanger and the story slowly unfolds, brilliantly and cleverly intertwined with this of Bo and Zac’s. This was the story of Signy, Anders’s grandmother, the owner of the shelf farm where our trio is staying. Back in 1936, Signy has experienced unforgettable summer when she worked with other girls as milkmaids, away from their families, there where the pastures were the greenest. I loved how the author put us up to different kinds of danger with those two subplots, and I must say that both of them had me on my tenterhooks.

I’ve mentioned it thousand times already, and I’ll repeat myself, that Karen Swan is my auto – buy author. What I absolutely adore in her books is the fact that her characters are so diverse, so different to each other, and their jobs are always unusual. This time Bo and Zac turned their lifestyles into job, they’re already a brand with over 9 million followers on Instagram. They walk the earth together with their photographer and their lives look so colourful, inspirational and perfect on photos, as they visit places that you won’t find on the tourist maps, spending at least a month or longer at their chosen place, to get the feeling of it, to turn into locals, as they don’t want to be perceived as the usual tourists. No, they’re Wanderlusters and they want to experience authenticity. But – are their lives really so perfect? Without cracks? The author has so gently hinted that Bo’s life is getting out of her control, and yes, I immediately fell for Bo, I liked her and didn’t want anything bad happen to her. The way she realises there is so much more to life than followers and sponsors makes her character so much more believable. And also, what made me like her even more is the fact that I have a feeling that at the end she’s chosen the right things for her. It hurt to see that she can’t trust anybody, how she tried to be heard by those closest to her and how she was left alone in all of this. That is, alone but for Anders, but it turns out that he also has a terrible secret – is there a single person that Bo can trust, who would understand her?

It was a read with a rather slow pace but there was not a single moment that it felt flat or uninteresting for me. On the other hand, I enjoyed the descriptions of the setting, the harsh nature of Norway, so raw and virginal and beautiful – yes, Karen Swan is the queen of choosing the most beautiful settings for her novels, and what I love is the fact that they’re not fictional places. They’re secluded, solitary but real and simply gorgeous. Another bonus is that she always adds truly interesting facts about those places and I couldn’t help but googled shelf farms – they’re brilliant. The setting is just fantastic and the author eloquently and vividly brings all the places she writes about to life. I’ve read some books set in Norway, and also some describing the Northern Lights but “The Christmas Lights” overdoes them all with its descriptions, the gorgeous, wild and austere nature of Norway.

I, however, immediately guess the “who”. For me it was obvious and there was no other option, even if the author has tried a little to put wool over our eyes at the end, trying to complicate things a little, to point us in other directions, but this is the one thing that she didn’t manage. Was it disappointment? To be honest, no. Not at all.

Of course we can’t forget the big elephant in the room – Karen Swan writes about the problems and dangers of living through social media, and I liked the way she has tackled this issue. We have Zac and Lenny, who live only through the numbers of followers and nothing is impossible for them, no matter how dangerous it is. Then we have Bo, whose eyes start to open and she starts to notice the dangers and issues of being in the centre of attention. And we have Anders, whose idea of living is totally different. Yes, Zac and Lenny come across a little obsessed and shallow, at least for me, as I do realise that the grass is not always greener on the other side and there are limits for what you can do to increase the number of your followers and your sponsors.

“The Christmas Lights” was a story full of action, hiking, gorgeous settings and characters full of personality – characters that are annoying, that have their flaws and secrets which only makes them much more interesting and believable. The author has also brought closer the Norwegian history and its present, traditions, habits, the language, food and drink. There was intrigue, danger and it was festive enough to get in the spirit of Christmas, this all brought to life through Karen Swan’s vivid, alluring and engaging writing style. A novel about relationships, loss, grief, love and adventures, living on the edge, full of heartbreak and hope. It’s much more than about finding your own strength, it shows that everything is possible, and it had me totally and completely hooked. Highly recommended!

A great story about how the perfect relationship has its own cracks and things aren't always as they seem.

A lovely Christmas read set in Norway - There is a dual timeline in this book which makes it more than your usual romantic xmas story. I loved the 2 different stories and how they came together at the end. There is everything you need - snow , romance and fab story. I really enjoyed it

The Christmas Lights is set in the scenic Fjords of Norway and the descriptions are beautiful .The story is told over two time lines 1936 and the present day .I don't really think it was the book for me I felt it should have come under YA .I did enjoy reading the past story and the secrets to be told .I didn't really like Bo , Zac or Lenny at all ,I didn't find them interesting characters .The book though was very well written .Many thanks to the Publishers ,the Author and NetGalley for my review copy in return for an honest review

When I first received this book and was only going by the title I assumed (wrongly it turns out) that it would be another sweet, Christmas romance - all log fires, mince pies and mulled wine. Bo and Zac are lifestyle internet sensations. Everything they do, everywhere they go and everything the wear is documented for their on-line fans, so much so that they even employ their own photographer to travel with them. When they are paid to travel to Norway to endorse a clothing brand they assume it will be just another adrenaline filled couple of weeks before they head off to somewhere new. However, when they arrive in Norway to find their home for the next few weeks is a remote shelf farm only accessible via either the fjords by boat and a climb or via a helicopter they soon discover their life isn’t going to be as straightforward as they thought. With a dual storyline from the 1930s running alongside this is not your traditional Christmas romance and I, for one, loved it.

Zac and Bo are Adventurers who live their make believe lives through photographs posted on their Instagram account for their 9.4 million followers and sponsors. Leaving Samoa with their photographer Lenny, they head to Norway to an isolated mountain cabin where they meet Signy, who has lived there for most of her 90 plus years.
Using duel narrative to learn of Signy’s live and secrets and also the bubble lives of Zac and Bo.
I did find the book tedious in places and the drip feeding of the stories quite slow. I was interested in the outcome of Signy’s tale but found Zac and to some extent Bo very self-centred and could not care too much for their outcome.
However, the description of Norway and the Lights was beautiful and made up for the two less engaging characters.

This is a first for me by this author... but not my last.

December 2018, and free-spirited influencers Bo Loxley and her partner Zac are living a life of wanderlust, travelling the globe and sharing their adventures with their millions of fans.
Booked to spend Christmas in the Norwegian fjords, they set up home in a remote farm owned by enigmatic mountain guide Anders and his fierce grandmother Signy. Surrounded by snowy peaks and frozen falls, everything should be perfect. But the camera can lie and with every new post, the ‘perfect’ life Zac and Bo are portraying is diverging from the truth.
Something Bo can’t explain is wrong at the very heart of their lives and Anders is the only person who’ll listen.
June 1936, and fourteen-year old Signy is sent with her sister and village friends to the summer pastures to work as milkmaids, protecting the herd that will sustain the farm through the long, winter months. But miles from home and away from the safety of their families, threat begins to lurk in friendly faces . . .
The mountains keep secrets - Signy knows this better than anyone - and as Bo’s life begins to spiral she is forced, like the old woman before her, to question who is friend and who is foe.

A beautiful setting, very descriptive, well written and I loved the dual timeline.
An enjoyable read on these colder, darker nights.

I'll have to find more of Karen's work as I really enjoyed this one.

Thank-You Netgalley for my ARC.

Zac and Bo are living the Instagram Dream. Followed everywhere by their photographer, Lenny and their millions of fans they have a very public life.
They travel to Norway courtesy of a sportswear company and stay at a shelf farm owned by Signy and her mountain guide son, Anders. Signy has lived all her life on the farm and mountains but what is Anders secret?
At the end of their stay will they still be the same people with the same outlook on life.? and is anyone really who the seem to be?

I have read all of Karens books and I found this one hard going. I can't fault her descriptions of Norway and the beauty of nature, but I found the characters difficult to get excited about.

It seems very popular to do books with 2 time zones and in this book for some reason has not worked.

Set in Norway in December, amongst the snow and ice, I felt I was right there watching the story unfold. By the time I had finished my heart was racing and I had shed a tear or two. I loved the unexpected in this story, the little things you think you have guessed which turn out not to be quite right. There are twists and turns which kept me glued to the pages and made it such a brilliant read.

It did take me a little while to warm up to Zac, Bo and Lenny. They are free-spirited world travel bloggers, living the dream life and I found them hard to like at first. However, as the story unfolded and their characters and backstories became apparent I became totally engrossed in their tale. As well as Signy's story, which runs throughout the book. The characters were well developed and definitely believable.

This is yet another really well written, riveting read from Karen Swan. I loved reading it and found it so hard to actually put down. I would recommend reading this curled up in front of a fire on a winter's evening, though anytime is a good time to read such a well-written story.

I have liked books written by Karen Swan previously so I was excited to have the opportunity to read this book courtesy of Netgalley and Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

The book is set in the picturesque fjords of Norway, and incredibly, I was travelling in Norway when I was reading the book! It is a dual timeline book, following the present day story of Bo Loxley (and her partner Zac) who are 'insta-famous', and travel the world looking for adventures for their Instagram followers to see, together with their photographer Lenny, and a story set in 1936 in another part of Norway, following Signy, a teenage daughter of a farmer, working on a 'seter', the summer pastures high up in the mountains with her sister and the other girls from their village which is down by the fjord.

Signy is now a 96 year old grandmother who lives up in the mountains and rents out her shelf farm to Bo, Zac and Lenny for a month over Christmas. Almost immediately, Bo, who feels that something is wrong in her life, finds herself drawn to their serious mountain guide, and grandson of Signy, Anders, who listens to her in a way that Zac is unable to do.

I found the parallels between the two timelines fascinating, and although the secrets from the past and the present were not revealed until late in the book, it kept me wanting to know more. It was interesting to see the conflict in Bo, who has lived a life of great adventure for a number of years, where increasingly her private life was public for all to see on Instagram. Her craving for normality, which she finds in the stunning Norwegian setting, contrasts with the shallowness of her life in the public domain, where everything must look perfect in order to gain followers.

The setting of the book is just glorious, a frozen winter wilderness complete with the northern lights, and if you haven't been to Norway, it will definitely make you want to visit. I loved reading it whilst travelling around the fjords further south in Norway than the setting of the book, but it honestly made me want to stay in my hotel room and read more instead of going out! I found myself thinking about the book one of the days whilst standing at the side of a fjord looking up at the mountain to the side of me! Although set in December and into the Christmas period, this is far more than just a Christmas book, it is crammed full of intrigue, secrets, heartbreak, love, and finding the strength to take a step into the future without being held back by the past.

I didn’t get on so well with The Christmas Lights. I liked the cover and the blurb appealed to me so I thought I’d give it a try. The biggest issue is the main characters, Bo and Zac. They were arrogant, spoiled and completely unlikable. I appreciate you get diverse characters in fiction and I’m not going to like everybody. However, if an author wants me to invest in characters and root for them, they need to give them at least one redeeming quality. The book is festive and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. The book has some good moments and is much darker, especially towards the end, than the pretty cover lets on. However, I struggled to get into the story because I disliked the characters so much.