Evergreen: Discover the Joy in Every Season

by Lydia Elise Millen

Inspired by the wisdom of the natural world, Evergreen is the essential guide for anyone who is looking to unearth their inner strength and bring more joy and contentment into their everyday.

Season by season, Evergreen guides you to reconnect with nature and find balance throughout the inevitable ebb and flow of life. From learning to trust your intuition to embracing the power of amateur status, rethinking your relationship with comparison to seeking solitude when you need it, Lydia Millen takes you by the hand and empowers you with the tools to create your own version of an evergreen life.

Whether Evergreen finds you at a time of peace and fulfilment or a time of challenge and uncertainty, this book will uplift you with a fresh perspective and be a comfort you can return to in every season of your journey to come.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Nature, Lifestyle, Essays, Personal Development

251 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2023

Reviews

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evergreen and it’s author may not be everyone’s cup of tea and that is to be respected. However I am curious about some of the one star ratings and the rather angry tone of those reviews. I noticed that they were mostly dated before the release date of the book which was 12 October. So I am curious to know whether they actually read the book. I’m also confused about the claims that the book is ableist and racist. I’ve listened to the audiobook twice over the last 4 days and cannot detect anything of the sort. Criticism and opinions about a book you have genuinely read are one thing, blindly tearing someone down because you happen to not like them another…

That being said I would like to put forward my take on the book. I found it full of love and compassion. For nature, for the reader and for herself. And this is so very important. If we don’t have love and compassion for ourselves how can we give it to others?
Yes the advice may not be set out as clearly in precise order as other books but this is part of its charm. Evergreen is like a conversation with a best friend. It’s a book that can be read cover to cover or dipped into as necessary.

I enjoyed the audiobook so much that I listened to it twice as I mentioned before and eagerly await the arrival of my hard copy edition.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve always enjoyed Lydia’s content and was influenced to buy this book, however I am left bitterly disappointed. It is lacking so much individually and is simply a copy and paste of loads of inspirational quotes I could have just googled. This book claims to give a “fresh perspective” the only fresh perspective I now have is I want my 20 quid back 😳

[Azia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I adore reading and I read all types of literature as I find inspiration for my art through all media. I was offered a copy of this new book from a newbie, Lydia Millen, not so long ago. Thinking I had nothing to lose I would give it a go. But good Lord! Where is the intrigue? Where is the depth? For a debut this offering is ever so nondescript.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute trash. Should have been a journal, if even that. Don’t understand how this even was published.

[Maria Praena · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fellow creator and writer, I admire so much the work Lydia has put into the creation of her book, which differs a lot from her usual content creation and fashion career.

The book, whilst using Lydia’s life as an example, it’s an invitation to seek the pleasure we find in the everyday life, the little joys we take for granted, as we explore the beauty and wisdom provided by Mother Nature.

I find it fascinating how the reviews about the book were published before its official publication day (which is today, October 12th 2023). Most of these reviews are vague and lack depth and insight as to what the book covers, simply because the people who wrote them either haven’t read the book or were totally uninterested to begin with. Needless to say, the statements of those reviews are purely based on expectations that weren’t met, though an author has no obligation of fulfilling the expectations we (the readers) have created for ourselves.

For someone to make such a drastic change and create something completely outside of their comfort zone, I believe this book it’s something to be cherished by those who are able to connect with the magic that’s inside the pages. Are the teaching found in this book revolutionary? No, not at all. Though, we read to immerse ourselves in a new story, someone else’s story, to be teleported to a new world, to escape from the background noise of the everyday world, and to reconnect with ourselves. And this is where this book excels at.

I hope you give this book a try and enjoy it for what it is, so you can appreciate its true beauty.

[Leo & Lillie’s Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and really enjoyed spending time listening to it. I can tell you I will not be reading any of the other comments and will just walk away and protect my joy. Well done Lydia.

[Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m really struggling to see the point of this book. Is it some kind of joke? The content is not original, it isn’t backed by any depth of experience - I really feel like I’m reading a diary I might have written 20 years ago but would be way to embarrassed that anyone else read. Why hasn’t an editor helped this poor girl? The author doesn’t seem to be sure herself - the whole text is littered with her constant irritating little explanations/smirks/whatever’s which spoil the flow constantly (for example I am writing this to say to you reader that I’m not sure I made the point well enough so making a little side comment/joke here so the sentence becomes way too long, you get bored, you get annoyed). There are so many missed opportunities to build a beautiful narrative - I was duped into reading with the inviting cover and blurb. What a disappointment. This feels like a self-commissioned piece - surely no good publishing firm would seriously invest in the quality of hardback, embossed writing and lovely diagrams - she must have paid them to make it. I am relieved I didn’t pay for it myself but borrowed from my local library. Although why they have a copy is beyond me.

[goodtasteclub]

"Books are mirrors, we only see in them what we have inside"

The book is a lovely written and it is like a conversation with a good friend. Lydia focuses on explaining how to find joy in the little things, how nature provides endless opportunities for inspiration and happiness, and how discovering nature helped her navigate bad time and prove an anchor during happy times. I would also recommend the audio book as it is read by Lydia herself and the experience is very soothing! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

[Moekenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this in an audiobook. I bring this up because based on the other reviews I believe it necessary. Listening to her talk through her process on how she found joy was beautiful. Her voice is extremely peaceful. She talks brief about her troubles but her focus was to show you how to live in the moment. How to essentially achieve her life.

What we see on the surface of her from TikTok or however you found her is a beautiful well dressed albeit no idea how privelaged and wealthy she is. But she relates saying she used to go broke being trendy and then switched to a more timeless look (which isn’t new information but it’s her truth) she spends more on forever peices and less on frivolous so all we see is expensive and out of touch. When in reality it’s totally achievable. She explains how she loves living in the moment and going to party’s and socializing and how she makes time for the things that bring joy for her. Which of you take this as a guide it’s to make time for things that bring you joy and happiness vs dreading it and feeling like you have to do something when you plain as day don’t.

This whole purpose of this book wasnt necessarily to be a how to guide to life and you should do exactly what she says to do but for her to explain how she found joy in life and maybe you can take the steps to find joy in your life every season of it.

I give it 3 stars why? I enjoyed it honestly. Now I probably wouldn’t go recommending this book but personally it was quick pick me up I needed going into holiday season.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are looking for a self help book, this is not it. Books written by experts such as psychologists or life coaches provide more substance and educated guidance. With regards to her personal experiences - there is not enough detail to describe or explain how she pivoted through the hard times, only a few references. If you are a follower of Lydia looking to purchase any products she offers (no matter the quality), then this is for you.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

From watching Lydia right from the beginning on YouTube to see her blossoming now is such a pleasure to see. This woman is such an inspiration. She will never know how much she's helped me and many others in dark days.
This book is so powerful and beautifully stunning. Everyone needs abit of evergreen in their lives 🌿💚

[Jess Wren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book with so many exclamation marks !!!

[Taylor Constantino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will be a yearly read! 🌿

[Leeana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve watched Lydia for years on YouTube and jumped at the chance to pre order this book ❤️

I listened to this via Audible and was obsessed from the beginning. I felt like I related to every chapter and loved how Lydia has reminded us all to find the beauty in natures quirks. This book was beautifully written and told by a voice that is both calm and eloquent. Her words spoke over me like no other book has before.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will start saying that I really liked the concept of the book. I think she did a great job at talking about her life throughout the years and intertwining her issues with the seasons so that in the end it’s some sort of guide. I also believe that you need to like these sorts of things and be in the right place to appreciate this kind of book. It’s not for everyone. Lydia has a lot of haters and in this book she simply wanted to tell what she learnt, how she coped, how she changed, what she let go of and what she ci see to focus on these days. She is definitely no writer in the sense we can think of a Jane Austen, and you can tell. I felt that the writing had some issues, especially the punctuation because it wasn’t used well. At this point, I wonder what editor she got because this could have definitely been corrected. This is probably the thing I appreciated the least and simply because it could have been easily improved.
Maybe it’s not worth the full price but the book is beautifully made and the drawings are lovely, which needs to be taken into consideration.
I would recommend it if you like the idea of the seasons and living more consciously by appreciating your surroundings - it does help you look at things from another perspective. However, at the same time, don’t have too high hopes.

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slow, quiet book with light self-help advice, a bit of humour, and some touching autobiographical details from the author’s life.

The books works it’s way through the seasons, highlighting ways of improving your life, with metaphors for each season. It then summarizes the suggestions in point form.

It has a few recipes aligned with each of the seasons. I have picked up my local parsnips and I am looking forward to making the parsnip soup recipe.

The book printing quality is high, the illustrations are gorgeous (and the front & end papers), and the content feels like a warm, gentle hand on your own. It would make a lovely Christmas gift.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a nature therapist this should be right up my street, but I found myself disappointed by the fluffy conversational tone (so! many! exclamation marks!). I didn't learn anything from this and was frustrated by the author's lack of professional knowledge and obvious privilege (she writes that she spends December drinking champagne, not exactly relatable). If I was to sum this up in a word, it would be....basic.

[Emma O Malley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did really want to like this book but I felt that the quotes were overused and slightly redundant at time. Lydia is lovely and while I am sure she is trying to be motivating and helpful, at times it felt a little preachy.

[Femke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aesthetically a very beautiful book, but it's a lot of empty words.

[Jenb16 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like a warm hug. I’ve followed Lydia Millen for years, and have always admired her classy style and impecable taste. This book is aesthetically gorgeous on the outside, filled with beautiful hand-drawn images of flowers, herbs, and leaves. The cover, a gorgeous evergreen, embossed with gold leaves, is just stunning for a coffee table book or to add to your collection. The contents of this book are absolutely inspiring and make you instantly feel good, as Lydia navigates the different seasons and what inspires the most joy for her personally, throughout the various seasons. She includes motivational prompts for each season, and even various recipes. I absolutely loved this “Hygge” read and will revisit this each season to get inspired! This book is a 5/5 for the cozy, warm feeling it gave me while reading, and how much I looked forward to picking it up!

“There’s a reason why there are fewer evergreens in this world than trees that lose their colour throughout the year, after all. But that commitment to finding colour year-round? Even if those colours sometimes look faded. That dedication to growing? However long it takes. That resilience that builds thicker leaves? Even though they were born out of discomfort. That consistency of spirit is what sets evergreens apart. And it’s consistency of spirit which no storm can break”.

[Kirstie Mamo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn to this book firstly through it's pretty cover, but also throughout the entire read..it kept making me smile. There's so many life lessons to take away from this book, simply be just looking and venturing out in nature, however what struck me most was that we are never throughly alone because nature is with us 💚

Seasons are nature's most powerful tool for us to use as guidance..something so obvious that we might continuously overlook. The fact that i've come more in tune with this will undoubtedly change the way I view life in general...and for the better 🍃

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d give this 2.5 stars. I enjoy Lydia’s long form content and her style has influenced me a ton, but this book was a miss for me. While I appreciate the effort and enjoyed listening to her narrate the book, I felt it missed the mark in several key ways. First, it felt very surface level and pedestrian even though I think she thought she was offering helpful insight? There were many missed opportunities for her to go deeper into the hard moments she traversed and to show the reader rather than just tell us. Thus, it felt like the advice tidbits in the form of “applying evergreen thinking” often fell flat. Second, the purpose of the book felt confusing: a log form blog post across seasons mixed with some random advice that she’s trying to give, with some recipes sprinkled in? Not sure of the overall point… I’m sure she put a lot of effort into it and it represents her best, but it was an overall miss for me. I probably enjoyed the 5th chapter the most, but it’s not something I’ll come back to. I’ll stick to her lifestyle vlogs when I need escapism!

[Megan Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mix between Brene Brown and James Smith’s books

[Natty Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Kylie Plett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a super cute book that I love to read throughout the year, every year. As the seasons change it’s a reminder to embrace all the season has to bring, and whatever change it may bring!

[Maisie · Rating 1 out of 5]

god i hate this book
personally i change with the seasons, so the title being 'evergreen' shouldve been a warning
i will be letting the leaves fall off my tree this autumn, not thinking about how autumn is just like lydias failed beauty business 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Lydia and her very beautiful life style. With her way of loving nature and her love for each and every season, this book really has inspired and motivated me to continue loving long walks each and every season. However, I did feel like her book was very repetitive towards the end.

[Mrs Tracy]

Absolute trash how on earth can she call herself an author. Better stick to her day job if you can call it that!

[Natalie Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having dipped in and out of Lydia's vlogs over the years when reading the book I could 'hear' Lydia's voice and saw her personality and quirks coming through. There were a fair few contradictory statements in the book and honestly the tips were nothing new having read and listened to different 'self help' 'healing journey ' books and podcasts over the years. I didn't feel like I got to know anything new about Lydia herself and all the things we are told to try and apply to our own lives I'm sure everyone already does. I did enjoy the illustrations and recipes though and feel that a lot of the negativity surrounding the book is purely aimed at the author as aposed to the content.

[Savannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had never heard of Lydia Allen when I picked up this book, but was intrigued by the title. However, I struggled to get into it. I didn't find the writer very relatable and I tuned out even more once she started to discuss her thousands of followers online, since that whole section made the book suddenly make sense as a potential advertisement for her work and another piece of content rather than a piece of writing with the depth I had hoped for from initially flicking through.

For full disclosure I did not finish reading the book, so the rating only reflects how I felt about reading around a quarter of the book and flicking through the rest.

The illustrations on the front cover and inside covers are pretty (although yes they have more to do with the publisher and illustrator than the author). I did think there was potentially some promise in the structure -- personal stories in subsections under each season (e.g. a time a friend encouraged her to get into walking, questions she asked herself when setting a new goal like "who am I doing this for?", etc) followed by some seasonal summaries with a few recipes and things to look forward to.

But I did find the latter quite basic -- e.g. a paragraph, a few sentences long, on what to look out for in autumn starts with "Muddy puddles!", and finishes with the changing colour of autumn leaves, with only autumn harvests, blackberries and fireworks in between. It's okay to be obvious sometimes, but she doesn't really do anything else with these lists.

I don't feel inspired or guided to reconnect with the seasons like the blurb suggests. There are some longer lists of suggestions with a bit more substance to them under sections titled "Applying Evergreen Thinking" at the end of each main subsection to the text, but in my opinion they could be structured or formatted a little better as they read a bit like attempts to squash in very watered down self-help advice to tick a box rather than to make a real impact with the suggestions.

It's interesting that each seasonal summary includes a short "seasonal fragrance" section where she includes mentions of her favourite (expensive, synthetic) perfumes. To me, those few short lines read with a bit more passion than the nature sections, although I'm not a big fan of unexpected advertising like that. If you're a fan of Lydia Millen already or think you might relate to her content, by all means you might enjoy this book (and the perfumes).

However, if you're looking for a bit more depth on the nature side than seeing the phrases "Pink Moon" (sounds nice but what is it?) and "red wine season" as things to look forward to, then you might find this book a bit too superficial. I definitely hoped for more substance. As other reviews have said, it reads like a journal. Overall it doesn't really give the feel of self help or nature writing if you're looking for those kinds of things. It almost feels harsh to give it just one star because the concept could have worked so well, but I really didn't find it very well written or engaging for me, personally.

--

Books I prefer in this "seasonal" style are:
- Slow Seasons by Rosie Steer, which is another personal kind of book but also has a lot for readers to sink their teeth into when it comes to seasonal crafts, baking, and some references to the Celtic traditions around connecting with nature.

- A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden which contains a lot of detailed illustrations of species that the writer-illustrator saw throughout the months.