Ben and Daphne have been together since University but, now in their early thirties, they find that their relationship has become strained and tense. Ben starts to wonder how his life might have turned out differently if he'd have made different decisions back when he and Daphne first met.


On Christmas Eve Daphne goes out for drinks with her colleagues and Ben goes to the pub with his old friend Harv. Though Ben and Harv don't typically have deep conversations, Ben vaguely hints at his relationship issues and is overheard by a guy at the next table, who proceeds to try and sell him a watch. Ben eventually goes home, drinks the expensive bottle of red that Daphne had bought for their Christmas Day visitors and passes out in the attic.


When he wakes it is December 2005. In a nod to Dickens' ghost of Christmas past, he is given the opportunity to relive certain key moments in his life. But will he end up regretting any past decisions or will he realise that he ended up with the right woman all along?


Sprinkled with a liberal dose of magical realism, we are swept along on Ben's journey of self-discovery. From the crucial way he misremembered the first night he met Daphne to his emotional reunion with his late mum, by living certain moments slightly differently to how he originally lived them he comes to some important realisations.


In the present, Ben struggles with the idea that his wife is more professionally successful than he is and that he has not lived up to his own high expectations and that of his estranged father. The way that this idea impacts on their marriage is devastating. The author cleverly analyses the workings of a very long term relationship and through the course of the book we see how it doesn't take a vast amount of miscommunication to turn a marriage from happy to the opposite. Even potentially adulterous.


Despite Ben's possibly cheating ways Ellen has created a warm, and hugely likeable character in our main protagonist and, increasingly as the book progresses, in Daphne too. I became utterly emotionally invested in the story from the outset and found I was completely unable to predict the eventual outcome, which kept me hungrily turning the pages until I'd read the final word.

I sad cried, I happy cried, I laughed and nodded along, I had to stop myself from shouting at my Kindle in places, and at times I read it through my fingers. I know which book I'll be gifting to all of my friends next Christmas. It gets all of the stars from me!

It got to the 21st December and I realised I'd been reading far too many psychological thrillers and I hadn't read anything festive... Well 24 hours later I'd devoured All About Us.

Ben met Alice and Daphne at uni, both of them liked him but only one of them got the chance to kiss him during a game of sardines, they found him first and that sets his life on a certain path

Nearly 20 years later, Ben is dissatisfied with his life and wondering if he let the right girl kiss him.

Then the Christmas magic starts. An old man in a pub gives Ben a watch, a watch that takes him on a journey of Christmas past, present and future a very modern yet heartfelt Christmas Carolesque tale.

It's a beautifully told story and one that I was completely absorbed in as I followed Ben's journey of self discovery.

Life is what you make it and you can change it!

Thanks Net galley for the opportunity to review this book this is my honest opinion.

This book pretty much is what is says in the blurb. So I am not going to be giving spoilers away here. A guy seemingly at the crossroad in life, wakes up back in time and finds himself in the position of having to re-evaluate his life. An enjoyable book, certainly worth reading.

I couldn’t put this book down I really enjoyed the characters and the premise.
A modern day version of a Christmas carol with more of a love story and it works really well especially when it’s just a few days from Christmas for me!

Many reviews have described this as a modern day Christmas Carol - and I’d totally agree.
The story starts with Ben wanting to open up to his friend about his relationship troubles! But he meets a man who leaves him with a watch! Before he knows it, he’s going back in time to relive specific days of his past! These days make him realise what he has in the present! A modern day Christmas Carol.
Such a lovely read. Thank you NetGalley.

What an absolute pleasure to read. This was a refreshing take on the trials and tribulations of relationships from a male perspective. If you like Cecilia Ahern and Jojo Moyes then you will love this. The character development and shifts in time added so much interest and intrigue. Thank you to Netgalley and the publish for an ARC of this exceptional book.

I requested an ARC of this book from NetGalley after seeing and hearing lots about this book and was super excited to receive a copy from them!

The book tells the story from the point of view of Ben, which is unusual for books that I have read recently as often they are written with a female protagonist. Ben is going through a rough patch with his wife Daphne. They have been together since their first year of University and Ben is starting to wonder if he made the wrong decision all those years ago and should have gotten with Alice. Alice stayed in the room next door and all through the first term they had a great time, with Ben thinking the end of term drama show would be the day they got together. However it was this day that he met Daphne and, he thinks, his life path changed. 

This is a modern retelling of A Christmas Carol with Ben heading to the pub after an argument with his wife one Christmas Eve where he meets a strange older man who gives him a broken watch as a gift. Once home, Ben finds a box full of things Daphne has kept over the years and then suddenly finds himself thrown back to that first night they met. He relives the events of the one day before getting thrown to another time in his life where he is able to learn lessons and see mistakes he made, or things he had forgotten about. 

While he learns from the past he also learns from Christmas present and Christmas future which makes him realise what, and who is really important to him. However is it too late to make the changes to the path he is currently going down?

I really enjoyed this story, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting but that is not to say that that was a bad thing! There are some tear jerking moments in this book but also parts that made me laugh. The characters are very believable with the right amount of information being given about them, without it being too much! 

This is a great read for the festive period but could also be enjoyed at other times of the year as well by those who enjoy contemporary romance!

Ben's marriage to Daphne is going through a rough patch and after meeting his old flame Alice he is left wondering whether he made the right choice all those years ago. After meeting an old man in the pub on Christmas Eve, who gives him a broken watch, he's taken on a magical journey of his past, present and future.

This book is a modern twist to a Christmas Carol and I loved it. It was a nice change reading from the man's perspective and I think that added to the feel of the book. It's well paced and easy to read. The parts of the story that he relived with his mum were really touching and my heart ached for him.

I liked the characters of Ben and Daphne, she seemed such a lovely person but overall all the characters were written well and brought depth to the book. I enjoyed that Ben, armed with hindsight, got to do over important moments in his life the right way even though this didn't directly affect his future it helped him realise how he wanted his future to be.

This is definitely one to read! and not just for Christmas

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ for the ARC

An unusual book about a man whose marriage was under strain and whose thoughts keep returning to an old flame. Suddenly he wakes up back at the beginning and has to choose, again, which of his 2 loves he will marry. Will he go down the same path or not??

All About Us is a fantastic read centered around Ben and a Daphne, a couple together since university and now married. Ben is feeling the grass is greener and would his life be better with another girl he met at university at the same time. On meeting a mysterious old man on Christmas Eve who gifts him a watch that doesn’t work, Ben realises the watch is a “time travel capsule” which throws him to various days past and future. Ben only gets to stay until 11.59 pm when he is yet again thrown to another time. Time travel is not always the way Ben remembers things happening and he often has to face the reality that a lot of things were his fault for being selfish, childish and self centered. This is a very cleverly written book with fantastic characters which means you want to hear their stories and what happens to them. Time travel makes Ben completely re-evaluate his life but which path will he choose!

A great book from start to finish.

This is a modern take on A Christmas Carol, a story I have always loved. It certainly is an interesting take on a classic.

Ben is struggling with his life and love and is given the opportunity, although he doesn't realise it, to visit the past, present and future. Ben annoyed me intensely at times, he really did need a good shake. The characters for me were slightly lacklustre and I found it hard to really engage with them.

This one for me, unfortunately, didn't quite hit the mark. The story itself seemed very long-winded and I just wanted it to get on; it felt really laboured at times.

This was a cute story and nice to read just before Christmas, it has a time travel element to it that enabled Ben to review his key moments with fresh eyes and to see what he missed first time round. Makes you think about really appreciating those key people around you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I had heard a lot about this book so was desperate to read it, thanks to netgalley and the author for the advance copy. It certainly didn’t disappoint! I read this in 2 evenings! A modern take on A Christmas Carol, this is a book that includes every single emotion! I’d definitely recommend it

I’d heard so much about this book I was desperate to see for myself what all the fuss was about. All I can say is that it is a brilliantly written book, amazing characterisation and a lovely story. If you loved One day in December by Josie Silver you are guaranteed to adore this.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.

All About Us is a modern love story, with a twist. Think 'One Day meets A Christmas Carol'.

Ben is married to Daphne, but his marriage isn't going so well and in the depths of his doubts, Ben wonders if his life would be any different if he'd gotten together with Alice, his uni girlfriend. After an argument with his wife one Christmas Eve, Ben heads to the pub and is given a broken watch by a weird guy wearing a reindeer tie and suddenly Ben finds himself being thrown back to Christmases past, where he can spend one day, before he is thrown into another time period to learn about where it all went wrong.

In the past, Ben learns many lessons, but not as many as he learns from Christmas present and Christmas future.

He soon realises what he must do and more importantly, who he is truly meant to be with if he is to be in any way shape or form, happy at all, but can he make the changes and persuade the woman of his dreams, that it's all about them?

I really enjoyed this story. There are some heartbreaking truths that Ben must face, but there were also laugh out loud comedy moments, that really made me smile. The author creates the different time zones Ben visits with perfection and it's weird being reminded of stuff that used to be so familiar, but no longer is. The author is very adept at describing Ben's thoughts and emotions and he really comes alive on the page, which is great because we stay in his POV all the way through. The secondary characters are well drawn and perfectly compliment Ben as he stumbles his way through his life, meeting people he's long forgotten about, as well as more important ones such as his dead mum (which really makes your heart ache for him!)

I highly recommend this story for all lovers of contemporary romance. And if you like a bit of time travel too? All the better!

All the feels!

I've just finished reading this and honestly I want to re-read it all again.

I'd describe it as the modern day Christmas Carol with a wonderful touch of romance.

If you're in a relationship then I guarantee this is a story that will have you thinking about your own actions, perhaps things aren't all as they first seem. Because every action causes a reaction that might not always lead you down the path you think you want to walk on.

All About Us is a beautifully written tale.

Almost poetic.

And most definitely all about love.

Not necessarily a book that will have you reaching for the tissues but an emotional telling none the less.

If it isn't already then this should be on your TBR list for 2020

An enchanting magical love story about the decisions we make that shape our lives and if it was possible to go back in time, would we change the choices we originally made, if we did would we continually make the same mistakes or learn from them.

It’s Christmas Eve 2020 and Ben is out drinking with his best friend, he is stuck in a rut with his wife Daphne. He fears that they have fallen out of love and wonders what life would have been like if he had chosen old flame Alice, when they were at University.

Ben is approached by a man selling watches, he gives him a watch that is stuck at one minute to midnight. The man had overheard Ben try and tell his friend how he feels. He tells him ,

“ You start to wonder about the bad decisions you’ve made in life, don’t you? Or the wrong turnings you might have taken and whether you could go back and change things - Would you?”

Ben gets a chance with the help of the watch to see Christmas past, present and future. Will he change anything?

I absolutely fell in love with this beautifully written book. I felt quite emotional reading this, especially about Ben and his mother. The Christmas present shows be careful what you wish for as you might just get it. I cried, I laughed and felt every emotion possible!!

It really made me think about what I would change if I went back in time and had the chance to see my lost love ones!!

Thank you for my copy in exchange for a review.

All About Us is such a delightful book, it is a perfect and uplifting romantic story for the Christmas season.

It ended up being slightly different than I was expecting from the description, in a really great way, so I don't want to give anything away. Well-written and truly delightful to read, it did follow a somewhat formulaic structure, and then ending was happy and a bit predictable. Despite that, I could not put this book down and ended up reading the whole thing in one day. All About Us at its core is about Ben's journey of self-discovery, and it's an amazing one, full of all the feelings - love, joy, delight, sadness, regret, grief, happiness. Over the course of this book Ben learns so much about himself and the people he loves, and it leads to so much growth.

I laughed and cried, and was happy and sad.

This is a great read for people who love romantic comedy type stories like Yesterday and Love Actually, and uplifting books like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and The Flatshare.

Ben is unsatisfied with his life. He had expected to be a writer, as his estranged father is a well known playwright but things haven’t worked out like he expected them to. He is married to Daphne who has a successful career, but they are going through a rough patch. Back into his life comes Alice, an old girlfriend from Uni; he begins to wonder what life would have been like if he’d got together with Alice rather than Daphne. On Christmas Eve, while drowning his sorrows in a pub, an elderly gent sells him a watch he doesn’t want and that’s stopped at one minute to midnight. Then begin a series of jumps in time starting back in 2003 when he first kissed Daphne.

This reminds me of a cross between A Christmas Carol and Mitch Albom books but with an up to date setting.. I really enjoyed the premise, of being able to go back to significant days in your life, and to be able to do things differently. Of all the characters I couldn’t like Ben until the future ‘time jump’ and then I was with him all the way. A really nice read, not just for Christmas but any time.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an ARC in return for an honest review.

This book was adorable. I really enjoyed it. I loved the Christmas Carol take on it. Poor Ben had no idea what was going on! He wasn't particularly likable at the start but you can't help rooting for him. Lovely festive read.