This book took me a while to get into but once I was in there was no leaving especially at the end. With all the different twists and turns it was a really good book to read. The meaning of the book was much deeper than portrayed on the pages.

Very good book, perfect read for the xmas holidays! Easy to read, man narrative is different from other books. I really enjoyed it from the beginning couldn’t wait how it will end. Ben’s situation can be any of us, very easy to sympathise with it. Struggling with work/personal life and lack of deep friendships. But he realises his mistakes from the past.

As soon as I hear about this book I bumped it up my TBR list. I did enjoy the Christmas element but didnt think the story was very original and I didnt really take to the main male character. Readable but not as good as I thought it would be.

This is an easy read so I raced through it. It wasn't at all what I was expecting with it's touch of magic and time travel. It is charming, thoughtful, even sad and poignant at times. Told from a male point of view, gave it a different feel to the usual romance novel. A modern Christmas Carol with a festive feel, it's a solid 3* from me.

Again Netgalley has given me the opportunity to read a book that I wouldn't normally have picked up, a romance written from a male perspective.
Loosely based on Dicken's Christmas Carol Ben, whose marriage to Daphne is on the verge of failing, is given the chance to go back in time to review life defining moments on Christmas Eve over the years. He first revisits the first time that he met Daphne and then hops forwards to other Christmas Eves and slowly realises the reasons behind his issues and how they affect his relationship with Daphne and his other friends.
It did make me think back over my own life and how decisions made at the time, for right or wrong, changed the direction of my life.
I ended up really enjoying this book, to the detriment of my sleep as I just had to finish it and then reflect on the story.
Thanks again to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, however it did not influence my review.

A book that is exactly what it says on the tin - the protagonist has a chance to relive key memories in his relationship and see if he made the right choice of partner.

It’s a good story that flows well, but no surprises here or key moments. Enjoyable but not one to reread.

What a truly delightful read! As a massive fan of a Christmas Carol I had high expectations for this book and it certainly didn't disappoint. Reading it over the festive period just enhanced the charm. The story was written so well that I was totally engrossed from start to finish. I foresee this being under quite a lot of Christmas trees.

It's unusual for me to read a drama based on romantic relationships written by a man and narrated by a man but I loved it.
This is a time traveller/ A Christmas Carol type of set up and luckily not at all confusing in this format.
The conclusion is, of course, inevitable but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey and would loved to have followed the lives of Ben and Daphne even further.

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.

This book is different than the usual non-fiction romance. Firstly the protagonist is a male ... you can tell this in the way he thinks and feels throughout the book also. It was refreshing to have a romance in the point of view of someone other than a female. However, I also didn’t like some parts of the read as it felt like the character was being ‘overly stereotypical male’, e.g. the cheating and him having to have a Christmas carol type revelation to know something he already should. It annoyed me a little. Despite this I did read the book in under two days. The story is about Ben who is not enjoying life and questioning whether he made the right choices growing up. He goes back to key points in his life so he can get a different perspective and see what he has been taking for granted. I don’t think I’d read again but it’s a nice cosy read for winter.

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.