Great idea, and I thought he captured the female voice well, while the 90s setting was excellent. I found the plot a little predictable but it was still very entertaining.

The blurb for this book is misleading in that it only tells you half the story (well two thirds to be precise). This is indeed a time travelling tale, but there’s also a bizarre detour in the final third of the book which unfortunately spoiled it for me.

Kate Marsden is grieving for the love of her life, her late husband Luke. They had been together for 28 years since they met on their first day at University in 1992. It’s fair to say Kate is not handling Luke’s death from a brain tumour well. Her life has descended into drunken, dishevelled chaos and she is barely holding onto her job as an ORM operative (someone who reconfigures someone’s online presence to erase anything awful they’ve done in the past). In the depths of her grief Kate decides she’s had enough and is going to take matters into her own hands. It thought this part of the book was very well written and acutely observed, portraying Kate’s grief sympathetically but with a touch of humour and pathos.

In the second part of the book, as a result of her actions in the first, Kate finds herself waking up in her University digs in 1992. She hatches a plan to meet Luke again for the first time and warn him about the brain tumour so that he can do something about it. I really enjoyed the nostalgia and humour in this part of the book (especially when Kate does meet Luke and realise, with all the hindsight and wisdom of a middle-aged woman, that he’s actually a bit of a prat...).

So, if the first two thirds of the book had a bit of a David Nicholls feel to them, the final part, which involves a (to my mind) silly and unnecessary subplot involving Russian gangsters which was hinted at in Part 1 and which I’d hoped had gone away (but unfortunately not) is more reminiscent of a Jasper Fforde/Malcolm Pryce vibe, and I’m not the right reader for that type of story. I guess that, this being Robert Webb, I should have known better than to expect a conventional linear storyline, but for me it was a real shame that the humour, empathy and nostalgia I enjoyed so much in the first two thirds of the book were spoiled by this quirky but downright daft plot twist. That said, I know it will appeal to a lot of other readers.

A really enjoyable first novel from of my favourite comedians, Robert has an excellent writing style, and I thoroughly enjoyed this as much as his previously published autobiography About a boy. Looking forward to Robert’s next novel, and wish him continued good health

Brilliant. I laughed and cried my way through this book. I loved the idea of going back in time and I loved the characters and their stories. A wonderful story that is definitely worth reading.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Second chance at first impressions... and at changing the future.

3.5 but rounded up.

I was impressed from the start at actor/comedian Webb's innate ability to transfer his humour to the page. And mixed in with the pathos, despair and outright heartbreak of a death and the pain of grief... a combination that you wouldn't expect a debut author to excel at.
"'Hey Siri,' she said flatly... 'Wake me up around four so I can do myself in.'"

Yet Kate's mental torment is evident, from the pit of her living space to her apathy at work, the constant berating of herself for not noticing the signs of a long-dormant brain abnormality. She just doesn't care anymore, the Luke she's loved since they were students is gone, and she plans on following him.

But one day she wakes up in... a room she lived in as a student nearly three decades ago..? Before she even met Luke. But not before he already had an abnormality growing in his head. Is there something she can do about that?

What we have here then is the ultimate wish-fulfilment. The chance to have a second crack at life and love. The story begins in the contemporary world with Kate's IT job (to play a role in Act 3) and friends trying to help her out of her misery. We have to just accept the time-jump and can then allow ourselves to enjoy not only the references to the 90s student world of no mobiles, music and cultural references, but the view of a middle-aged woman (probably reflective of many readers) as she sees her darling lifelong mate and all her friends back when they were condescending, optimistic teenagers, meeting for the first time.

There is a lot to smile at, and I loved how Kate sees people differently with her life-experienced eyes, how things move in slightly different directions and actions she takes knowing what she now knows. It'll take you back to that time in your life when you felt you knew everything and knew just where life was going to take you. Ha!

I felt Act 2 was actually too brief, we move quickly through meeting Luke, and Kate's friends, bringing her circle into completion, and then too quickly for my liking Act 3 took over, and seemed to almost be from a completely different book. I won't offer up any plot points here, though a lot is hinted at before these scenes so you can guess what might be the ultimate destination. It also doesn't make it any less frenetic and fun. Webb brings out a lot of comedy in the final act, and despite the change of genres and lack of answers (some things changed in the past weren't reflected), it does tie storylines up.

There are some nicely characterised secondary characters, Webb clearly enjoyed created some slightly annoying but still likeable friends for Kate. Luke himself was actually a little disappointing - we see the rose-tinted version of Kate's memories but only an awkward and not hugely personable student back in 1992, compared to martial-artist Kate and the zany crew of comrades she quickly forms around herself.

I hope Webb continues down the fiction path, this was a great concept for a novel, and though not perfect, was still wonderfully readable and would also make a great TV mini-series. Fans of the actor will want to give this a go. It's a great light read for slightly dark days, something to take you out of your living rooms.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really enjoyed Webb's first book and so was looking forward to reading his first foray into fiction. The writing style was a little bit stilted in places and I think Webb might have been better off choosing a male protagonist for his first attempt - Kate has a slight air of Manic Pixie Dream Girl about her - but the narrative was engaging and kept me guessing right till the end. I also liked that Webb didn't really attempt to explain the more mystical elements of the plot, instead leaving it to the reader's imagination. The story itself is fairly unique, although obviously owes much to Back To The Future and perhaps Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. All in all, a promising debut.

Kate is devastated after the loss of her husband who she met at University, and is close to taking her own life some months after her loss. Her life is a mess, she is shutting everyone out and drinking heavily. She has resigned from her job over some bad decisions made by her boss, who she has also known since her Uni days.
When she wakes up in her old Uni accommodation and sees her younger self in the mirror she tries to take the opportunity to save her husband’s life by making him aware of a medical condition neither of them knew he had.
The book jumps between current day and the past, but not to the detriment of the story. Her intentions do not go to plan, but she still tries to tell him that she is ‘the girl from the future’ that becomes his wife. Of course he doesn’t believe her, but whilst in the past she sees other people from her current life and this changes the way she sees them.
Enjoyed the twists and turns as the story reaches the end far too quickly,, and enjoyed the humour throughout.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

I had hesitated to read as I worried it might be heartbreaking, but if anything it is the opposite - a life affirming and quirky read with some strange twists.

I was laughing a lot at this book even as it dealt with grief in truthful ways.

Like a lot of high concept stories the ending needed to work, and this one did for me. Things got perhaps a bit too silly for me as it ramped up to the climax but things were brought back to a nice conclusion.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a funny and endearing read, really unexpected in the best ways. The magical time travel and the raw grief were done harmoniously and it made for this sort of book that could make you laugh and want to cry but while still remaining light-hearted enough to be a fun read. Great work from Webb, I'll enjoy looking for another book by him!

Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion

If you're looking for a book where you will never-ever second guess what's going to happen next, then actor and comedian Robert Webb's debut novel, Come Again, is the one for you. I don't think I've read a book that takes me down so many genre paths in 300 pages!

And how to describe the genres? Well, we have a delicate and emotional story of a grieving, depressed widow that then takes a time-travelling twist, segues into an espionage thriller and has an ending that leaves you pondering.

When 45-year-old Kate Marsden looses her husband, Luke, her whole world crumbles. She is planning her suicide when she suddenly finds herself transported back in time to the exact moment she first met her husband. She is being given an opportunity to rewrite the course of her life - but will she? And that's only half the story...

Kate's intriguing job at an online reputation management company ('Her job was to rewrite history.') gives a great opportunity for Webb to make cutting references about today's digital fake culture and the rich, privileged people who think they can dictate their own narrative of events (loved the sly Prince Andrew reference too!). Kate's job also provides the high-octane second half to the narrative when she discovers some seriously shady happenings by her boss and has to do something about it.

Come Again is wonderfully written. It has some lovely turn of phrase, ('the twenty-eight-year conversation was a few hours old') which makes it a delight to read and clever repetition draws the story threads together, such as a version of the opening sentence that appears later: 'She woke with her mouth forming a single word. 'Shit.''

Robert Webb's memoir, How Not to be a Boy, is one of my favourite celeb bios, his unique tone of voice comes across loud and clear throughout and I could hear that same voice in Come Again's story. This immediately endeared me to the book. From his political views to his thoughts on gender identity (that he explored in his memoir) it felt like there were a lot of autobiographical points in Come Again, which made it even more enjoyable for me.

Exciting, clever, funny and with a lot of insightful observations, Come Again is not the book I thought it was going to be. But I mean that in the best way possible. Kate is a great character, we go through so much with her and she feels so real. I'd happily read the next instalment of Kate's life. And while, yes, the narrative does mean you have to suspend your disbelief at points, just go with the flow; let yourself get swept up in the story and you'll finish feeling both heart-warmed and exhilarated.

Oh this was a really lovely read.
Kate is coming to terms with the sudden death of her husband. He died of a tumour which he had for as long as they knew each other. Her only solace is that she gets to see him in her dreams. Then one day she falls asleep and finds herself back at the start of their relationship and she wonders if she can do something different this time round.
It’s such a lovely story. Characters were really likeable. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was not sure about this book in the beginning but got into it fairly quickly although I did not enjoy the toing and froing from between the eras. Eventually I did get used to that and got my head around it and found it interesting the way Kate wanted to change the past to help her husband Luke in the future but things did not go according to the plan and I could visualise her frustration which I found amusing. Kate’s husband died in his forties and she went into a complete decline then one day she woke up feeling as if she was back in the past and could save her husband but, of course, he had to believe her and that was not an easy task. The book carries on in the same vain and travels along in a pace I did not expect. Kate has taken a document which proves a Russian connection with her ex boss and decides to give investigate. This proves an exciting way to end the book and I loved the way she uses her karate and driving skills. No more to say as do not want to spoil the end. Fab story

Kate Marsden is grieving. She is grieving hard. Her husband of 28 years – Luke – has just died of a brain tumour and all she wants to do is to join him on the other side.

However, when life gives her a second chance with Luke form the day she first met him at university Kate does everything in her power to save his life. Yet it comes at a cost.

Okay, so this was a risky little story for me because I am not a fan of Groundhog Day and I get myself well stressed out with time travel movies (except Back to the Future). I get really confused and my brain starts to melt a little bit when presented with this kind of story. However, Webb created a story in which the technicality of time travel or other dimensions is secondary to the heart of the story which is the relationship, the love story.

Come Again is broken down in to three parts and I will admit by the third part I was a little unsure as to where the story was going but there is an overriding element of fun that kept me reading. That is definitely the best way to describe Come Again – fun. If you can suspend your disbelief then you will definitely enjoy it.

Come Again by Robert Webb is available now.

For more information regarding Robert Webb (@arobertwebb) please visit his Twitter page.

For more information regarding Canongate Books (@canongatebooks) please visit www.canongate.co.uk.

Kate Marsden is grieving losing her husband Luke. She's shut herself away from her friends and has lost her purpose in life.
It took a while to get inside this story, mainly because I wanted to shake Kate into getting back into living. But warm to her, I did. Robert Webb brings his comedy eye to pinpoint accuracy reliving Kate's uni days and providing realism is suspended, this is an enjoyable read.

I really liked this, although it wasn't what I expected. I would have given 5 stars but the middle, and most important part could have been a lot longer with more justification for the final part. And the epilogue just didn't sit right for me.
But the whole thing was so easy to read and I will be recommending it.

A beautiful and magical tale of grief.

Come Again tells the story of Kate, the IT department head for a company that does Online Reputational Management. Basically, they are responsible to make bad press ''disappear'' using SEO and other algorithms, so when you search someone on Google, the bad stuff will be far back and a lot of new shiny and interesting information will appear on top.

But, Kate has been struggling a lot lately, she's extremely depressed after she lost her husband of 28 years. Luke had a brain tumor, one that was barely noticeable and that grew and grew symptomless until he collapsed on their kitchen floor after unloading the dishwasher.

Now, Kate has come across a new file at work that is a game-changer of epic proportions, only if she could care about anything other than drinking herself to sleep.

Come Again is divided into three parts, the first one (described briefly above) is the set-up of: here's Kate, this is why she is grieving and not coping, also, some crazy stuff happens at her job. This is the most emotional part and Robert Webb does a great job of immersing you in her story while adding some dry humor to keep this interesting.

Part 2 is where the element of magical realism/time-travel is introduced. On the night that Kate is giving up on her life she falls asleep instead to wake up on the exact night she met her husband when she was 18-years-old and attending the University of York.

Although this part didn't go quite the way I was expecting it to, it was refreshing and super funny to see Kate interacting with her young husband and friends. You see, she might have woken up in the body of an 18-year-old, but her brain is very much 45, and she had zero patience for the silly games these teenagers are playing, also - she's now back to 1992 and that means no cellphones, internet or any modern-day technologies.

Unfortunately, Part 3 is just not well executed at all. It seems like the parts are disjointed, almost like they could each be a story on their own, and then it fails to bring the different plots together in a satisfying resolution.

When Kate wakes up back in the present I was expecting the story to either: acknowledge the time-traveling element with consequences, i.e. she changed the current timeline, she altered something important, etc. Or, (and this is what I would have preferred) this is a way that her brain helped her cope and understand that she was seeing her husband through rose-tinted glasses and that she is alive and needs to move on.

However, we're thrown into a James-Bond-style car chase that doesn't really fit the mellow and deep tone of the story so far, and then we get an explanation for Luke that just doesn't make sense - not even in sci-fi, not even in common time-traveling tropes.

I do have to praise the writing though - many times Come Again made me laugh out loud or have tears in my eyes. It was beautifully nostalgic and I highlighted many quotes that will definitely stick with me for a while. And even though the book didn't quite take the paths I was expecting (or wanted) it was certainly gifted with bright pockets of cleverness and wisdom.

Found it hard to get into this book- I didn't gel with it. Might give it another go later. Sometimes hearing the author's voice is not a good thing

Wow this is a beautiful novel and not at all what I was expecting from Robert Webb. This isn't a comedy (although there are funny bits) but is a story filled with love, loss and wonder that brought me to tears. This is a book that will melt even the hardest of hearts and bring back your faith in love and also the value of life and memories. Some times a do over isn't all it's cracked up to be and it can take a momentous event to remind you of who you are and what matters in life. Life is for the living and even in your deepest grief you can change things around

"They had not divorced. They were together. He had died but now he was alive. Her husband was alive. And she could save him. What was lost could be found. The slightly problem was that he didnt know that he was lost. Katie relaxed back into her pillow. I will play it cool, I'll play it really cool"

Do you ever have a book that you carry around with you because you can't stop reading it?? That's the type of book this one is. I read it in bed, I read it in the bathroom, I balanced it weirdly while heating up food in the kitchen. It was great and addictive and every single page put a smile on my face.

It's the perfect balance of an endearing love story, a far-fetched backwards version of the 13 going on 30 time swap, a Russian spy action film with all of Robert Webb's hilarious dry humour peppered in.

Webb really did put his best foot forward with this one. I loved every single second I spent reading it. 5/5.

This was a very entertaining book - not what I expected from the description of a widow (Kate) grieving after the death of her husband Luke. Kate was a great character - realistically angry at the world, annoyed at her friends trying to help and missing her husband intensely. I really enjoyed the unexpected travel back into 1992, where she meets Luke for the first time at York University. The feelings of first love, excitement at being at university and a hefty whack of 90s nostalgia will amuse anyone with a similar experience. Kate desperately tries to meet Luke again, as she did before, but of course it goes wrong. I couldn't put it down at this point, wanting to know what happened next. The final part of the story gets a little silly for my taste, with dramatic coincidences and chases, but it was still well written and enjoyable. I really enjoyed Webb's writing and characterisation, and would recommend this book.