I've been a huge fan of Peep Show since my eldest sister first let me watch it way past my bedtime. I loved Webb's How Not to be a Boy when I listened to the audiobook last year, and I was so excited to see he was bringing a novel out this year

In Come Again we follow Kate, a 45 year old woman who's just lost her husband, Luke, to brain cancer. During her grief, and a wine-induced deep sleep, Kate is transported back to the day she and Luke met: on their first day of uni in 1992. Kate is given the opportunity to fall in love with her husband all over again, which at first she sees as a gift, but soon learns that going back in time is not as simple as she first thought

The book is split into 3 parts and I preferred the middle part the most by far: the part where Kate becomes 18 again. I loved the 90s setting, and Kate viewing her 19 year old friends and future husband through 18 year old eyes

The writing style of this book reminded me a lot of a couple of Mil Millington books I read when I was younger. It's not necessarily my favourite style of writing, but it and the humour did make me feel nostalgic for those books

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't entirely as I expected, and the ending panned out differently than I'd initially predicted, but not at all in a bad way

I'm afraid to say I did not enjoy this book. I admit it is not my normal style of read but I was determined to try something different.
It is a fast paced read with lively humour interspersed which made interesting reading but the premise of the story was not for me at all. Great book for holiday reading I would think and I would like to read other books by this author for the humour level just not the pointless plot line that I felt this one had.
Thank you to Canongate Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I enjoyed reading this book although the pace at which the story kept on changing jarred a little. The storyline is completely unbelievable, so much so that Webb directly asks for readers to suspend belief for the final ridiculous reveal. An enjoyable easy to read book however.

I loved Come Again. It was witty, very insightful and an extremely enjoyable read.

The plot is well explained in the publisher’s blurb: Kate’s husband Luke died nine months ago of a brain tumour which had been growing undetected since before the met in their teens. Now in her forties, she is sunk in grief, self-blame and depression and on the verge of suicide...which sounds unbearably grim, but Robert Webb manages to convey it with a light, readable, almost humorous touch while giving it real weight compassion and thoughtfulness.

Kate then suddenly wakes up with her middle-aged memories and consciousness in an eighteen year old body on her first morning at university, with an opportunity to fix Luke so they can have a long, long life together. However, this turns out to be anything but a Groundhog Day re-run, and Webb shows really sharp insight into how different young people whom you loved might seem once you are middle-aged. The last section is properly exciting and the whole thing sparkles with genuine humour and real emotion throughout.

It’s terrifically well done. Robert Webb writes extremely well, with excellent characterisation and really good dialogue. He knows how to say serious things in a witty way and never strays into sentimentality even though I found parts of this very affecting. He’s very sharp on contemporary mores, too; I liked this little exchange with the boss of an Online Reputation Management company:
“They’ll never believe you.”
“I’ve seen the evidence.”
“Evidence isn’t what it used to be.”

In short, I think Come Again is a great read which has some real, thoughtful content. Very warmly recommended.

I really liked the premise of this book, it is interesting to think about how we would do things if we went back in time. It is clever, very current, a modern tale for both sexes but just not my cup of tea in writing style, didn't quite engage with the characters. Think that is me, though, I might go back in time, read it and find it attracts me greatly. Give it a try.

I really enjoyed this book, so much so that I gobbled it up in less than 48 hours. It was a straightforward read with an engaging style, but had some real substance in the first part, when dealing with the effects of grief (which was exquisitely written). Being the same age as the principal character, and starting uni in the same year, no doubt made it even more my cup of tea. My only very minor quibble would be that the ending was very slightly anti-climactic, for me. I’d actively seek out any further fiction by this author, my suspicion is it’s going to get better and better.

This was something of a tale of two halves in many respects, as the feel of the narration in the ‘now’ and ‘then’ parts of the book were poles apart. It took me a while to get into as I found the ‘now’ parts harder to follow due to the extremities of Kate’s working life however her mood and coping mechanisms for dealing with her husbands death were well depicted. I got more into this when we went back in time to ‘then’, I thought this bit was really well thought out and the way Kate had to try to edit all she said and did combined with the 90s topical references worked well, I actually found ‘then’ more believable than ‘now’ strangely! Overall this has an element of sadness, humour, farce and love and if you don’t mind a fiction book that demands you suspend reality this is a very quirky read.

An interesting read . You are straight into the story of Kate, widowed and in a low place. I could really imagine her despair when I read the descriptions of her life and her thoughts. The second part was a suprise and I could imagine the confusion felt by everyone in the situation (I don't want to say more because it is the crux of the story !) Kate's thoughts were believable in this situation and the descriptions of university life and York (my hometown) are very realistic
The third part was manic,fastmoving and a little confusing, but then in a good way. I really felt what Kate was feeling and it was a real page turner, couldn't put the book down ! ...... I liked the epilogue too , sometimes these can tie up all the loose ends too well, this one does leave you with stuff to think about.
This was a book which was enjoyable to read but also one which gets you thinking about choices in your life and what would have happened if you had done something different at an earlier stage in your life.
Thankyou to Net Galley, the author and publisher for a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I initially only requested this book because it was written by Robert Webb and I was interested to see what it was like, and boy am I glad I did. This is the best book I have read in a while and I absolutely loved the characters!

The story follows Kate after the death of her husband Luke when Kate is really struggling with life. What follows is very difficult to describe without giving away the story, but I can say there is time travel, romance, friendship and courage, along with a really crazy ending (but a good one)! It makes you think about what you valued in your teenage years, and how different those values may be if you went back knowing what you know now.

Everyone needs to buy a copy of this book, it really is amazing, a real rollercoaster ride!

A book that goes through a number of transformations. It starts off as a 'One Day' style story about a grief stricken widow. Then we get a bit of 'Time Traveller's Wife' a she goes back to when she first met her husband, then we go all John Le Carre with spies and Russians - and then back to 'One Day' with a Stephen Hawking twist.

It is a bit of a chameleon, perhaps to the extent that having finished it I am not quite sure how to classify it. If you can suspend reality and have room in your heart for a karate kicking, time travelling, baddy bashing, rom com then this is the book for you.

“Come Again”, by Robert Webb (yes ‘that’ one), is described as the story of a grieving widow, Kate. Her husband and partner of decades dropped dead from a tumour no-one knew about. In the blurb, it talks about time travelling and putting right what once went wrong, which is frankly right up my Quantum Leap alley.

Except that’s not quite what you get. All of that is there, yes, but there’s a sub plot about deep fakes and Russia which makes it feel a bit like two books mashed into one. I enjoyed both but didn’t get enough of either, quite honestly.


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I liked the premise, and there are *SPOILERS* ahead, so please look away from this paragraph if you don’t want to know the details of the story….
Kate goes back in time, whether through drunken stupor fantasy or in real life, to the day she met her husband in the first week of university. She realises that the middle aged woman in an 18 year old body does not feel the same as the first time around, and in fact, Luke is kind of a dick. Her best friend and the man who has pined after their whole lives, Toby, is suddenly so much more attractive. I thought that was really interesting – it’s not a live happily ever after story, it’s a recognition that experience and life comes to us all whether we like it or not, and actually, the love of your life twenty years ago might not be the love of your life the second time around.
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I liked Kate as a character, and thought the deep fake, ethics of her job as someone who makes internet scandals disappear for less than savoury customers, was really interesting. I would like to see another book with her in it, to be honest, and preferably without the lovey dovey stuff now we’ve got that out of the way. It made me think of Kate Atkinson’s hapless, wrong place/right time ex copper character, Jackson Brodie.

I haven’t read Webb’s first book, ‘How not to be a boy’, and I think I would like to, after this. His writing style, at least in fiction, is not quite my thing, but I did like some of the characterisation and some of the ideas were really interesting. Recommended for someone looking for something a bit different to the standard romcom/new start midlife crisis book.

As always, thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and Canongate for the access.

I loved Webb’s memoir/meditation ‘How Not to be a Boy’ about family, community and growing up, so a huge thank you to #Canongate and #NetGalley for a free download of ‘Come Again’, Webb’s debut novel due to be published in April 2020.
Kate Marsden met love of her life Luke on the first night of Freshers’ Week at York Uni twenty eight years ago. Dying in his 40s of a malignant brain tumour sends Kate into free-fall. She almost fatally neglects her health, her flat, her friends. And then she has a dream which transports her back to that fateful night. From middle age, she reassesses this godlike creature. And their lives are changed, forever. Fabulous ending...let it surprise you.
Web recreates the student scene wonderfully, from the music (REM) to the wobbly, sticky tables in the SU bar, impulsive gatherings in impossibly small study bedrooms, to the random formation of the oddest groups of friends.
If you enjoyed ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ or’Truly, Madly, Deeply’, you will romp through this.
Pretty unlikely contemporary thriller sections weaken the overall impact though.

I nearly gave up on this book 50 pages on because the plot was taking me nowhere near the blurb that had made me want to read in the first place. Instead of a story of a widow going back in time to try and warn her husband of the tumour that would kill him I’m into a story of USB sticks, Russian mafia and IT hacking. Not what I signed up for!!
See also the last 60 pages of the book where that story came to it’s conclusion in a taxi chas through London!!
However, the middle section. The bit I signed up for was great. The main character Kate is the same age as me and going back in time to her York university days took me on a complete nostalgia trip. Loved it. And loved the premise of a 45 yrpear old, with all her knowledge of the future going back to her past to try and change the outcome of her future. Could have done so much more with this though. Really interesting concept around how your future self wouldn’t necessarily fall in love with the same person again.

Overall glad I read but that blurb so misleading!

This was a fun, witty read. The story starts with Kate who is grieving the loss of her husband following his sudden death. After losing her job Kate wakes up as herself as an 18 year old Fresher with the chance to possibility to change history and prevent Luke’s death. I really liked the 1990’s nostalgia and the bang up to date pop culture references. Some characters were really great and believable whilst others were rather vile and/or quite unbelievable. I thought the novel was a bit disjointed because it felt like there were two stories merged into one: Kate’s story and the USB/Russian gangster one. There were parts I really enjoyed, other bits I wasn’t so sure of and at times I wondered how on earth it would come together. However overall I think it did come together in an unusual andentertaining way and I’m glad I read it.

Come Again is a surprising, genre-defying novel about a woman who has recently lost her husband. Since Kate's husband Luke died, things have started to fall apart, and she can't help but focus on the fact that he'd technically been ill ever since she met him during Freshers' Week years ago and fell in love. After dramatically losing her job in shady circumstances, Kate suddenly wakes up in the wrong place: her eighteen-year-old self's body, just starting university. She has the chance to try and change things, but is that even possible, and what might it mean for the future?

From the blurb, the book sounded like One Day or something similar, a story about love happening regardless of circumstance or across time. However, it turned out to be quite different: a kind of tragicomic love story with a side of dodgy dealings and spies. If it is about anything, it is possibly about grief and about being unpredictable (both characters defying expectations others have of them in the narrative, and the actual narrative itself). It took a while to settle into the novel, with a few details or comments from characters that felt a bit off, but it became more immersive and raised questions about where the plot was going to go next. The tone changes somewhat between the different sections, but it suited the novel which has a kind of funny yet sad quirkiness (also a description that could work for Kate as a character).

Come Again is a light read that blends different genre conventions to be a funny book about grief, moving on, and, strangely, when your life becomes a little bit more like the plot of multiple different bits of fiction. It is easy to imagine it as a quirky film that leans heavily on the different sections having different styles and tones (and the fast pace of the novel would probably suit being adapted into a film).

An upbeat bereavement story with a whacky ending

Kate has recently lost her much-loved husband, Luke. She dreams vividly of him when they were first a couple at university. She has also just been fired from her job in PR. Deciding to end it all and stir up trouble for her horrible boss at the same time, she plans to plant an incriminating memory stick with information about his dealings with a dodgy Russian businessman. Everything changes when she finds herself back in 1992, on her first day at Uni. Perhaps now she'll be able to rewrite history and save Luke. But everything seems different...

Great descriptions of life in 1992, with leaded petrol, broadsheet newspapers describing coal mines closing and Boris Johnson just a newspaper columnist. The comi-dramatic ending is great fun.

Well, that wasn't what I expected. I hadn't read the blurb so was surprised when the time travelling happened. That's ok though, in fiction you suspend your disbelief. My advice in this case, chuck your disbelief out of the window and just go with it. Especially in the final third of the book, just enjoy it. It's brilliantly, fantastically fun.

Some things I did expect, it was funny, of course. It was sad, her husband had died so of course it was. It was nostalgic for those of us who remember the 90s fondly. The story as I've said was also unexpected but, even more so, Robert Webb can write. I read his autobiography so I sort of knew that but fiction is different. He managed to pull it off though. I hope there will be another soon.

I was drawn in by the description of this book.

Unfortunately, it lured me in under false pretences. I wasn’t looking for a story about a spy, or USB sticks! The period of time where Kate goes back in time to fix Luke (as described in the blurb) is probably about 10% of this story. I was so disappointed!

I didn’t really like Kate as a character. She was very believable at the beginning, mired in grief, but I found her behaviour towards the end very uncharacteristic. She was so deeply in love with Luke- why would one small trip to the past enable her to move on? I found the spy stuff pretty dull- it’s just not a genre I enjoy.

I’m giving 3 stars, simply because I very much enjoyed the little twist at the end. I’d like to read a follow up that explains what happens next, but without the inclusion of Russian gangsters, please!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

Robert Webb is one of the funniest people in the world and this book showcases his awesome humour. For that alone it gained a star rating!

Generally this book was good - a great focus and dissection of grief and loss at the start of the book and a raw look at suicidal tendencies.

But the two timelines felt a little out of place, a little rushed. It took me some time to realise what was going on and to keep up with the two plots, despite them being clearly divided.

* spoiler alert ** Not a new idea at all,to go back in time and change something about your life.
In Kate's case,it's informing her husband he has a tumour that will eventually kill him,and possibly her when overwhelmed with grief.
For me,the book was two different stories,the going back in time one,and the one that involved the usb stick.
At times both felt a bit rushed.
However,Webb's humour makes the book incredibly readable.
Enjoyable.