Such a great storyline, set between the past and present it explores what we all wish we could do - talk to our younger self. With believable characters that were well drawn and made you feel like you actually know them. A great read.

Great book, I loved this read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

This was a lovely story which takes you on an emotional journey from start to finish. If you could go back and change your life, would you?
Ella thinks she knows exactly what she wants to marry Will but when her dreams come true she realises that life doesn't always live up to expectations and now all these years later she has a choice to make and this choice could change her whole life.

A fantastic read and much recomended.

Oh wow this is an emotional story -  I was torn between the three main characters from the start!

Ella is married to the love of her life Will with two children and she thought they were happy...until Will asks for a divorce the day their 18 year old son leaves home!

Shocked, she turns to Cole, her best friend since childhood, for support and tries to work out why Will would want to end their marriage. Life isn't perfect; she didn't expect to fall pregnant so young and put her career as an artist on hold and Will's career as a musician had also come up against barriers so he'd opted to teach music instead. However, they were content as they were, weren't they?

As Ella looks back at their past she begins to realise that Cole is part of the puzzle and may be perhaps contributing to the cracks in their relationship.

"It Was Always You"  - the book title says it all, but is it talking about Will, Cole.. or Ella?!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the ERC. I look forward to reading more by Emma Cooper!

This is just beautiful. Very thought provoking and an absolute pleasure to read. Loved the characters dynamic.

This was a book that I was fully engaged in from the beginning and it kept me hooked all the way to the end.

I found myself emotionally invested in the relationships between Ella, Will, and Cole and it was a book that I truly found myself not really rooting for a particular outcome, just happy with whichever direction it would take me in. There were moments where i found myself smiling along but also moments where I found myself with tears in my eyes.

It was beautifully written and I would love to read more similar. Romance novels have always taken a backseat in my reading interests but after this I think I will definitely have to fully embrace them because I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I’m very grateful to have been able to gain access to this title before its release!

The story of Ells, Will and Cole began in their teenage years, and followed through to Ells and Will's children reaching adulthood, and leaving to university. Ells and Cole's friendship causes Will to worry, which sends Ells spiralling down a supernatural pathway.

I was not a big fan of this book. I liked the less supernatural side of it, but the hypnosis and time travel theories put me off. I also did not like the shock ending.

A teenage Ella sat around a bonfire drinking with her future husband and her oldest friend Cole. As Ella wandered away from the group, she found herself leaning against a derelict archway before passing out. The next day, Ella remembered fractured images of a conversation with a woman in a green coat and red scarf but dismissed it as a drunken dream. Twenty-three years later, with her marriage to Will in trouble, and Cole spiralling out of control, Ella opens a gift which turns her life upside down: a green coat and red scarf. When she looks in the mirror, the woman from the archway is reflected back at her.

I was obsessed with this book! Cooper instantly drew me in and I was completely hooked by the plot, the characters and everything they go through. This is a beautiful, heart-warming and heart-breaking read and one that I did not want to end.

Cooper writes this in the present day and flashbacks that slowly fill in the blanks of the lives of Ella, Will and Cole. As the flashbacks caught up to the present day, I did find myself getting a bit confused where we were but I just went with it and it did not spoil my love of the book. A lot happens in this read and I loved every plot direction and thread that Cooper threw in. I thought the ending was obvious but in the most perfect way and it was a fitting ending for the book. I adored reading this and seeing how Cooper got to the ending she did.

Ella, Will and Cole are three very special characters and they carry the story perfectly. I love the way their lives are completely entwined with each other, Cooper captures the relationship between the three of them perfectly and I enjoyed seeing how the relationship changes as they go through life. I laughed with them, cried with them and fell in love with them. What a story they have.

'It Was Always You' is a stunning, beautiful read that I could not put down and did not want to ever end. A stunning book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for an advance copy.

I liked this book in general but there were some parts that just felt a bit jarring.
One of them being the magical/time travelling element; it just didn’t fit into the story properly. In my opinion it needed to be developed more, I was expecting an exploration into the different lives that Ella, Will and Cole could have lived if different decisions were made. That didn’t happen.
The characters were ok; I found Will equal parts annoying and adorable, I loved Cole from the beginning all the way to the end and Ella was sweet if naïve. They could have done with more developing, especially Ella as the main character, I don’t feel we really learnt much about her.
The complete lack of communication between the characters was very frustrating and I found it hard to believe that a group of friends and family would not speak to each other once over 20 years about any important issues that they had.
I definitely felt the emotional impact of this story and had tears absolutely streaming down my face in the last few chapters. The ending was sweet, however, getting to that end felt a bit convoluted and far-fetched and I didn’t overly appreciate it.

Thank you to Headline and NetGalley for the ARC.

A lovely chick lit read with a bit of mystery. Again, I knew right away I would enjoy this book and i struggled putting it down.

This really was a book of two halves - the story of Will, Ella and Cole was lovely, well paced and well written. I enjoyed the interaction and was drawn into their tale.

However the completely unnecessary and unbelievable thread of repressed memory/time travel and the therapist were so jarring it really put me off - the story would have worked just as well without this thread.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. I was really looking forward to reading this, having really enjoyed a previous book by Cooper, but this fell a little flat. I struggled to get into the book, despite rooting for Will and Ella's relationship and caring about Cole. I enjoyed the central premise, the subplot of the woman in the archway felt unnecessary and was not really explained. However, the story picked up a lot in the last third, and I was gripped towards the closing chapters.

It Was Always You is a highly emotional read with highly relatable characters and a tight plot full of twists. I really loved it. Fans of Josie Silver would probably love this one too.

Emma Cooper always writes with such an insight in to human behaviour and emotions, with each character always so distinct and nuanced which really shine through in this story too.
I found there were elements to this book that I struggled to make sense of, particularly the time travel thing and that a group of friends can be so fractured in their truths of feelings &: communication and this, plus the rather farfetched ending did remove some of my enjoyment of the book, however this may have just been my reaction to it at the time.

What a fantastic book. This is the third book I’ve read by Emma Cooper and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all.
A great feel good story with believable and relatable characters. It gripped my from the very start and kept me up til late in the night wanting to read ‘just one more chapter’.
I will be recommending this book to my friends. A great read.

Such a fab story. Lots of twists & turns & it had me with tears streaming down my face reading it. Thanks for the opportunity to read and read and review this book.

A slightly different love story which was overall an enjoyable read. I did find it a little over complicated in parts but with many twists and turns over different time lines the ending was somewhat unpredictable. Engaging plot with a touch of magic/time travel, I not sure where to place it. A definite love triangle but not conventional over several decades. A well balanced mix of emotions, misunderstandings intermingled with sadness and regrets but also happiness and heartwarming love.

This was such a beautiful yet heart wrenching read and like this authors other books really gets to the heart of the human condition and emotions. The story of Ella will and Cole broke my heart into about a million pieces and I had tears streaming down my face on many occasions during reading and with each turn of the page the story unravelled and went from breaking my heart to warming it again.

This is one of my top reads of 2022 so far and will stay with me for a long time.

Let me just wipe the tears away so I can actually write this review. My heart hurts after that! What a fantastically written book. I felt like I was reading a film script at parts, and absolutely love the way that side characters were given a name and their own thoughts!
The relationships within the book are complex and so real. I absolutely adore Ella, Will and Cole.
Absolutely beautiful book.

This book divided me. I liked the way the author narrates the story but the motivation of the characters felt a bit off to me. I don't feel I was shown why she thinks Will is so wonderful and why she lives him and I found him a bit wet and beige to be honest. I loved Cole and would have enjoyed the book much more if the ending had been different. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.