One Christmas Morning

Imagine seeing yourself through the eyes of other people - scary, huh? And inhabiting the body of those people - even scarier! But it could also be the biggest wake-up call of your life and that's the case for Eva, who has lost sight of what - and who - are important in her life. With ghostly elements, a nod to Dickens and exceptional writing, One Christmas Morning has something for everyone. I thought the scenes where Eva first realises what's happening – she wakes up as other people in the old country house she's staying in - were particularly well-handed. I found myself swept away by this special story that's not just for Christmas!

A great little book. Thank you gforbletting me read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters b

This was such a gorgeous book! I sincerely forgot I was sent a copy a while back, the cover was so stunning I picked it again! Will be sharing full thoughts and a review soon, but this type of book is exactly why I do what I do and my favorite type of book. I know favorites should never be picked, but this one is just spectacular. A gorgeous romantic story with a holiday twist. Eva and James were simply stunning and I was rooting for their love from the beginning.
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They say you know when you meet the one.

The moment Eva locked eyes with James over a library bookshelf, she knew she’d found her soulmate. Over ten years, they fell in love, got married and made plans to start a family. Until everything changed one Christmas three years ago, and they’ve been drifting apart ever since.

Eva hopes a friend’s Christmas party at an old manor house in Cornwall will give them the chance to reconnect… but the last thing she expects is to wake up on Christmas morning in the body of a different guest. As Eva’s forced to keep reliving Christmas Day from the perspectives of those closest to her, she realises just how much her life has fallen off track.

This was a really good story, with a sliding door take and a Christmas Carol vibe. This romance will make you question your life choices, much the same as the character does, at times it was rather sad and quite emotional. With a complex storyline, the plot is slowly revealed as Eva sees herself through the guests at the Christmas party's eyes.

It took me a while to like Eva, the main character she is such a hard-bitten, determined person and not in a good way. She is blocking everyone in her life out to get her business off the ground to the detriment of her husband, friends and happiness. When she has to visit an old house in Cornwall for Christmas with her friends strange things start to happen. There's a bit of magic in the old house and Eva gets a chance to see her mistakes and how they are affecting everyone, not just her. I grew to like Eva and I definitely liked her husband and friends.

I thought the author described grieving incredibly well and it actually made me think about my own losses and how I dealt with them. Although it is a Christmas story it is easy to read at any time and I would definitely recommend it.

I found it appropriate that I finished reading this ARC on Feb 2nd - Groundhog Day. This book is a bit like <I> Groundhog Day </I> meets <I>A Christmas Carol</I>.

Eva is in the final days of preparing to open her first real store after a few years running an online business. But it's Christmas Eve and she's promised her husband and friends that she'll come out to Cornwall and spent a few days with them at her grandmother's home Penhallow, sold and now a rental. Eva is driven - for causes unknown - and obsessed with the store to the point of ignoring her husband James and their best friends Hallie & Kian. If she continues down this path, she will be a female Scrooge - with no friends and nothing in her life but work. Penhallow is a little mysterious, perhaps haunted, or at least paranormally active, and it has been since Eva's childhood.. So after a disastrous Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the house and her gran conspire and Evan awakens, on Christmas Day, again and again, but each day in a <I>different</I> person's body. Gran appears from time to time to guide her. As the story progresses, Eva begins to see herself as others see her and how she has damaged all of her relationships.

One Christmas Morning is an uplifting story about family, both biological and self-made. The ending brings the reader full circle and it's satisfying and bittersweet. The characters are well-drawn and the setting is just right. This is a Christmas novel that will stay with you long after you've finished it.

Quotes I liked:

Everything works out better if you take time to process and find some balance.

Grief is funny like that. No two people tread the same path through it.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #HQ for this ARC!

I’m so grateful for my advance copy of this beautiful book! It was so clever and magical and I really felt for Eva as the story progressed. To begin with I felt so frustrated by her choices but as I got to learn more about her and what she went through three years ago, I realised how these experiences were a catalyst for everything that followed.

Eva and James first locked eyes over a library bookshelf when studying at the same University together and knew they had each found the one. Over the next ten years they fell in love, got married and made plans to start a family together. But everything changed one Christmas three years ago and they have been drifting further and further apart ever since. This year, Eva and James have been invited to stay with their friends in an old manor house in Cornwall over the Christmas period. Eva hopes that things will be different and they will have the opportunity to reconnect again. The last thing Eva expects on Christmas morning though, is to wake up in the body of a different guest! Forced to keep reliving Christmas Day from the perspectives of those closest to her will Eva be able to break the cycle and save her future with James, before it’s too late?

This is such a moving and emotional book and I really enjoyed seeing which character’s body Eva would wake up in next, and what that day’s experiences would show/teach her. There are so many important messages in this book and I enjoyed highlighting sections as I was reading. For example how self-care is vital, how some things are outside an individual’s control and if things go wrong, it doesn’t mean they have failed. The descriptions throughout and the Cornwall setting was beautiful too and I enjoyed the journey I got to go on with Eva as the book progressed. It’s hard to say anything more without giving the plot, or the reason Eva finds herself reliving Christmas Day away, but I honestly cannot recommend this book enough!

This was such a beautiful and heartbreaking story that just captures you throughout the story, I couldn’t put it down. It was a very enlightening story about the choices we make and how they affect our loved ones and also their perspective of the situation too. It’s not over lovey dovey novel, it’s just perfect.This is going to be a big hit when it comes out and I can’t wait for others to read it. Well done to the author on such a fantastic and beautiful story.

Eva is having Christmas, again and again. On the plus side lots of lovely meals and no calories. On the downside she seems to be condemned to waking up as a different guest of the Cornwall house party each Christmas morning until she can work out just what has gone wrong with her life.
A mixture of Groundhog Day and it’s a Wonderful Life it looks like Eva is going to get the perspective of true friends and onlookers until she gets her life lesson.
Eva and James have had ten years together and they want the same things. But Eva is starting her own business. She is obsessed to the point of neglecting her relationships. She has no time to solve her issues and what she gets is all the time in the world to work it out.
I loved this being themed around Christmas, traditionally a time of excess food, drink and extended arguments. The focus on Eva rediscovering what she has missed through the eyes of her friends and revealing the mystery to the reader of what happened to her three years before the book starts is completing intriguing.
I think this will be another Christmas favourite for a reread. In fact whilst compiling this review I slipped back into the story and now I want to finish it again.

How many times can one person relive the same day? Not only that, but from different perspectives. Eva is spending Christmas with her husband James and their closest friends in the old country house in Cornwall where she spent so much of the past with her beloved gran. No longer a fan of Christmas since that fateful one three years ago where she lost her gran and her future. Eva has thrown herself into her work - a new venture turning her online business into a physical shop, to the extent that James feels he needs to take drastic action with their relationship. Will this holiday make or break the couple? So many decisions now it is time to face a harsh reality for Eva. #netgalley #onechristmasmorning

Wow! Wow! Wow! I want everyone to read this book that so we can talk about all the twists and turns as I am so worried about inadvertently giving away a spoiler!! Instead I’m going to try and tell you about the story line, as best as I can without giving too much away!

James and Eva met, fell in love and got married ten years ago and they planned their lives to include children until three years ago when everything changed one Christmas and since then things just haven’t been right between them.

Reluctantly attending a friend’s Christmas party at a manor house in Cornwall, Eva’s mind is elsewhere as she is desperately trying to launch her new shop back in London, all the while her marriage with James is teetering on the edge.

In a series of events, Eva is forced to look at Christmas day from the perspectives of the people closest to her.

Phew! I hope I haven’t given too much away!! Although this book is centred around Christmas Day, I think it can be read all year round – I am just astounded at the writing skill of the author with all the different threads and stories and angles!

Amazing book.

This was a really enjoyable read, almost like Groundhog day set at Christmas but with a huge twist in that instead of living the same day over and over as herself, Eva instead wakes each Christmas morning as a different character!
Cynically, this could be subtitled The Parable of the woman who nearly had it all but, it is so much more than just that. It tackles the harder parts of life such as coping with loss and the effects on our mental health this can have. There are a lot of happy moments seeing Eva learning about how those close to her see her and who those people are now, at this point in their lives too.
This is a fabulous Christmas read, full of many traditions that we can all relate to but, will Eva find her redemption and find a way to the life that she really wants to be living before it's too late and it all crumbles away, you'll just have to read it to find out!