All About Us was featured in Pretty Books' blogpost on 8 festive books to take you back to Christmas.

Quite a fun read with an original mechanism for chaos and a good bit of dilemma thrown in there! Really good popcorn story

I couldn’t put this book down! Ok, probably best to read around Christmas, but I will re-read this book every time I doubt any decisions I have made! Such a feel-good book and at the same time thought provoking. Just loved it!

A wonderful festive tale based on Dickens Christmas Carol. I really enjoyed this gorgeous feel good story and felt it had a nice moral and a warm and fuzzy ending. I haven't read anything by Tom Ellen before, but will definitely be looking out for future reads.

A Christmas book like no other I’ve read. Not a ‘chick lit’ book of happiness and light romances, which whilst are enjoyable and festive, can be somewhat predictable.

I loved the concept of re-experiencing moments throughout our lives to reconnect with the most important ones to us.

I grew to really like Ben, I wanted him to be happy and was willing him to wake up to the true love in front of him.

I laughed a lot reading this. Anyone who loves a Bridget Jones book will love this.
Love and humour is always a great read.

This book is stunning and I very much enjoyed this one. The novel is a retelling of A Christmas Carol and it really is a brilliant story. Ben is unhappy in his marriage and as Christmas is approaching he’s thinking about an old flame and what could have been. The novel then follows Ben as he gets thrown back to the past numerous times and discovers that his memories of how things happened were perhaps skewed or even inaccurate and while what he learns won’t change the future he can change himself and his approach to life. I adored this book, it kept me engrossed at a time when reading has been a struggle and I’m sure I’ll revisit it again in the future. I definitely recommend this one!

This book reminded me a lot of Bernard's watch inised to watch from childhood. But instead of being able to stop time, Ben went back in time and then forward.
There was something likeable and unlikeable about him all at the same time.
I really enjoyed this book. I wouldn't have said its a feel good Christmas book as i think you could read it any time of the year. It was a nice book to snuggle down with

After finding out that All About Us was a retelling of A Christmas Carol, I knew I had to read it. I'm glad that it wasn't a disappointment.

This book deals with love, loss and change. It was the perfect book to read during Christmas time and an even better book to end the year with. The overall message of this story, is that it's never too late to change. If there's something in your life that you're unhappy with, change it. I think that's a great message to keep in mind and start 2021 off with.

I loved the groundhog day theme. Usually I find that trope a little bit repetitive, however I adored it in this novel.

Overall, this was heartening, lovely book and I'm glad to have read it!!

A heartwarming surprise of a novel in the run up to Christmas that I thoroughly enjoyed. A modern retelling of A Christmas Carol, on Christmas Eve 2020 Ben finds himself reflecting on his life. Married to Daphne, their marriage has reached crisis point and Ben starts thinking about the "what ifs', in particular in relation to an old university friend called Alice who he has recently reconnected with. After meeting a watch-seller in the pub and being given a watch stuck at 11..59, Ben finds himself travelling through his part, present and future, an opportunity that enables him to reflect on what is really important.

As someone who is not a great lover of fantasy, I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did but somehow it worked. It was good to have a male protagonist as he addressed some of the ways he had dealt (or not dealt) with difficult situations and had a chance to revisit them, and it certainly made me reflect on my own "what ifs". Heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure, I look forward to reading more from Tom Ellen.

A lovely modern retelling of A Christmas Carol, perfect for those who enjoy that book. Personally it isn't my favourite book which hampered my enjoyment.

A fun modern take on the classic A Christmas Carol.

There were many things I enjoyed about this book and it was nice that it wasn’t your typical Christmas romance story. The characters are great and I loved the way he jumped to past, present, future.

It did make me feel slightly down at points as he looked back to see the mistakes he made in his life but overall it was a nice story.

3.5 stars

‘All About Us’ is a festive romance book following Ben, who’s life and relationship, with his wife Daphne, have gone downhill and he finds himself wondering what life would have been like if, instead of falling in love and marrying Daphne, he fell in love with Alice, a girl he knew during university. Then Ben meets a mysterious man on Christmas Eve, who gives him a broken watch that is stuck at 11:59pm. This encounter leads to Ben travelling back to his past and having to relive important parts of his life and seeing how he ended up falling in love with Daphne.

I don’t know how I feel about this book. On one hand I loved the way that it was written, and I found myself flying through it. I was also absolutely obsessed with the storyline. However, I don’t think I liked the main character, Ben. From the beginning I found him an unlikeable character as he was constantly thinking about Alice and then you find out that he cheated on Daphne with Alice, and it made him even more unlikeable. However, I do believe that Ben did have some character development throughout the novel. I enjoyed seeing him reliving these past moments and seeing how him and Daphne fell in love, and I found myself really rooting for them to be happy again in the present-day storyline. However, at the same time I could not just forget that he had cheated on Daphne with Alice. I kind of wish that the cheating storyline had not been included because I believe that the story would have worked without it, with Ben just thinking about dating Alice rather than him actually acting on those feelings.

I did really like Daphne and Ben’s mother and found them to be my favourite characters. I really enjoyed the scene where Daphne and Ben’s mother met for the first time and loved seeing the relationship between them and how they got along so well.

One of my favourite things about this book was the concept of it. It was like a romantic version of A Christmas Carol. I loved the time travel aspect and how going back to significant moments in his relationship with Daphne helped Ben to become a better husband and person.

I really enjoyed this book and absolutely flew through it as I was addicted to reading it and needed to know what was going to happen next. I will definitely be checking out any other books that this author has written in the future as I really enjoyed this one and found it a very enjoyable festive read.

Thank you to HQ for providing me with an advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the premise of this book, but it fell flat mid-way for me. I may have to give it another chance, as I really enjoyed the first half.

This is a bit of an odd one, as it's completely unlike anything I've ever read, and also nothing like what I expected. I wasn't aware of the link to A Christmas Carol before I began reading it, and if I had known, maybe I would've been better prepared. Instead, I spent the first part of the book a bit confused and not really sure if it was for me, until everything began to make a bit more sense and therefore became more enjoyable.

I think another part of the reason why I struggled at first was also because of Ben. He's just such a whiny, unlikeable character - thoroughly depressing and full of self pity, convinced that his life turned out the way it has on the basis of one decision years ago, and that if he'd chosen differently, everything would be better (basically, refusing to admit that his life is how it is because of him!). I just really didn't like him at all. As such, there were a few times where I thought about bailing, until I saw other reviews staying to stick with it.

And to be fair, Ben does show some tremendous growth over the course of the book. He completely transforms from a whiny idiot into someone who realises how good his life is, and is willing to do whatever it takes to change for the better. His journey towards this is inspired by his visits to key moments in his past, which I won't comment on for fear of spoilers, but I will say they are very emotional and varied, which made this a very interesting book as it developed.

All in all, a bit of a mixed bag for me. I like the idea at the heart of the story, but Ben is definitely not a character you root for, and so it does take a while for you to engage with the story. In fact, I spent a decent chunk of it hoping Daphne would run for the hills! But ultimately, I suppose it's a good way of demonstrating how important it is to life your life in a way that is less self-obsessed and more mindful to others. A lesson we can all appreciate after this year.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

As I started reading #AllAboutUs, kindly offered by #Netgalley, I expected a typical romantic fiction. I was completely mistaken. It wasn't long before I started noticing a resemblance with an old favourite.
Ben, at the verge of a crumbling, long term marriage, gets a visit from an old man who presents him with a broken watch. Little does he know! He gets taken to his past, present and future and realises that his decisions have really shaped him as a person and the choices he makes today, will affect his tomorrow.
Having just finished teaching A Christmas Carol and really enjoying it, it was great to read a modern, romantic- not quite the same but loose version of it. The question that will hold your attention right to the very end is: "Will Ben receive a Scrooge-type of redemption?

This story was absolutely beautiful..

Several years ago Ben chose Daphne over Alice. He has since settled down with her but their life is not as perfect as he had anticipated and he starts to wonder if he made the wrong decision when he did not choose Alice.

In a Dickens-style manner, a mysterious stranger gifts Ben a watch which enables him to go back and re-live the important moments in his life again and to dig a little deeper into those moments.

This was an emotional book with highs and lows but it was utterly fulfilling.

DNF. I couldn't connect with this book at all and found it really hard to get into. I had high hopes for this, which is a shame.

Thank you to @harpercollinsuk for an ARC of this book via @netgalley! All About Us is Tom Ellen’s solo debut. It’s a festive romance and is a bit like modern twist on A Christmas Carol. Ben’s relationship is on the rocks, he’s contemplating meeting up with a woman from his past over the Christmas period and wonders if this old flame should have been the path his life took instead.

So you have to let your imagination really go with this story. Not only does the narrative have flash back chapters, our main character Ben also goes back to relive these pivotal points in his life. At first I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go - would going back to these points in time with fresh eyes and a knowledge of what’s to come change the future in 2020? The concept was great and I really enjoyed reading this book.

I liked Ben as a main character. It’s not often I pick up a book where the narrative is all from the male MC’s point of view however I loved it throughout. He’s down to earth, easy to relate to and you get to experience some profound moments with him.

I could easily imagine this as a Christmassy film and it’s one of my favourite festive reads this year!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did. I read Robert Webb's new book earlier this year, which has a similar premise, but Ellen handles the subject matter significantly better. Using the model of A Christmas Carol to return to significant moments allows Ben to reevaluate his choices and see what he needs to do to change his future. Sensitive, emotional but also funny, Ellen's book is the perfect antidote to our current situation.