I desperately wanted to enjoy this book because the plot sounded really good to me. Sadly I just felt like the book was really slow moving and I couldn't get into the story and connect with the characters. Not for me unfortunately.

Lovely story, I read this in 2 sittings. Really enjoyable. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion

Wow, this was such an emotional read. I absolutely loved this book, the characters are relatable, the story very different and I would thoroughly recommend it. I could not put this down and am now downloading other books from this author, absolutely brilliant.

This was a really enthralling story with an intriguing premise. I really enjoyed the dual then and now POV's. These type of books are always my favourite.

Told in dual timelines of Then and Now, this is a tale of drama, romance, friendship and a hint of time shifting!

The Then takes us back to the beginning of Emma and Will's flourishing relationship. The Now brings us to the point where their marriage is struggling. There's also a third person, Emma's best friend Cole (always a third wheel) who has always been there for the past 20 years but in the Now is now on the sidelines after an 'incident'.

If you had the chance to restart, take a second chance and change things, would you?

Originally the synopsis grabbed my attention, it sounded right up my street but in all honesty it just wasn't for me. I think mainly because I didn't like the main character Ella but then who particularly likes judgemental, selfish characters?

Whilst I didn't particularly like this read, I didn't dislike it either. There were some real positive points but at the same time so parts that were negatives. I got bored of the whole back and forth between timelines (sorry) and found that especially in the first half it was overly descriptive, I also found the whole 'time travel' kind of strange.

2.5*

Thanks to netgalley and Headline for the ARC.

This was my first Emma Cooper & I know I'll be going back for more. I love a dual timeline & the way this unravelled.

There were moments when I wasn't quite sure there was enough going on, but I was obviously invested as it made me cry, which is an absolute winner for me.

I particularly enjoyed that this wasn't a standard romance & the fact there was more than one timeline meant that at times we got young love & then the perspective of a more mature couple facing problems in their long term relationship. It's not your average love story.

Thank you netgalley for this lovely Emma Cooper book - this is the first by this author and won't be the last.

Absolutely loved this book!

The writing style was really good and I look forward to reading any other books from this author in the future :)

This was a very emotional book ! Its a dual time line story about a woman called Ella. In the present day her and her husband Will are going through marriage problems - Ella met Will back in 1999 when the clocks went back - she remembers seeing a woman in a green coat trying to tell her something really important.... 23 years later and she is opening a parcel of a green coat and scarf that she remembers from that night years ago.... what does it all mean? this was a great read

Okay, wow! What an emotional read. This was my first book by Emma Cooper and I definitely don’t think it will be my last. It did take me a while to get into the story so i didn’t really know where it would go, but after about a third of the book i was 100% hooked! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone really I think its a very easy emotional read!

I LOVED this story. It Was Always You is one of the best romances I’ve read in a while.

Emma’s life just flows on the pages. The author has a brilliant way of showing and not telling that draws you in and makes you a part of what’s happening.

The format is great too. Taking us back to the beginning of Will and Emma’s relationship builds a solid foundation for ‘present’ day. It made me even more invested in their love. And it compelled me to keep reading to find out what happened in those in-between years to lead them to today.

I must admit, for a long time I didn’t feel a connection with Cole … until I suddenly realised that I did! And became divided. His actions made me cry big ugly sobs.

Amira is a fab character. Friends and business partner with Emma, she made me chuckle, a lot!

Emma Cooper has managed to keep hard hitting life crises real and raw while building compassion towards her characters.

This story should come with a warning – one that tells you how not only that will you find it difficult to tear yourself away from the story but how it will divide you and swirl your emotions round so you don’t know which way is up.

On the last night in October 1999 the clocks went back, and Ella and Will's love began.

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.

As the last Sunday in October arrives, Ella is faced with a choice.
Would she choose a different life, if she could do it again?

This was an interesting read from Emma Cooper, looking at how the course of our whole life can change from very small decisions and the effects of these changes on our long term relationships. Ella is married to Will with two children and a big birthday approaching when she has a strange sense of life coming full circle. She opens her birthday presents to find a coat, scarf and brooch combination she recognises. Twenty-three years earlier at a party, she strolled away from the fireside to avoid watching her crush Will kissing another girl and saw a woman wearing exactly these clothes. It was almost as if the woman was on the other side of a mirror, visible but unable to be heard. Even though Ella can’t hear her, she knows that whatever she’s trying to tell her is a warning. Now she knows that woman was definitely her future self and she can’t help but wonder exactly what she was trying to warn her about. Life has definitely changed suddenly, because as their youngest left the family home for university, Will suddenly dropped the bombshell that he was leaving. Ella knows they’ve been drifting, in fact it runs deeper than that, Ella knows that Will would not have chosen the life they’ve had. She can pinpoint every surprise and life event thrown their way that derailed the life Will would have chosen, travelling the world playing guitar in a rock band. Ella has always known that she loved Will more than he loved her, so perhaps he need to spend some time discovering what he wants the rest of his life to look like.

Emma Cooper’s last novel was an absolute tearjerker and I really loved it. She gets that everyday drudgery that is part of being a family and here she portrayed beautifully how romance is hard to maintain when there is illness, two children to look after, family crises and those little curveballs that life likes to throw into the mix every so often. Cooper structures her book around these moments in Will and Ella’s lives together, such as her sudden pregnancy in Paris that she feels derailed Will’s music career. What she forgets is that Will did have a choice too and it was a joint decision to get married and have their baby. The fact that Will was fired from the band as a result was a terrible thing to happen, but wasn’t Ella’s fault. The flashbacks worked well in explaining the present day, from Ella’s perspective but Ella isn’t the only one in the relationship and I wondered if these two had ever properly communicated with each other. The problem with not communicating is that Will is also labouring under a misapprehension; he knows that he’s always loved Ella more than she loved him and now, with both children gone, it’s time for her to think about her choices and perhaps right a wrong. Will has felt in competition with Ella’s best friend Cole for many years, even the first day he met Ella’s family Cole was already there and part of the furniture. When Ella was struggling with depression, Will was just starting his career as a music teacher and simply couldn’t be there as much as he would have liked. Cole was there, burping and changing both babies, bringing chocolate and endless energy and literally propping Ella up. He has loved Ella since they were kids and he’s the first person Ella calls when something’s wrong - like when Will walks out the door 23 years later. Cole knows that Ella loves Will, even in his worst moments dealing with family trauma and his own alcoholism he knows Will and Ella should be together. He knows the power of Will’s charisma, because he’s felt it himself. In fact he and Will have a difficult history; Will’s brother drowned when he was left alone by a river, Will was saving Cole who had jumped in. This past leaves an uneasy feeling between them and has Ella desperately trying to please them both.

I enjoyed the carefree period Will and Ella have in France with the band. Will is offered the chance of playing guitar with a band and the couple rent a small apartment where they can have privacy and live outside of that hotel environment. It takes several mornings of Ella throwing up for a neighbour to point out she might perhaps be pregnant. The thought has never entered her head, but the neighbour is right. They expect their idyllic interlude to carry on, but once they announce their news and intention to get married, Will is summoned by the band manager and sacked. Young girls like to fantasise about their rock stars and married with a baby isn’t the look he wants for the band. So the couple return to Britain and to a life that looks a little more conventional. The author really doesn’t sugar coat the experience of parenthood. I was there in that living room with Ella, dealing with a two year old and a baby. It felt dark, oppressive and a total contrast to the freedom she had in France. With Will having to put in the long hours to support his new family, Ella feels like she’s doing this alone. So when friend Cole steps in to help it feels like a lifeline. He notices that Ella is desperately unwell and it’s his insight into his friend and his willingness to help that did make me waver on whether Will really was the right person for her. I don’t think I ever fully bonded with Will as a character. I didn’t know him in the same way as Cole or Ella and I think this was to some extent the author’s because of the author’s description of him. He was so good looking and even Cole admits he’s the archetypal romantic leading man - he’s the man the girl should get. I didn’t know whether the author was trying to subvert the genre and have Ella realise that the less than perfect Cole, with all his issues, is the right man for her. I was unsure of what would happen right up to the very end. This is a romantic read with an edge of reality, but maybe that makes it a more contemporary fairytale.

really great storyline. Great characters and I whizzed through it. Cleverly written and had me feeling all the emotions.

Make sure you have the tissues handy for reading this book. And then go and hug your loved ones after turning the last page. This is THAT book.

Told in two timelines. Then and Now. Then tells the story of Will and Ella as they get together and navigate a life together. Now tells the story of Will blindsiding Ella by asking for a divorce. This is a story with a third character - Cole, Will and Ella's best friend. As the two timelines converge, all three characters have to really self reflect and look at what has led them to this point and can they ever recover?

I absolutely adored the book. I laughed, cried great big snotty tears, nodded in agreement and, at times, got frustrated with each character. They are so well written that I felt like I knew these people, and I suspect they will always have a little place in my brain.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advance copy in return for an honest review

'It was always you' is a fantastic read. It is highly emotional so have your tissues at the ready!

Ella is married to the love of her life, Will. They have the life most people only dream of, married with two kids. It all seems to be perfect, until Will asks for a divorce. Shocked at the turn of events her life has taken, Ella turns to her best friend, Cole. As she leans on Cole for support, she begins to realsie that perhaps he has been a bigger part of her life than she ever realised.

This was a great plot. Cooper wrote in such a way that you cared for the characters. She built the story up meaning I couldn't put it down.

A great book.

I was not sure what to expect but I found this to be an incredibly moving love story and actually cried in places-I hadn’t realized how completely invested I was.
The book alternates between the past and the present and I remained unsure to the end of which path I was willing Ella to take, this was incredible and if you read nothing else this year-read this. 5 stars

On the last night of October 1999, when the clocks go back Ella and Will's love story begins. At the end of the night, Ella passes out under an archway, and the next day, she has a faint memories of a conversation with a woman in red coat and a scarf. 23 years later, when her marriage is in trouble and her best friend spiralling, she's gifted the same green coat and scarf that she saw the woman wearing back in 1999. Does the scarf mean anything or is it just a complete coincidence?

This book was everything I thought it would be and more. The story was unpredictable and the characters all had meaning. I was sobbing by the end of the story after the emotional rollercoaster that this book took me on. This is a fantastic story about love, loss and the true meaning of life.

I know it’s not for everyone but I do love me a dual timeline story.
This was interesting, thought provoking and funny. The characters had clearly been thought about a lot even before the author put pen to paper.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one and will definitely be recommending it.

What a great story of teenage friendships, what ifs and decisions made. Written with a dual timeline, the characters are relatable and likeable with laughter and tears along the way. Definitely recommend

Colby Mills once felt destined for a musical career, but tragedy grounded his dreams. Now the dust has settled, he spontaneously takes a gig playing at a bar in Florida, seeking a rare break from his duties at home.