a bittersweet story set around christmas, a story of loss and hope, of friendships and balance.
a lovely story of losing yourself and finding family and friendships

I was drawn to this book as I love a Christmas story and with comparisons to A Christmas Carol (my favourite book!) and Groundhog Day (a brilliant film) it was one I wanted to read.
I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great take on time travel / loop, which is a well explored theme.
We are following Eva’s story, who over the course of three years has lost her way. We find out early on most of what happened on that Christmas three years ago and come to understand how close she is to losing everything she once held dear. She returns to an old Manor House that is full of special memories, to have Christmas with her husband and friends. Here she finds herself reliving Christmas Day repeatedly, each time in the body of one of the other guests, with the aim of truly understanding what needs to change and what she really wants.
Eva’s bid to save her marriage was compelling, but I was actually rooting for her friendships and other relationships just as much. I like the fact that Eva’s relationship with herself and her past trauma was explored in depth as well. This book is deeper than a lot of Christmas romance novels and tackles grief and loss head on (which is worth noting before reading).
There were times when we were so into Eva’s thoughts and reflections, that it slowed the story down and there were a couple of peripheral characters that barely featured and could have been lost (as I forgot what their association to Eva was). But neither dampened my overall enjoyment. It was extremely bingeable and I wanted to to race through and find out how Eva’s story played out. I was pleased the author managed to avoid cliches and drew the story to a close in a way that felt natural and realistic.
Overall I thought this was a great book and I’m grateful for the chance to have read it early and so near to Christmas. I’ll definitely look out for this Author in the future as I think she writes really well.

Ever wondered what the story of Scrooge would be like if Scrooge was a woman in her 30’s with unprocessed trauma? Well, this is the book for you.

Eva is literally put in the shoes of those around her for a number of different Christmases to help her understand how her work is impacting those around her. Not only does it result in her learning a lot about herself, but also about those around her.

The story covers a lot of grief driven plots, so make sure you check out trigger warnings.

Whilst there was some difficult topics, it was a really fun book to read and I devoured it in a cosy afternoon in front of the tree.

Thank you NetGalley and HQ Stories for the ARC of this book.