I read this book in one day and was captivated by it. It tells the story of Robbie and Jenn seen through flashbacks as Robbie accesses Jenn’s memories. He is trying to find a way to save them and feels sure he will learn the secret by accessing these.

He learns about her past and her belief that everyone leaves her - making her uncertain about fully committing to any relationship. He sees her teenage friendships, her first long term relationship and then her meetings with him and his family. Robbie learns about how he is seen by others and about the impact of his behaviour on those around him.

He begins to appreciate that for once he needs to put someone before himself - someone else’s happiness before his own.

Can he save Jenn and give her a future?

A heartbreaking tale which will stay with me. A tale of love and hope.

This was a beautifully written story with a captivating and intense premise. It is the perfect read to tug at your heartstrings and force you to feel the emotions of the characters.

IT IS a rare person who wouldn’t want to relive some of the best moments of their life. Your wedding day, receiving fantastic exam results, a brilliant day with friends, a God-tier meal – there are small and big standout moments throughout the years that are returned to in memory for good reason.
There are, conversely, some moments in time that are returned to for other, less pleasant reasons, whether conjured intentionally or against one’s will. Grief, for instance, or the negative feeling associated with a fall or a jolting shock. Unpleasant yes, but useful for carrying on with the benefit of experience in resilience.
These may not be the memories one would choose to relive, but they can prove pivotal in the formation of a character, or a relationship. All roads lead somewhere, and for Jenn there is a catalogue of memories, happy and sad, leading her up to a life-changing moment.
She has just returned from a long, reflective trip and reunited with her boyfriend Robbie, who is ecstatic that she has decided to give him a second chance. Through the course of the book we learn why she left, what happened in the intervening few months, and more importantly, what came before.
But this is no conventional love story. It all hinges on the seconds before a traffic collision, during which Robbie finds himself sharing scenes from Jenn’s life with her, that are flashing before her eyes. He finds himself observing her as a child and young adult, well before he knew her, as well as just before, during and after their time together.
At first he wonders what is going on – wouldn’t we all? But he frequently gets pulled back to the present, the milliseconds prior to the crash, which he soon figures out he must find out how to prevent. The memory of a chance conversation Jenn had with his psychologist sister gives him a clue as to what is happening, and as he learns more about Jenn’s inner thoughts, he begins to formulate how to get Jenn’s attention in order to stop the accident.
The Echoes of Us flits between Robbie’s spectating position in Jenn’s memories and when he is pulled to another one, Jenn’s narrative continues the scene. It has the effect of giving the reader more information than Robbie has which gets frustrating while he is still desperately trying to grapple with the information he has.
The connection with each character is hard to reconcile as well – we read Robbie’s perspective from the first-person narrative and Jenn’s from the third, and it is Jenn’s story from these two sperate points of view that takes precedence. Robbie, on observing himself in her memories with growing shame, grows introspective yet it is Jenn’s resolution of her inner turmoil that counts.
It is also stressed that it is clearly Jenn’s memories that Robbie is watching, so it stands to reason that his behaviour, both romantic and loving, and selfish and self-destructive, will be overblown through Jenn’s eyes. Her memories are the unreliable narrator.
The Echoes of Us is a high-concept idea that is technically well executed. It is easy to follow the strands of the story and the two voices of Robbie and Jenn are distinct. But, like any story that relies on the initial concept and pivots on a mystery – what is the secret that caused Jenn to flee her life and relationship, apart from Robbie being a bit of a disappointment – there is more exposition and conjecture than welcome.
It is a well-intentioned romance that never reaches the heights of the great modern love stories that no doubt had a hand in inspiring it. I never believed in or cared about Robbie and Jenn’s love story; they are a fairly bog standard, slightly mismatched couple that goes through regular highs and lows. Neither are dynamic enough to be a character for the ages, although their characterisation and growth is quite well done.
When it comes to memories, this story won’t stick in yours for long, but is a romantic diversion that will satisfy fans of a good weepy.

After eight months apart, Jenn and Robbie have found their way back together and are sure that - this time - it's forever. But all that could be about to change when a lorry speeds towards their car. Just at the moment of impact, Robbie finds himself flung back into Jenn's past, an invisible spectator to a selection of moments from her life before and after they met. Robbie must work out what he has been sent back to see before it's too late - can he change the past in time to save their future?

The chief problem with Echoes of Us is that Robbie is insufferable; selfish, thoughtless and utterly lacking in awareness of his own shortcomings, I spent the majority of the book longing for Jenn to come to her senses and realise she was far better off without him. As the story unfolds, the complete lack of self-reflection is substituted for incessant navel gazing as Robbie agonises over his role in their initial break-up; this quickly becomes repetitive and tedious. Jenn herself does not come across much better; yes, Robbie behaved extremely poorly at times, but Jenn's refusal to express how this makes her feel enables his behaviour, and the fact that she chooses to conceal such significant parts of her life from him only serves to push them further apart.

The non-linear timeline jumps around to such an extent that it was a struggle to keep track of how one event led to another, which - given that Robbie's time travelling is supposed to give us an insight into how Jenn became the person she is, and how their relationship went off track over time - is particularly unhelpful. Furthermore, there are frequent jarring switches between Robbie's narration and Jenn's and between first and third person.

My favourite part of the book was the ending, which felt like a justified pay-off for everything that had led up to it.

I'm sure that plenty of people will enjoy this book; it's an unchallenging read with an interesting premise and there will no doubt be some readers who root for the star-crossed lovers to over come the obstacles to true love once and for all, but this was not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars! I finally picked this up after it was marked in the list of best romance books of 2024 - though Jenn and Robbie's love story is far from perfect, it is certainly heartwrenching and beautiful.

As Jenn and Robbie are driving home one day, a near accident/collision with a truck generates a supernatural occurrence where Robbie is able to reflect on Jenn's memories, pivotal moments that occured in her life, both during their relationship and the time before she met him. If this is a trauma response or the afterlife, Robbie knows he must still try to wake Jenn up before the inevitable happens, but is there a deeper meaning for this occurrence? What are the memories trying to tell him?

This is my first read by Emma Steele and the premise really took my breath away. Robbie's reflection of his own behaviour during his relationship with Jenn, the realistic miscommunication and natural indifference/neglect which takes place during a relationship after a certain period together which causes a lack of meaningful communication is something every reader can acknowledge. Jenn's story in itself was touching to read, her troubled relationship with her mother and the difficulty she experiences after her father leaves, her struggles and hard work to strive in her career and the relationships she nurtures along the way, and then seeing it from Robbie's POV ...it was beautiful. I did not focus too much on the blurb for this book and I enjoyed the writing and story alot, this was another book I couldn't put down until I'd finished and came as a pleasant surprise. I will look out for more books written by Emma Steele in the future and I would recommend The Echoes Of Us but please do check the trigger warnings.
Thank you @Netgalley and @Headline for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest unedited review.

While reading this took me a couple of chapters to get into with the time jumps, once I did it was a breeze. They say that life flashes before your eyes and in Jenn and Robbie’s story that is true except Jenn’s memories flash before Robbie’s eyes. The concept of this book is one like I haven’t read. You know that they are meant to be even though they couldn’t be more different than one another. This is a book that happened to be the first by this author, I can’t wait to see what other emotional rollercoasters Steel has. I just know that I’m going to be excited to read it.

A fresh, original concept and compelling way of telling a love story. Intense and moving. The timeline is a little complicated in places, but overall a brilliant structure.

Robbie and Jenn are in the car and about to be hit by a truck. They say that when you are about to die your life flashes before your eyes. In this case, Jenn's memories flash before Robbies eyes. He discovers the truths about her past, about how their relationship was, and where he went wrong. But what he does have to do is find the key in her memories to save their lives from what is about to happen. Beautifully written, wonderful characters with depth, and it keeps you guessing right up to the end.

This was a just a great read. I was just all in the story.
Loved the MCs. Lovely written book. i enjoyed more than I expected I would

I really enjoyed this and it wasn't at all what I was expecting. It was very original and keeps you engaged right to the very end.

Loved this book.
Moving through different times lines, a captivating love story unfolds that has you gripped from the outset. Jenn and Robbie are soul mates but despite a beautiful union the story reveals a rollercoaster of emotional struggles, secrets and the nuances of different personalities that only a life changing event makes them reconsider....
If you like The traveller's wife you will love this.

this was a beautifully written book that had me hooked, i’m going to be honest i had no idea what was happening and it had me guessing, was one of them dead? was one a ghost? were they dreaming?
i actually didn’t care because i was enjoying it too much.
a great read

A wonderful easy to follow read, I enjoyed the characters and writing style. I recommend this book and author. A good afternoon read.

A really interesting premise. I liked watching the history of the relationship unfold. Recommended for those who like this genre.

Oh my, this story was beautiful on so many levels yet heartbreaking as you follow the tale of Robbie and Jenn and flashback through their lives together

i found the timelines in this book pretty confusing, and that made it drag for me. i usually love a sentimental romance but this felt flat and i really struggled to get through it.

i found parts of it really emotional and heartbreaking though, and i have recommended it to some of my friends who all loved it - it just wasn’t really for me.

thank you so much to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc 🫶🏻

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6739914784

I quite enjoyed this but I don't think I can put it any higher than that. It's fundamentally a very sentimental love story, which I'm not against. However, the story is (necessarily, given the central premise of the book, which I won't give away) structured in a way that makes it very repetitive, and fairly slow moving and frustrating. The ending, on the other hand, is brilliant, and packs a big emotional punch - but I'm just not sure that's enough on its own to make it worth the slog to get there.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

The ending saved the book for me but took its time. One this that massively bothered me was the timelines, there was just too many, and sometimes I would forget and couldn’t keep track. I wanted to love it but it just to hard to keep up.

An interesting, original and moving love story which is full of incredible drama and tension. Robbie and Jenn have just reconciled after an eight month break when they get into a car accident. During the moments right up to the collision, Robbie sees Jenn’s life flashing before his eyes, giving him new insights into their relationship and what tore them apart.

A very memorable and compelling book which I do not hesitate to recommend.

Such an intriguing way to tell a love story. Robbie finds himself able to observe his partner Jenn at various points in her life and begins to become aware of his own failings. You are kept wondering what is going to happen right until the end.