All Abount Us by Tom Ellen (Review by Amanda Gavigan)

All About Us by Tom Ellen is a wonderful holiday romance with touches of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol all throughout. Christmas is days away and Ben finds himself thinking of his marriage to Daphne and what could have been had he made different choices years earlier. Through a twist of luck or fate, Ben meets a stranger at the bar who seems to understand the moral quandary Ben is having internally. The stranger gives Ben a watch and seemingly disappears. When Ben wakes up the morning after he finds his world has changed. The truth behind the mysterious stranger from the bar and the watch are slowly revealed. As Ben begins to navigate these new timelines he is experiencing he begins to face a set of decisions, past regrets, and confronting his inner demons. Before too long it is apparent to Ben what the right choice for him is, and he must find a way back to his timeline to make it happen. Tom Ellen does a delightful job weaving this whimsical holiday rom com. While he brings in notes of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to this book, he does it in such a way that the reader enjoys and does not find it redundant. Tom Ellen does a wonderful job of making his characters likeable and relatable throughout the book, and the reader may often find themselves rooting for Ben. All About Us has varying themes throughout the book such as regret, relationships of all kinds, but also of grief. Relationships play a pivotal role in this book whether family, friend, or lover and Tom Ellen does a great job showing how decisions and time can shape each one. What makes this book so relatable to it’s reader is how well the author has written of Ben’s experience with each of these themes. A must read for this holiday season, and definitely a book to pass around.