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Writer's pictureLafourche Parish Public Library

Brooke's Pick: All About Us by Tom Ellen


A man whose marriage is on the rocks is given a mysterious watch by a starry-eyed stranger and wakes up to discover it is 2005 and the exact day he kissed his soon-to-be ex wife.


Who hasn’t wondered how their life would have ended up differently had they made other choices? All About Us answers that question for one thirty-something man who is questioning how his life and marriage got so off-track. But will he like the answer?


Ben’s marriage to the once love-of-his-life Daphne has gone sour. He feels like he failed Daphne as a husband, and when he looks in her eyes, all he sees is disappointment. The girl he once loved with all of his heart is gone, replaced by a shell of a person that he created through his own poor choices. With his life at a stalemate, he accepts an offer to meet up with one of his old flames, Alice, after Christmas.


Ben has always wondered what his life would have been like had he chosen Alice over Daphne, and this Christmas he is about to find out. When a strange old man sells Ben a watch, he finds that he can time travel, going back in his past to pivotal moments in his life, and eventually traversing to the future where he once and for all learns what his life could have and would have been had he chosen differently.


Although Tom Ellen’s All About Us is a modern day Christmas Carol-esque novel, you may not realize it until you are almost done reading this reflective, time-traveling novel set against the backdrop of Christmas. It is easy to become immersed in this introspective story, and Tom Ellen has made this time-worn tale enough their own that it feels fresh and contemporary.


Much like A Christmas Carol, this is not a jolly, spirited Christmas novel, but rather one that looks within. I wasn’t quite prepared for the amount of soul-searching All About Us was going to inflict upon me, but it definitely made me consider my own life choices. This is a story that makes you think, and what better time to reflect than during December at the close of the year.


Read this one if you love A Christmas Carol or if you just want to spend some time pondering life.


Availability: Book Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it) Reviewer: Brooke, Public Relations Librarian

 

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GENRE: Holiday Romances; Relationship Fiction; Time Travel Romance

THEME: Time Slip (Characters find themselves suddenly somewhen else -- past or future. They may manage to adapt, or discover how to return to their original time.)

SUBJECT: Christmas; December; Friendship; Interpersonal Attraction; Marital Conflict; Married People; Men/Women Relations; Options, Alternatives, Choices; Time Travel


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