FESTIVE REVIEW: One Christmas Morning by Rachel Greenlaw

The moment Eva locked eyes with James over a library bookshelf, she knew she’d found her soulmate. Over ten years, they fell in love, got married and made plans to start a family. Until everything changed one Christmas three years ago, and they’ve been drifting apart ever since.

Eva hopes a friend’s Christmas party at an old manor house in Cornwall will give them the chance to reconnect… but the last thing she expects is to wake up on Christmas morning in the body of a different guest. As Eva’s forced to keep reliving Christmas Day from the perspectives of those closest to her, she realises just how much her life has fallen off track.

But can Eva break the cycle and save her future with James, before it’s too late?

A festive romance but with a body-switching, time-bending twist. In a Groundhog Day meets Freaky Friday but with so much heart and love, this tale sparkles with Christmas joy but also gives us a full range of beautiful emotions from the heartbreaking to the uplifting and joyous.

Eva tells us this story, at first she feels self-absorbed, wrapped up in work and oblivious to the outside world - it’s clear she’s about to on a journey a little like old Ebenezer Scrooge and learn a little something about herself, but what a beautiful journey it was.

As she jumps between bodies every day, she quite literally finds a new perspective. It takes about 20% of the story before we get into the key moment - we spend the first section learning about Eva, about Penhallow hall and it’s history. At times it felt a little slow for me, but I still enjoyed it to keep going through the slower moments.

Theres so much emotion as Eva looks at her marriage, her career, her family and her friends — but even with all this real, painful heartbreak there’s still a playfully magic energy. I loved watching her change and grow over the pages, but also loved how even though she learned a lot, she wasn’t a cliche who gave everything up for her husband.

A dazzling Christmas story that was such a delight.

⭐⭐⭐

One Christmas Morning is available now with HQ. I received an advanced reviewers copy of this title.

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