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Need a Little Time
Sometimes, the strangest things can happen, right on your doorstep.
When you find out your best friend and business partner is secretly sleeping with your wife, it may be time to move on… From your job and your marriage... Which is precisely what happened to Jamie Newgent.
A change of lifestyle is what’s needed, and a bachelor pad on the fourth floor of a jutting tower provides a new home, a fresh start, and a new chapter in his life.
Little does he know of the weird and wonderful journey he’s about to take, or the effects a temporal rift has on the building plumbing and his troublesome toaster.
He’s living in the middle of an anomaly sandwich, with a retro woman upstairs, and a feisty hippy downstairs. But will either of them become anything more than friends?
And, If it came down to it, would he be able to make the ultimate sacrifice to save a life:
Could he go back to an era before the Internet and Smartphones?
When you find out your best friend and business partner is secretly sleeping with your wife, it may be time to move on… From your job and your marriage... Which is precisely what happened to Jamie Newgent.
A change of lifestyle is what’s needed, and a bachelor pad on the fourth floor of a jutting tower provides a new home, a fresh start, and a new chapter in his life.
Little does he know of the weird and wonderful journey he’s about to take, or the effects a temporal rift has on the building plumbing and his troublesome toaster.
He’s living in the middle of an anomaly sandwich, with a retro woman upstairs, and a feisty hippy downstairs. But will either of them become anything more than friends?
And, If it came down to it, would he be able to make the ultimate sacrifice to save a life:
Could he go back to an era before the Internet and Smartphones?
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 4, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
March 28, 2026
Loved this intriguing, heartwarming, thought provoking book filled with lots of laugh out loud moments.
April 7, 2021
At times like this, we all need a feel-good tale to raise the spirits and this certainly fits the bill.
Absolutely loved this gentle tale, give it a go, I’m sure you will too!
Absolutely loved this gentle tale, give it a go, I’m sure you will too!
September 22, 2020
A wonderful, heart warming time travel story!
I picked this book up as a time-travel nerd, intrigued to see how the author tackled the subject.
This is a great read! I devoured the book in a few days.
The characters involved are really likeable, and the protagonist, a 40-something computer geek, was very relatable!
I found the story heartwarming, and very character driven. What would you do if you found you could go back 30 years in time?
I picked this book up as a time-travel nerd, intrigued to see how the author tackled the subject.
This is a great read! I devoured the book in a few days.
The characters involved are really likeable, and the protagonist, a 40-something computer geek, was very relatable!
I found the story heartwarming, and very character driven. What would you do if you found you could go back 30 years in time?
March 15, 2024
Intriguing And Entertaining
I enjoyed this well written and fun filled romp. Well done. The characters are very good. The plot is good also.
I enjoyed this well written and fun filled romp. Well done. The characters are very good. The plot is good also.
May 20, 2024
A story of time travel, romance and tea - lots of tea.. There was quite a bit of tech jargon that went over my head and all of the Brit speak was a bit twee (brekkie for breakfast, cuppa for a cup of tea); however, I do plan to employ the phrase "useless knob" whenever possible. A decent, easy read. 3.5 stars.
September 5, 2020
A genuinely good read
There are no explosions, no revelations, no invasions or rents in space... this is a genuinely human scale story of someone who, although a bit bruised by life, wants to do the right things. Plus time travel!
Loved it.
There are no explosions, no revelations, no invasions or rents in space... this is a genuinely human scale story of someone who, although a bit bruised by life, wants to do the right things. Plus time travel!
Loved it.
March 7, 2021
Time travelling love story. Finished in a day. Beautiful book and characters. Slightly predictable but wildly enjoyable. Definitely recommend this as an easy and pleasurable read.
June 14, 2020
Jamie is a recent divorcee; he needs a job and he needs friends. when he moves into an apartment block, he meets Anne., Bert and molly who all become tied up in his life
Anne seems to be living in the past but is she ...
Bert thinks he knows Jamie from somewhere in his past
and molly looks like someone he knows
I loved this book for the characters and the pace. the story line and plot are both excellent.
The back story is amazing .
another great book from Mr Eccles
Anne seems to be living in the past but is she ...
Bert thinks he knows Jamie from somewhere in his past
and molly looks like someone he knows
I loved this book for the characters and the pace. the story line and plot are both excellent.
The back story is amazing .
another great book from Mr Eccles
June 8, 2020
Smashing read
Fantastic book , enjoyed the time travel aspect .
Gotta love Jamie other characters so relatable.
Read all Adams books this is the best yet .
If you want a really good read then I sincerely recommend this .
Fantastic book , enjoyed the time travel aspect .
Gotta love Jamie other characters so relatable.
Read all Adams books this is the best yet .
If you want a really good read then I sincerely recommend this .
August 31, 2020
Glad to have found this author
Fantastic read,I did guess a fair few points of the plot but it was such a great read,it didn't take away from the story. Already downloaded another book by this author
Fantastic read,I did guess a fair few points of the plot but it was such a great read,it didn't take away from the story. Already downloaded another book by this author
September 14, 2020
Really enjoyable
I love reading time travel books. It's the great question we all ask ourselves a couple of million times...... What if I could go back?
This is a good book by a new author and well worth a read.
Look forward to reading Adams other books 👍
I love reading time travel books. It's the great question we all ask ourselves a couple of million times...... What if I could go back?
This is a good book by a new author and well worth a read.
Look forward to reading Adams other books 👍
September 16, 2020
You really care
I loved this excellently and intelligently crafted time travel novel. Very nostalgic too. You really do care about what happens to the characters. No spoilers: but one very moving moment at about 83% of the way in. Well done.
I loved this excellently and intelligently crafted time travel novel. Very nostalgic too. You really do care about what happens to the characters. No spoilers: but one very moving moment at about 83% of the way in. Well done.
September 26, 2025
This starts slow but builds to a good finish
As a fan of time travel tales I enjoyed this as with all the other books by Adam Eccles. I kept waiting for him to finally go back to the twisted staircase. Then the tale could conclude properly. 😃
As a fan of time travel tales I enjoyed this as with all the other books by Adam Eccles. I kept waiting for him to finally go back to the twisted staircase. Then the tale could conclude properly. 😃
June 29, 2020
Great
Really enjoyed this story and will be looking for more of Adam Eccles books. Great characters and flowed well. Would definitely recommend this.
Really enjoyed this story and will be looking for more of Adam Eccles books. Great characters and flowed well. Would definitely recommend this.
August 19, 2020
Great time reading.
Really enjoyed this book. Lots of interesting time travel paradoxes to think about and great story. On to the next book!
Really enjoyed this book. Lots of interesting time travel paradoxes to think about and great story. On to the next book!
October 10, 2020
Very enjoyable! Humorous and interesting. I do love a bit of time travel. :)
October 16, 2020
A chance encounter
With Adam's book, I won't give you any spoilers in the review. I did enjoy the book though and will be reading his others.
With Adam's book, I won't give you any spoilers in the review. I did enjoy the book though and will be reading his others.
December 31, 2020
I planned on reading this over the course of the next two weeks... instead I finished it in two days. Oops. Hilariously written, with a cool twist on time travel and the functions within it. Gave myself a bit of a headache trying to figure out the timeline, but the best thing to do with temporal paradoxes is to just ignore them. They'll eventually go away ;)
March 28, 2021
Really liked this book
I didn’t know anything about this book when I downloaded the sample but was sucked in really quickly. Well written, fun and entertaining. I’m downloading other books by the author now!
I didn’t know anything about this book when I downloaded the sample but was sucked in really quickly. Well written, fun and entertaining. I’m downloading other books by the author now!
July 3, 2024
The ending of this had me welling up! It was the perfect ending for all the characters and was such an interesting concept
September 6, 2020
One of the best books I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
Absolutely stunning book. Not what I was expecting. Which was just another time travel book. But, this was exceptional. Brilliant story, genuine characters. Without a doubt one of my top 3 books of the year. A real delight, a sort of time traveller love story. But down ti earth and normal.
Absolutely stunning book. Not what I was expecting. Which was just another time travel book. But, this was exceptional. Brilliant story, genuine characters. Without a doubt one of my top 3 books of the year. A real delight, a sort of time traveller love story. But down ti earth and normal.
September 18, 2020
Recommended
Absolutely loved this book. It's not often that I can't put a book down but I read this in a matter of days. Loved the story and characters. My only problem is like others have said is that I wish it was longer. Highly recommended
Absolutely loved this book. It's not often that I can't put a book down but I read this in a matter of days. Loved the story and characters. My only problem is like others have said is that I wish it was longer. Highly recommended
October 10, 2021
Well, once again I ordered a book I had already read, but didn't quite remember it.
Happily, this was definitely worthy of a fresh read! So imaginative! The characters are fun and believable, the dialog is clever, and there is actually a plot! I enjoyed it very much, thank you.
Happily, this was definitely worthy of a fresh read! So imaginative! The characters are fun and believable, the dialog is clever, and there is actually a plot! I enjoyed it very much, thank you.
August 23, 2021
Excellent. My favourite book of the year so far. For some reason, despite suggestions from goodreads and Amazon,I’d never read anything by Adam Eccles before. I am now going to read everything he’s written.
Great fun.
Great fun.
March 8, 2021
Another fantastic read!
Thankyou for another fantastic read, you never disappoint. Loved the storyline, the characters, and your imagination. Now onto your next one 🥰
Thankyou for another fantastic read, you never disappoint. Loved the storyline, the characters, and your imagination. Now onto your next one 🥰
August 19, 2021
Enjoyable time travel tale. I think a lot of the plot was quite obvious but still, I enjoyed listening to this audiobook.
January 12, 2022
I read in 24 hours!
Loved this book and it’s detailed characters, original story, and excellent plot twist! I’ll definitely be looking for more from Adam Eccles…well done!
Loved this book and it’s detailed characters, original story, and excellent plot twist! I’ll definitely be looking for more from Adam Eccles…well done!
March 31, 2021
This was a sweet story of time travel and a man finding himself. I felt it could have been better.
One of the big twists is telegraphed so early in the story, I was sure it could not be the twist the author had planned. But it was. Also, the humour didn't land with me as much as I had hoped it would.
I also felt the standard issues with time travel were not completely explained. It was a decent read, but I didn't like it as much as some of the reviewers.
One of the big twists is telegraphed so early in the story, I was sure it could not be the twist the author had planned. But it was. Also, the humour didn't land with me as much as I had hoped it would.
I also felt the standard issues with time travel were not completely explained. It was a decent read, but I didn't like it as much as some of the reviewers.
September 5, 2020
Good fun
Nice, easy light read which made me smile. Thoroughly enjoyed. Worthwhile curling up with on a rainy day after a busy week 😊
Nice, easy light read which made me smile. Thoroughly enjoyed. Worthwhile curling up with on a rainy day after a busy week 😊
January 2, 2026
Lovely, gentle time travel story
It starts off poorly. A computer programmer, both very good at his work but also a 9-9-6er at best (that’s 9am to 9pm, six days a week minimum), picks up his wife’s phone by mistake and notices text after text after text. Turns out his best friend, the man who is the other half of his successful startup, is shagging his wife— and may have doing so for years.
That was the end of his business, and of his marriage, and of his life as he knew it. Starting over in his 40s with no job is depressing at best.
He rents a nice unfinished flat— the entire third floor of a four story building— and moves in, trying to figure you what he now wants. He’ll need to work, but jobs in 2020 aren’t that easy to find. He has no friends, since work occupied so much of his life and the one friend he’d had wasn’t. Worse, he’s taken to having frightening dreams when he doesn’t have insomnia.
Things change for him when, seeking a neighbor’s escaped dog, he goes a back staircase to the fourth floor where he both finds the dog and meets a lovely young woman, an airline stewardess. They hit it off, to the degree that he buys them wine and she makes dinner. She’s a curious character, with not just a retro record player but even a Sony Walkman. That’s fine, but she also insisted that the year was 1990, vice 2020. Worse yet, when he runs down to his own apartment, then immediately takes the lift back up, not only is she gone but so is everything in her flat.
Which was bad, because not only did he think that he had lost his mind, but he suspected that he was as starting to fall in love.
Highly recommended.
It starts off poorly. A computer programmer, both very good at his work but also a 9-9-6er at best (that’s 9am to 9pm, six days a week minimum), picks up his wife’s phone by mistake and notices text after text after text. Turns out his best friend, the man who is the other half of his successful startup, is shagging his wife— and may have doing so for years.
That was the end of his business, and of his marriage, and of his life as he knew it. Starting over in his 40s with no job is depressing at best.
He rents a nice unfinished flat— the entire third floor of a four story building— and moves in, trying to figure you what he now wants. He’ll need to work, but jobs in 2020 aren’t that easy to find. He has no friends, since work occupied so much of his life and the one friend he’d had wasn’t. Worse, he’s taken to having frightening dreams when he doesn’t have insomnia.
Things change for him when, seeking a neighbor’s escaped dog, he goes a back staircase to the fourth floor where he both finds the dog and meets a lovely young woman, an airline stewardess. They hit it off, to the degree that he buys them wine and she makes dinner. She’s a curious character, with not just a retro record player but even a Sony Walkman. That’s fine, but she also insisted that the year was 1990, vice 2020. Worse yet, when he runs down to his own apartment, then immediately takes the lift back up, not only is she gone but so is everything in her flat.
Which was bad, because not only did he think that he had lost his mind, but he suspected that he was as starting to fall in love.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews


















